Program

The Australian Government formed the Industry Growth Centres in 2015, with the intent to build connections between researchers and industry, to support Australia’s international competitiveness and growth in key industry sectors. The 6 Growth Centres drive impact in delivering industry-led strategies, aligning government activities to industry needs and delivering targeted activities to grow their sectors. Hear from experienced RMIT researchers who engage with the Growth Centres and discover how “Sector Competitiveness Plans” shape the direction of government priorities and partnerships between industries and universities.

Profound socioeconomic, cultural, and technological changes are transforming traditional institutions and higher education is no exception. In the climate of ongoing change, universities need to better attune themselves to the dynamic nature of the modern world. We must seize the opportunity to better describe how we contribute to a prosperous society or risk becoming irrelevant. But how? The best way to avoid disruption is to disrupt your own market from within… and this is a great starting point. Drawing on research, best practice cases in university engagement and more than 100 expert contributions from the Future of Universities Thoughtbook, come and help to create a vision of the future university.

Modern medicine has provided remarkable improvements to our lifespans and quality of life. Often relying on a “one-size-fits-all” approach – healthcare is moving towards a new era of Precision Medicine; where treatments are tailored to the precise needs of patients. This shift will require the healthcare industry to generate and analyse large amounts of personalised data, with integrated communication across sectors. Come learn from selected short talks followed by a discussion with a panel of experts exploring how the industry is navigating this shift and how RMIT is contributing to this revolution.

Explore cutting edge principles and innovative examples of research impact with an aim to assist collaborators to articulate, evaluate, and realise impact pathways. This hands-on session will help to create and capture value in readiness for stakeholder endorsement and scale. An emphasis will be placed on fundamentals to cultivate a strong impact culture, one that responds to contemporary drivers including shifting expectations, the SDG agenda, inclusive and ethical innovation as well as tips for managing complexity and uncertainty. The time is now to re-conceptualise research impact.

Communicating your research in an effective, concise way is essential for many career paths and activities, including engaging with the media, pitching for funding, building collaborations and connecting with all audiences. Join us to build confidence and skills in communicating your 'elevator pitch', and learn the important points of communication, so you can more effectively engage with people about your research. Presented by Science in Public, under PhD Up of the HDR co-curricular training programme, attendees have the chance to win a media training day with Science in Public

With the acceleration of technological and digital advancements there is a growing need for businesses to develop capabilities that align solutions and technological developments with market relevance and wider societal drivers. Strategic roadmapping is widely used across organisations and organisational functions to support strategic planning. Learn how to apply roadmapping in practice, bring together perspectives from varied stakeholders and realise value from market opportunities. Get hands-on experience with these tools and learn how they can applied in any research or business context.

The leading reason inhibiting Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) from adopting Industry 4.0 (I4.0) concepts is the inability to identify how and where it could generate business advantage. Often it's not the availability or maturity of technologies, but the understanding of the business case and how to select and integrate existing solutions. Hear from case studies based on collaborations between RMIT and local SMEs showcasing evidence of improvements generated by I4.0 and meet potential collaboration partners to establish collaborative research projects.

Learning how to describe the impact of your research is a critical skill for fostering collaboration, proposal writing, promotion applications and public engagement. Share in best practices to articulate the impact of your work with the Vice-Chancellor's Research Fellows' Advisory Group where they'll highlight some of RMIT's most impactful cross-disciplinary research delivering impact to benefit our communities.

This ground-breaking digital platform transforms complex urban data into easily understood liveability maps. Developed by the Healthy Liveable Cities Group for Australia’s 21 largest cities, we invite you to join us for the launch of this innovative tool. Hear from leading liveability practitioners from government and industry, alongside key researchers from RMIT University. Explore the critical pressures on our urban communities, what is needed to drive evidence-informed policy making, and ultimately identify and plan for healthy liveable cities. Come learn more about this exciting new national resource.

Each year, $20 billion worth of food is lost or wasted in Australia’s food supply chain, causing significant environmental, economic and social impacts. RMIT is one of eight universities involved in the ten year national Fight Food Waste Cooperative Research Centre that started in July 2018. Hear from key industry, government and not-for-profit project partners and RMIT researchers as they share the insights that are already being gained through CRC projects. The importance of co-designed industry-research projects and how these led to applied applications will be discussed, with a focus on food waste data business systems, packaging design, processing and machinery, consumer perceptions and food relief (rescue).

True innovation is only possible by incorporating knowledge generated through the spectrum of time. Indigenous peoples have created a wealth of knowledge that has relevance and application in today’s innovations. For the first time at RMIT, the Knowledge Innovation (KI) program will showcase KI research projects that include co-innovation with Indigenous Knowledge Holders.

Digital transformation and the future of work has emerged as the most topical issue in current times. Researchers, policy makers and industry are all trying to understand the nature and implications of the emerging workplace technologies for work, workers and economic sustainability. Missing from this discussion is the question of access and equity in the emerging labour market. Join experts alongside the Skills, Training and Industry Research Network (STIRN), where we will consider how the technological transformations affect various groups of workers and examine the changes in the associated opportunities and obstacles.

The energy sector is undergoing rapid transformation in the face of climate change. While the sector’s contribution to carbon emissions is widely understood, there is less awareness of the engineering innovations now being applied to respond to the climate change imperative. This might be due to a siloing effect that has emerged between the energy engineering body of research and the broader community of researchers, policymakers and concerned citizens. This session brings these communities together by exploring the latest advances in energy engineering, the current state of responses from the social sciences and space for crossdisciplinarity between the two.

Behind the hype of personalised, autonomous drones safely ferrying passengers or freight to their destination lies significant pressures for change in the transportation sector. Environmental and resource sustainability, population growth, safety and changing user preferences have inspired many technology breakthroughs and supported future visions. Advancements in lightweight materials and structures, propulsion systems and battery technologies, and recyclability to reduce environmental impact will present users with an array of new mobility options. Explore the future of mobility, its implications for research priorities and its intersection with the built environment within a social and legislative context with a team of experts.

Although academia is often the preferred career path for HDRs, the opportunities are scarce and HDRs have no choice but to look for employment in other areas. Join us for this exciting presentation and Q&A, providing HDRs with access to industry connections and advice on building professional networks. Get familiar with the APRIntern program and internships available, with the opportunity to ask questions from a panel consisting of industry partners and HDR candidates who have completed internships. This session aims to encourage HDRs to consider undertaking an internship during their PhD to provide them with the opportunity to network and improve employability skills.

Boosting women’s workforce participation is critical to meet future labour demand in Australia. To meet this demand, the Australian government has committed to decreasing the gender participation gap by 25% by 2025. A key strategy to boost women’s participation is to encourage increased participation by women in male-dominated sectors. Come examine the state of play in key industry sectors where physically demanding occupations are the norm, with specific regards to the attraction, retention and active engagement of women. Explore specific initiatives relevant to industry cultures, the worksite environments, physical job demands, tools and protective equipment and see the potential to share these initiatives across sectors.

RMIT developed the Bundyi Girri program to help non-Indigenous staff understand their place in the shared journey of reconciliation, empowering them to develop an active relationship with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. A Wiradjuri word for ‘shared futures’, Bundyi Girri offers valuable lessons for businesses looking to progress their own reconciliation journey, and show a more active commitment to diversity and inclusion. This session includes an overview of the Bundyi Girri frameworks, as well as practical examples and insights from recent business workshops.

A showcase of successful research translation and impact case studies, presented by a diverse and engaging group of outstanding research teams.

The focus of many innovations is now on sustainable and ethical behaviour, yet driving ongoing user engagement is a critical challenge for organisations. Gamification as a research translation mechanism has the potential to engage and motivate desired behavioural change, triggering real emotions and memorable user experiences, creating societal impact. Gamified Research Translation (GREAT) applies game science to non-game research outputs to bring universities closer to industry. GREAT interdisciplinary network experts address what gamification is and how it can bring scientific research closer to practice; the definition and journey of gamified research translation; and how a gamified tool can create impact in practice.

RMIT and its partners bring world-renowned experts together across disciplines such as Materials Engineering, Manufacturing & Fabrication, Tissue Engineering and Biomedical Research to address key clinical issues. Rapid growth of materials and biofabrication capabilities at RMIT integrated with clinical input from stakeholders at The Aikenhead Centre for Medical Discovery (ACMD) can deliver clinically-oriented solutions in hard-tissue, soft-tissue and device 3D printing and fabrication. Join us to identify new avenues for clinical translation with high significance and relevance to the community, contributing to the planning of how RMIT and its partners at ACMD will develop this opportunity.

Australia is making greater inroads toward a future where Artificial Intelligence (AI) will drive human capability enhancement to improve our quality of life. To this end, solving real-world problems by bringing the cutting-edge of AI to Industries including Transport, Food & Agriculture, and Advanced Manufacturing is vital. Join us to unpack how AI can grow and optimise your organisation and explore opportunities for value-driven collaboration.

RMIT Europe has been the conduit to successfully connect Melbourne researchers to European funding opportunities and is now redying to triangulate efforts between Vietnam, Melbourne and Barcelona. Explore current initiatives with Vietnam, which affords unique opportunities ripe for collaboration, and connect with researchers to navigate into the complex world of capability mapping, consortia building and ways of working to streamline joint efforts for greater research impact.

Much work remains to identify, enable and motivate society to implement the transformations required to address the grand challenges represented by the global Sustainable Development Goals agenda. Universities are uniquely placed to facilitate a global transformation by critically exploring how we can help with the SDGs, and how the SDGs can help us. Hear from experts on how innovative research engagement approaches can provide conceptual support for educators and collaborators interested in scaling up their positive impact and value.

The design of specific spaces to house Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’ activities and organisations has become important in Australian architecture. A growing number of buildings have been devised to support, display and safeguard Indigenous cultures. In a more inclusive Australia that embraces Reconciliation, many seek to create architecture that better fit the needs of Indigenous users, to redefine urban and regional landscapes, and to dignify contemporary Indigenous cultures through architectural excellence. Learn about the latest developments and where to access tools, relevant evidence-based research and expertise to add value to the design of environments to be inclusive of Indigenous cultures and knowledge systems.

Demystify taking the first steps into media engagement by learning how to promote your expertise, where to start and what to be aware of, and understand the value of engaging with the media as a researcher. This introductory session about the benefits of media engagement and how to pursue the first steps is designed for RMIT HDR candidates, particularly those in the later stages of their candidature.

The RMIT Research Awards are an important event recognising and celebrating excellence achieved by research staff and Higher Degree by Research candidates