DMTC Limited is pleased to announce Ms Priscilla Thwaites as the recipient of the DMTC Guest of the Chair Fellowship for 2025.
Following a career in forensic science, Ms Thwaites is now leveraging her expertise for the benefit of Australia’s national security as a Research Leader within Australia’s Defence Science & Technology Group (DSTG).
Her extensive leadership experience, which includes the management of large research teams and strategic coordination of complex operations, greatly impressed the DMTC selection panel.
Now in its third year, the Guest of the Chair Fellowship reflects DMTC’s commitment to preparing future industry leaders for the roles that they will need to take on to ensure enduring success and build both capacity and resilience in Australia’s innovation ecosystem.
In October 2024, DMTC’s Advanced Piezoelectric Materials and Applications (APMA) Program held its annual symposium at the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation’s (ANSTO) innovation centre, nandin. This event brought together APMA Program partners, industry and Defence stakeholders, as well as PhD students and early career researchers (ECRs) integrated within project teams across the Program.
This symposium covered a wide array of Defence and technical program updates. This included a strategic update from Defence, an update from Thales on their Single Crystal Foundry, research progress from PhDs and ECRs, insights from the U.S. Office of Naval Research (ONR) and Office of Naval Research Global and an overview of Australian Defence Export Controls.
A collaborative effort involving DMTC, RMIT, DSTG, Bruck Textiles and researchers at CSIRO has successfully developed a next-generation uniform prototype that employs nanofibres to safeguard Australian troops from chemical and biological threats.
In February, DMTC returned to Canberra for its 2024 Annual Conference.
Bringing together individuals from across the defence innovation and science & technology ecosystems, the aim of this year’s Annual Conference was to highlight significant advancements in Australia’s sovereign industrial capability while celebrating the collaborative efforts of individuals, teams and partners from across DMTC’s diverse portfolio of programs and projects.
The Conference also served as a forum for broader strategic discussions, including reflections on the implications of the Defence Strategic Review and associated initiatives, how stakeholders can best manage this period of transition and uncertainty, and overcoming the practical hurdles confronting the defence sector in delivering asymmetric capability.
