Stefan is a Senior Principal Scientist in Strategic Foresight at CSIRO’s Data61, and Director of the Data61 Insights Team.

Stefan’s research aims to help organisations and government explore plausible futures and make wise choices. In his role, Stefan leads a team of researchers and consultants working on scenario planning, megatrends analysis, risk analysis, decision support and strategy problems. He is also one of Australia’s most heavily demanded speakers for professional and public audiences on the topics of future trends and decision making.

His academic qualifications from the University of Queensland and University of New England are in the fields of geography, economics and decision theory.

Stefan has published widely in the international scientific literature. His work involves a combination of original research and the provision of consulting and advisory services.

Justin joined the APR.Intern team in 2019 as a Business Developer and is responsible for driving PhD industry internships in Victoria. As part of the role, Justin manages relationships between academia and industry, carefully matching PhD skillsets with industry research challenges to accelerate local innovation.

Prior to joining APR.Intern, Justin was the State Manager of a leading FMCG marketing agency before moving into Higher Education. In this sector, Justin has worked in the marketing departments of Griffith University and La Trobe University, specialising in relationship management and student-led recruitment.

Justin holds a Bachelor of Business Management (Marketing & Human Resources) from the University of Queensland.

Joseph Dodd is an Innovation Facilitator for Victoria, working in CSIRO’s SME Connect. He works across the five industry growth sectors but with a focus on the Pharmaceuticals & Medical Technologies sector, along with the Food & Agribusiness sector.

Joe’s role is to help connect Australian companies with the technical expertise they need across the research sector, in CSIRO and partner research organisations, to help them resolve technical issues and develop commercial ideas.

He works directly with companies to identify their technical needs and connect them to the right expertise and state-of-the-art equipment.

Joe has almost 20 years experience working in the pharma, biotech and medical technology industries in Australia and the UK.

Dr Megan Sebben is the Kick-Start Program Officer in CSIRO SME Connect and is based in Clayton, VIC.

Her role is to help Australian start-ups and small SMEs access dollar-matched funding and facilitation to undertake a project with CSIRO. The Kick-Start program provides eligible companies with vouchers of up to $50k to perform research, development or testing projects utilising CSIRO researchers, capabilities and facilities. The Kick-Start team connect the business to the best CSIRO research expertise, utilising our national CSIRO network of facilitators and contacts.

Megan has extensive experience in environmental research and consulting in both the public and private sectors. Her research interests lie in groundwater modelling, fractured rock hydrology and coastal hydrogeology. Megan joined CSIRO Education and Outreach in 2017, where she was the STEM Professionals in Schools Project Officer for Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania. Since joining SME Connect in 2019, Megan has been facilitating and supporting a variety of Kick-Start collaborations, as well as promoting the range of programs available through SME Connect.

With over 20 years of medical industry experience, Mick started his career as a registered nurse in the operating theatre and worked for eight years at the Freemasons Hospital (now Epworth FMH). A two-year period with Sulzer Medica as an Orthopaedic Product Specialist paved the way to start a career with Device Technologies Australia.

Since then. Mick has worked in a wide variety of speciality areas including orthopaedics, ophthalmology, urology, gynaecology, laparoscopy and general surgery, anaesthetics, oncology, infection control, radiology, and pharmacy. Mick has been involved in the management and development of more than 75 manufacturers (mostly international) and a diverse range of clinical products from simple instruments and consumables to high end technology.

Currently Mick has several roles including Executive Managing Director (OMX-Solutions), Partner (StartMesh), Principal Consultant (WinterShaddow), Head of Business Development (MD Solutions), Hon Fellow IAG with University of Melbourne and a Member of the Consumer Advisory Committee with the Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital.

Dr Michael Wheatcroft is Director of R&D at Telix Pharmaceuticals.

After completing a PhD in the Department of Biochemistry at Cambridge University, Michael worked at Cambridge Antibody Technology (now Medimmune UK), a technology leader in the area of antibody engineering and protein sciences. After moving to Melbourne in 2010 he oversaw the preclinical development of several engineered antibody drug conjugates and clinical translation of novel antibody fragment in prostate and ovarian cancer, including radioimmunoconjugates.

Since then, Michael has worked in senior development roles at Medicines Development Limited (MDL), Hatchtech P/L and Starpharma Limited where he performed in a variety of managerial roles related to GMP production, clinical study support and nonclinical studies for a range of pharmaceutical and medical device products.