New Deputy Directors - Annual Report 2023

13 April, 2024

Associate Professor Anna Garden

In July 2023 we appointed two new Deputy Directors - for Outreach and Education, and for Commercialisation and Industry Engagement.

Our new Deputy Director for Outreach and Education, Associate Professor Anna Garden, is a Principal Investigator based in the Chemistry Department at Te Whare Wānanga o Otāgo University of Otago. Anna leads a group of computational chemists studying the structure and catalytic activity of nanomaterials, with specific application to key reactions for hydrogen and ammonia production.

She is a Project Leader in our Towards Zero Carbon - Catalytic Architectures Research Programme, and has previously been a Principal Investigator representative on the Science Executive and the Science Executive representative on the MacDiarmid Institute Governance Representative Board.

Associate Professor Natalie Plank

Our new Deputy Director for Commercialisation and Industry Engagement, Associate Professor Natalie Plank, is a Principal Investigator and physicist at the School of Chemical and Physical Sciences at Te Herenga Waka Victoria University of Wellington, where she was previously Deputy Head of School. Natalie runs the cleanroom lab with a group of physicists who make electronic devices, with specific applications to bio-sensing.

She is a Project Leader in our Future Computing Research Programme, has previously been a Principal Investigator representative on the Science Executive, and was originally responsible for founding the MacDiarmid Emerging Scientists Association (MESA).

Co-Director Professor Nicola Gaston said she was delighted to be working with Anna and Natalie.

"Both are long-term members of the Institute, inveterate contributors, with expertise in their respective portfolios, who we are seriously privileged to have on board."