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Live from the Lab
Join us for Live From the Lab 2023 celebrating Australian research, arts and culture.
Live from the Lab (LFTL) is a celebration of Australian research, arts and culture and this year our theme is Clean and Affordable Energy to coincide with the N4SN Global Summit.
We’ve united four outstanding researchers from the University of Sydney with local Australian musicians who have composed tracks inspired by their conversations.
At this event, you will hear each of these musical tracks, learn about the collaborations between the musicians and researchers and join us for an immersive discussion about research contributing to cleaner and affordable energy. LFTL brings science to new audiences and celebrates its place in our shared culture.
Created and developed by Associate Professor Alice Motion and the Nanosonic Stories Team.
Event details
| Date: | Tuesday 28 November 2023 |
| Time: | 6pm - 7:30pm, join us from 5pm for light refreshments served before the event. |
| Venue: | Charles Perkins Auditorium, Opposite the Charles Perkins Centre Main Entrance (Building D17), under the Taste Baguette café, The University of Sydney |
| Cost: | Free, register by Friday 24 November for catering purposes. |
Our researchers and musicians
Associate Professor Alice Motion
School of Chemistry, Faculty of Science
Alice Motion is an Associate Professor in the School of Chemistry where they lead the Science Communication, Outreach, Participation and Education (SCOPE) Research Group. Alice's research and practice is centred on ways to better connect people with science. Alice leads the Breaking Good Citizen Science Initiative and Learning By Doing Teams that are sharing science with schools through citizen science. Alice hosts a regular segment 'Science in Motion' on ABC Weekend Breakfast News, writes a monthly column for Chemistry World Magazine and is the producer of Live From The Lab.
Associate Professor Girish Lakhwani
School of Chemistry, Faculty of Science
Girish Lakhwani is an Associate Professor in the School of Chemistry at the University of Sydney and Associate Dean in the Faculty of Science responsible for strategic partnerships and external engagement. Girish completed his integrated Master of Science in 2005 from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kanpur, India and received his PhD in 2009 from Eindhoven University of Technology, the Netherlands. After two postdoctoral appointments at the University of Texas at Austin and the University of Cambridge, Girish joined the University of Sydney in 2014. In his research, Girish uses chiral and time-resolved optical spectroscopy to investigate light-matter interactions in novel nanoscale advanced materials to deliver solutions for solar cells, photonic switches, and lasers.
In late 2019 Sydney-based singer-songwriter Huck Hastings burst back onto the local music scene with a new single (and sound). ‘Hey Babe?’ and its accompanying music video marked the beginning of a new and invigorating direction for this exciting young songwriter. 2020 saw the release of three new singles from Hastings as well as the launch of his collaborative lock-down project Hacky Sack.
In 2021 Huck released his debut full length offering in ‘Cheers To Progress’ and penned his first publishing deal with Gaga publishing.
In early 2023, Huck was selected by Troye Sivan and Lucas Keller as one of 14 songwriters to take part APRA's Pride Songhubs, where he spent a week writing alongside nationally revered and internationally acclaimed songwriters and producers.
Professor Susan Park
School of Social and Political Sciences, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences
Susan Park is Professor of Global Governance in Government and International Relations at the University of Sydney. She focuses on how international organisations and global governance can become greener and more accountable, particularly in the transition to renewable energy. Her most recent books are: The Good Hegemon (2022, OUP) and Environmental Recourse at the Multilateral Development Banks (2020, CUP). She is co-lead Editor of the journal Global Environmental Politics. She is a Senior Hans Fischer Fellow at the Technical University of Munich (2019-2023) and a Research Lead of the Earth Systems Governance project.
Chiara Kovac (she/her) is a folk-punk songwriter from the South Coast of NSW. Caught between an obsession with detailed story-telling lyrics and heavy guitars, Chiara finds her music powered less by genre and more by raw emotion. Sharing sonic and artistic kinship with Courtney Barnett, Julia Jacklin and Camp Cope, Chiara formed a live band to begin alchemising a thrilling catalogue of music.
Professor Francois Aguey-Zinsou
School of Chemistry, Faculty of Science
Francois Aguey-Zinsou is a global leader in hydrogen storage research and heads the MERLin research lab within the School of Chemistry at the University of Sydney. He works to develop materials that enable the safe storage, distribution, and transport of hydrogen with the aim of advancing the technology and implementing it as a tool toward a decarbonised world.
His group has been working for many years on the properties of light metals for hydrogen storage application and is also developing technologies for enabling novel fuel cells and electrolyser architectures and advanced catalysts for hydrogen combustion.
Gloomie is an Eora-based artist who has been a fixture of the local music scene for several years, both in bands and as a solo act. Gloomie’s music chronicles her experiences through soft, breathy lyrics and synthy, adorned guitar melodies. Offering an energised blend of dream pop, bedroom pop, shoegaze and indie, her newly released debut EP, Storm Chaser, is a glistening, down-beat meditation on big emotions and heartache.
Professor Anita Ho-Baillie
John Hooke Chair of Nanoscience, School of Physics, Faculty of Science
Anita Ho-Baillie is the John Hooke Chair of Nanoscience at the University of Sydney, an Australian Research Council Future Fellow, and an Adjunct Professor at University of New South Wales (UNSW). She completed her Bachelor of Engineering degree on a Co-op scholarship in 2001 and her PhD at UNSW in 2005.
Her research interest is to engineer materials and devices at nanoscale for integrating solar cells onto all kinds of surfaces generating clean energy. She is a highly cited researcher from 2019 to 2022.
In 2021, she was an Australian Museum Eureka Prize Finalist and was named the Top Australian Sustainable-Energy Researcher by The Australian Newspaper Annual-Research-Magazine. She won the Royal Society of NSW Warren Prize in 2022 for her pioneering work in the development of next generation solar cells.
Setwun explores and maneuverers through the many trajectories of soul, jazz, psych, and electronic forms of music. A nod to the past with visions of the future.
After a string of releases through CoOp Presents, Mandarin Dreams, OTIS, Rhythm Section, and Moonshoe. Setwun toured The UK / EU in 2022 with a run of shows including We Out Here Festival, Ronnie Scotts, The Jazz Cafe, Berlin’s XJAZZ Fest as well as NTS and Worldwide FM guest spots and interviews.
2022
Associate Professor Alice Motion
School of Chemistry
Alice is a Westpac Research Fellow in the School of Chemistry where she leads the Science Communication, Outreach, Participation and Education (SCOPE) Research Group. Alice's research and practice is centred on ways to better connect people with science. Alice is the co-host of the ABC Science Podcast Dear Science, presented Up and Atom on FBi Radio from 2015-2021, shares science on ABC Breakfast News and writes a monthly column for Chemistry World Magazine.
Dr Caitlin Cowan
School of Psychology
Caitlin Cowan, Ph.D., is a psychologist and Research Fellow at the University of Sydney. Bacteria and viruses get a lot of bad press, no thanks to Covid-19. But not all microbes are harmful. In fact, we need some of them to keep us alive, and new research tells us that microbes have lots of different jobs that help keep our bodies healthy. As a psychologist, I’m interested in how these microbes (known as our “microbiome”) might also influence our mental health.
Sydney-based multidisciplinary Hip Hop, RnB and Pop artist MUNGMUNG is backed by her weapons of choice; powerful vocals, charismatic songwriting and sparkling keys with a weird and wonderful whimsical flair. A key element of MUNGMUNG’s artistry is her ability to showcase her broad range of talents, spanning from her genre-bending sound to the strong visual world she creates around her releases.
Professor Francois Aguey-Zinsou
School of Chemistry
Professor Francois Aguey-Zinsou is a global leader in hydrogen storage research and heads the MERLin research lab within the School of Chemistry at the University of Sydney. He works to develop materials that enable the safe storage, distribution, and transport of hydrogen with the aim of advancing the technology and implementing it as a tool toward a decarbonised world.
His group has been working for many years on the properties of light metals for hydrogen storage application and is also developing technologies for enabling novel fuel cells and electrolyser architectures and advanced catalysts for hydrogen combustion.
Gloomie is an Eora-based artist who has been a fixture of the local music scene for several years, both in bands and as a solo act. Gloomie’s music chronicles her experiences through soft, breathy lyrics and synthy, adorned guitar melodies. Offering an energised blend of dream pop, bedroom pop, shoegaze and indie, her newly released debut EP, Storm Chaser, is a glistening, down-beat meditation on big emotions and heartache.
Associate Professor Jaime Gongora
Sydney School of Veterinary Science
Dr Jaime Gongora is Associate Professor in Wildlife and Animal Genetics and Genomics at the Sydney School of Veterinary Science. His research has increased our understanding of the nature of genetic variation underlying speciation, immune response and diseases in crocodiles, platypuses, peccaries, wild pigs, camels and the Arabian oryx. His work aims to inform wildlife conservation programs to save species from extinction in the Middle East and to use capacity building and citizen science to address socioeconomic problems and protect biodiversity in the Amazon.
Ms. Thandi is the latest to burst onto Australia’s flourishing R&B scene. Having grown up around Old Soul/Funk music, Ms. Thandi possesses a trove of creative influences which compliment her ever-evolving sound and style. Ms. Thandi isn’t afraid to express how she feels in her bold lyrics, inviting you into an intimate and playful view of her world, whether that be through rap, singing or anything in between. Finding inspiration and solace in her life experiences, her latest single ‘You Could Be’ celebrates healing and new beginnings.
Dr Shawna Foo
School of Life and Environmental Sciences
Shawna Foo is a marine scientist investigating factors that increase the resilience of marine ecosystems to climate change, from microscopic to global scales. She studies animals inhabiting extreme environments to understand adaptation strategies needed to survive harsh conditions. She also integrates satellite-based ocean mapping with benthic surveys to understand large scale patterns of resilience and recovery after climate stress.
FLOWERTRUCK are an Eora/Dharawal garage-pop outfit, creating songs of love, loss and overdue rent. The four-piece are beloved for their energetic live performances and have developed a unique sound stuck somewhere between The Go-Betweens and The Talking Heads.
Professor Zdenka Kuncic
School of Physics
Zdenka Kuncic is a polymath physicist who enjoys working on challenging problems that can only be solved with multidisciplinary expertise. Zdenka’s current research focuses on the question: “Is intelligence physical?” She’s developing nanotechnology-based devices that can emulate the intelligent machinery of the brain’s neurons and synapses, without the messy biology. Unlike Artificial Intelligence (AI), which is based on software algorithms that make statistical predictions using vast amounts of data, Zdenka’s research is revealing how intelligence can be produced by physical hardware using electrical signals, similar to the brain, which may ultimately lead to a new kind of machine intelligence beyond AI.
Out of Sydney city’s bristling underground scene, vocalist and producer Kid Fiction has made a name for himself with his own unique brand of dizzying electronica and moody pop aesthetics. Cutting lines through a seemingly endless landscape of musical influences his music is rich with animation, melody and memory. Grounded always in roots but with eyes to the horizon.