On-Demand: The BioInspiration Hallmark Research Initiative
The BioInspiration Hallmark Research Initiative (HRI) at the University of Melbourne presents a series of live, online interviews with prominent researchers in bioinspired technologies, design and architecture. If you missed them live, you can catch up on each talk on-demand below.
Our talks highlight the enormous value of interdisciplinary research and ways that we can overcome the challenge of speaking different scientific languages. Additionally, they have raised a really important challenge for bioinspired materials design generally: natural materials are really complex so how do we design materials with similar functionality that are simple enough to manufacture and scale up for clinical or other applications?
- Prof Devi Stuart-Fox, Co-Chair of BioInspiration HRI
Sustainable materials
How have barnacles, squid teeth and hagfish slime inspired new, sustainable materials? Find out in this talk that explores the marine animals that have inspired Professor Ali Miserez to develop sustainable materials and the techniques utilised to research and develop these novel materials. This first webinar in the series features Professor Miserez, who heads the Biological and Biomimetic Materials Laboratory within the Centre for Biomimetic Sensor Science at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, alongside Professors Mark Elgar and Devi Stuart-Fox, who co-chair the BioInspiration Hallmark Research Initiative at the University of Melbourne.
Architectural Design Inspired by Nature
The second conversation in our BioInspiration series is on the theme of 'Architectural Design Inspired by Nature'. It features Professor Jan Knippers, Director of the multi-award winning Institute of Building Structures and Structural Design at the University of Stuttgart, and Professor John Frazer, author of the seminal book, “An Evolutionary Architecture”, and a key founder and protagonist of architectural computation, having pioneered interactive systems for the first intelligent buildings. The conversation is facilitated by BioInspiration HRI’s academic convenor and architect, Dr Alberto Pugnale, and Dr AnnMarie Brennan, Senior Lecturer of Design Theory in architectural and design studies at the Melbourne School of Design.
Biomimicry in Next Generation Medical Devices
How are researchers learning from carnivorous plants like these ones to create new medical devices? Find out in this webinar, featuring alum Dr Georgina Such, who is Chair of Women in Science Network, head of the Functional Materials Laboratory at the University of Melbourne, and who works with nanoparticles to deliver vaccines and drugs, and Dr Anna Waterhouse, Head of the Cardiovascular Medical Devices Group and a Robinson Fellow at the University of Sydney, who uses biomimetic approaches to improve medical devices and diagnostics. The conversation is facilitated by Dr Daniel Heath, a biomedical engineer whose own research focuses on developing next-generation biomaterials for medical devices.
BioInspiration from Social Insects: Decision-making to Robotics
This webinar discusses fascinating research on collective construction, social insects’ swarm intelligence and robotics. Guest panelists Dr Justin Werfel and A/Prof Tanya Latty are interviewed by with Prof Mark Elgar, an evolutionary biologist with a penchant for social insects, and co-chair of the Hallmark Research Initiative in BioInspiration. Justin leads the Designing Emergence Laboratory, and is a Senior Research Scientist at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, both at Harvard University, and has interests in termites and robots building together. Tanya, whose work is highly interdisciplinary, heads up the Insect Behaviour and Ecology Lab at The University of Sydney, with the aim of “saving the world with insects (and occasionally slime moulds)”, and is interested in developing new technologies inspired by her research.
Architectural materials inspired by nature: Mycelium Matters
This webinar is all about how mycelium – the non-fruiting part of fungi – is being used as a building material and helping architects to rethink building systems. Associate Professor Janet McGaw from the University of Melbourne’s Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning is joined by expert guests Phil Ross and Dr Jan Wurm. Phil Ross is the Co-Founder and CTO of MycoWorks, and a pioneer of mycelium-based architecture. Dr Jan Wurm is the Europe Research Leader of Arup, and takes a holistic approach to architectural design inspired by ecosystems.
Bioinspired concepts: The first step towards solutions
For the sixth instalment of our BioInspiration webinar series showcases the successful proposals from our 2020 Seed Funding Competition. We received many remarkable proposals, combining impressively diverse disciplines and displaying a staggering depth of creativity and intellect. Representing the teams and projects are: Dr Abdallah Ghazlan, of ‘A holistic framework for developing futuristic bioinspired cellular structures for blast protection’; Dr Eser Akinoglu, representing ‘Bioinspired bactericidal ‘nano-knife’ coatings for orthopaedic implants’; Shareen Chan, for ‘Bamboo-inspired production of 3D-printed hierarchical porous bio-ceramic tissue scaffolds’; and Dr Matthew Faria, ​representing ‘Squid-inspired lighting: the functional bio-bulb’. The discussion is facilitated by Prof Devi Stuart-Fox.
BioInspiration: Efficient Technologies Inspired by Butterfly Wings
For the seventh webinar in BioInspiration conversation series, our guest panellists are Professor Naomi Pierce from Harvard University and Professor Nanfang Yu from Columbia University in the City of New York.
Naomi and Nanfang discuss their fascinating research on energy efficient technologies inspired by butterfly wings with Prof Mark Elgar and Prof Devi Stuart-Fox, who co-chair the Hallmark Research Initiative in BioInspiration.
Bioinspired Soft Robotics and its Applications
Our guest panellists this month are Professor Cecilia Laschi from the National University of Singapore and Professor Bill Sellers from The University of Manchester. Cecilia has been instrumental in the development of soft robotics as a field, and its applications in biomedicine; particularly focusing on humanoid robotics and neurorobotics - at the intersection of neuroscience and robotics. Bill heads the Animal Simulation Laboratory. His current focus is on locomotor biomechanics, for which he combines computer simulations with more traditional experimental approaches to explore adaptations for movement.
In a conversation led by Prof Mark Elgar and Prof Devi Stuart-Fox, co-chairs of the Hallmark Research Initiative in BioInspiration, Cecilia and Bill discuss their fascinating research, where the field of bioinspired soft robotics is heading and exciting potential applications.
This page will be updated throughout 2021 with instalments as they become available for on-demand viewing.