Leonardos

BROOK ANDREW

Brook Andrew is an interdisciplinary artist who examines dominant narratives, often relating to colonialism and modernist histories. Through museum and archival interventions and curatorial projects, he aims to make forgotten stories visible and offer alternative choices for interpreting history in the world today. Apart from drawing inspiration from vernacular objects and the archive he travels internationally to work with communities and various private and public collections.

RITA ARRIGO

Rita Arrigo is a Chief Digital Advisor at Microsoft. She dreams, designs and delivers to transform business, empower the employee, deliver new connected customer experiences and re-invent products. Her work at Microsoft is focused in Smart Buildings, Connected Manufacturing, Digital Health, Connected Vehicle, Digital Museum Platform and Experience Design, together with industry, government and education re-imagining people, place and technology in the digital world.

PHILIP BATTERHAM

Phil Batterham is a Genetics Professor in the School of BioSciences at the University of Melbourne, based in the Bio21 Institute. His research is focused on insecticides that target insect pests, what they do to the insect brain and the ways in which pests evolve to overcome them. Outside of science, Phil was one of the founders of a large non-professional theatre company, Catchment Players of Darebin. He lead a successful campaign that saw the Darebin Arts and Entertainment Centre built. Phil has also been a five-time finalist for the Eureka Prize for Promoting the Understanding of Australian Science.

DORON BEN-MEIR

Doron Ben-Meir has extensive experience in the venture capital industry and commercialisation more generally. Over the past twenty-six years he has been involved in numerous venture capital organisations; has been a founder or co-founder of six start-up companies; as well as an investor, investment manager, and advisor to several other companies.

LUKE BRISCOE

Yalanji man Luke Briscoe (Junjirrba Wawu Kaitbal) has worked professionally in the arts, cultural, education and policy sectors including NITV/SBS, National Congress of Australia's First Peoples, The Australia Council, Metro Screen and Youth Arts Queensland. Mr Briscoe has developed and delivered a range of groundbreaking arts and media programs including an arts business training program and setup the Indigenous Media RING employment program and in 2015 Mr Briscoe founded INDIGI LAB which is an award winning change management agency that provides consultancy in the areas of Digital Inclusion, Indigenous STEM Education and Indigenous led Sustainable Development.

SEBASTIAN CHAN

Seb Chan is Chief Experience Officer at ACMI, responsible for organisation-wide experience and service design. Prior to this he led the digital renewal and transformation of the Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum in New York and drove the Powerhouse Museum's pioneering work in open access, mass collaboration and digital experience during the 2000s. He has worked as a museum consultant across North America, Europe and Asia, and his work has won awards from American Alliance of Museums, One Club, and D&AD. He is an Adjunct Professor in the School of Media and Communications at RMIT and leads a parallel life in digital art and electronic music.

PETA CLANCY

Peta Clancy is a descendent of the Bangerang people from the Murray Goulburn area, South Eastern Australia. She is a Melbourne based visual artist who will be undertaking the 2018 Fostering Koorie Art and Culture Residency at Koorie Heritage Trust. Peta's collaborative project (with Helen Pynor) ‘The Body is a Big Place’ won an Honorary Mention in the 2012 Prix Ars Electronica, Austria. It has been exhibited at Science Gallery London (2017); Galerija Kapelica, Slovenia (2013); National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts (2013); National Centre for Contemporary Art, Russia (2013); Powerhouse Museum, Sydney (2013); OK Center for Contemporary Art, Ars Electronica, Austria (2012); and Performance Space, Sydney (2011). 

KATE CORNICK

Dr Kate Cornick is CEO of LaunchVic, an independent company established by the Victorian Government to support and grow the state’s startup ecosystem. Kate has extensive experience in both business and academia and has also served on the board of Broadband World Congress. Kate holds a PhD in Electrical Engineering and has previously served as CEO of an ASX-listed technology startup, Rision. She has held a range of executive positions within the University of Melbourne, including Director of Industry Engagement and Innovation. A recognised leader in Australia’s telecommunications sector, Kate also sits on the State Government’s Innovation Expert Panel which advises on ways to strengthen Victoria’s position as Australia’s innovation and tech hub.

CHARLES DAY

Dr Charles Day is CEO of the Office of Innovation and Science Australia (OISA). He brings to the role a broad range of experience gained through a long career in innovation, business development, technology commercialisation, venture capital and start-up creation. Prior to his current role he was the Program Director for the Carlton Connect Initiative, an ambitious project to create Australia's premier STEM innovation precinct anchored by the University of Melbourne. As CEO, Dr Day leads the Office of Innovation and Science Australia to support the Innovation and Science Australia (ISA) board’s development and implementation of long-term initiatives to boost innovation and science.

KAREN DAY   

Professor Karen Day is a distinguished malaria geneticist dedicated to improving global health using her scientific training.  Born in Melbourne, she was educated at the University of Melbourne and completed her PhD studies at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute. She had the “life changing” opportunity of studying the public health problems of Papua New Guineans as a young postdoctoral researcher. This experience led her to strengthen her computational biology training as applied to public health, in the UK at Imperial College and the University of Oxford.She has had a diverse career as a scholar and academic administrator in both science and medicine in the UK, US and Australia. She joined the University of Melbourne in 2014 as Dean of Science to lead Australia’s premier Science Faculty.  In addition, she continues to run a malaria research group based in the Bio21 Institute and School of BioSciences. 

PETER DOHERTY

A graduate of the University of Queensland School of Veterinary Science, Professor Peter Doherty shared the 1996 Nobel Medicine Prize for his immunology research and was the 1997 Australian of the Year. Since then, he has gone in to bat for evidence-based reality, relating to areas as diverse as childhood vaccination, global hunger and anthropogenic climate change. So far he has published five “lay” books on science with the latest, “The Knowledge Wars”, suggesting how those who don’t know much (or anything) about science can “interrogate” both the scientific evidence and those who claim to be scientists for themselves

ALAN DUFFY

Associate Professor Duffy is an astrophysicist at Swinburne University who creates baby universes on the nation’s most powerful supercomputers to understand how galaxies like our Milky Way form and grow within vast halos of invisible dark matter that hold it together. He is attempting to find this dark matter as part of SABRE, the world’s first dark matter detector in the Southern Hemisphere. When not exploring a simulated universe he is trying to explain ours in schools across the country or in the media as a regular on ABC Breakfast TV, Ten’s The Project and TripleJ Hack.

SHAUN EWEN

Professor Shaun Ewen is Pro Vice-Chancellor (Indigenous) at the University of Melbourne where he has responsibility for institutional policy, strategy and advice in relation to all aspects of Indigenous higher education. He is also Foundation Director of the Melbourne Poche Centre for Indigenous Health in the Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences at the University of Melbourne, where he provides academic leadership to the Centre and maintains a strong sense of Indigenous leadership in the health and higher education sectors. In his previous role as Associate Dean (Indigenous Development), Professor Ewen was charged with progressing the Indigenous development agenda, in concert with the Reconciliation Action Plan, for the Faculty. He also provides the academic and Indigenous leadership for the Leaders in Indigenous Medical Education (LIME) project, a bi-national project of Medical Deans Australia and New Zealand.

 BRUCE GLADWIN

Bruce Gladwin is an Australian artist and performance maker. He has been the artistic director of Geelong-based Back to Back Theatre since 1999—a theatre company with a history spanning 28 years punctuated by exciting, award-winning theatre productions.

Back to Back focusses on theatre works that challenge the possibilities of theatre and, with Bruce Gladwin at the helm, they look to continue to pursue new directions in theatre long into the future.

TANYA HA

Tanya Ha is an award-winning Australian environmental campaigner, best-selling author, science journalist and communication consultant. Tanya is Director of Engagement at Science in Public, where she media trains scientists and is heavily involved behind-the-scenes in National Science Week.She is also a member of the executive of Science and Technology Australia, an Associate of the Melbourne Sustainable Society Institute, and an advisory board member of the ARC Centre of Excellence in Exciton Science. She has also served on the boards of Sustainability Victoria and Keep Australia Beautiful. On television, Tanya was a presenter for ABC’s Catalyst and Can We Help?, and the ‘eco-coach’ in SBS’s Eco House Challenge. Tanya’s books include Greeniology and Green Stuff for Kids.

RAE JOHNSTON

Rae is a journalist/television and radio presenter, as well as an actor, voice artist, speaker and MC. She is a proud Wiradjuri woman from Kalari clan in Cowra, NSW. She grew up on Dharug country and lives and works on Gadigal Land, Eora country (Sydney). Rae is the Editor of Gizmodo Australia, focusing on science, technology, video games and “geek” entertainment. On television she hosts SBS’ The Feed and Small Business Secrets, as well as the upcoming children’s Indigenous Science series Rewired for NITV. You can also catch Rae on Radio National’s Drive and Download This Show programs regularly chatting technology. An experienced actor, voice artist, MC and live host, Rae tours the country speaking at pop culture, technology, science and and video game conventions and events, MC-ing cosplay competitions, delivering keynote speeches as well as hosting and speaking on panels.

GREGOR KENNEDY

Gregor Kennedy is the Pro Vice-Chancellor (Teaching & Learning) at the University of Melbourne, Director of the Melbourne Centre for the Study of Higher Education, and a Professor of Education in the Melbourne Graduate School of Education. After completing a PhD in social psychology, Gregor tilted sideways and began a research career in education, looking particularly at how digital technologies can be used to improve education and training in the health sciences. He has overseen numbers of educational technology research and development projects and has a long-standing interest in public education and the role technology can play in this. 

SHARON LEWIN

Sharon is the inaugural Director of the Doherty Institute where her lab team is part of an international push to find a cure for HIV and to understand HIV and hepatitis B interaction. She is a Professor of Medicine at the University of Melbourne, and a National Health and Medical Research Council Practitioner Fellow. Named Melburnian of the Year in 2014, Sharon has authored more than 230 publications and delivered nearly as many major international talks. She co-chairs the International AIDS Society’s Towards an HIV Cure initiative, and was co-chair of the 20th International AIDS Conference in Melbourne. She chairs the federal Ministerial Advisory Committee for Blood Borne Viruses and Sexually Transmitted Infections, and is a member of the NHMRC Council and the Governing Council of the International AIDS Society.

JENNY MARTIN

Dr Jen Martin is an award-winning educator: she founded, designed and teaches the University of Melbourne’s highly acclaimed science communication program. She is deeply committed to training scientists to communicate effectively with both scientific and lay audiences.

Underpinning this teaching is her own practice of communicating the wonders of science to a large and broad audience in her popular weekly segment Weird Science on 3RRR Breakfasters. Jen has also been a co-host of 3RRR’s Sunday science show, Einstein-a-go-go for more than a decade. Jen blogs about science at www.espressoscience.com and is also a writer for Double Helix, CSIRO’s science magazine for kids.

RUTH MCMULLIN

Ruth McMullin is a social worker and family therapist with a passion for the arts. Her professional career spans the not-for-profit, private, government and educational sectors.

She has extensive experience working with children, young people and families in the areas of child protection, mental health and education. She consults with a psychology practice and a number of organisations in relation to client and staff wellbeing. She served on the Board of Arena Theatre Company, one of Australia’s leading producers of theatre for young people.

In August 2019, Ruth and her husband, Peter McMullin, generously donated $4 million to Science Gallery Melbourne to build the gallery’s future home. Science Gallery will inspire and transform curious minds through the collision of art and science, with a view to engage more young people in STEM education.

In 2017, Peter and Ruth also supported the establishment and operation of the Peter McMullin Centre on Statelessness at the University of Melbourne. The Centre plays a critical role in worldwide efforts to eliminate statelessness and to protect the rights of stateless people.

LUCY MCRAE

Lucy McRae is a science fiction artist, filmmaker, inventor and body architect. Her work speculates on the future of human existence by exploring the limits of the body, beauty, biotechnology and the self. McRae has exhibited at Science Museum London, Centre Pompidou and the Venice Biennale, developing work alongside MIT, Ars Electronica and NASA. Regarded as a pioneer who blurs the boundaries across art, architecture, design and technology Lucy has a healthy disregard for labels that limit transdisciplinary practice.

NATASHA MITCHELL

Natasha Mitchell is a multi-award winning ABC broadcaster and has presented flagship programs including the national, daily morning show, Life Matters (2012-16), and was founding presenter & producer of All in the Mind (2002-12), on ABC Radio National. She hosts ABC RN's new culture, science, and technology program, Science Friction. She served as a board member and vice president of the World Federation of Science Journalists, and has received accolades internationally, including the prestigious MIT Knight Fellowship and Grand Prize and four Gold World Medals at the New York Radio Festivals. She is on the Executive Advisory board of Women in Science Australia. Natasha has an engineering degree from Monash University, and a postgraduate diploma in science communication from ANU.

PATRICIA PICCININI

Patricia Piccinini is a contemporary artist who is interested in what it means to be alive in the present day. She creates a world somewhere between the one we know and one that is almost upon us. She focuses on the emotional lives of the new creatures that might emerge, along with our relationships with them and with nature. Her world is one of questions rather than answers. Instead of telling the viewer what to think she asks them how they feel when confronted by possibilities. Patricia has exhibited all over the world, including the Venice Biennale, and in 2013 created the Skywhale for the Centenary of Canberra.

PETER SCALES

Peter is an engineer and scientist with a career in academic teaching and research at the University of Melbourne, industrial research and development and consultancy. At his core, he is a problem solver, environmentalist and a maker of things and spends his time investigating how to improve industrial processes that involve the flow and separation of molecules and particles in water. This includes the separation and concentration of heavy metals, chemicals, precious metals, algae and pathogens from water to improve both the environmental footprint and efficiency of key processes in the mining, pulp and paper, water and wastewater and pharmaceuticals industries.

ALICIA SOMETIMES

Alicia Sometimes is a writer and broadcaster. She has performed her spoken word and poetry at many venues, festivals and events around the world. Alicia is one-sixth of the ABC podcast, The Outer Sanctum. Her written pieces have been in Best Australian Poems, Best Australian Science Writing, New Matilda, The Age and many more. In 2014 she was a Fellow at the State Library of Victoria. Alicia is passionate about arts and science. She is director and co-writer of two art/science planetarium shows, the latest being Particle/Wave that enjoyed a sell-out season during the 2018 Melbourne International Arts Festival.

FIONA STANLEY

Professor Fiona Stanley is the Founding Director and Patron of the Telethon Kids Institute, Distinguished Research Professor at the University of Western Australia and Director of ANDI (Australian National Development Index) at the University of Melbourne. Professor Stanley has spent her career researching the causes of major childhood illnesses such as birth defects. Her major contribution has been to establish the Telethon Kids Institute, a unique multidisciplinary independent research institute focussing on the causes and prevention of major problems affecting children and youth. More recently she has become a spokesperson for the Climate Council, Doctors for the Environment Australia (member of their Scientific Advisory Committee) and 350.org, on the health effects of climate change.

STELARC

Stelarc is a performance artist who explores alternate anatomical architectures, interrogating issues of agency, identity and the post-human. His projects incorporate prosthetics, robotics, biotechnology, medical imaging and the internet. Projects include a Third Hand, a six-legged Exoskeleton and an Extra Ear. His artwork is represented by the Scott Livesay Galleries.

TEA UGLOW

Tea Uglow is a 10-year veteran of Google’s Creative Lab. Her output includes 7 books, 17 websites, 6 apps, a feature film, 4 plays, 2 concerts, 5 museum exhibits and some talking teddy bears. She has pencils, lions, webbys, and other shiny stuff. Her 2015 TEDx talk has more than 1.5m views, she has waffled up 200 hours of talks and authored 2 books: A Universe Explodes and A Curiosity of Doubts. She is a member of AGI, and on the board of the Biennale of Sydney. She mentors young female creatives worldwide. She likes quantum physics, behavioural psychology, shopping, and pastries.

FRANK VETERE

Frank Vetere is Professor of Human-Computer Interaction at the University of Melbourne. He leads the Interaction Design Laboratory and is director of the research centre for Social Natural User Interfaces, a collaborative initiative with Microsoft Research. His research interests are in human-centred innovation, design thinking and technologies for ageing-well. His research aims to generate knowledge about the use and design of information and communication technologies for human wellbeing and social benefit.

JESS VOVERS

Jess Vovers is a PhD Candidate in Chemical and Bimolecular Engineering at the University of Melbourne, looking at sustainable solvents for pharmaceutical applications. Jess has lived in the US, Cameroon, Thailand and Japan and has mostly settled here at Melbourne, while studying for her MEng, BSci and DipLang. She pursues her passion for diversity in STEM through public engagements, and has spoken for events like Pause Fest, TEDx, and GirledWorld. She is also a tutor and mentor.

ROBYN WILLIAMS

Science journalist and broadcaster Robyn Williams presents RN's The Science Show and Ockham's Razor. He has conducted countless interviews with scientists on ABC TV on programs such as Quantum and Catalyst, narrated the Nature of Australia series and appeared in World Safari with David Attenborough. Outside the ABC, Robyn has served in various capacities, including president of the Australian Museum Trust, chairman of the Commission for the Future, and president of the Australian Science Communicators. In 1987, he was proclaimed a National Living Treasure.

TERRY WU

Mr Terry Wu is a respected specialist plastic, reconstructive and aesthetic surgeon. He is a consultant specialist at Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre where he was the Supervisor of Training for plastic surgery more than ten years and specialises in major reconstructions post cancer surgery. Terry’s other passion is contemporary visual arts. Through being a collector and an indefatigable advocate, Terry endeavours to materially contribute to the wellbeing of artists and visual arts in Australia. Terry serves as a Board Director of Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI), Heide Museum of Modern Art and National Association for the Visual Arts (NAVA) and supports institutions and events including The Melbourne Festival, Venice Biennale and the new Australian Pavilion for Venice Biennale.

STUART WYITHE 

Stuart is an astronomer and Head of Physics at the University of Melbourne, with research interests in the evolution of the earliest galaxies and how this evolution may be studied with the next generation of telescopes. He has received several awards for this work, including the 2009 Pawsey Medal for physics from the Australian Academy of Science, the 2011 Malcolm McIntosh Prize for Physical Scientist of the Year and the Australian Institute of Physics Boas Medal for 2014. 

Stuart has played numerous leadership roles in Australian Astronomy including as Chair of the National Committee for Astronomy. He led development of the Australian Astronomy Decadal Plan 2015-2025, and is currently President of the Astronomical Society of Australia.

ALISON YOUNG

Alison Young is the Francine V. McNiff Professor of Criminology in the School of Social and Political Sciences at the University of Melbourne, and a Professor in the Law School at City University, London. She is the author of Street Art World (2016), Street Art, Public City (2014), The Scene of Violence (2010), Street/Studio (2010, and Judging the Image (2005), and numerous articles on the intersection of law, crime, culture and public or private space. She is the founder of the Urban Environments Research Network, an interdisciplinary and international group of academics, artists, and architects, and is a convenor of the Future Cities Research Cluster in the Sustainable Societies Institute at the University of Melbourne.