Jay brings to the team some 25 years diverse experience in R&D Project Management, Business Development and Technology Commercialisation.

He's worked in a variety of environments including multi-national corporations, SME biotechs, research institutes and most recently CSIRO and has been involved in projects at each point of the lifecycle from discovery to marketing.

"I never saw commercial interactions as being only about money. For me, it's seeing research translated into real impact by being taken up, applied and then distributed to its users. For researchers, commercial partnerships can bring credibility and be a validation that their work is valuable in helping people. It's not easy forming and maintaining productive partnerships with industry since their needs, expectations and operational environments differ from those of a university. I'm excited about joining the team and hope to 'translate', help, guide, mentor and learn at Deakin."

Veena has significant experience in building partnerships in the research and education sectors. Her experience includes project management, program delivery and management in the University, not-for-profit, private and government sectors gained in two continents. She holds a Bachelor of Speech Therapy and Audiology and an Executive Masters in Business Administration.

"Deakin University has strong capability in a wide range of biology, biochemistry and molecular biology related fields including comparative genomics, proteomics and metabolomics, bio-nanotechnology and nanomaterials, molecular biology, physiology, ecology and environmental sciences providing ground-breaking innovative solutions especially relevant in addressing critical issues confronting both industry and government."

Marcus Bolger, a registered patent attorney, has significant hands on experience in engineering and manufacturing having worked for many years in a diverse range of industries solving real world problems.

Marcus has broad commercialisation experience, including taking new and emerging technologies from a basic idea, through new product development, prototyping, sourcing external funding, up-scaling for volume production, and start ups while ensuring that associated intellectual property (IP) is identified and protected.

"Deakin is fortunate that it has long established links with industry and government and that it has built a strong reputation for finding clever ways to implement practical solutions to real world problems."

Sandra McClelland is passionate about Research Partnerships. In a career spanning more than 20 years in research organisations including CSIRO, Primary Industries (AVS Pty Ltd) and now Deakin she has worked to build connections between researchers and the end users of their research.

"I like to think of myself as a match-maker, bringing industry and researchers together and brokering long term research relationships where excellent research applied to real world problems makes a difference in economic, social and environmental terms. Deakin is fortunate to have a fantastic group of environmental and social scientists, economists and engineers leading the way in their scientific fields and in practical solutions for industry."