We welcome two new Deputy Directors

3 July, 2023

We are delighted to announce the new appointment of two new Deputy Directors - for Outreach and Education, and for Commercialisation and Industry Engagement. 

Our new Deputy Director for Outreach and Education, Associate Professor Anna Garden, is a Principal Investigator based in the Chemistry Department at the University of Otago. Anna leads a group of computational chemists studying the structure and catalytic activity of nanomaterials, with specific application to key reactions for hydrogen and ammonia production. She is a Project Leader in our Catalytic Architectures Programme, has previously been a Principal Investigator representative on the Science Executive, and the Science Executive representative on the MacDiarmid Institute Governance Representative Board. 

Our new Deputy Director for Commercialisation and Industry Engagement, Associate Professor Natalie Plank, is a Principal Investigator and Physicist at the School of Chemical and Physical Sciences at Victoria University of Wellington, where she is currently Deputy Head of School. Natalie runs the cleanroom lab with a group of physicists who make electronic devices, with specific applications to bio-sensing. She is a Project Leader in our Future Computing Programme, has previously been a Principal Investigator representative on the Science Executive, and was originally responsible for founding MESA. 

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

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

Deputy Director Outreach and Education Anna Garden (left) and Deputy Director Commercialisation and Industry Engagement Associate Professor Natalie Plank (right)