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20 February 2008
ACES Centre Meeting

The ACES Centre Meeting was held at Monash University Clayton (Melbourne) on February 20. As well as the ACES attendees we were fortunate to have in attendance Members of ACES International Advisory Board, which is chaired by Dame Bridget Ogilvie.

Prof. Maria Forsyth, the ACES Associate Director and Monash University node leader, welcomed all to the meeting, and introduced the ACES Director Prof. Gordon Wallace. Prof. Wallace gave an overview of ACES programme 1, 'Electromaterials', and this provided a back drop for the presentations that followed:

  • Dr Joselito Razal, “Carbon nanotube biofibres”.
  • Dr Michael Higgins, “Probing nanoactuation of biocomposite conducting polymers using atomic force microscopy”.
  • Dr Jun Chen, “Direct growth of novel carbon nanotube nanowebs”.

Prof. Geoff Spinks and Prof. David Officer then gave a summary of progress in the area of Energy Conversion (programme 2), which led into presentations by:

  • Dr Gursel Alici, “How to improve the positioning ability of polymer actuators?”
  • Mr Andrew Nattestad, “Development of photocathodes for incorporation into tandem structured dye sensitised solar cells”. 
  • Dr Attilla Mozer, “New developments in dye sensitised solar cells at UOW”.

After lunch, during which the posters on display were viewed and discussed, Prof. Doug McFarlane presented an overview on the area of Energy Storage (programme 3). This provided the background for presentations by:

  • Dr Jiazhao Wang, “Sulphur and sulphide cathode materials in conjunction with ionic liquid electrolyte for lithium rechargeable batteries”.
  • Dr Bjorn Winther-Jensen, “Magnesium batteries with aqueous electrolyte”.
  • Dr S.R. Sivakkumar, “Lithium batteries and super capacitors”.

The Meeting resumed after the afternoon break with the focus on Bionics (programme 4). Prof. Graeme Clark and Dr Rob Kaspa gave the introduction and reported on the programme's progress. This was followed by:

  • Mr David Nayagam, “Towards a nanobionic cochlear implant”.
  • Ms Brianna Thompson, “Release of nerve growth factors from polypyrrole to improve the cochlear implant: The biological effect of playing with polymers”.
  • Dr Anita Quigley, “Conducting Polymers: Muscle and Nerve Biocompatibility".

The final presentation was given by Dr Renée Kyle on the important subject of the ethical issues associated with bionics and nanotechnology. The title of the talk, co-authored with Prof. Susan Dodds, was “Why, how, when: public engagement in the ethics of bionics”.
The organising committee, led by Prof. Maria Forsyth, are to be thanked for the smooth running of the event. The committee included: Prof. Doug MacFarlane, Mr Lex Edmond, Mr Wayne Neil, Ms Vanessa Armel, Ms Tracey Markley, and Mrs Sona Shekibi. In all, 17 presentations were given, and almost as many posters displayed, to give a comprehensive picture of the significant achievements ACES has made since the last Centre meeting in October 2007.