VIC/TAS Branch Report

2024 Combined Societies End of Year Function hosted by Phillips Ormonde Fitzpatrick (Intellectual Property Firm).

Source: Rob O'Donnell - VIC/TAS State Treasurer

Since 2011, Phillips Ormonde Fitzpatrick (Intellectual Property firm) have generously sponsored the Materials Australia’s End of Year function in Victoria. This is a free event opened to members of sister professional societies. The function has become a highlight of the combined technical calendar for each of the participating professional bodies.

The EOY evenings present an opportunity for attendees to enjoy an informal mix of networking, social conversation, and technical presentations (related to new technologies or new challenges in technical areas), conducted over some first class refreshments provided by the hosts all while enjoying a spectacular view over the north-eastern end of Melbourne afforded from the POF premises at 333 Collins St.

The 2024 event treated the audience to the following presentations:

• Prof Geoff Brooks - Professor of Engineering, Swinburne University of Technology

• Presentation Title: “Status of Green Steel Research in Australia”

• Prof Ivan Cole – President, Materials Australia Vic/Tas Branch.

• Presentation Title: “Snapshots from a Career and a guess at the future”

Professor Brooks gave and enthusiastic presentation covering the array of challenges confronting the steel industry in its efforts to develop green processing technologies while Professor Cole explained the development of aerosol dispersal maps and how such maps describing the dispersal of salt rich atmospheres across the Australian continent can account for, and even predict, many corrosion issues experienced by Australian industry and consumers alike, including the cause of the failures that led to building collapses during the relatively mild earthquake in Newcastle, 1989. Professor Cole then introduced the wonder of carbon nano-dots for water sensing and water quality and the future of computational modelling and machine learning in materials discovery.

Once again, Materials Australia extends its appreciation to Phillips Ormonde Fitzpatrick for hosting the event and to all the attendees from the various materials related societies and associations who took the time to attend.