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During the past decade, veski has brought 20 world-leading scientists and researchers to Victoria to continue their groundbreaking research using Victoria’s state of the art research facilities.
Of the 20 veski innovation fellows now connected with Victoria, more than half are making a significant impact on the health of our state and our nation with research into areas such as audiology, dengue and malaria, cancer, inflammatory diseases, musculoskeletal health and obesity.
This month, as veski celebrates 10 years of inspiring innovation across the state we reflect on the achievements of our 20 innovation fellows and on the success of our programs and activities designed to support the development of Victoria and Australia’s knowledge economies.
We also look to the future with a call for the next round of veski innovation fellowships, open to Australian and non-Australian researchers and scientists with outstanding skills in the fields of science and innovative technology to return to Victoria. Applications closed this week and the results will be announced in August.
Ten years on, the veski innovation fellowships remain the organisation’s flagship program, and veski continues to deliver a range of complementary activities and events. These each provide support and networking opportunities for members of the veski family and alliance colleagues and raise the profile of science and innovation across Victoria.
Remarking on the organisation’s 10 inspiring years, our chairman Professor Snow Barlow best sums up our role in the community: “People will continue to drive science and veski’s role is to help Victoria retain its fair share of the world’s best scientific researchers”.
As the inaugural veski chief executive officer I have been uniquely positioned to see the impact these leading scientists and researchers are having on our society.
From our inaugural innovation fellow, Professor Andrew Holmes AM, President-elect of the Australian Academy of Science, to the most recent addition of Professor Kenneth Crozier, a leading optics researcher, veski has brought specialists from the highest echelons of their respective fields to make their mark in our institutes, universities and medical research centres.
In the biomedical space our innovation fellows include Professor Marcus Pandy who is evaluating new methods for musculoskeletal health; malaria researcher Dr Alyssa Barry; Professor Michael Cowley FTSE who is focused on obesity treatment and prevention; cancer researchers Professor Ygal Haupt, Dr Ross Dickins, Dr Mark Shackleton and Dr Mark Dawson; structural biologist Dr Matthew Call, inflammatory disease investigator Dr Seth Masters; dengue expert Professor Cameron Simmons; audiologist Professor Colette McKay; and Dr Ethan Goddard-Borger focused on several groups of organisms including Plasmodium.
We also have researchers who are working on projects which could have potential impacts on the health of Victorians including world-leading optics researcher Professor Kenneth Crozier; Dr Luke Connal who is investigating enzymes; and Associate Professor Tiffany Walsh who is developing new advanced materials.
These world-leading individuals, typically in the top five per cent of their fields, are working across several Victorian host organisations where they receive cash and in-kind support for their fellowships.
With the support of the Victorian Government veski has also expanded these activities to growing and developing our own scientists through an inspiring students (& teachers) pilot program, providing an avenue for engaging the education community in the excitement and value of science to inspire the next generation.
veski is also encouraging industry collaborations, fostering international engagements and bringing together leaders from across Victoria as well as focusing on a priority area of supporting women in science. To this end, veski is working towards 50 per cent participation by women in all veski programs and activities including fellowships by 2016.
Over the next ten years veski will continue to deliver the programs that have already delivered so much success for Victoria. There will also be an increased focus on industry collaboration to bring innovation fellows to Victoria who can develop solutions to address critical problems facing Australian industries. Working together we will support the translation of this research into real world applications that have an immediate impact on society.
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Julia Page, CEO, veski