Leadership team

We aim to be globally trusted and recognised experts in nanoscience and technolgy. We are working towards achieving this by enabling and facilitating activities and translational outcomes that would not be possible through our existing university structures. 

The Sydney Nano Executive Committee, chaired by the Director, Stephen Bartlett, comprises the General Manager Kristl Mauropoulos and five Deputy Directors, who work to affect our academic, strategic and financial goals.

Leadership team

Professor Stephen Bartlett 

Director

Professor Stephen Bartlett is a theoretical quantum physicist and Professor in the School of Physics and Director of the University of Sydney Nano Institute. He leads a team pursuing both fundamental and applied research in quantum information theory, including the theory of quantum computing. He is a Chief Investigator in the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence in Engineered Quantum Systems (EQUS), where he leads a research program on Designer Quantum Materials. He is the inaugural Lead Editor of the APS journal PRX Quantum. He sits on the Executive Board of the Sydney Quantum Academy, on the Quantum Expert Advisory Board of the new quantum computing initiative at Transport for NSW, and on the International Scientific Advisory Board of the Stewart Blusson Quantum Matter Initiative at UBC. He previously served as the Associate Dean Research for the Faculty of Science (2020-2023). He is a Fellow of the American Physical Society (APS), the Australian Institute of Physics (AIP), and the Royal Society of NSW.

Stephen completed his Ph.D. in mathematical physics at the University of Toronto in 2000. Moving to Australia, he directed his research to the theory of quantum computing, first as a Macquarie University Research Fellow and then as an ARC Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Queensland. Since 2005, he has led a research program in theoretical quantum physics at the University of Sydney, with interests spanning quantum computing, quantum measurement and control, quantum many-body systems, and the foundations of quantum theory.

Kristl Mauropoulos

General Manager

Kristl is a senior leader with over 20 years of experience across the tertiary education and public sectors. She has qualifications in Marketing, Communications and Public Relations and is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and the Chief Executive Women Leader’s Program. During her career in tertiary education she has held various leadership roles across external engagement, STEM outreach, student experience, executive services and general management and holds extensive experience in strategy development and execution, community engagement and building productive cross-sector relationships.

Kristl enjoys bringing diverse groups together to translate big ideas into actions that drive innovation and impact.

Deputy Director

Dr Maria Rumyantseva

Industry, Innovation & Commercialisation

Maria Rumyantseva is a Lecturer and Academic Fellow in Innovation Studies at the University of Sydney Business School. She received her PhD from the University of St.Gallen, Switzerland and was a visiting scholar at the University of California Berkeley and SINTEF (Norway), one of the largest independent research organisations in Europe. Maria held a postdoctoral position at the London Business School. She has combined academic and industry careers, having worked for a major international bank in London before returning to academia permanently.

Maria has a longstanding interest in how research is commercialised with a special focus on commercialisation of science-based, new-to-market inventions. She works with scientists across the University evaluating commercialisation pathways of their discoveries. Her research includes large-scale projects analysing e.g., the commercialisation processes of Australian cleantech start-ups and the impact of CSIRO spinouts on the Australian innovation ecosystem. Results of Maria’s research are published in the top tier management and international business journals.

At Sydney Nano, Maria started as an ECR Ambassador, gaining support for her co-led Catalyst project ‘Nano Technology-Economy-Society’ which studies commercialisation initiatives at Sydney Nano and develops alternative assessments of the innovation process that reflect on its broader societal impact.