New Director appointed at Deakin University’s Institute for Frontier Materials

Biomedical engineering researcher Professor Sally McArthur (pictured) has been named the new Director of Deakin University’s Institute for Frontier Materials.

McArthur heads the materials science and engineering centre at Deakin’s Waurn Ponds campus with over 200 staff, and a focus on the themes of “Re-designing materials for a circular economy” and “Imparting materials with extraordinary functionality”. Its work runs across the energy, mining, environment, health, transport, textiles and manufacturing sectors. 

“I am excited to bring my diverse range of experience and skills to Deakin and lead IFM into the future,” said McArthur. 

“I am joining a team of talented scientists at IFM who are transforming material design, creating novel, renewable materials and by-products.”

The university’s Deputy Vice-Chancellor Research, Professor Julie Owens, said that McArthur had the right skills and background to help address specific industry needs, and had done so in surface and bioengineering, hydrogen, and emissions-free energy.

“Deakin prides itself on the innovative translation of our ideas and research into new services, products, policies and capabilities,” said Owens.

“Sally is commercially-orientated and globally connected. She excels at applying fundamental research to the design of innovative new products.”

According to a statement from Deakin, McArthur’s background includes Research+ Science Leader in Biomedical Manufacturing at CSIRO from 2017 to 2021, playing a key role in establishing the Australian National Fabrication Facility Victoria (ANFF-Vic) Biointerface Engineering Hub, and being made Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering last year for work in industry-academic research collaborations.

She was most recently Director of the Manufacturing Futures Research Institute at Swinburne University.

Picture: supplied

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