Meet the Team: Prof Paul Dastoor

Meet University of Newcastle Node Director Prof Paul Dastoor.

Prof Paul Dastoor is the University of Newcastle (UON) Node Director for the ANFF Materials Node, which is responsible for delivering advanced fabrication and characterisation facilities to academic and industrial researchers across Australia and overseas. Hs is also a Professor of Physics at UON and is Director of the Centre for Organic Electronics, which he established in 2007.

Prof Dastoor received his B.A. degree in Natural Sciences and his PhD in Surface Physics from the University of Cambridge. He has been Visiting Research Fellow at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge, UK, at the Daresbury Laboratory, Cheshire, UK at Nanyang Technological University and Leverhulme Visiting Professor at the University of Cambridge.

Furthermore, Prof Dastoor is the Ambassador for the NSW Smart Sensing Network (NSSN), which brings together smart sensing expertise in academia, industry and government to develop a strong, collaborative and innovative network that will deliver economic and social benefits for New South Wales.

His research interests encompass the growth and properties of thin films, neutral atom microscopy and organic electronic devices based on semi-conducting polymers. These exciting materials offer the tantalising prospect of paints that generate electricity directly from sunlight and sensors that can be printed as flexible arrays.

Prof Dastoor has a strong track record in research translation and commercialisation, with a substantial number of patents granted in the US and Europe (as well as in Australia). He has spun out five companies including his glucose biosensor technology (GBS Inc) which listed on the NASDAQ in 2020.