VC interview with Virginia Trioli on ABC Melbourne

TOPICS: ABC MELBOURNE'S 'RADIO IN RESIDENCY' IN GEELONG, GEELONG'S OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES, RESEARCH COMMERCIALISATION FUNDING ANNOUNCEMENTS AND DEAKIN'S RESEARCH FOCUS

VIRGINIA TRIOLI: For now, Iain Martin is with you, the Vice-Chancellor of Deakin University. Vice-Chancellor.

Thank you for having us.

IAIN MARTIN: Good morning, and it's great to be here.

TRIOLI: So, you're going to be hosting us at your Waterfront Campus?

MARTIN: Indeed. I'm sitting there now looking out over the bay. It's a bit cloudy, but it's still a beautiful view that you'll have from the space we've got for you and a great location it is.

TRIOLI: So, tell me about the space you've got for us. Describe it to anyone who wants to come by and say hello.

MARTIN: If you know where the pier is in Geelong, it's almost on the other side of the street from the pier overlooking the bay. It's on the ground floor, with lots of glass windows, so you can see and see what's going on. And looking over the bay, seeing the development just alongside from the Marina that's had a whole lot of work done over the last couple of years that is right in the heart of the city.

TRIOLI: Sounds lovely. What will be the issues that you would want us to focus on for the region of Geelong?

MARTIN: I think Geelong and the Barwon region are a microcosm of the whole country. If you talk to people here at the moment, obviously, what happens post-COVID, the economy, education, jobs and workforce, both from those not able to find work but increasingly, the challenges of finding a sufficient workforce to get everything done.

It's been a tough two years, but at the moment, Geelong is thriving for many people. I recognise that is not for everybody, and there are many people still doing it tough, but a lot is happening here. It is a microcosm.

TRIOLI: Iain Martin, you would have heard the Prime Minister yesterday. Towards the end of his Press Club speech, he announced what he described as 'significant money' to trial and boost commercialised research that could end up being commercialised and turned into something so that research by universities would not just fall into a black hole. Any response to what he's got to say?

MARTIN: The announcement yesterday was important. It's a significant investment in research commercialisation, which is important. It's important across the sector. It's particularly important to our university.

We're investing ourselves a great deal in commercialisation, both at our Burwood campus and here in Geelong at Waurn Ponds. And it's welcome to see that the pathway is there. Over the coming days, we need to see all of the details about how this will unfold.

But I would point out that commercialisation is the end stage of the generation and exploration of ideas, and we've got to make sure that we keep that vibrant discovery research going as well so that we've got great ideas to commercialise. But it is really important we do this.

The jobs, industries and the developments of the future will come through that commercialisation pathway. And we know historically Australia has not done as well as it could or should do. So it's great to see, but we want to make sure it remains part of a really, really vibrant research innovation system.

TRIOLI: Well, that's the problem, isn't it? Because so much money has been cut out of the university sector research in particular over so many years. How can you know whether something is truly going to be realised commercially or not unless you have a rich and very solid and humming blue-sky research program going on at our universities? Because you can't anticipate or predict at the very beginning, can you, Vice-Chancellor?

MARTIN: Look, you can't. And that is the challenge of this. We've known for many years that many of the greatest developments, I wouldn't say, have entirely occurred by chance. But they've been side discoveries from other research programs where brilliant researchers have said, "oh, that looks a bit unusual. We're going to push the boundaries there", whether that's in medical research, new materials or engineering.

So much has come through that pathway, and it is essential that we're focusing on both ends of the pipeline. But I'm not going to say anything other than yesterday's announcement was really significant. It is a sizeable investment in an area where certainly, as a nation, we should be making sure that we do as much as we can. It will build new industries and hopefully give us better capabilities to deal with the next 10, 20, 30 years.

TRIOLI: Are there particular issues or areas of inquiry that Deakin University, down where we'll be going to Geelong, where you would want to put that money, if you're lucky enough to get your hands on it?

MARTIN: We've got a lot of work in both new and advanced materials to solve engineering problems, but increasingly how we recycle used materials into new products. We've got some great researchers looking at how you can take waste metal and build new alloys for new construction from that.

Carbon fibre, it's a wonderful material. The first generation of use of carbon fibres is now coming to the end of their use, so we're looking at recycling to reuse that carbon fibre. And also areas like battery technology. We've got some fantastic chemists and battery technologists working on the next generation of battery technology.

That's already led to some very important spin-out companies. For example, we've got one, Lithium Sulphur Energy (Li-S), that's working in partnership with an external commercial partner, worth over a billion dollars.

So a lot is happening in that space, lots to talk about. So I think there are several areas where we would say let's have a conversation while you're here. It's really exciting.

TRIOLI: Well, I'd like to talk about some of those research projects as well, and some of those commercialised, commercially realised projects would be great when we're down there, Iain Martin. We'll get that chance to catch up when we're down your way for our March residency. Nice to chat this morning.

MARTIN: Thank you very much indeed, and looking forward to having you here.

TRIOLI: Make sure the weather is good.

MARTIN: We will do.

TRIOLI: Thank you because we all plan to go swimming immediately afterwards. We're heading straight to Torquay straight after, aren't we, Katrina? Thank you Iain.