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Are you interested in academia’s role in establishing the better future for cities? What do you think is not academia’s role? How can we improve academic research for the better future for cities?

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This episode is a panel discussion where I invited back previous interviewees to answer some questions together and let them discuss the different viewpoints. The panellists were Professor Jeni Paay, Professor Richard Manasseh and Associate Professor Magnus Moglia about their understanding of academia’s roles, responsibilities, and opportunities in establishing the future of cities, the distinction between R&D and academic research, multidisciplinarity, academic needs, and many more.

Previous interviews with the panelists:

• ⁠No.027 – Interview with Richard Manasseh⁠;
• ⁠No.036 – Interview with Magnus Moglia⁠;
• ⁠No.093 – Interview with Jeni Paay⁠;

Panelist bios:

• Professor Jeni Paay is a leading international researcher in Human Centred Computing. She is Professor of Interaction Design at Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, Australia and the Director of the Centre for Design Innovation in the School of Design and Architecture. Jeni has a transdisciplinary background spanning architecture, computer science, and Human-Computer Interaction. Her research areas include: Design Methods; Interaction Design for Mobiles, Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality; Digital Health; Interaction Design for Smart Spaces and Digital Twins; Design for Digital Workspaces and User Experience Design.
• Professor Richard Manasseh is a mechanical engineer with specialist knowledge of fluid dynamics. At a fundamental level, Richard’s research focuses on wave modes and oscillators in fluids and their interactions. He is best known for his work on the vibrations of bubbles, called bubble acoustics. His active projects examine ocean wave-power machines; the interaction of ultrasound with microbubbles and live cells for medical diagnostics and therapeutics; and the interaction of ultrasound with droplets for food processing. Further applications of his research have included spacecraft engineering, coastal oceanography, thunderstorms, submarine noise, wastewater treatment and microfluidic devices. Richard is a Fellow of the Institution of Engineers, Australia (IEAust), and an IEAust Chartered Professional Engineer. He has served as both President and Vice-President of the Australasian Fluid Mechanics Society. He became a full-time academic in 2010 after a career in industrial R&D and headed Swinburne’s Department of Mechanical and Product Design Engineering for three years after a year as Mechanical Engineering Discipline Leader.
• Associate Professor Magnus Moglia loves data and numbers, so it was not strange that he was drawn to the sciences. In Sweden, he studied Physics and Mathematics, graduating from the Royal Institute of Technology of Stockholm in 2000. He is passionate about cities and sustainability. He arrived in Australia in 2001, and then spent nearly 20 years studying urban sustainability topics at the CSIRO. There, he discovered and embraced the science of complex systems, and completed his PhD at the ANU’s Crawford School for Public Policy. Magnus is now an Associate Professor at Swinburne University’s Centre for Urban Transitions and a theme leader for research on Eco-urban infrastructure and systems. He researches decarbonisation technologies, nature-based solutions, urban regeneration practices, and circular economy. Previously, he was also leading and undertaking research on a range of potential sustainability solutions, including residential solar panels, rainwater harvesting, telework, future city imaginaries, climate adaptation in Kiribati and Vietnam, rice farming technologies in Laos, and just workforce transitions in Queensland.

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