Professor Megan Lord

Megan Lord is a Professor and Australian Research Council (ARC) Future Fellow in the Graduate School of Biomedical Engineering and Academic Director of the Australian Graduate School of Engineering Industry PhD Program, Faculty of Engineering, UNSW Sydney.

Megan attained a Doctor of Philosophy in Engineering, Master of Biomedical Engineering, and a First class Honours degree in Chemical Engineering from UNSW Sydney.

Megan is recognised as a leader in the field of biomaterials (including nanomedicines and nanoparticles) and specifically the engineering of cell-biomaterial interactions for applications in drug delivery and tissue repair. Her research in underpinned by expertise in the analysis of cell-biomaterial interactions, matrix biology, and the biophysics of molecular interactions. She collaborates internationally across academia and industry.

Megan's research has been published in over 95 peer-reviewed publications and has been supported by multiple national grants including an ARC Australian Postdoctoral Fellowship (2010-2012) and an ARC Future Fellowship (2022-2026). Megan has mentored emerging academic and engineering leaders having supervised 22 PhD/MPhil and 140 Engineering Honours candidates to completion.

Megan's research leadership has been recognised by numerous awards including the Barry Preston Award from the Matrix Biology Society of Australia and New Zealand (2022) and a NSW Young Tall Poppy Award (2014). Her leadership is also evidenced by being elected to executive positions including President of the Matrix Biology Society of Australia and New Zealand (2019-2021; Past-President since 2022), Council Member for the International Society for Matrix Biology (since 2020) and Associate Editor of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society Conference Proceedings (since 2016). Megan also serves on the Standards Australia Committee HE-030 Biological and Clinical Evaluation of Medical Devices, which reviews and ratifies ISO 10993 and TC194, the international standard that evaluates the biocompatibility of medical devices and manages biological risk.

Megan is the founding Academic Director of the Australian Graduate School of Engineering Industry PhD Program within the Faculty of Engineering, UNSW Sydney where she has established a program with a focus on both academic and industry expertise supported by a mentoring and networking program to equip graduates with job-ready skills for their next career stage.

Megan is also the founding Academic Director of the Molecular Surface Interaction Laboratory within the Mark Wainwright Analytical Centre, UNSW Sydney. Her leadership has established a resource of world-class infrastructure for the measurement of dynamic interactions between molecules, cells, and materials with a user base across UNSW and other universities, and industry.