Meet Node Facility Manager, Prof Peter Innis.
What is your role?
I am the Node Facility Manager at the ANFF Materials Node Facility as well as the Associate Director of Operations and Engagement at TRICEP, with responsibilities for Node operations, facility management, project contracting, engagement and reporting.
What is your area of expertise and what kind of experience do you have in this area?
I have extensive world recognised expertise in the area of conducting polymers and bring significant experience in the areas of electroactive materials development and characterisation with applications in areas such as fibres, smart textiles, electrofluidics, electrochromics.
Additionally, I have extensive experience in the development of novel devices utilising 3D printing, melt extrusion and fibre production utilising nano-composites. With over 10 years’ experience in facilities management, intellectual property and research contracts, I not only understand the research ecosystem but also am able to assist in facilitating the commercial aspects of project development.
What are some of the projects and collaborations you are currently working on?
Current projects include the development nanostructured graphene composites and electroactive fibres and the development of advanced textile architectures for electrofluidic separation technologies.
I work with a team of HDR students from the ARC Centre of Excellence of Electromaterials Science (ACES), focusing on the development electrofluidic devices and sensors (EDS), integrating additive fabrication (3D printing), advanced composite fibre development and 3D textiles structures to produce novel EDS architectures. This has led to the development of 3D printed microfluidic pumps and textile-based electrofluidics that are interfaced with cellular tissues for real-time drug delivery and metabolite analysis.
I also support and co-ordinate fee-for-service access to the ANFF Materials Node where users can gain facilitated access the Nodes state-of-the-art equipment and highly skilled staff. If you have a small project of interest, I am your point of contact.
What is the future outlook of these projects?
The ANFF Materials Node has supported a wide range of projects, from simple one-off services as well as longer-term development projects, which have received co-funding support from the NSW and Federal Governments. In 2019/20, the Materials Node facilitated over 41,000 hours of usage to 355 users delivering approximately 116 hours to each user per year with half of these hours being used by entities external to the university hosts.
The node is looking to maintain and grow this level of service provision in the coming years, particularly to non-university based users
How is this work being translated into real applications?
The Materials Node’s mission is to facilitate and create new research and development activities leading to commercial opportunities. Our capability will realise your research potential by providing access to micro and nanofabrication-related tools underpinned by the expertise our staff.
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