Ultimate Careers 2018_download

2018 uc.australiascience.tv OUR NEW AUSSIE SPACE AGENCY could launch YOUR career+Making Health BIG DATA work for youSTEMThe latest StartupNEWS SECRETSROBOTICS. . .you need to know Will your great idea be the next Airtasker or Airbnb? Tell us about you Take our surveyTAKING OVER THE WORLD Win an iPad

STEM FOR THE REAL WORLD QUT Science and EngineeringCRICOS No: 00213J

CONTENTS uc.australiascience.tv5 MEMORABLE 31MOMENTS KICKSTART Recent advances and events YOUR STARTUP you really should know about. Swimwear, virtual reality and8 INSPIRATION surfing are at the heart of three Fairness For All: Dr Francesca successful Aussie startups. Maclean, an engineer with a passion for equality, is on a mission to show that diversity in STEM isn’t just an issue for girls.10 THE BIGPICTURE How Big Data Is Affecting Your Health: The information revolution is creating amazing new career opportunities in the medical and health sectors.18 STUDY ADVICE Your STEM Fit: See where your strengths could take you.20 FUTURE PROOF Reach For The Stars: Australia is finally getting its own national space agency. Find out what that will mean for careers in space.24 SHAKEDOWN Real-World Robotics: What can robots do for you? We delve into what’s already possible in the world of robotics and what’s likely in the future.31 REALITY CHECK Kickstart Your Startup: Come behind the scenes for some first-hand advice from the entrepreneurs who began three successful Aussie startups. Cover image © LaCozza/Adobe StockULTIMATE CAREERS CUSTOM PUBLISHED by The Tangello Group Pty Ltd on behalf of Australia's Science Channel, The Science Exchange, 55 Exchange Place, Adelaide SA 5000. PUBLISHER Lucinda Mitchell - [email protected] EDITOR Karen McGhee - [email protected] ART DIRECTOR Maree Lockhart ADVERTISING DIRECTOR Darren Dawkins - [email protected] WRITERS Karen McGhee, Bec Crew, Kate Arneman, Hannah James, Cristy Burne, Ivy Shih AUSTRALIA’S SCIENCE CHANNEL HEAD OF PUBLISHING Bill Condie TO ORDER print copies/view digital edition go to: uc.australiascience.tv ULTIMATE CAREERS 2018 I 3



MMOEMMOERNATBSLINE STEM uc.australiascience.tvRECENT ADVANCES AND EVENTS FROM THEWORLD OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY WITH KAREN MCGHEESPPOAWCEERTHE WORLD’S MOST powerful rocketever was launched last year from theKennedy Space Centre in Florida. NamedFalcon Heavy and built by Space X, theprivate aerospace manufacturer foundedby engineer and tech giant Elon Musk, therocket thundered away from Earth with anunusual payload. Concrete and steel blocksoften do the heavy lifting on these sorts oftest flights. Instead, Falcon Heavy carriedone of Mr Musk’s old sports cars and sent itout on a trajectory towards Mars. “I love thethought of a car drifting endlessly throughspace and perhaps being discovered by analien race millions of years in the future,”Mr Musk tweeted. Falcon Heavy has beendesigned to one day carry people. Butthis time it carried ‘Starman’, a mannequinwearing a spacesuit and seated in the car’sdriver’s seat.New Drug Milestone IT’S A TRULY designed to monitor what’s swallow it. Abilify Mycite has historic going on in our bodies, rather been developed by California- moment in medicine: the U.S. than being absorbed into based company Proteus Food and Drug Administration our blood streams like most Digital Health and will function (FDA) has approved the use traditional drugs. But, it’s as as an ingestible sensor to of the world’s first digital drug. small as a grain of sugar, help doctors and patients Known as Abilify Mycite, it’s and just like other drugs, we track medications taken for more of a sensory technology, pop it into our mouths and mental illnesses, including schizophrenia. It will do this by sending a message to a patch worn by the patient that will then forward a message to a smart phone. For more on this development see page 12.BRITISHFalcon Heavy © Space X / Abilify Mycite © Otsuka America Pharmaceutical Inc.HE’S KNOWN AS Cheddar Man and he’s Cheddar man skeleton © Andy Sedggiven us our best idea yet of what peopleORIGINS from western Europe and Britain would have looked like 10,000 years ago. . . and it’s a long way from the fair-skinned inhabitants many people expected. Cheddar Man, Britain’s oldest complete human skeleton (right), was found about a century ago in a cave in the village of Cheddar, in South West England. He was one of the first-known settlers to come to Britain from Europe at the end of the last Ice Age and it’s always been assumed he must have had fair skin and hair signifying his European heritage. But after London Natural History Museum researchers extracted his DNA and analysed the genome it contained they announced this year that although Cheddar Man was probably blue-eyed he most likely had very dark brown to black skin and dark curly hair (left). So where did Cheddar Man come from? His ancestors probably came from Africa and reached Britain via the Middle East. ULTIMATE CAREERS 2018 I 5

MEMORABLE MOMENTSChristopher Michel CC BY 2.0 Penguin FIGHTING Population SKIN CANCER Doubles ABOUT 2000 PEOPLE NO, THAT DOESN’T mean will die in Australia this that penguin numbers are year from the deadliest form of skin cancer, exploding and the southern melanoma. It’s a disease hemisphere will soon be where survival increases dramatically if it’s detected early. overrun by the flightless little So the development by Queensland researchers birds. What’s happened is that of an online tool for people to assess their risk of previous calculations made by developing melanoma is welcome news. The test, researchers of East Antarctica’s from the QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, is Adelie penguin numbers have based on data collected from more than 40,000 people. It identifies a person’s likelihood of developing melanoma in the been revised significantly next few years based on a series of risk factors. These include age upwards. It comes after and gender, hair and skin colour, use of sunscreen and the number of moles you had at 21. The test is about 70 per cent accurate but the evidence that past population researchers are planning to get that figure up to 100 per cent with the estimates have counted only addition of a blood test they hope to soon develop. Find the test here: half the Adelies on the planet. qimrberghofer.edu.au/melanomariskpredictor According to Australian Antarctic Division LENS MONITORS IMAGINE IF YOUR contact lenses seabird ecologist, could be used as health monitors, Dr Louise Emmerson, literally keeping an eye on levels of substances in your body such as blood sugar? That’s one of the main uses being suggested for past estimates have counted tiny transparent sensors developed by researchers at Oregon State only breeding pairs and failed University (OSU). “We have fully transparent sensors that are working,” to acknowledge non-breeding said Greg Herman, an OSU professor of chemical engineering who is working on the project. “What we want to do next is fully develop the birds. Their numbers, when communication aspect, and we want to use the entire contact lens as real considered properly, estate for sensing and communications electronics.” He added that an add 3.6 million to array of sensors could be integrated into contact lens to test for a variety the population. of compounds and functions such as detecting stress hormones and uric acid or pressure sensing for glaucoma. Arctic Warning LATE LAST YEAR, the NOAA – the main A collapsed block of ice-rich permafrost along Drew Point, Alaska US-based climate watch organisation – issued its 12th Arctic Report Card. . . and, not surprisingly, it wasn’t an uplifting read (see arctic.noaa.gov/Report-Card/Report-Card-2017). Among the many disturbing outcomes noted by the report: Arctic permafrost is thawing faster than ever; the Arctic’s annual temperature in 2017 was the second highest on record; sea ice is melting at the fastest rate in 1500 years; and summer temperatures are rising rapidly in most Arctic seas. A-68A Image: Benjamin Jones, USGS Magnifying Glass: Katemangostar/Freepik.com, Slug: Hazel GallowayImage: Jesse Allen/NASA Earth Observatory Larsen C ...and at the other end of the planet Ice Shelf SCIENTISTS CAN’T SAY for sure if it’s due to climate change but a massive new iceberg broke 20km off from an ice shelf on the east coast of the Antarctic Peninsula in the middle of last year. Known 6 I ULTIMATE CAREERS 2018 as A68 and with a surface area of 5800sq.km (about 5 times the size of Hong Kong) it’s the third biggest iceberg ever recorded. It weighs more than an estimated one trillion tonnes and holds about twice the freshwater used each year in the US. Although global warming may increase the calving (birth) of icebergs, it’s a natural phenomenon, with the cracks that led to this most recent event being evident in the Larsen C Ice Shelf (left) that produced it from at least the 1980s. What will happen to A68? It will float about in the Southern Ocean for many decades to come, producing smaller icebergs before then eventually melting away.

CERVICAL Healing with TNT device that can reprogram uc.australiascience.tvCANCER skin cells to repair otherFAREWELL sorts of cells. It’s being Nerve cells produced using the new technology were shown toAUSTRALIA IS SET THIS ONE SOUNDS like it’s developed to restore help brain-injured mice recoverto become the first from stroke.country to eradicatethe deadly disease from an episode of Dr Who or injured, ageing or damagedcervical cancer. At theheart of that prediction Star Trek or maybe it could have tissue, including blood vesselsis the extraordinarysuccess of a vaccine, been in one of the Harry Potter and nerves.first developed duringthe 2000s by a team at books. But it comes straight from So far it’s only been used in miceQueensland Universityled by Professor Ian the real-life nanotechnology labs and pigs but the promise it’sFrazer, against thehuman papillomavirus of Ohio State University. There, showing is extraordinary.(HPV). HPV, which istransmitted during sex, researchers have come uphas been identifiedas the cause of most with a device that cancervical cancer cases.Eradicating the deadly heal with just a touch. Itdisease was raisedas a likely reality uses a new technologythis year followinga successful global called Tissueclinical trial of a newand improved version Nanotransfection (TNT)of the vaccine. Cervicalcancer is the fourth and comes equippedmost common cancerin women and annually with a tiny (we’re talkingcauses about 266,000deaths worldwide. nanoscale) electricalA free National HPVVaccination Program BANISHING TOOTH DECAY Imageto protect teenage courtesy ofgirls was introduced BRITISH SCIENTISTS MAY have come up with a new and very The Ohio Statein Australia in 2007 promising way to fix holes in your teeth. And if it works the way they University Wexnerand was expanded to think it will, it could spell an end to fillings. A team of Dental Institute Medical Center.include boys from 2013. researchers at Kings College London found that the drug tideglusib, which is currently being trialled for use against the disease Alzheimer’s, stimulates stem cells found in the pulps of teeth. These stem cells, in turn, generate new dentine, which is usually found in small quantities beneath tooth enamel and that is known to naturally protect teeth. Just ASTRONOMERS ARE ALWAYS on the lookout for new planets capable of supporting life and they Like think they may have found one to add to that rather short list. It’s a rocky Earth-like planet known as LHS 1140 b and it’s about 1.4 times the size of our own home. It’s orbiting a red dwarf, the most common type of star. And it’s believed to be in orbit just the right distance from this star to make it well-placed in a habitable zone: not too close to its star but not too far away either. One drawback, Home or perhaps it’s a good thing (in case it supports some sort of hostile alien life!): LHS 1140 b is almost 40 light years away from us. Slug Superglue THE VERY ADHESIVE mucous created by a European slug species, known as the dusky arion, has inspired the creation of a powerful new adhesive that could replace stiches and staples used in surgery. Researchers from Harvard and McGill universities have reported that the sticky substance is biocompatible and binds to tissues even when they’re wet. Why does the slug need such powerful mucous? To literally glue itself in place when threatened by a predator. COUNTING CONTINENTS IT’S ONE OF those primary school Roughly the same size as facts that remain with you for India, it would have made up life – there are seven continents. about 5 per cent of the great But we should probably make that southern supercontinent known eight and add a continent named as Gondwana, which included Zealandia to the list. Australia and Antarctica and began to break up about 252 million years That revelation came last ago. The proposed new continent year when scientists announced is located in the southwest Pacific that, after decades of research Ocean and is now almost entirely and analysing evidence from submerged, which is probably why geoscientific data, Zealandia has all most of us haven’t noticed it. the defining features of a continent. ULTIMATE CAREERS 2018 I 7

INSPIRATIONFairnessWith a passion for equality, Ultimate Careers: Where did your interest think outside the box and not be constrained by Image of Francesca Maclean © Fifty50Dr Francesca Maclean is an in engineering come from? systems. It was a really valuable lesson for me.engineer on a mission toshow students that diversity Francesca Maclean: To be honest, I never really UC: What was it like combiningin STEM isn’t just an issue had an interest in engineering growing up. It biology, chemistry and engineering forfor girls – it’s something wasn’t until I was doing my uni applications that your PhD research?everyone should care about. my dad suggested it, because he’d made sureAs co-founder of Fifty50, I had enrolled in maths and science subjects all FM: My field is called tissue engineering, ora student-run organisation the way through to Year 12. In Year 10, I didn’t regenerative medicine, and what I was doingthat provides work want to continue with chemistry, because I’d had was designing materials that could mimicexperience and mentoring a bad experience with a teacher, but my the structure of the brain, and altering thoseat university, Francesca is dad made me continue, and now I have a degree materials to control the damage that occurs afterchanging the conversation in chemistry! traumatic injury. It was a challenge, but I reallyabout what girls are enjoyed it, I think because it was a combination‘supposed’ to be when they It’s not a very romantic story; it’s not like I of understanding the theory, but also beinggrow up. She spoke with became an engineer because I’d always wanted able to make the actual materials in the lab. IUltimate Career’s Bec Crew. to fix things and understand how they work. But was doing the dissections to grow the cells that I think those sorts of stories are the exception, I’d put into my materials and I’d be imaging the8 I ULTIMATE CAREERS 2018 not the rule. If we look at how we socialise young materials myself, so I was going from start to girls compared to boys in terms of the types of finish through the entire system. toys and books they get, and the movies and role models they see – I grew up thinking I was I also ended up being quite good at the lab ‘supposed’ to be a teacher or a lawyer. And skills you need, like dissecting a mouse brain the talking to a lot of women who also ended up size of your little fingernail, and I think if you’re in engineering, it’s a similar story – we just sort good at things, you should continue doing them! of found our way there. And I think that’s a big shame, because our discipline could do with a lot UC: Tell me about your experience more diversity. being a young woman doing a PhD in STEM. UC: What was your experience doing engineering at university? FM: Completing a PhD is always hard, even if you’re the brightest student with the best FM: I moved from Darwin to the Australian supervisors. Partway through mine, I started National University (ANU) in Canberra when I reading about what other women had said was 17 to complete a Bachelor of Engineering/ about their experiences, and a lot of my own Bachelor of Science degree. I chose ANU experiences made sense, particularly those because they had a Research and Development related to how academic environments are not program, and I ended up loving research. really designed for women to succeed. Unfortunately, I got kicked out of that program because I didn’t have the high-distinction I was working in a building with no female average it required! That was a huge blow to academics, in a research area without a single my ego, but university is hard, particularly for female academic in the eight years I’d been students who move away from home. It’s taken there. It was like, “is this environment designed me a while to happily tell people that story, but for people like me?”. I couldn’t see anyone I use it as a really good example to show that, around me whose career path I could identify despite what happened, I still graduated with first with. I got fed up and ended up on a committee class honours, I still went on to do my PhD and I for access and equality, and I took that as ended up teaching in that program. permission to do whatever I wanted to in the space because no one else was doing anything. So, I would tell my students that it’s not the My friend, Emily Campbell, was an undergrad end of the world if you can’t keep up. It felt like it in her final year at the time, and she trying to set for me at the time, but there are lots of other ways up a mentoring program, so we teamed up and you can do what you want to do. You just have to made Fifty50 at ANU in 2015.

uc.australiascience.tvfor allUC: What was your vision for Fifty50? Defence last year.FM: I remember coming up with this idea ≈ It’s really aboutof a – it sounds terrible now – gender making sure our STEMequity leadership council in the students are skilled in grantcollege, and I told Emily I needed applications and interviews,someone to help me do it. We and in maintaining an onlinewere sitting in a cafe and presence, while also makingfinalising our presentation sure their career pathwaysfor the information session are visible.and we came up with thename Fifty50, because When I graduatedthat’s what we wanted in with my degree, I stillterms of equality. There didn’t understand whatwasn’t the knowledgeback then about how engineers actually did,gender is not binary, it’s or what consultantsa spectrum, but we use did, and that’s whatit as a representation I ended up doing forof gender equity. my career! I had no visibility of that when Fifty50 has evolved a I was a student, and Ilot since we first started. think we owe it to theIt was just Emily and I in the younger generationbeginning, and then in six to give them a moremonths we’d recruited a team balanced view of whatof 30. We started off deliveringa female mentoring program, they could do in the future.which has now been extended toinclude all genders, because A key part of Fifty50 iswe figured that if we wanted aninclusive outcome, then we needed that it’s about student-drivenan inclusive approach. momentum towards change. So, while recognising there are a lot of issuesthat affect predominantly female-identifying I think that’s a really powerfulpeople in STEM, I think we need to make sure thateveryone is a part of the conversation, to avoid it aspect of Fifty50. Another reallybeing only a ‘women’s issue’. Imagine how muchmore we could achieve if it wasn’t just women good thing is that we have a communityfighting the battle! that is about 85 per cent female members We wanted to make sure every student hasaccess to a supportive environment at university and, while we’re looking at whether we shouldwhere they’re matched up with a senior mentor,and also have the opportunity to connect with have more male targets for engagement, whata vertical network of people who have alreadygone through the things they’re preparing to face. we’re doing is providing these female studentsUC: What’s on the horizon for Fifty50? with the opportunity to work in a professionalFM: We went from a first-year mentoring program organisation where they can gain invaluableto also running a career development program,which was sponsored by the Department of experience that will make them so competitive when they finish university. It’s also bringing them into an environment where they can feel supported and empowered to do something that will make a positive change in their world. I transitioned out of being an executive last year, and that’s been a journey, but I’ve come to the realisation that Fifty50 is for students, by students. I’m really impressed with how it’s growing, and the performance of all of our team members. We were Engineers Australia’s best student group in gender diversity last year, which was huge recognition for us, given we were only two years old, so we’re doing really well! ULTIMATE CAREERS 2018 I 9

THE BIG PICTUREHow big datais affectingyour health!10 I ULTIMATE CAREERS 2018

uc.australiascience.tvKate Arneman ATA. IT SEEMS we just can’t get enough of the stuff!looks into how The global datasphere – a term for all data created,the informationrevolution gripping captured and replicated on our planet in any giventhe planet is creating year – is expanding exponentially. Experts predict it willamazing new career reach 180 zettabytes (that’s 180 trillion gigabytes) byopportunities in 2025. Think of the difference in size between a Chupathe medical and Chups and a ten-pin bowling ball. In relative terms that’shealth sectors. the difference between the amount of data generated in 2016 and the 2025 forecast. Image © aleutie / Adobe Stock It’s only since 2000 that our digital existence has really taken off, with the ability to store data in the cloud made possible by wireless broadband and fast networks, and devices such as smartphones giving us instant access to information, social media and entertainment wherever we are. Amidst the zettabytes, all kinds of data about our health is flowing in. There’s medical data generated when we’re treated by health professionals and data from participants in health and medical research. And then there’s health-related data collected as we go about our lives on everything from our activity levels to our mental health. This comes from the devices we carry (smartphones), wear (fitness trackers, patches) and, increasingly, swallow or have implanted in our bodies (see Incredible sensors, p12). Trawling social media for treasure “They’re addicted to their phones.” “Social media is making teenagers more depressed and anxious.” “It’s destroying a generation!” Sound familiar? When we hear parents or media commentators talk about how young people use social media, the focus is almost exclusively on negative associations, like bullying, online predators and poorer social skills in ‘the real world’. The true impact of growing up in a digital world is a little more complicated. There’s no denying there is a dark side to social media that can be harmful to the health of people with certain vulnerabilities. Online groups that promote eating disorders are just one example. But it’s not all bad! Studies have found that for young people with mental illness, using moderated social networking sites has benefits such as increased self-esteem and more supportive relationships. Social media can also play an important and positive role in managing chronic, or ongoing, health conditions like long-term pain. Online forums, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram are data goldmines for health informatics researchers like Dr Mark Merolli, Academic Director of Digital Health at Swinburne University. “We know that there are more and more people turning to social media as a platform to manage their healthcare. But they are often quite rich sources of where people comment and log their health activity as well, in online support groups, et cetera,” he explains. Mark’s research looks at how people interact with health-related digital technology and what motivates them to do so. “I’ve always felt that if we had a better understanding of why and how people engage with technology, we might be able to better tailor digital ULTIMATE CAREERS 2018 I 11

THE BIG PICTUREWondering what the ‘right’ way to Image © Marco Govel / Adobe Stocksay ‘data’ is? Da-tuh, day-tuh ordaa-tuh? It all depends on whoyou are and where you live. NorthAmerican English speakers use thepronunciation that rhymes with howAussies say ‘batter’. In AustralianEnglish, you’ll hear day-tuh (rhymeswith ‘later’) and daa-tuh (rhymeswith ‘father’). The MacquarieDictionary (the Australian authorityon all things wordy) gives bothpronunciations the thumbs up.health solutions and interventions and technologies to people,” he the app asks the person to rate their mood. If they choose to, patients Abilify Mycite © Otsuka America Pharmaceutical Inc.says. “And, if we can better tailor them, we can have a better chance can make this data available to their doctors or caregivers via an onlineat improving people’s health outcomes because we’re following a more platform.evidence-based approach.” Also in the works: a biodegradable implantable pressure sensor forIncrediblesensors monitoring chronic lung disease and brain swelling. And then there’s a ‘cancer detection system’ that consists of implantable nanotube sensorsFrom wearables to ingestibles to implantables: the next wave of innovative and a device worn on the wrist that sends infrared light to the sensors anddata-generating devices is going to transform healthcare at every stage – analyses what is reflected back.from diagnosis to treatment, rehabilitation and self-management. Thegenomicpromise Imagine you’re one of many Australians who has a gut disorder, likeirritable bowel syndrome or undiagnosed colon cancer. At the moment, While implantable sensors give us access to valuable data about how wellthe only way for your doctor to find out for sure what’s going on in your our bodies are functioning, geneticists are getting better and faster atgut is through invasive tests and surgeries. But what about if, instead extracting and analysing the data that’s naturally ‘embedded’ in every cellof the indignity of providing poo samples or having the interior of your of our bodies. Each of us has a unique set of genetic information calledcolon closely examined, you simply had to swallow a capsule the size a genome, which is needed to build our bodies and allow us to grow andof a vitamin pill? Luckily for hypothetical you, researchers from Monash develop. The instructions for this huge and complex project are knownUniversity have not only imagined but developed and tested an ingestible as our genetic code, which is contained in a long molecule called DNAsensor that detects and measures gases in the stomach in real time, (deoxyribonucleic acid).sending the data to a smartphone. Not only is this a lot less embarrassingand uncomfortable than the alternatives, it’s a more accurate diagnostic Genes are small sections of DNA, containing instructions for particulartool. The capsule’s inventors hope the device will be available to the public characteristics, like your height and eye colour. Everyone’s DNA has aby 2020. combination of four substances: adenine (A), thymine (T), cytosine (C) and guanine (G), which are variations of a type of molecule called a Another ingestible tech breakthrough is the first ‘digital’ pill containing a nucleotide. What makes everyone unique is the order – or sequence –sensor the size of a grain of sand (see p5). This medication, used to treat in which the four nucleotides are arranged, forming a one-off code. Ifschizophrenia and other serious mental illnesses, was approved for use by you read that code out, saying one letter every second for 24 hours athe US Food and Drug Administrationin November 2017. When day, it would take a hundred years to get to the end of the 3.2 billionit dissolves in the stomach, nucleotides in one human being!a tiny sensor inside the pill Given the size and complexity of what they were dealingis activated on contact with with, scientists were pretty chuffed when in 2003 theystomach acids. It then sends a completed the sequencing of the human genome for thesignal to another sensor in an first time – even if it had taken them more than a decadeadhesive patch worn externallyon the person’s stomach, to do it and cost US$3 billion. Far more exciting than thewith the ID number of the pill. achievement itself were the possibilities it offered in terms ofThe wearable sensor detects understanding, treating and, ultimately, preventing diseaseswhether the wearer is sitting, with a genetic basis.moving or standing when In February 2018, Rady Children’s Institute for Genomicthey take their medication, Medicine in San Diego, US, set a new Guinness World Recordthen sends this information by sequencing a whole genome in 19 hours. This Instituteto a smartphone app via is known for providing ultra-rapid diagnosis – considered toBluetooth. In response, be five days or less – of rare genetic conditions. A group of12 I ULTIMATE CAREERS 2018 Australian researchers are pioneering a similarly speedy service, made possible by next generation sequencing (NGS) techniques

RIGHT NOW, PRACTICAL MB5381 EXPERIENCE IS AS VALUABLE AS YOUR DEGREE Employers are seeking more from graduates. That’s why Bond University students benefit from small class sizes with personalised attention from clinicians and academics, unparalleled access to state-of-the-art facilities, industry networking and placement opportunities — all from their first semester. Our students are immersed in extensive placements early on, to ensure they are career ready when they graduate. Our degrees in medicine, biomedical science and allied health are national leaders for educational experience. Our Bachelor of Biomedical Science program is rated highest in Australia for Educational Experience, Teaching Quality, Learner Engagement, Learning Resources, Student Support and Skill Development*. Accelerate your career in health by completing both a bachelor’s degree and master’s specialisation in just four years — ask us how. bond.edu.au/hsmCRICOS Provider Code 00017B*Quality Indicators for Learning and Teaching (QILT), 2017



DNA © photo5963_fotolia, code © maciek905 / Adobe Stock THE BIG PICTURE Case Study: The uc.australiascience.tv Empowered that allow the simultaneous Patient Huh? sequencing of many or all genes in a genome, compared Health informatics researcher at Interested in a career that involves to traditional genetic testing of one gene Melbourne University Dr Mark big data and health, and researching at a time. As part of the Acute Care Genomics study, 250 babies Merolli began his career in health courses that can take you there? You’ll in intensive care units around the country who are thought to have rare as a physiotherapist 12 years need a few key definitions to make genetic conditions will have their genomes sequenced with the hope of ago. The first iPhone was yet to sense of the many technical terms identifying what is causing their symptoms. be released and healthcare was you’ll encounter. “Time is absolutely precious when providing care to sick babies and almost exclusively offline. children in intensive care units,” says co-leader of the study, Associate BIG DATA: data that is collected or Professor Zornitza Stark (below). “At the moment, turnaround times for He did have the occasional genomic results can be up to six months, which is far too slow to help dedicated patient who would combined in such large quantities that families and clinicians caring for children in intensive care,” explains track their symptoms in a it cannot be stored, analysed or used Zornitza, a geneticist with Murdoch Children’s Research Institute. “We physical notebook and bring by traditional methods have already seen the benefits of early rare disease diagnosis locally, and that to appointments in the will be extending testing across much of Australia, while providing clinical clinic. “The odd savvy person BIOINFORMATICS: focuses on getting results in as little as five days.” might have had a print-out from Until very recently, most families of children with rare genetic conditions Microsoft Excel,” he recalls, meaning out of the vast amounts of faced a long, exhausting and expensive road to diagnosis, full of hospital laughing. “Fast forward a few digital information produced by genetic stays, invasive tests and uncertainties. The standard procedure has been years and I did find it quite sequencing and related technologies to create a short list of genes that might be causing the problem and carry fascinating that people would out traditional genetic testing on each gene, one at a time. Only then, if come in having googled stuff, BIOSTATISTICS: the application of no answers had been found, would NGS testing be considered. An earlier having watched videos on study carried out by Zornitza and her team found that using NGS sooner YouTube or asked questions to statistics to scientific research in rather than later could reduce the cost of each diagnosis by $9000, and their friends on Facebook.” health-related fields, like medicine and save families years of waiting. public health Although there is currently no treatment for most rare conditions, a In a relatively short space of diagnosis helps medical staff to deliver better care and in some cases time, he witnessed some big DATA MINING: a process used to prevent complications that can develop from the original condition. changes in how his patients Zornitza, who finished her medical degree two years before the Human interacted with him. “[Initially] explore already existing large data sets Genome Project came to a close, says she had no way of knowing how patients would come in seeing for patterns and relationships; uses far the field would advance during her career. “Not in a million years you as the font of all knowledge tools drawn from statistics, machine could I have imagined that today I would be sitting in the clinic ordering and turning to you for learning and database systems a patient’s whole genome as a medical test,” she professional advice wanting to says. “It’s a very, very exciting area that is just know, ‘What’s wrong with me? HEALTH INFORMATICS: covers the going to explode. It’s going to have multiple How do I fix it?’,” Mark says. applications in medicine and there are just so collection, analysis and movement of many opportunities in this field.” “There really was this shift health information and data to support Researchers like Zornitza work in large in, A, the level of preparedness health care multidisciplinary teams to be able to deal with and information that people had the complexity of the data they use.“There before they came to the physio are many opportunities at the moment for and, B, their expectations of bioinformaticians in particular, laboratory what that relationship would scientists that are interested in genomics be, in the sense that they and genetic counsellors and also medical were starting to want to take geneticists,” she says. “It can suit a a more active role. The impact variety of interests ranging from how of that technology on patients much you want to deal with data versus impacted me - it was something also dealing with patients and families.” I really took notice of.” Case Study: Patient Modelling Associate Professor Blanca Gallego Luxan (at right) heads up the Health Analytics lab at Macquarie University’s Australian Institute of Health Innovation. She’s previously used her skills to model climate systems, the spread of disease in the community and more. But she’s now focused on what makes hospitals tick. Her team uses data analysis to better understand patterns of patient safety in hospitals, and computational modelling to create predictive tools that support medical staff when making decisions about their patients. “You have to look, not just at the mathematics, but also at the complexity of the human behaviour, human computer interaction; you need to understand the medical setting. That’s why it’s so multidisciplinary, this research,” Blanca says. In her view, that’s one of the perks of the job, “You work with all types of people. I’ve worked with doctors, with nurses, with psychologists, with physicists, with mathematicians, with engineers, with computer scientists.” ULTIMATE CAREERS 2018 I 15

THE BIG PICTUREWhat, exactly, is big data? massive messy data sets. comprehension of complex real-There’s no universally agreed upon Drawing on techniques from world health problems, employing critical thinking and analytics to derivedefinition for big data. But generally, computer science, mathematics and knowledge from (big) data.”it refers to data that is so vast and so statistics, they’re using what they find to Data science can tackle real- world problems at the level of thedisorganised that traditional methods of answer curly questions and solve all sorts healthcare system, such as hospital overcrowding, all the way down to thestoring and managing it just won’t cut it. of problems. level of the individual, when it comes to preventing disease, for example.(Sorry Excel, but this is way out of your The Centre for Big Data Research inleague!) Ninety per cent of all digital data Health at UNSW has a definition for healthis unstructured and data scientists are data science. It’s “the science and art ofin high demand to make sense of these generating data-driven solutions throughCase Study: What’s in a name? red hair or she was really tall – Kleefstra is literally part of her DNA and that’s who weIn 2015, Melbourne-based couple Kate and need to support and recognise,” says Kate.Tim McMahon were given the life-altering “We want to help her as much as possiblenews by clinical geneticist Dr Zornitza but that’s who she is.”Stark that their three-year-old daughter,Olivia (right), had a genetic condition called Before the diagnosis, when people wouldKleefstra Syndrome. ask what was wrong with Olivia, Kate would jokingly say she had ‘Olivia Syndrome’. It Children with the Kleefstra Syndrome was life-changing to discover that thereexperience seizures and heart problems were other families going through similarand have delayed physical development challenges, including two in Victoria.and intellectual disabilities along with a “Through our own networks and Facebookrange of other symptoms. There are only (there’s an amazing Kleefstra parentsaround 400 known cases of Kleefstra Facebook group) we’ve been able to learnSyndrome worldwide. a lot about what our future might look like with Olivia,” Kate says. “That’s been really “I’m sure for a lot of parents it would be empowering because even though not allthe worst moment of their lives,” Kate says. of it is positive at least we’re better“But for us it was such a celebratory moment, prepared. We know what we might be ableobviously with a lot of mixed feelings, but…it to expect and we can make future planshad been three years of uncertainty.” based on that.” The diagnosis was made possible by next One of the biggest decisions for thegeneration genome sequencing techniques, McMahons following the diagnosis was towhich identified a mutation (change) in a have another child. “We were able to getgene associated with Kleefstra Syndrome. tested ourselves. That meant that we knewMost cases of the disease are caused that Olivia’s syndrome, which is Kleefstraby a gene deletion, which means the Syndrome, was just a random lotterygene is missing from the person’s ‘win’ for her. And it wasn’t something thatgenome. This deletion can be we’ve passed on to her. So that meant thatpicked up relatively early in the we could consider expanding our familydiagnostic process using naturally.” And that’s exactly what they did.traditional genetic tests. But Olivia now has a little brother called William.mutations can be far trickierto pinpoint, and it takes “It’s been amazing for Olivia too to havelonger to do so. that sibling experience because she’s learning so much from him every single day. “[It’s as] if you were They’ve got such a beautiful relationship andlooking at a book and it’s a real joy as a parent to see that.” Thethere was a stray full stop couple invited Dr Stark to William’s baptismin the middle of a sentence. And as a guest of honour. “We made note, inthat full stop just happened to be front of the congregation, that without herin the gene which would result he wouldn’t have been there. Everyonein Kleefstra Syndrome,” is how gave her a round of applause,” Kate says,Kate describes it. Understanding laughing. “That was a really special momentthe genetics behind her for us to acknowledge publicly the impactdaughter’s condition made a that she’d had directly on our lives. And thedifference on many levels. proof was in our arms, with William.” “It helped me a lot For more on Olivia’s story:with acceptance to youtube.com/watch?v=-tFWaJKSYyYknow that this iswho Olivia is. It’sjust as if she had16 I ULTIMATE CAREERS 2018

uc.australiascience.tv

STUDY ADVICEYour STEM Fit See where your strengths could take you. DEGREE AREASSCIENCEScience (Biology + Chemistry + Physics)YEAR 11/12 SUBJECTS Earth and Environmental Sciences Biology Chemistry Earth and Environmental Science/Geology Nutrition Physics Scientific StudiesNUMERACY Maths Engineering Accounting Computer Science Business and Enterprise Architecture Economics General Maths Specialist Maths Tourism Food and Hospitality Maths Methods GeographyCREATIVE Information Technology Design and Technologies ArtLITERACY Business Agriculture History English English Literature Philosophy Society and Culture BODY Medical Psychology Health Nutrition Outdoor Studies Psychology Child Studies Physical Education18 I ULTIMATE CAREERS 2018

uc.australiascience.tv CAREERSDEGREESScience (Biology + Chemistry + Physics) Science/ Earth and Environmental Sciences- Bachelor of Science (Honours) - Mammal keeper – Bristol Zoo - Account manager – L’Oreal (Marine Biology and Aquaculture) - Engineering graduate scheme – textile manufacturer- Bachelor of Science (Biological Sciences) - Publishing editor – Royal Society of Chemistry- Bachelor of Science (EcoChemistry) - Environmental officer – airport- Bachelor of Science (Laser Physics and Technology) - Geotechnologist – engineering consultancyEarth and Environmental Sciences Maths- Bachelor of Science (Ecotourism) - Forensic technology associate – Deloitte- Bachelor of Surveying and Spatial Sciences - Actuary – PwC- Bachelor of Natural Environment and - Trainee quantity surveyor – Bells - Consumer insight manager – publishing company Wilderness Studies- Bachelor of Science (Animal Behaviour) Engineering - Packaging engineer – pharmaceutical companyMaths - Nuclear engineer – nuclear medicine research facility- Bachelor of Mathematical Sciences - Electronics engineer – hospital - Analyst – JP MorganEngineering- Bachelor of Engineering (Honours) Computer Science - STEM promoter – higher education institution (Civil and Project Management) - Cyberspace communication officer – Defence Force- Bachelor of Engineering (Mechanical) (Honours) - Technical solutions manager – IBM- Bachelor of Engineering (Civil and Infrastructure) Architecture (Honours) - Architectural technologist – estate agents- Bachelor of Engineering (Honours) (Mechatronics) - Conservation specialist – construction company - Planning officer – local councilComputer Science- Bachelor of Information Technology Business- Bachelor of Computer Science (Professional) - Demand planner – construction company - Community development support officer – charity with a major in Cybersecurity - Conference and events co-ordinator – hotel and spa chain- Bachelor of Computer Science - Project control analyst – GE Oil & Gas (Simulation and Serious Games) Agriculture - Horticultural Engagement Officer – CSIROArchitecture - Technical Sales Representative – Food Division SA- Bachelor of Architectural Studies - Health, Safety and Environment Advisor – mining company - Agricultural technician – primary industries departmentsBusiness- Bachelor of Business (Global) Medical- Bachelor of Commerce (BCom) - Sports development manager – rugby club- Bachelor of Aviation and Piloting/ - Performance nutritionist elite sports – Bachelor of Business with a major in Finance Dutch Olympic Committee- Bachelor of Actuarial Studies - Orthodontic dental nurse – dental hospitalAgriculture Psychology- Bachelor of Agricultural Science - Reg Psychologist - autism specific intervention services –- Bachelor of Viticulture and Oenology Autism Spectrum Australia (Aspect)Medical - Health and Wellbeing Consultant – Matchworks- Bachelor of Pharmacy - Website performance analyst – betting agency- Bachelor of Science - Social worker – Local Government (Food Technology and Nutrition) ULTIMATE CAREERS 2018 I 19- Bachelor of Exercise Physiology- Bachelor of GeneticsPsychology- Bachelor of Social Work- Bachelor of Behavioural Science (Psychology)- Bachelor of Criminal Justice

FUTURE PROOFREACHFOR THESTARS Australia is finally getting its own national space agency. Hannah James looks at what that will mean for careers in space.20 I ULTIMATE CAREERS 2018

uc.australiascience.tv O THE SKIES we must go!” said Flavia Tata Nardini, CEO of the Aussie space start-up Fleet Space Technologies, as she dramatically added her voice to the call for an Australian space agency. Space, Flavia believes, is where we’ll see the 21st-century version of the Industrial Revolution“T– that 18th- and 19th-century manufacturing phenomenon that led to everything from indoor toilets to iPhones. And Australia, she emphatically believes, needs to be in on the action. When Minister for Jobs and Innovation, Michaelia Cash, announced the creation of a new Australian space agency last September, her words weren’t quite as inspiring as those of Flavia. But, at last, they meant the dream of working in space was alive again in Australia. SPACE BOOM Our new national space agency is riding the wave of what James Gilmour of Gilmour Space Technologies is calling a “space renaissance”. He should know: the company he and his brother Adam founded in 2012 recently signed a historic agreement with NASA that will see the American space agency help them develop and build a water-extracting Mars rover. “[This renaissance] is led by guys like Elon Musk, Richard Branson, James Cameron, Jeff Bezos,” James says. “These are successful businessmen putting in their own money to start a new space-race economy.” So, it’s perfect timing for a new national space agency seeking to expand Australia’s slice of the $420 billion global space industry. “In the early days we were the third country in the world to launch a satellite from our own soil,” says co-director of the Centre for Australian Space Education, Olivia Samardzic. “It’s a shame we lost our way. But now the government has seen there’s not just a science and engineering future in space but an economic future, too.” Glen Nagle of the Canberra Deep Space Communication Complex, which transmits commands from science teams out to robotic spacecraft across the solar system as part of NASA’s Deep Space Network, agrees. “There’s an ever-expanding space industry in Australia,” he says. “We have an industry that’s exporting its head off with billions of dollars of technologies and services. Opportunities are opening up that are going to require people to work for them.” And that’s the key with the new space agency. “Part of the reason for a space agency is to unify all the space activities,” believes Australian astronomer Fred Watson, “but – and I suspect this is where it’s going to impact on school-leavers – it should be an overarching space agency that will nurture all the small startups, meaning there are openings in these companies for bright young science and engineering students.” He continues: “If it’s set up well, there will also be cadetships, STEM fellowships, and they’ll try to encourage female students. But the key is going to be the startups. I do hope commercial support by the government will translate into jobs for young people, who are the ones coming up with the great ideas.” AGENCY DETAILS We don’t know any of this for sure yet, because the government review setting out the plans for the new agency weren’t due to be released until the end of March. Flavia is on the expert reference group producing the report. “The agency has a big role to play in making sure this is not just an industry exercise, but an inspiration,” she says. “It’s going to be a massive change so I’m quite excited about what’s going to happen for STEM students.” More details won’t be available until the review is released. What we do know, though, is that the agency will help keep highly sophisticated jobs within this country, reversing the brain drain that saw Australia lose top space legends such as astronaut Andy Thomas and geologist Abigail Allwood to the US. Andy, who flew into space four times for NASA, has been a staunch supporter of an Australian space agency and Abigail is leading NASA’s 2020 rover mission. The new Australian space agency will also strengthen space–related ties with other countries, paving the way for collaborations that aren’t possible at present. This image from NASA Spitzer Space Telescope shows the Peony nebula star, a blazing ball of gas that shines with the equivalent light of 3.2 million suns. © NASA/JPL-Caltech/Potsdam Univ. ULTIMATE CAREERS 2018 I 21

FUTURE PROOFDEGREES OF says Flavia, about her company “I’m a great fan of students not biologists, physicists, chemists,DIFFICULTY Fleet Space Technologies. neglecting the languages – and if mathematicians, science we become international players communicators, politicians – they’reThe traditional paths to careers Additionally, maths has always in the world of space, having a the ones who give us moneyin space have always been been a basic building block for language under your belt becomes – and even poets, authors andengineering and computer careers in space. (“If we ever even more important,” he says. songwriters – how many songsscience. “We’ve got to build the contact aliens,” Glen Nagle points have been written about space?”technology and infrastructure out, “the only common language “Start with Mandarin, becausewe need,” says Glen Nagle we’ll have is mathematics.”) the Chinese have a space agency Quite aside from artisticfrom the Canberra Deep Space Although if it’s not your strong that’s doing marvellous things,” pursuits, Australia’s space industryCommunication Complex, which point, take heart: Flavia says she Fred recommends. “But it’s is already making significantis one of NASA’s three tracking was “terrible” at maths in high whatever appeals to you to the strides ahead. “The work we dostations providing ongoing school and yet, “Here I am!” extent you can become reasonably is making history every minute ofradio contact with spacecraft fluent in it.” the day,” Glen says, “and I don’texploring our Solar System. “So As in any industry, work think we have a single visitor [atmechanical, structural, electrical experience is also crucial. “Take And that’s not all. “Space is the Deep Space Communicationsand aerospace engineering are any chance you get to meet or about students having talents and Complex] who doesn’t think it’skey, because we’ve got to build talk to engineers or scientists or skills in every area,” Glen Nagle amazing that Australia does thisthe instruments, the telescopes, anyone who works in the field,” adds. “When I talk to students stuff. It’s so inspiring.”the rockets, the building that Glen advises. about careers, at first they thinkholds the rockets.” it’s all about astronauts, rocket Fred Watson is certainly THINK LATERALLY scientists and maybe astronomers. inspired. What’s his ultimate It’s computer programming But space exploration involves dream for the new space agency?that makes it all work. “Fleet is The creation of Australia’s own doctors, nurses, veterinarians, “Maybe we can get another Elonrun by my software engineers. space agency will change the way farmers, engineers, teachers, Musk out of it,” he ponders, “orEverything we do is so digital,” we think about the path to careers meteorologists, geologists, even another Einstein.” in space, Fred Watson believes.AN UNCONVENTIONAL PATH TOP ADVICE FROM SPACE Traditional STEM studies are useful for careers in space,but are not always essential. SUCCESS STORIES Adam Gilmour began his career in finance withfinancial services company Citibank and his brotherJames worked in marketing for Dell. But in 2012 they co- FRED WATSON: GLEN NAGLE:founded Gilmour Space Technologies, a Gold Coast-based “Aim high – the sky’s the limit. “Get the basics: engineering,startup that’s working on a Mars rover with NASA. Some students, particularly girls, maths, computers. Then get your“Passion can be sometimes seven-tenths of the law,” James says of their might think space isn’t for them, bachelor’s, get your PhD, and getunconventional paths.“It’s exciting to be involved in a company that’s doing that it’s only for highly special whatever work experience yousome very cool things.” people. Just go for it.” can in the meantime. WhateverAnd you could even work with him: his role includes facilitating university your skills, there’s a job for youprojects within the company. “Part of my mission is to inspire the next FLAVIA TATA NARDINI: in space.”generation – our future employees,” James explains. And his favourite “Get in contact with me, comeattribute in students? “Common sense is more valuable than almost and look at Fleet. Get exposed to OLIVIA SAMARDZIC:anything,” he says. With that, James has got to run: “I’m off to do a static these opportunities, get into the “Identify female role models:test fire of our hybrid rocket engine at a secret test site,” he explains. Just real world as fast as you can.” not just Marie Curie but, say,another day at the (space) office. womenWANTED: the world go routonmadke Push your problem-solving skills to the max with an engineering degree. WHEN OLIVIA HUTCHINSON was in Year 11, equipped her with skills that are critical to her her physics teacher suggested engineering as current job as a systems engineer at aerospace a career option. And after a couple of days at company Boeing Defence Australia. an engineering camp for high school students, where she met qualified engineers and did Another highlight of her uni experiences was some fun engineering-related activities, Olivia being part of a group called GEMS (Girls Making was hooked. “I loved the concept of problem- Statements in Engineering). In a field of study solving and using maths and physics to do it,” where females are greatly outnumbered by their she explains. male counterparts, GEMS is there to support, mentor and empower women. Her advice to girls At Queensland University of Technology (QUT), considering engineering as a career is “go for it!” Olivia threw herself into a four-year degree in mechanical engineering (with a bonus six-months “It is such a rewarding degree and career and on exchange at a university in Denmark). She is we need more women because we need more enthusiastic about QUT’s emphasis on working in diversity in teams,” she says. “Projects succeed groups and problem-solving with other students, when they have a diverse team because you which led to friendships that continue today and have different ways of thinking, different ways of communicating.”

uc.australiascience.tvSPACE STARTUPS FLAARE BOOMING OLDOWN UNDER Universe woman © Kevin Carden / Adobe StockFLEET SPACE TECHNOLOGIES, VIA TATA NAR IVIA SAMARDbased in South Australia, is sending ZICnanosatellites into space with Elon DINIMusk’s SpaceX rockets to connectdevices with the Internet of Things. A ...IS IN SPACE WOMAN’SNEUMANN SPACE, in Adelaide, PLACE in an old washing-machine box the same rate, and part of thehas built a new ion engine that the and we built the inside of a space reason, Olivia believes, is thosecompany says can send a probe to “DON’T GET YOUR DRESS DIRTY.” capsule in it, drawing on all the same discouraging messages thatMars and back on a single fuel rod. “GIVE THAT DRILL dials and so on. Sitting in that box she faced. I really felt I was inside a spaceCUBERIDER is Sydney-based TO YOUR BROTHER.” capsule. So I knew I wanted to be a “A physics teacher once told meand provides kits to schools “THIS SPACE PROJECT HAS physicist when I was in grade five.” off for getting the highest mark inthat allow students to code and his exam,” she says. “But we needdesign experiments that eventually GOTTEN OUT OF HAND.” After completing her PhD in a diverse workforce that’s STEM-get sent to the International experimental atomic physics, she literate, because you get the bestSpace Station. co-founded the South Australian benefits from the greatest diversity. Space School to encourageDELTA-V Is a business accelerator students into STEM degrees “Things from the Hiddenthat specifically works with and careers. “It varies year to Figures movie [which exploredAustralia’s new space companies. year, but across the 21 years the resistance to women scientistsIt’s a startup for startups! Space School has been running, in the early days of space our gender balance has been 48 exploration] still happen toour Australian of the Year, Michelle Those sorts of misguided per cent girls, 52 per cent boys,” women in science today – we’reSimmons [a UNSW quantum physics messages are what science-loving Olivia says. “Girls are just as marginalised, not listened to.”professor]. And enjoy it: I’ve had girls face every day, according to interested in making their rocketso much joy in my career from the a video by US telecommunications fly as boys.” The solution? “Getting morescience I’ve done.” company Verizon. women into STEM,” Olivia says But they’re not advancing in simply. “What I do is so awesome,JAMES GILMOUR: “Every single thing I saw in STEM careers at anywhere near and more women should be able“Set goals and dream big. There’s no that video I’ve had said to me to do it, too.”reason we shouldn’t be resupplying multiple times,” agrees Oliviathe moon or Mars, asteroid mining, Samardzic of the Centre forremoving space junk – let’s even talk Australian Space Education.about manned missions.” But thanks to one visionary primary-school teacher, none of that put her off becoming a physicist. “He did a session on space science,” Olivia recalls. “It was very low-tech – he brought DreamsFieldwork Hands-on research experience can open your eyes to opportunities you never knew existed. REBECCA AINSCOUGH LIKES to keep her to my research assistant job, which gave so much horizons wide. Technically, the Queensland more experience and helped me understand the University of Technology graduate has an fields that I was working in a lot more,” she says. honours degree in Biology/Biological Sciences, “It also made me much more employable when but there’s more to that than meets the eye. I graduated.” During her studies, she’s had the freedom Currently, Rebecca continues to work as a to indulge her love of chemistry as well research assistant at QUT along with her day job as biology, and to get involved in the as a laboratory technician with food company groundbreaking field of bioinformatics, where Parmalat, where she tests dairy products to maths, statistics, computer science and biology ensure they’re safe for human consumption. all come together. Next stop? Cambridge University in the UK, Taking part in QUT’s Vacation Research where Rebecca will undertake a PhD on the Experience Scheme early in her degree opened bacteria found in the lungs of patients with cystic up a range of opportunities for Rebecca. “It led fibrosis, and look for new ways to treat them.

SHAKEDOWN Real-world What can robots ROBOTS AREN’T JUST for taking and spooky lights? Maybe it’s the Robots are expert at using do for you? over the world. They can defuse adorable Disney creation WALL-E, inputs (what you program them Cristy Burne bombs, rescue children, help with shovel hands and a passion to do, and what they sense in delves into take out your appendix, chat for for polystyrene? Perhaps it’s the their environment) to produce what’s already hours about AFL...There are baby Scarlett Johansson look-alike plans for how to achieve a goal possible in the seal robots for hugging, dog known as Mark 1 and created (like protect Master Luke, clean world of robotics robots for playing fetch, wearable in the garage of Hong Kong up Earth, hold a fascinating and what’s likely exoskeleton robots for pretending robotics wunderkind Ricky Ma conversation). in the future. to be the Hulk, even telepresence using a 3D printer! robots for attending your school And because robots are lessons when you’re home sick. There’s a lot of debate over powered by super-fast computers, (Yay!) And that’s just what’s what counts as a robot. Perhaps they’re able to come up with possible today. it’s simplest to say that a robot is loads of plans, choose the best, a programmable device that can then start on that while working Set yourself up with the right do some or all of the following: on new-and-improved plans… skills, and you can create the • walk, fly, swim, glide, rotate or all before you can say, “Hello possibilities for tomorrow. everybody. I am Sophia.” (Haven’t otherwise move around met Sophia yet? Google her and What is a robot? • sense environmental states prepare to spin out.) What does that term ‘robot’ or phenomena, like light, actually mean? Is it C-3PO, the radioactivity or bad smells humanoid Star Wars character • follow instructions, like with expressive eyes and shiny “Vacuum this floor!” skin? What about the app-enabled • work towards a goal, like droid BB-9E, with a mean streak “Bring me chocolate”Image © AlienCat / Adobe Stock 24 I ULTIMATE CAREERS 2018

uc.australiascience.tvroboticsWhy are robots monotonous thing day after day, Dirty, dull, dangerous or all three. Take a look at yourso useful? week after week, year after year. and disgusting List Of Things I’d Rather Not Do. I bet there’s a robot for everythingListen up: Robots are useful Robots hardly ever make When you say “robot”, some on it. And if there isn’t, you canbecause they always pay miscreants misteaks mistakes. people say, “OMG they’re going probably invent one.attention. Hello…did you And if they do, it’s usually to take all our jobs.”get that? because of human error. Think of robots as room- Others, like economists at one cleaners, sewer-inspectors, Robots are also uber-accurate. Robots can often do things of the world’s biggest accounting machines for lugging moltenWhen you say “stinking hot”, they faster and better, and that firms Deloitte, say the technology aluminium, crop and power-say “44.7 degrees.” And when you means they’re good for business. is a “great job-creating machine.” line inspectors or the perfectcut along the dotted line, they slice Check out e-commerce giant travellers for one-way trips toto within fractions of a millimetre. Amazon.com, which employs But how you look at robotics Mars. (Okay, so maybe that last thousands of robots in their depends on what sort of jobs one is on another list of mine.) But, they don’t need coffee, packing and distribution you’re thinking of. Most of thelunch breaks, oxygen or sleep. warehouses. These allow Amazon jobs robots are being designedAnd they don’t go crazy from to pack in mere minutes what used to do are boring, risky, unhealthydoing the same incredibly to take an hour. ULTIMATE CAREERS

SHAKEDOWN SANBOT...BRING PIZZA! Ever wanted your own butler? The company’s managing FAST FACT Then why not try giving orders director, Chris Scott, says robots What’s the difference to a helpful humanoid known like Sanbot provide loads of between a robot and an online bot, like a chatbot as a SanBot, created by Qihan opportunities for savvy coders. or Twitterbot? A robot needs to have some sort of Technology, a robotics and “It’s like having a super-charged body. Online bots are just algorithms or clever bits AI company based in iPad with wheels, then giving it of code. Shenzhen, China. a degree of autonomy and the Sanbot’s first generation robot ability to communicate,” Chris is nicknamed Elf: he can sing, says. “Tailoring the capabilities dance and remind you to take of these robots comes down to your medicine, just like Santa’s the skill of the programmer. How RROISBEOTOSFSTUHPEPORT INDUSTRY Elf, but with 3D-cameras, infrared do you want it to interact with its sensors, a touch screen heart and environment? What do you want subwoofers in its guts. Collaborative it to communicate? Jatinder Grewal was studying mechatronics at the University of Sanbot Elf is already robots, called What information working security do you want it at airports, serving cobots, are the to capture?” Sydney when he made the jump from student to entrepreneur. He customers at hotels next big thing. Chris predicts and hosting TV shows. was a member of the uni’s team for the student-design competition collaborative robots, Formula SAE and had designed the wireless system monitoring the Gen2 is SanBot Nano, your called cobots, are the next big car while on the racetrack. ordinary everyday around-the- thing. “Cobots can collaborate Then a team member dropped his name to a mining company house butler-bot. It’s as tall safely with humans in a human looking for an answer to a robotics- technical issue relating to CNC as your baby brother, comes space, like a factory floor,” machines [see box] that they were stuck on. “They asked me, ‘Can with a cute cartoon face, he says. “There’s significant this be done in two months?’ and I was like, ‘I can do it in a week’,” voice recognition and 50-plus opportunity for robotics in says Jatinder, who was already improving robotic CNC machine sensors that give it super-human the future. People are looking systems in his garage. awareness. You can ask it to turn to automate, which opens up He’d experienced first-hand the hassles of using a PC to control on your favourite tune, order opportunities in programming, these machines and had begun nutting out a better way to control pizza, update your fitness stats… mechatronics, engineering...” them: “I researched a lot on YouTube; I’d ask questions about how and more. Oh, and it charges its to do things.” He ended up designing a real-time CNC controller, own battery, without being asked. called the MASSO controller, and launched his own company, Hind Need more muscle? Try the Technology, which specialises in robotic control technology. SanBot Max, launched in Last year, MASSO CNC controllers were shipped to more than January this year. It’s your 40 countries. “I have clients making wooden parts, cutting marble typical all-terrain butler, a couple for shelving, making jewellery, of inches shorter than Kourtney making drones…You have What’s a CNC machine? something in your mind, and Kardashian but able to tow you can literally machine Want to build a prototype or that in minutes. Every day I experiment with a new design? 75kg. It also knows 26 see a new application,” says You’ll need a Computer Numerical Jatinder, who believes that Control (CNC) machine — and a languages and can cover way to control it. CNC machines around five metres per second; perfect for when you’re in a to get started in robotics you are a precision cutting tool foreign country and need passion. “I’ve been that can follow programmed need a really big pizza, building stuff since I was a kid. instructions. They range in price really fast. It’s also You need to have that drive from just hundreds of dollars to useful in hotels, shops, and for the rest, well, you’ve hundreds of thousands of dollars. nursing homes, and got the internet so you can “Whatever we see or use these learn anything. My friends say, days has been machined on a when you need a lift to ‘Mate, you didn’t even pass CNC machine,” Jatinder explains. maths, how can you make this “Most start-ups who need toSanbot Nano image courtesy QIHAN Technology the fridge. stuff?’ But once you see how make anything just go out and buy this stuff works, once you a little CNC machine.” You know you want your own Sanbot and, when you put it on your Christmas list, try telling your start liking that stuff, you’re parents it’s educational! self-driven.” Distributing the robot here is Advanced Robotics Australia, Melbourne-based specialists integrating robotics and manufacturing. 26 I ULTIMATE CAREERS 2018

uc.australiascience.tv“If you can Image © Fastbrick Robotics Ltdimagine it,robots mightdo it.”INTO THE FUTURE, BRICK-BY-BRICKMark Pivac is Chief Technology Officer at Fastbrick Robotics (FBR), inventors of the bricklaying robot. “The FAST FACTHadrian X will unpack bricks, cut them, put grooves in them and put glue on them, and then place them veryaccurately into a wall structure, layer by layer, all according to a CAD house plan,” he explains. In the first nine months of 2017, FBR already employs about 100 people, including engineers, programmers, assembly technicians, almost 26,000 robotscomputer numerical control (CNC) machine operators, fabricators, boilermakers, welders, electricians, were sold in Northmechanical fitters, hydraulics technicians and more. “Good engineers who can write well are America totallingespecially valuable,” Mark says. “Knowledge about how things are made and how about US$1.5 billion.things work is extremely useful.” What does Mark see in the wild-west future for robotics? “Imagine a humanoid robotdoing winter Olympics grade snowboard tricks,” he says. “Perhaps robotic industrialisationof space and other worlds, with robots sending products back to Earth, or preparingfresh planets for human habitation. “If you can imagine it, robots might do it.”Image courtesy of The University of Sydney/ DOWN ON THE FARM that are fully autonomous…andAustralian Centre for Field Robotics small farms with little robots to Robotics and agriculture already help farmers with the difficult and go hand-in-hand, says Salah boring tasks.” Sukkarieh (left), a global expert on field robotics systems. He adds that the influence of robotics is growing. “Robotics,” “There are robot platforms he says, “is everywhere, from that can automatically work in agriculture to aviation, mining to horticulture, grazing livestock and space exploration.” To get into the grain farms,” he explains. “They area, Salah recommends a focus can detect weeds automatically on technical skills in mathematics and eradicate them, as well and science, as well as having as pests. They can also use soft skills in communication and very sophisticated AI [artificial problem-solving. intelligence] techniques to determine the health of the plants Salah Sukkarieh is Professor and animals.” of Robotics and Intelligent Systems at the University of In the future, Salah says, Sydney and Director of Research robots will play an even greater and Innovation at the Australian role: “There will be large farms Centre for Field Robotics. ULTIMATE CAREERS 2018 I 27

SHAKEDOWNSCaoslevSitnugdya35-year-oldproblemAndrew Bradfield is a Image courtesy of Sandpit Innovationsmechanical engineerat Sandpit Innovation,an Aussie team thatdesigned and delivereda robotic pulleyreplacement system formining company South32.Every week, South32 changes intensive manual handling task experience when hiring new engineers, not just qualifications.300–700 pulleys across more than fraught with risks.” “Someone who’s got their hands dirty, someone who knows what50km of conveyor. “The conveyor Sandpit’s solution was a a wrench is. That trumps a lot of other criteria,” he says.reaches up to 4.2m above the triple-jointed robotic arm. Allground,” Andrew explains. “They three joints are intelligently andhave to harness up, remotely controlledclimb onto the belt “Adding robotics using a joystick. It’s FAST FACTand lift these 17kg is incredibly cut the job time topulleys out, overhead advantageous.” 12 minutes. Do humanoid robotsand at odd angles.” freak you out? You’re not “Adding robotics alone. The Uncanny Valley At height, each is incredibly is a phenomenon where humans get the heebie-pulley can take 20–30 minutes advantageous when you start jeebies when dealing with human-looking robots.for a person to change manually, looking at improvements on cyclea job that for comes with the risk time,” Andrew says.of stress, strain and injury. “It’s Coming up with clever solutionsa problem they’ve had for 35 requires clever thinking andyears,” Andrew says, “a really Andrew says he looks for practicalImage of Zee courtesy of Dr. Navinda Kottege / CSIRO FROM ROBOCUP TO RAINFOREST in robot soccer and dance and line-following. From there I always An addiction to Lego led Ryan loved robotics.” Steindl into a career in robotics. Ryan designs his robots to be Now a mechatronics engineer, ultra-lightweight. “Everything he works with CSIRO’s Robotics is really light but flexible,” he and Autonomous Systems group explains. “The less mass you where he designs and builds have, the less energy you need; legged robots. “They’re six- so the further you can walk.” legged at the “The less mass CSIRO’s robotics moment,” he you have, the less group is also explains. “We energy you need; working on SLAM want to be able (Simultaneous to explore rough so the further you Localisation terrain, like a can walk.” and Mapping) rainforest, with technology for creeks and hills and boulders to 3D-mapping. “We can just walk get around.” through a space and create a Ryan explains that he’s played 3D map of our environment,” with Lego all his life and still Ryan says. “One of the biggest does, he admits with a laugh, at problems in robotics is knowingMeet Zee, named after the character voiced by Woody Allen in the animated the age of 28. “At school I got what your world’s like. The bettermovie Antz, a prototype for confined space inspection and mapping. The CSIRO into RoboCup Junior,” he says. you know your world, the betterteam have aptly named these these six-legged hexapod robots Syropods. “We were competing in teams you can do tasks.”28 I ULTIMATE CAREERS 2018

uc.australiascience.tvCAansde Stthuedyn.B..u?t...what if?The world is animperfect anduncertain place,particularly if all youhave to work with aresensors and software.Ask a robot to pick up a cup and a side project”.its computer brain goes into Hanna credits C-3PO asoverdrive. What type of cup? How the inspiration for her careerheavy? How slippery? How full? in robotics: “I watched a lot“The robot needs to figure of Star Wars growing up andout what it needs to do to Doraemon, [a Japanese mangaaccomplish the task,” explains series] about a cat robot fromDr Hanna Kurniawati, a University the future” she laughs. “Iof Queensland researcher in wanted to somehow havemechatronics, which combines the robots that movieselectronics and “You need calculus, promised us.”mechanical statistics, To make yourengineering. “I’m probability, plus an understanding own cat robot of physics andinterested in how computer science.” from the future,they do this in the you’ll need skills,absence of perfect Hanna says. “Youmodels and perfect need calculus,predictions.” statistics,Hanna recently probability, pluswon ICT Researcher of the Year at an understanding of physics andthe Australian Computing Society computer science. Robots areDigital Disruptors Awards. On a driven by computers, so you needtypical day she might be working a good grasp of computing, notwith honeybee experts to uncover just programming but also thehow bees avoid collisions, or concepts behind it. You want yourlooking into new ways to help software to berobots deal with uncertainty very efficient.”so they can make better, faster YouTube, she says, is a greatdecisions. Or she might be place to start: “There are lots ofhelping to develop an electronic videos of how things that appearsoccer ball for vision-impaired boring or dry can be applied tokids, which, she says, is a “sort of things that are more interesting.” Image © LaCozza/Adobe Stock Playtosyotruer ngths Love sport? Love science? Turn your passions into your career. students and academics, and Benjamin found the supportive atmosphere was a huge help in HAVING FORMER WALLABIES’ captain John figuring out the career path he wanted to pursue. Eales as a mentor was one of many connections “People are actually interested in what you want that made Benjamin Hunt’s time at Bond to do, not just [about] pumping you through and University rich and rewarding – both personally getting your degree done and then out of there,” and professionally. After being selected as one he explains. of the first two recipients of the university’s John Eales Rugby Excellence Scholarship, Benjamin Having completed his studies in 2017, moved from Sydney to the Gold Coast to study which included work experience in the High for a Bachelor of Exercise and Sports Science Performance Training Centre at the Bond part-time while playing rugby union with the Institute of Health & Sport, Benjamin landed a Under-20s Queensland Reds. job as strength and conditioning coach at the prestigious Scots College, in Sydney. There Bond’s small class sizes aim to make it easy he is training young rugby players – including to develop one-on-one relationships with other perhaps Australia’s next John Eales – to reach their potential.



REALITY CHECK uc.australiascience.tv T ALL BEGINS with an idea. It might come as Kickstart a flash of inspiration while walking the dog or your daydreaming during that last lesson on a Friday startup afternoon. Or it could be a slow burn that eventually consumes you. However it starts, you soon believe that when Iyour idea is made into reality it’s going to make a difference to people’s lives or fill a need that’s been crying out to be filled. “I can’t believe no one else has thought of this yet,” you think at first. And then you realise: “This is a great idea for a business.” The next step is turning that idea into a product or service that can bring you an income and might even be the basis of a long career. There’s certainly a lot of evidence that great startup ideas can go a long way. According to figures from the Federal Department of Industry, Innovation and Science, net job creation in Australia comes from early stage and startup businesses. In fact, young companies created almost all of the 1.6 million net new jobs in Australia from 2003 to 2014. So, if you’re ready for a big step into the unknown and want to take that amazing idea of yours to the next stage, make sure you’ve got a game plan. Identify your: Audience: who do you want to use your product or service? Mission: what is your startup trying to do? Funding: will the money you need to get your idea off the ground come from your savings, crowdfunding or private or government funding? There are no rules set in stone on how to start and run your own business. But knowing what options are available will make everything seem less overwhelming. Here we tell the stories of three Aussie start-ups well on their way to success and we share the advice of the entrepreneurs behind them. We’ll also show you where you can find help and get guidance. And we explain the language of the start-up world.Image courtesy of Steph Gabriel Swimwear, virtual reality Case Study: OceanZen and surfing are at the heart philosophy: so much more of these three successful Aussie startups with very than just a fashion brand different origin stories. founded: 2014 Our writer Ivy Shih takes you behind the scenes for oceanzenbikini.com some first-hand advice from On Queensland’s Sunshine Coast, Steph the entrepreneurs who Gabriel has successfully built a business that began them. Prepare combines passions for fashion and cleaning to be inspired! up the planet. Her company OceanZen manufactures sustainable swimwear from Funding from ING Bank's Dreamstarter grant program recycled fishing nets and plastic bottles. was the boost Steph Gabriel needed to grow her fashion startup company OceanZen. Steph had always had a close relationship OceanZen's mission is to create sustainable swimwear from recycled plastics. with the ocean and has seen first-hand the devastating impact of waste on our waterways. She’s been an active advocate for marine conversation, working in the Grand Cayman with wild stingrays. And at university she studied environmental science and worked in marine research, investigating the genetic diversity of humpback whales in Ecuador and coral reefs in Indonesia. “Being in the ocean eight hours a day, I was really seeing the effects of tourism on marine ULTIMATE CAREERS 2018 I 31

REALITY CHECKlife but also our environmental impact in terms of The bikinis are made from ECONYL, Image courtesy of Steph Gabrielmarine debris and pollution,” Steph says. Plastic a fabric created from plasticpollution in our oceans is a huge and ever-growing collected from the Great Pacificproblem. Carried by ocean currents, much of the Garbage Patch. An Americanworld’s plastic debris ends up in the Great Pacific company cleans and shreds theGarbage Patch, a floating island of rubbish in the plastic, which is recreated into aPacific Ocean. very fine yarn. That’s then shipped to Italy, where it is mixed with Lycra “All this passion was building up to be something for the perfect amount of stretchgreat,” Steph recalls. “So, I thought why not needed for swimwear.combine my two passions together, which aremarine conservation and bikinis!” Marine conservation and advocacy has formed an important part of OceanZen’s identity. With just $5000 of her own savings and while still The company’s Instagram account features photosa full-time student in the final year of her degree, she of sharks, sea turtles and other marine life withlaunched OceanZen on Instagram and slowly grew messages of marine conservation awareness. Stephthe company, recruiting friends to help model her credits her university degree and work with helpingbikini designs and create the company website. make OceanZen a label that sets it apart from other swimwear brands. “It’s important for anyone who wants to launch abusiness to be really resourceful,” she advises. “My studies in environmental science have also“I always try to find different opportunities.” given me the skills and credibility in what I am saying. Not many fashion labels come from this Steph’s hard work paid off. In 2017, OceanZen kind of background,” Steph says. “OceanZenreceived a Dreamstarter grant from ING Bank, a wouldn’t be what it is if it wasn’t for my uniqueprogram that provides startups with funding and experiences. It’s a brand that supports marineknowledge to build financially stable businesses. She conservation and wants my consumers to build asays the grant has allowed the company to grow more conscious lifestyle.”and helped produce OceanZen’s new swimwearcollection, which launched in November 2017.Case Study: Phoria behaviours and needs can be connected hopeful entrepreneurs creating virtual reality house tours supported by engineering new with mentors to test whether their for television renovation showphilosophy: building tools of the future. fledging startup ideas had merit. The Block.a bridge between the Yes! The Fitzroy Academy wasdigital and physical Trent is a co-founder and a real thing. Trent explains that Recently PHORIA teamed withworlds CEO of PHORIA, a Melbourne it wasn't quite an accelerator or the Murdoch Children’s Researchfounded: 2014 tech startup that specialises in incubator, but was instrumental in Institute to design a virtual reality immersive media. For the last four forming PHORIA. excursion to Melbourne Zoo for phoria.com.au years it’s been creating cutting- kids in hospital. By bringing virtual edge technologies to provide a The startup then entered the reality into the hospital setting, Trent Clews-de virtual reality solution to many Melbourne Accelerator Program PHORIA is contributing to medical Castella has always real-world problems. (MAP), Australia’s first university- research that’s investigating been interested in the based accelerator program. There, whether animal-assisted therapy crossover between “Virtual reality can build a bridge the fledgling company was able could help with pain and anxiety where people can travel vast to get seed capital to take the for young patients. psychology and distances and bring digital, far-off business to new places. For Trent engineering. And worlds to your immediate physical it was a mind-opening experience. The experience broke new what fascinates environment,” he says. ground for PHORIA in capturing “I was connecting with the 360-degree video. him most is Back in 2014 Trent and his movers and shakers of 3D how human fellow co-founders had a concept visualisation, finding what tools Trent recommends that anyone of using virtual reality as a real tool they had, what barriers they faced wanting to expand a great idea for businesses, but didn’t want to and also what opportunities,” he into a startup should look for rush into it. “You have this burning says. “We also realised that we incubators and accelerators. question you want to solve [and] didn’t have immediate software naturally a lot of people want to go and financial skills so we started “One of the benefits is [you out and build this product, launch looking for co-founders. We were can] really just ask the right it and make a lot of noise,” Trent at the right place at the right time. questions. You don’t need to explains. “But then you spend a lot It was then we realised we had know all the answers, but at least something with potential.” you are aware so it is a matter of of time and money without surrounding yourself in the right really getting feedback.” Since then the company has environment,” Trent says. “And the So the team first went gone from strength to strength, right people are not afraid to give to the ‘Fitzroy Academy working in exciting projects, you a polite nudge and kick up the including one that involved rear if you’re not headed in the of getting shit done’, a right direction!” month-long program that32 I ULTIMATE CAREERS 2018

uc.australiascience.tvSAGE Steph Rikki TrentADVICE Gabriel Gilbey Clews-de Castella“What would you tell (Founder, OceanZen) (Founder, WAW Handplanes) (Co-founder, PHORIA)a high-school studentcoming to you for advice Give it time Do it sensibly Know your weaknesseson launching a startup.” “Don’t put pressure on deciding “It is hard. Don’t rush into it too “Commit to an idea. It’s really hardWe asked each of these three right now. There are so many quickly. You can work on your to have one foot in and one footentrepreneurs. Here’s what they options to follow your path and idea, you can develop it. It’s very out. It is being aware that as greathad to say. end up doing what you love. hard to put immediate pressure as an idea may be – it is about Starting your own business isn’t on yourself to generate profit you being able to execute on it and going to make you money right can use. Maintain a side job for know that not one individual has away. You need to ride it out. a while...in the industry you are the ability to do it all. Being able That is why it is so important to thinking of doing that startup in, to identify your weaknesses from do something you are passionate if you can. That way you have a an early stage and looking for that about. If you launch something you safety net. For instance, I picked strength in other business partners don’t care about, when times get up a side job at a surf shop so I is invaluable.” tough you are just going to give could develop some contacts in up. There have been so many hard the surf industry. It gave financial times, but I am always drawn back input into the company, covered to the purpose of my company.” my rent, and gave me that network and opportunities.”Case Study: WAW Handplanes Image © Andrew Scalesphilosophy: sustainable surfingfounded: 2014 wawhandplanes.com.auRikki Gilbey had always wanted to start his own business and surfinghas been a long-time passion: the two merge perfectly for him inWAW (Wave After Wave) Handplanes. He discovered bodysurfing about five years ago and foundthat handplaning (a practise thought to have started with kids inPolynesia using pieces of driftwood) made such a difference tothe experience: “You can lean down and can get your body up andout of the water, and then you are just racing across the waves – Iinstantly fell in love!” But Rikki had trouble finding a good handplane in Australiaand realised there was a gap in the market. “All of a sudden,all these sparks started flying off in my brain,” he recalls. As acarpenter who’d studied marine geography, previously been amarine researcher and was working in a surf shop, his set of skillsand connections seemed perfect. He saw his chance, decidedto go for it and began making small handplanes at home. Rikki’sbedroom became a storage unit for timber and his garden becamea workshop. Importantly his surfing mates and colleagues willinglytested his products, provided feedback and he altered his productsaccordingly. He began selling at local markets and any tiny profitswere put back into making more handplanes. “I was adamant I was going to grow the business organically andI didn’t have a massive amount of funds to put into it,” he says. “Wewere growing slowly, but we were growing.” Rikki’s creations startedattracting attention in the surfing community, his products werepicked up by a large outdoor gear retailer, and everything he made inhis first summer sold. “It was so humbling and I was amazed,” Rikki acknowledges. Nowthe business is well on its way. Central to WAW Handplane’s missionis sustainability; from the raw products he uses to his businessphilosophies: for every handplane that’s sold a tree is panted. Rikkistrongly recommends that anyone starting a business considerssustainability. “I wanted it to be the roots of the company from thebeginning. I have a product-based business so at every step I amthinking about if there is a sustainable approach,” Rikki says. “Don’tpush it to the side. What I discovered was that it is not only easy tomake a sustainable business, it's beneficial and a great marketingtool. It’s not hard.” ULTIMATE CAREERS 2018 I 33

REALITY CHECK uc.australiascience.tvStartup GET Lingo READY TO GO IUNNTICHOERRNESALDMO OEXFISSTTA. RTUPS Starting a new business from UNICORNS, ANGEL investors, incubators: these might sound scratch isn’t easy, so here are a like terms plucked from the latest dystopian novel, but they’re few places to get you started. all part of the language used in the startup world. So, if you’re planning to start your own company, here are some of the key IP AUSTRALIA Your go-to words and phrases you’ll want to add to your vocabulary. Federal Government resource onSTARTUP ANGEL INVESTOR/S and technology alongside other how to protect and launch your Unicorn created by Freepik start-up founders and, at times, startup in Australia; includes a listA company in the early stages People who contribute a small invites CEOs and mentors to of possible government fundingof creating a product or service. amount of capital (mostly give presentations. and other tools for startups.A startup’s goal is to solve a starting from $50,000 to There is a strong communityproblem or fill a need in a new $100,000) into your company. element and incubators provide ipaustralia.gov.au/and innovative way. This usually occurs in the a chance to network and meet company’s early stages and with other startups. STARTUPAUS A not-for profitFOUNDER is in exchange for a small portion of ownership. LAUNCH minefield of information aboutThe person or entrepreneur events, resources and informationwho comes up with the idea BOOTSTRAPPING When you officially start a for technology startups andbehind the startup. There can company or make a entrepreneurs in Australia.be multiple founders, known When a company is funded by website/service live. This is whenas co-founders; all of whom the entrepreneur’s own personal you introduce your company to startupaus.org/have unique strengths – like resources without the help the real world!technological, business or of angel investors or venture STARTUPSMART Freeengineering skills – that they capital firms. It means you’re PoC (Proof of Concept)bring to support the company. starting a business with your news and advice for startup own finances. This is making your idea into businesses. smartcompany.ACCELERATOR reality as a working demo or com.au/startupsmart/ CAPITAL product. This is a very importantA startup accelerator is step because it shows potential TECHSTARS STARTUPa short-term (3–6 month) The amount of money customers and investors that WEEKENDprogram designed to speed up available for the startup to use. your idea is possible.development for small teams. Entrepreneurs need to raise Organises training andThey support founders with capital to kick-off and grow UNICORN networking events foroffice space, funding (seed a company. This can be from entrepreneurs all around Australiacapital), mentorship and angel investors or VCs. The Privately owned startup with abusiness management training first funding round is known as current value of more than startupweekend.org/from experts and leaders in seed capital. $1 billion. Examples includethe industry. At the end of a Airbnb, Reddit and Canva. INCUBATORSprogram, founders will have ENTREPRENEURthe opportunity to present their VC (Venture Capital) INCUBATE (NSW)product to potential investors A person turning an idea intosuch as VCs (see right). Entry a business venture, rewards A venture capital firm’s goal is incubate.org.au/into accelerator programs is and risks included. If you’re to invest in other companies invery competitive. Be aware that interested in creating a startup – certain markets or industries. FISHBURNERS (NSW & QLD)accelerators usually provide this is you! Funding from these can help insupport in exchange for a the rapid growth of your startup fishburners.org/percentage of the value of your INCUBATOR and occurs in ‘rounds’ (seedstartup company. round, followed by Series A, B, SPACECUBED (WA) A place or organisation that and C), where the startup tries helps early stage startups. It to raise capital from VC firms by spacecubed.com/ provides a co-working space, showing PoC. access to business equipment CICADA INNOVATIONS (NSW) cicadainnovations.com/#home ACCELERATOR PROGRAMS BLUE CHILLI (NSW, VIC, QLD) bluechilli.com/ MELBOURNE ACCELERATOR PROGRAM (MAP) (VIC) themap.co/map-startup- accelerator/ YBF (VIC) ybfventures.com/ MURU-D (NSW, QLD, WA, VIC) muru-d.com/ QUT CREATIVE ENTERPRISES AUSTRALIA (QLD) qutcea.com/ ILAB (QLD) ilabaccelerator.com/34 I ULTIMATE CAREERS