MESA Committee

Natalie Plank (Victoria University Wellington) - Chair & Career Workshops

Create workshops on career development and training tailored for MacDiarmid students, using the facilities available at the affiliated Universities. Develop a mentoring system for MacDiarmid students. Maintain links with our Alumni members.

Franck Natali (Victoria University Wellington) - Equipment Database & Workshops

Build an inventory of available equipment.  The inventory would include a selection, evaluation and introduction to the equipment and supplies which are accessible to all the MacDiarmid students and postdocs. The equipment coordinators role would also include responsibility for providing the equipment’s location, facilitating contacts with the Lab managers or suppliers and organizing training.

Keoni Mahelona (Victoria University Wellington) - Collaborations, Funding, & Entrepreneurship

Encourage and provide more opportunities for collaboration throughout the institute. Assist students and postdocs with finding and receiving funding for school, research, conferences, and entrepreneurial ventures. Foster entrepreneurial spirit within the Institute.

Cosmin Laslau (University of Auckland) – Communications Officer

Responsible for spreading the MESA message to MacDiarmid students and postdocs, to the rest of the MacDiarmid Institute, and to the general scientific and public communities. This will be done through a variety of media, in particular our website, which will help design, set up and maintain. Help run communication-specific tutorials, for example on effective PowerPoint presentations, poster design, writing, and so forth.

Ben Mallett (Industrial Research Limited) - Treasurer & Social Secretary

Facilitate social activities for MESA members that bring us together and are fun!  As treasurer, will ensure accurate and transparent accounting of MESA’s budget and seek to manage MESA’s financial resources as efficiently as possible.

James ‘Elf’ Eldridge (Industrial Research Limited) – Outreach Coordinator & Communications Support

Responsible for the MacDiarmid Outreach programme, to be shared amongst all members of the institute. It will be nanotechnology and advanced materials themed, directed at all ages, with experiments that can be performed virtually anywhere, and includes resources such as online video that are freely accessible to all. Writing and recording a free, online Podcast discussing MacDiarmid research. As Communications support, will assist the Communications Officer in any way needed.

Ojas Mahapatra (University of Canterbury) - Industry Contact

Use the MESA platform to create a bridge between research labs and industry and to create opportunities for them to interact through seminars and meetings.The scientist should be aware of the intellectual property he/she has and its value in the market. I would also like to organize an ‘annual innovation fair’ in which the PhD students and Post docs will have a common stage to showcase their research work to industry representatives and investors.

Andrew Gross (University of Canterbury) – Equipment Database & Workshops

Responsible for organising and facilitating instrument training sessions for MacDiarmid students and postdocs. Help improve access to instrumentation and expertise across the institute. A key role, as equipment coordinator, is to build and maintain an up-to-date inventory on available equipment and skills within the institute.

Shrividya Ravi (Victoria University Wellington) - Technical Workshops

Workshops on useful open-source software for scientists like Python for data analysis, Inkscape for posters, etc. Short seminars focusing on various techniques in data analysis. e.g. Non-linear least-squares fitting, batch analyses of spectra etc. Collate recordings and notes from workshops and integrate them as open web-learning resources.