FLRP facilitator biographies
Professor Leon Mann
Professor Leon Mann is the Director of the Research Leadership Unit within the Melbourne Research Office at The University of Melbourne. Professor Mann's published research and development articles have addressed a broad range of topics including factors influencing innovation; models of leadership and trust in project teams; and factors in successful research collaboration between industry and universities. He chairs the Business and Higher Education Round Table (BHERT) Awards Committee for excellence in research and development collaboration and is a member of the Cooperative Research Centres (CRC) Association Awards Committee for research excellence.Professor Mann has held Australian Research Council (ARC) Spirit grants with BHP, Orica, DSTO, CSIRO, Motorola and Sustainable Energy Authority Victoria (SEAV) as industry partners.
Dr Paul Taylor
Dr Paul Taylor is responsible for the University research ethics and integrity programs and is based in the Melbourne Research Office. Paul has worked in research management for 6 years and enjoys the challenges that this area presents. Paul studied at the University and completed a PhD in Environmental Microbiology in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology, where he still teaches to second year students.Dr Charlie Day
Dr Charlie Day is the Managing Director of Melbourne Ventures Pty Ltd. Charlie has a degree in Classics and an honours degree in Chemical Engineering from The University of Melbourne. He also has a doctorate in jet engine design from Oxford University, where he studied as a Rhodes Scholar.
Prior to joining the university, Charlie was a consultant for Boston Consulting Group where he was involved in developing strategic advice across a range of industries including airlines, banking and software development. He also worked as an investment manager at Melbourne University Private.
Dr Ingmar Wahlqvist
Dr John Bates
Dr John Bates is the Business Development Manager in Melbourne Consulting and Custom Programs at the University of Melbourne. John has a strong background in business development and in the commercial application of Science and Technology. He has extensive experience in the interface between universities and industry, combining his commercial career with undergraduate and post-graduate teaching in biological sciences. John has previously led global product development programs and worked with research institutions and consortia in the development of successful funding applications for major research and infrastructure initiatives.Drawing on his experience with Ernst & Young, CSL Limited and the Australian Institute for Commercialisation, John has extensive experience in program design and development, consulting, strategic planning in the research environment and research management.
Dr Tania Bezzobs
Dr Tania Bezzobs is Manager, Research Development in the Melbourne Research Office where she has oversight of research grants and contracts administration and major research initiatives and collaborations. Tania has an Honours degree in Science from the University of Adelaide, a PhD in Science from Monash University, and a Masters of Business Administration and a Masters of Intellectual Property Law from Melbourne Business School and Melbourne Law School respectively at The University of Melbourne. She has worked at The University of Melbourne, Deakin University, the Department of Innovation and Industry Development, the Environment Protection Authority and Monash University.Dr Lewis Atkinson
Lewe is Manager Evaluation, Meat and Livestock Australia Ltd (an international marketing and research services company serving the Australian Beef, Sheep, & Goat industry supply chain partners with a mission to achieve world leadership by developing competitive advantage from “paddock to plate”.)In his current role Lewe is Manager - Evaluation and Program Improvement, responsible for developing and implementing a program evaluation framework to demonstrate to stakeholders the results from their investment in MLA. In his previous role he was responsible for the forward visioning, strategic planning, change management, and delivery for all Industry Funded Processing & Product Innovation activities as well as driving the development of a Partnership Portfolio in the areas of New Product Development, Biotechnology, High Value Co-products, E-commerce/Supply Chain Management, and Process Automation Technology, looking after a total annual program a value of around $25m.
Lewe has supervised and examined a number of the Professional Certificate in Commercialisation projects in his capacity as an Associate of Melbourne Consulting and Custom Programs. He is also an accredited facilitator for the Australian Institute for Commercialisation's commercialisation Bootcamp, and an active member of the Australian Research Management Society. Lewe has a BSc, PhD in Chemical Engineering and an MBA.
Cherry Birch and Geoff Wright: Birch Consulting Group
Birch Consulting Group are experts in the delivery of financial management training to non-finance managers and executives. One of their distinctive features is that they believe that finance training can be enjoyable, even fun!Cherry is a qualified Chartered Accountant and Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales. She has over 25 years' international experience in the financial services sector and in consulting, including 4 years living and working in SE Asia.
Geoff is a Certified Practicing Accountant with 25 years experience. Geoff joined Monash Mt Eliza Business School in 1996 as a Program Director, designing and delivering in-house executive development programs.