Professor Matthew Barnett

Professor Matthew Barnett

Professor Matthew Barnett Director, Institute for Frontier Materials

mineAlloy Director Professor Barnett is a world leading researcher in sheet steels and magnesium alloys. He has worked as a metallurgist with BHP Steel and during that time completed his PhD. He joined Deakin University in 1999 as a post-doctoral researcher and formed a light metals research team to complement the group’s existing strength in steel. Under his guidance, the team has become a world-recognised research group in the field of wrought alloys. He has also established parallel activities in in-situ characterisation techniques, fundamentals of deformation twinning, wear resistant steels and thermoelectric alloys. Professor Barnett will support the PhD students and post-doctoral researchers in the centre to develop both academic writing skills and industry relevant capabilities.

Professor Peter Hodgson

Professor Peter Hodgson

Alfred Deakin Professor, Institute for Frontier Materials

Professor Hodgson is the founding Director of the Institute for Frontier Materials (IFM) and Deakin’s first Australian Laureate Fellow. He has extensive experience as a supervisor of PhD students and of supporting and mentoring researchers. During his time as Director of the Institute for Technology Research and Innovation, and then IFM, he was instrumental in building the University’s advanced characterisation facilities to become one of the most advanced facilities for metals research in Australia. Professor Hodgson has an advisory role in the centre.

 Associate Professor Daniel Fabijanic

Associate Professor Daniel Fabijanic

Associate Professor (Research), Institute for Frontier Materials

Associate Professor Fabijanic is a senior research fellow in surface engineering at the Institute for Frontier Materials. Since receiving his PhD from Deakin in 2005 he has put together a research team in the field of surface engineering and thermal treatment of metals. He is also heavily involved in research leadership and training of PhD students both within the Institute for Frontier Materials and at a University level. Dr Fabijanic was previously involved as a Chief Investigator in Advanced Manufacturing CRC and the Centre of Excellence for Design in Light Metals. He currently leads projects in the Energy Pipelines CRC.

Dr Michael Pereira

Dr Michael Pereira

Senior Lecturer, Mechanical Design Engineering, Deakin University

Dr Pereira is a lecturer in Mechanical Engineering at the School of Engineering at Deakin University. He received his PhD from the Institute for Frontier Materials at Deakin University in 2010. Since then he was employed as a Research Fellow at IFM at Deakin – during which time he was awarded an Australian Postdoctoral Industry Fellowship (APDI) from the Australian Research Council – and subsequently employed as a lecturer in the School of Engineering (current position). Dr Pereira’s research has been largely applied and industry-based, and has been mainly been focussed on the areas of metal forming, tool wear, mining wear and tribology. His research has had a strong focus on using thermo-mechanical finite element modelling and novel monitoring techniques to better understand the wear behaviour and material behaviour in the stated research areas.

Professor Mingxing Zhang

Professor Mingxing Zhang

School of Mechanical and Mining Engineering, University of Queensland

Professor Zhang is Professor in the School of Mechanical and Mining Engineering at the University of Queensland. Since his appointment in 2005 he has established a large research group which carries out research on phase transformations in solids, solidification and grain refinement of metals (including ferrous and non-ferrous alloys), development of new alloys and surface engineering. He is one of the inventors of the well known edge-to-edge matching crystallographic model and has been successful in applying the model to understand the mechanism of grain refinement. He is a world leader in this field.

Dr Jeffrey Gates

Dr Jeffrey Gates

Senior Research Fellow, University of Queensland

Dr Gates is a senior research fellow in the School of Mechanical and Mining Engineering at the University of Queensland. He established and leads the consultancy and contract research business UQ Materials Performance. UQMP has performed more than 1000 commercial projects, all of which are strongly outcomes focused. His core research field is abrasive wear in the mining industry, in which he has built an international reputation.

Professor Christopher Hutchinson

Professor Christopher Hutchinson

Associate Dean (Research), Faculty of Engineering, Professor, Materials Science and Engineering & ARC Future Fellow, Monash University

Christopher Hutchinson is a professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Monash University. He is an ARC Future Fellow and leads a group working in the area of physical metallurgy.

His research on the coupling of recrystallization, recovery and precipitation in microalloyed steels has led to refined thermo-mechanical schedules for the world’s largest steel company, ArcelorMittal. A second project with ArcelorMittal has led to the identification of a number of promising new grades of steel that the company is investigating for suitability as hot-stamping steels for automotive applications.

Dr Christopher Solnordal

Dr Christopher Solnordal

Principal Research Scientist, CSIRO

Dr Solnordal is a principal research scientist with CSIRO’s Minerals Resources Business Unit. He has worked at CSIRO since completing his PhD in 1992. During this time he has worked on solving problems for industrial clients using computational modelling. He works primarily with clients in the minerals and process industries. His research interests include wear reduction, emissions reduction, flash smelting reaction modelling, particle flows and agglomeration, fluidization, heat and mass transfer, and smelting processes. He has also spent four years managing CSIRO’s state-of-the-art laser flow diagnostics facility.