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ABSTRACT
Diamonds and droplets represent the bookends of an applied research career that has sometimes resembled a proverbial headless chook – and this talk will attempt to make sense of it! I have mostly worked in the fields of shock physics, micro- and nanofluidics, and fluid physics, but there have been contributions to our understanding of soil, eyes, food production, mining, rainfall acoustics, mass spectrometry, organic solar cells, and even invasive pathogens. I’ve played in the lab with jelly and Sellotape, and worked on massive computations; I have collaborated with companies that are vilified as well as those touted as saviours of our society. At one stage I chose to relocate from London’s theatre district to a sleepy corner of Lower Hutt. Besides trying to pick out the consistent threads that have motivated my own journey, this talk will attempt to reflect more generally on the “why?” and “what?” facing established and aspiring academics – our motivations, and critically our incentives, especially in modern New Zealand. These factors explain our research choices, and also how we shape, structure, support and contribute to the research environment.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Geoff grew up in Auckland and studied at the University of Cambridge, obtaining a PhD in shock physics in 2005. After a brief stint in management consultancy, he joined the Nano and Micro Fluidics team at Industrial Research Limited (now Callaghan Innovation) in Lower Hutt. He was awarded a Rutherford Discovery Fellowship in 2012, and joined the University of Auckland in October 2013 as a joint appointment between the Department of Physics and the School of Chemical Sciences. He has spent 5 years as Deputy Director for Commercialisation and Industry Engagement in the MacDiarmid Institute (2018-23) and is currently co-Deputy Head of Department (Research) in Physics.
Refreshments will be served in the basement foyer of building 303 (303-B00L2) from 5:30pm, prior to the lecture.
