Thursday 10 September
AM
Business, industry and service providers:
How well does business understand and use research – and how well
do universities understand business?
PM
LUNCH: Hosted by Victoria University (depart city at 12pm)
Community and research partnerships – community health case
study:
Victoria University
Business/Higher Education Round Table
www.bhert.com
UniGateway
www.unigateway.com.au
Australasian Industrial Research Group
www.airg.org.au
Faculty of Science and Technology, Federation University
www.federation.edu.au/faculties-and-schools/faculty-of-science-and-technology
Victoria University
www.vu.edu.au
Christopher Goldsworthy
Assistant Executive Director of the Business/Higher Education Round Table
Christopher is the Assistant Executive Director of the Business/Higher Education Round Table,
a position he has held since 2003. Previously, Director of The Australian Ballet, Director of The
Australian National Memorial Theatre, General Manager, DMA Clinical Pilates P/L, Manager
Business & Strategy – the New Zealand Schools of Dance & Drama, Vice-President, Agilitas USA,
and Company Manager, Essgee Entertainment. Christopher has also consulted to the arts and
consumer finance sectors.
He is a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, and holds Master’s degrees in
Business Administration and Business Law, both from Bond University.
Christopher is a former dancer of The Australian Ballet (1982 – 1994) and graduate of the
Australian Ballet School.
Gael Andrews
Executive Officer, UniGateway
Gael is the Executive Officer of UniGateway, an informal consortium of the eight major Victorianbased universities. To provide simple access to all of the universities’ expertise, Gael’s main role is
to be the relationship broker that connects businesses and governments, at all levels, with the
expertise within each of the universities. Gael also develops and nurtures relationships to build
networks of stakeholders with similar goals to provide a collective voice.
Gael’s previous role as Marketing Manager of Monash Commercial, the private commercialisation
arm of Monash University, included working with businesses to work out the best way to help them
innovate. Prior to that, within the tertiary sector, Gael was Marketing Manager, TAFE, at Swinburne
University and Marketing Manager at Holmesglen TAFE. She has also worked in the private sector
in multiple roles so understands business requirements/needs, which is invaluable in her current
role.
Gael holds a business degree from Monash University and is a Certified Practising Marketer (CPM).
She is has been (and is currently) a mentor for the Australian Marketing Institute’s (AMI) annual
Emerging Marketers program since 2007, and a judge for the AMI’s annual Marketing Excellence
Awards since 2008.
Ken Mirams
President, Australasian Industrial Research Group
Ken is President of the Australasian Industrial Research Group. AIRG seeks to improve the
quality of industrial research management in Australia & New Zealand by stimulating a greater
understanding of the effective management of industrial research and development, and innovation
as a force to drive economic, industrial and societal activities.
Ken joined Dow Chemical in 1974 and through 38 years was exposed to Manufacturing, Research
& Development, Human Resources and General Management and has worked in Australia, New
Zealand, USA, Hong Kong and Shanghai. He has participated in global, Pacific and Australian
executive management teams.
He has held director positions as Pacific HR Director, Managing Director Dow Chemical ANZ, Board
member/ Director of PACIA (Plastics & Chemicals Industry Association), Board member of MSA
(Manufacturing Skills Aust) and Director/Chairman of Dow Superannuation Fund.
He graduated with a Bachelor of Chemical Engineering from RMIT in 1974, is a Fellow of the Royal
Australian Chemical Institute, and a member of the Macquarie University Chemistry advisory board.
A/Prof Iqbal Gondal
Faculty of Science and Technology, Federation University
Dr Iqbal Gondal's research interests are: wireless networks, sensor networks, remote machine
condition monitoring, information fusion, social networks and network analytics. He has published
two book chapters and over 127 refereed conference and journal papers. According to Google
Scholar, his publications have been cited over 621 times, with an H-index of 10 and G-index of 20.
To date he has successfully supervised twelve and is currently supervising five PhD students.
He is also the recipient of Best Paper award in an international conference. He has received
commendation from Vice-Chancellor and Pro Vice-Chancellor (Learning and Teaching) for his
excellent teaching in Monash. He has served in the capacity of Director of postgraduate studies for
six years, member faculty board, member of Monash academic board and Director of ICT Strategy
for the faculty in Monash.
Prior to joining Monash, he worked in a capacity of a research fellow and a senior software systems
engineer for seven years in Singapore and Australia with Delphi (GM), Singapore Manufacturing
Technology (SimTech) and other industries. He has experience in network design and
development, project management, System design and integration, SCADA, intelligent techniques,
adaptive systems and wireless switches for financial services. He is a member of IEEE (USA),
Communication Society (USA) and Engineers Australia.
Professor Michael McKenna
Director, Institute of Sports, Exercise Science and Active Living (ISEAL), Victoria University
Professor Michael McKenna has an internationally recognised research history in integrative human
exercise physiology. He is a world leader in skeletal muscle sodium/potassium-pump and potassium
regulation in exercise in humans. He is also the coordinator of the Exercise Special Interest Group
in the Australian Physiology Society.
Associate Professor Ramon Spaaij
Sport in Society – Research Program Leader, ISEAL, Victoria University
Associate Professor Ramón Spaaij is an expert in the sociology of sport and physical activity. His
research focuses on socio-cultural aspects and impacts of sport, with a particular focus on
questions of social cohesion, conflict and social change. He also holds a Special Chair in Sociology
of Sport at the University of Amsterdam. He is convenor of the Sport Thematic Group in The
Australian Sociological Association.
Professor Jason Allen
Clinical Exercise Science – Research Program Leader, ISEAL, Victoria University
Professor Jason Allen is an expert in Clinical Exercise Physiology and Vascular Health. He is a
Fellow of the American College of Sports Medicine and a Registered Vascular Specialist (CCI). His
research combines clinical, physiological, and biochemical techniques to investigate cardiovascular
health and the atherosclerotic process. The focus is on peripheral blood flow, endothelial function,
and nitric oxide (NO) bioavailability at rest and following acute and chronic stimulus. Within the
College of Sport and Exercise Science he is also the Director of the Clinical Exercise Science and
Rehabilitation Program and Clinics.
Professor Stuart Biddle
Active Living and Public Health – Research Program Leader, ISEAL, Victoria University
Professor Stuart Biddle is an expert on active living and public health from the perspective of
behaviour change. His research adopts a multi-disciplinary behavioural medicine approach
concerning physical activity and sedentary behaviour with a particular emphasis on the
measurement, prevalence, correlates and behaviour change elements of sedentary behaviour
(sitting time). In addition, he has interests in active living and mental health, research application
(translation) and policy.