FUTURE LEADERS IN FOCUS

COEMinerals is committed to providing high-quality training environments including a focus on solving challenging problems, providing quality research environments and ensuring wide ranging involvement opportunities to build personal and professional skills.

The Future Leaders Committee (FLC) is managed and operated by an internal group of the Centre’s PhDs and ECRs. This Committee helps PhDs and ECRs - representing the Centre’s nine nodes – to connect and form internal networks with each other and Centre leaders. Further, the FLC drives training and mentoring topics, as well as building awareness of and engagement in Centre-orchestrated activities (be they social, professional development or academic).

The Committee offers a communication channel with the Centre’s executive committee, enabling two-way engagement on wide ranging topics that elevate and support the specific needs of the Centre’s PhDs and ECRs, who represent the next generation of STEM research and industry leaders. Future Leader Committee activities in 2022 included:

ƒ Seven FLC (7) meetings, involving student representation from multiple nodes and supplemented by informal gatherings

ƒ PhD and ECR member survey created and rolled out

ƒ Proposed technical and professional development training topics

ƒ Two-way channelling of key information to and from PhDs, ECRs and Centre executive

ƒ Activating PhD and ECR team-member interpersonal connections through Committeeorganised events and social activities

- The Committee played an important role in driving PhD and ECR engagement during the Centre’s first in-person Conference in Canberra, including organising informal social events (Questacon visits and several organised dinners) and driving participation in formal mentoring activities (such as PhD

‘3-Minute Thesis’ and Poster competitions)

- Various Zoom engagements with PhDs and ECRs throughout the year, including games nights

ƒ Supporting the Centre’s GEDI goals, including ensuring diverse representation on the organising committee.

PhD Joshua Starrett (UON) , who managed the FLC in 2022, commented:

Being a part of the FLC has given me the opportunity to connect with other PhD students and ECRs from the Centre, and to contribute to creating a collaborative environment.

PhD Matthias Orchard (UoA) commented on the wide-reaching benefits of the FLC’s positive personal and professional development impacts. enjoyed being part of the committee, which enabled me to feel more connected to the Centre and provided me the opportunity to make a positive impact for my peers. I also developed new skills and gained valuable experience in presenting my views to influence decision making for the benefit of other students.

ECR Dr Negin Amini (Deakin) shared: The FLC is really important, making sure the voices of PhD students and ECRs are heard.

As part of our efforts to develop relationships and build new networks, we are supporting joint research opportunities with major national and international centres and research programs, which helps to build strong international connections for the Centre’s future leaders and informs new and exciting collaborative research opportunities and experimental work to help make minerals processing more sustainable.

By way of example, Centre PhD Siân Parkes tapped into related subject matter knowledge, explored new areas of research and helped with Centredeveloped technology set-up while spending two months working at Germany’s Helmholtz Institute Freiberg for Resource Technology (HIF) and Technische Universität Dresden, including a 4-day stay at the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI), Switzerland. Bringing her knowledge and experience of Centre-developed technology (The REFLUX™ Flotation Cell) to the table in Germany, Siân helped investigate the potential of environmentallyfriendly biosurfactants and Centre-developed RAFT polymers in the RFC technology, along with exploring the potential of recycling lithium ion batteries using alternate novel flotation technology.

While on site at HIF, Siân investigated gallium and arsenide ions (which are the major components of semiconductors) recovery and exploring their recycling potential along with lithium (as part of ongoing projects) alongside senior scientists, Professors, Masters and PhD students involved with biotechnology, chemistry and mechanical engineering.

Siân Parkes shared:

“Having such a diverse range of expertise was very useful for problem solving and experimental design. Even small scale advances in knowledge count, and ladder-up to more sustainable minerals processing and/or achievement of academic excellence. It was interesting to work with materials that had never been tested before and working out if the RAFT polymers would allow a froth to form, and which concentration or pH would be best for ion recovery. There was very little literature about what our project was focusing on, which is exciting, as it shows how novel the work is, but difficult as you can’t use previous findings to give you a helping hand or an idea where to start. It was even more exciting when we started to find our documents optimal conditions. Working on site, for a relatively short period of time meant needed to work as effectively and efficiently as possible.”