Development

Member Development

One of the benefits of the Centre is the ability to provide excellent environments for training the next generation of researchers.

Aside from the high-quality, customised, laboratory environment at each of the nodes, the intellectual environment is designed to provide opportunities for postdoctoral and postgraduate members of the Centre to develop as scientists, build broad and deep networks, engage with, learn and work across universities and with industry partners and senior academics, and develop a wide range of leadership and influencing skills to achieve impact. Some of the ways the Centre is empowering its students and early career researchers are highlighted below.

Postgraduate Student Committee Report

The PhD committee had another great year of bringing together students from different nodes. The committee during the Melbourne and Sydney COVID lockdowns organised two very successful trivia nights to bring everyone in the Centre together. Each of the trivia nights attracted upwards of 40 participants, and a mix of researchers from different nodes were assigned into teams. We had very positive feedback – the most common response being that it was a great way to meet or reconnect with colleagues from different nodes during the lockdown periods.

The committee was very close to holding a student researcher retreat near Jindabyne in September – this was intended to be a hybrid research and social meeting to present our areas of study and connect with students in nodes across both Victoria and NSW. While this was all booked in June, unfortunately due to COVID restrictions we were forced to postpone the event until 2022.

In 2022, Shon Kolomoisky will also take over as the chair of the committee, and we will focus on holding more in-person events across nodes in Sydney and Melbourne. I’m sure that it will be a fantastic year for the PhD Committee!

Early Career Researcher Committee Report

The membership of the ECR committee changed substantially in 2021, with several members who joined in 2019 stepping down to provide new ECRs the opportunity to lead, as well as more members from Sydney nodes joining to better represent these nodes.

Despite the continued presence of COVID - and COVID lockdowns – throughout 2021, the ECR committee organised a successful careers workshop event in March, well attended by ECRs and PhD students from Melbourne and Sydney nodes. Speakers were invited who had successfully transitioned from academic roles into industry and government jobs, with a keynote from “The Thesis Whisperer” A/Prof. Inger Mewburn on how to find jobs that require research skills. The event was rounded off with a workshop on academic collaboration, a grant writing seminar and a networking dinner. This event was highly successful in bringing ECRs together to build their academic networks, and providing ECRs with a valuable opportunity to learn from and network with researchers who have made the jump out of academia.

The ECR committee also played a key role in representing early-career researchers from Exciton Science during the successful mid-term review. Several members of the ECR committee were chosen to be interviewed during the MTR to highlight the opportunities that Exciton Science has provided for ECRs. The ECR committee members present at the mid-term review were able to demonstrate the strong cross-node links Exciton Science has fostered to create a community of young researchers, and the value of this community in driving academic collaborations and providing a network to rely on for advice and support.

Building Human Capacity

Mentoring Program 2020

After successfully introducing the Exciton Science Mentoring Program in 2020, the Centre launched this important initiative again in 2021.

The second round of the program afforded members the opportunity to retain or change mentors, prompting fresh, valuable connections to be formed, and ensuring members who joined the Centre after the first round were assigned a contact to provide guidance and insight into their academic or professional journey.

The second round was expanded to include Partner Investigators, Associate Investigators and Centre alumni, as well as individuals outside the research sector to serve as specialist mentors for some operations staff.

Feedback from the 2020 program highlighted the frustration of some members at being unable to meet their mentor or mentee in person. It is expected that public health conditions in 2022 onwards will allow members to travel and spend time with their mentors more often.

Feedback from members regarding the program includes:

As an Exciton Science mentor I have been providing guidance to a PhD student, in particular for challenges they faced with a range of scientific and workplace issues as well as post-PhD employment. Beyond the important goal of providing guidance to the mentee, as a mentor I have gained valuable supervision and leadership experience.”

- Mentor

Often as PhD students we can become overwhelmed by submissions, presentations, results, and deadlines. We can be intimidated to give up in the face of seemingly insurmountable challenges. However, asking for advice in those moments could be life changing as it was many times for me. I am always ready to meet my mentor with a range of questions like how to reset goals, communicate efficiently with my colleagues and supervisors, and which skills I can develop to reach my goals.”

- Mentee

I, like many others had to deal with difficulties of long lockdowns and being away from loved ones. My mentor helped me a lot when during those moments when I had no idea how to stay motivated. Setting up future career goals helped me realise no matter how hard it is, I should be strong to racheive my future goals and dreams.”

- Mentee

Cross-node Postdoctoral Researcher Scheme

Bridging the divide between theory and experiment in solar energy research

The need for highly efficient, cost effective and flexible renewable energy technology is more urgent than ever, but creating the next generation of photovoltaics is no small task.

It requires advanced computer simulation of potential new materials and devices, followed by extensive testing and characterisation in laboratories to find a winning formula.

Until now, the gap between the theorists exploring possibilities and the experimentalists charged with putting their calculations into practice has been a barrier to the rapid advancement of innovative and emerging solar energy generation mechanisms.

The ARC Centre of Excellence in Exciton Science has tackled this problem head on, with the appointment of a Research Fellow dedicated to developing closer links between theory and the laboratory.

The challenge has been accepted by Dr Tharindu Warnakula, who works with Professor Jacek Jasieniak’s engineering group at Monash University, as well as the theoretical physics team led by Professor Salvy Russo at RMIT University.

Tharindu’s role involves using computers, including supercomputers, to simulate and assess the parameters of proposed new solar materials and devices, and gain insight into their likely behavior.

This information is then used to provide an understanding of the performance of test devices constructed by experimental engineers.

The work being undertaken by Tharindu and his colleagues throughout the Centre can help to guide the architecture of new devices, with a focus on 1D, 2D and 3D solar cell models, as well as providing a better theoretical basis for the effective development of near-infrared solar cells.

“There are some intricate details that need to be sorted out before we can hit 30% efficiency,” Tharindu said.

“We are trying to figure out the theoretical side first before asking [the engineers], ‘can you make this for us?’ It’s interesting and exciting.”

For Jacek, Tharindu’s early work is not only delivering important results, but has also opened several new areas of investigation to explore. He said: “Every time we meet I’m excited. Every time we meet, we come up with 10 more problems, because as is always the case in challenging areas, there are more questions than answers.”

Development for 2022

Through our Mid Term Review process we have identified and developed a new education and training strategy to identify skills gaps, and address the needs of Centre students and Early Career Researchers. We will look to new and innovative ways to equip them with the ‘necessary skills and competencies’ to work across academia and other related industry and government based sectors. In doing this we have developed a strategy which has a 70:20:10 ratio of on-the-job, collaboration-based and formal training, looking at:

  • Where we can improve performance?
  • Where there are skills gaps?
  • What skills would be needed for future roles?

The Centre has established a strategic plan for the training and development of our staff and students with a multi-pronged focus which will provide training opportunities in the following areas:

Skills and employability
  • Practical skills training - project management, risk assessment, financial management, intellectual property management;
  • Framing skills for industry workforces – identify skills gaps, differences in academic vs industry-based work, team building and collaborative skills;
  • Modelling employment pathways - what are the potential career pathways for graduates? How do they get there? Demonstrate through mentoring programs and industry speakers/visitors, establish industry collaborative projects for on-the-job experience;
  • Writing for different audiences – reports, industry, and stakeholder presentations.
Communication
  • Communications skills are integral for future roles. We will offer formal training in communicating to different audiences and with influence, developing confidence in public speaking, and communicating with media;
Science
  • Technical training skills – including a range of online and in-person tutorials on technical skills, such as coding, machine learning, DFT, etc;
  • Work experience program – giving postgraduate students supervision experience
Industry and Stakeholder Awareness

Invite external speakers from:

  • Industry, to talk about their sector problems and collaboration expectations;
  • AusIndustry and other government bodies working to bridge the gap between university research and industry/commercialisation;
  • Alumni who have moved to industry and government-based roles.
Mentoring
  • Continue to rotate mentorships across all Centre members and expand to include partner investigators and other stakeholders as they become more involved in the Centre. This is especially important for the mentoring relationships of the Centre’s professional staff;
  • Additionally, provide opportunities and motivation for Centre members to mentor external colleagues of the Centre;
  • Provide forums for group mentoring sessions at quarterly seminars and the Centre annual workshop.
Commercialise
  • Promote and encourage involvement in programs such as CSIRO On Prime, Hackathons etc.
  • Run activities and normalise conversations around commercialisable opportunities and vocational pathways.
Measure and Review
  • The Centre will continue to conduct an annual membership survey to gauge members’ impressions, experiences and thoughts on how the Centre is running and the opportunities it provides;
  • At the beginning of each year, in preparation for a new round of mentoring, we will survey Centre members to assess and refine the Centre mentoring program. Assess where barriers are formed within relationships and provide advice on how to overcome these for the next round of matches;
  • We will seek feedback on training offerings including externally held training opportunities, to assess where the best added value and most beneficial experiences are occurring. Ask past participants to speak at Centre events about their experiences and encourage other members to take up the opportunities in the future.

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