Engaging with policymakers in 2018

Education Minister Sen Simon Birmingham at UOW

Education Minister Simon Birmingham and ARC CEO Sue Thomas visited FLEET labs in may this year at the University of Wollongong’s (UOW’s) Innovation Campus. UOW node leader Prof Xiaolin Wang, Centre Deputy Director Prof Alex Hamilton (UNSW) and UOW researchers gave the
Minister a quick introduction to ICT energy-use issues, topological insulators and atomically-thin materials, including a tour of labs where novel materials are developed within FLEET’s Enabling technology A.

Also this year, Melbourne MP and Greens Science and Energy spokesperson Dr Adam Bandt visited FLEET’s labs at RMIT, meeting members and learning about the ICT energy-use issues that underlie FLEET’s mission. Host Prof Kourosh Kalantar-zadeh also introduced Dr Bandt to the members of ARC Centres for Quantum Science and Exciton Science; the three ARC Centres’ co-location at RMIT Research provides valuable crossovers of ideas.