The Australian Nanotechnology Network

University of South Australia, Future Industries Institute

Name of Group Leader:

Prof Emily Hilder

Nanotechnology Research Programs/Activities:

Nano and Bio Materials Centre (AusIndustry) Innovation Access Program We have established a National Centre for Nano and Biomaterials, funded by a $1M DEST grant under the IAP-International Science and Technology program, that is supported by the following nine European laboratories: . University of Bristol, UK. . Abo Akademi, Finland. . Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Switzerland. . Saarland University, Germany. . Lulea University of technology, Sweden. University of Ulm, Germany. . Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich, Switzerland. . Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces, Germany. . Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden. as well six Australian companies and Monash and Sydney Universities. Three new postdoctoral staff members have been recruited from Germany, India and Canada, for research is also a major component of this program. There is an existing, four year Advanced Coatings IAP-IST program, now in operation for eighteen months, of the same magnitude as the program above, that involves four European Universities [ University of Mons, College de France, University of Ulm and the MPI in Berlin] and, importantly,five major EU companies: GlaxoSmithKline, Institut Francais Petrole, Unilever at Vlaardingen, Kodak Research in London and Philips Research in Eindhoven. Direct financial support is also provided by four Australian companies [ Sola Optical, Research Laboratories of Australia, Lever Rexona and Rio Tinto]. This program has a major emphasis on clever coatings and involved research coupled with technology transfer workshops. The science includes; manipulation of surface chemical and physical nano-heterogeneities to influence the wetting properties (static and dynamic contact angles) of the surfaces with simple and complex fluids; applications such as in the formation of surfaces that respond to light, potential, pH and similar stimuli.

Scale of Nanotechnology Research Effort:

135 staff and post grad students (55 research staff, 15 support staff, 65 PhD students) and a $10M pa turnover.

Participants

Collaboration Information

Group Websites:

http://fii.unisa.edu.au/