Student Conference

Through its education program, DMTC remains committed to boosting the pipeline of young, innovative Australians progressing from academic study to employment in defence industry and related fields. Whether by providing pathways for earlycareer researchers, or providing industry-focused internships to undergraduate engineering, computer science or software development students, DMTC is investing in the future workforce required to develop Australia’s defence industrial base.

In August, DMTC held a student conference at its new headquarter in Kew. Bringing together PhD students from across DMTC’s portfolio of projects, undergraduate Smart Enough Factory interns and PhD students from the Defence Science Institute (DSI), the 2022 Student Conference gave participants an opportunity to hone their communication skills, learn about the diversity of career opportunities available to them across defence industry, and network with like-minded students.

Over the course of the day, participants heard about the experiences of our Smart Enough Factory interns on projects that are assisting small businesses to upscale their Industry 4.0 capabilities, discussed career trajectories and education outreach opportunities with DMTC staff, and met past PhD students, Dr Rizwan Rashid and Dr Cameron Barr, who are now working as postdoctoral researchers with DMTC industry partner, Rosebank Engineering.

Research students also competed in a friendly 3-minute thesis competition in which they were tasked with communicating their research to a nontechnical audience, accompanied by a single slide. DMTC congratulate Matthew Shipper for taking home the top honour for his presentation titled ‘Single Crystal Piezoelectrics: Harvest Energy from Vibration and Airflow’.

DMTC looks forward to building on the success of this event in coming years.