Research forum

Find the showcases on display or your poster spot and number at the forum.

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ABI Forum Chair

• Massi Hesam
• Ho-Fung Chan

Committee members

• Peter Hunter
• Poul Nielsen
  
• Nina Pettersson-Fox
• Toan Pham
• Prashanna Khwaounjoo
• Beatrice Ghitti
• Behdad Shaarbaf Ebrahimi
• Tharanga Don
• Amy Garrett
• Tegan Stonnell
• Nora Garcia-Mora

Presented by Prof. Merryn Tawhai

Professor Merryn Tawhai graduated from the University of Auckland with a PhD in Engineering Science in 2001. She leads a research programme at the Auckland Bioengineering Institute (ABI) in applied computational physiology of the respiratory system. Merryn is the Director of the ABI and sits on the Board of Directors for Cure Kids Ventures. She was ABI's Deputy Director for 10 years, Director of the Medical Technologies Centre of Research Excellence (MedTech CoRE), and an independent Director for Izon Science. Merryn was awarded the 2016 MacDiarmid Medal by the Royal Society of New Zealand (RSNZ) Te Apārangi, is a Fellow of the RSNZ, and a Fellow of IAMBE and AIMBE.

Presented by Prof. Andrew Taberner

Professor Andrew Taberner is a graduate of the University of Waikato, where he studied and lectured in Physics and Electronic Engineering before joining the University of Auckland as a Post-doctoral Fellow in 1999. In 2002, Andrew joined the Bioinstrumentation Laboratory in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston, USA, as a post-doc and subsequently as a Research Scientist. After six years at MIT developing instrumentation for muscle research, drug discovery and drug delivery, Andrew returned in 2008 to the University of Auckland, where he is a Professor with the Auckland Bioengineering Institute and the Department of Engineering Science & Biomedical Engineering.

• Marzieh Aghababaie
• Chun Kiet Vong
• Antony Tang
• Fariba Bahadori
• Maryam Rahmani
• Max Dang Vu
• Curtis Haydon
• Sergio Dempsey
• Triana Karnadipa

Distinguished Professor Andrew McCulloch is the Shu Chien Chancellor’s Endowed Chair in Engineering and Medicine at the University of California San Diego and Director of the Institute of Engineering in Medicine. He leads the Wu-Tsai Human Performance Alliance at UC San Diego, directs the UCSD Interfaces Graduate Training Program and the Interdisciplinary Ph.D. Specialization in Multi-Scale Biology. Dr. McCulloch served as Vice Chair and then Chair of the Bioengineering Department from 2002 to to 2008. He is also a member of Qualcomm Institute, a Senior Fellow of the San Diego Supercomputer Center.

Moderated by

• Prof. Poul Nielsen

Panel introduction by

Dist. Prof. Sir Peter Gluckman
President of the International Science Council (ISC) and Distinguished University

Distinguished Professor Sir Peter Gluckman is President of the International Science Council (ISC) and a Distinguished University Professor at the University of Auckland, where he heads Koi Tū: the Centre for Informed Futures. He was the foundation chair of the International Network of Government Science Advice (INGSA) (2014-2021). Sir Peter originally trained as a pediatrician and biomedical scientist. Between 2009-2018 he was first Chief Science Advisor to the Prime Minister of New Zealand. He was made a Knight of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2009, a member of the Order of New Zealand (2015) and received the Rutherford Medal in 2001. He was Executive Dean of the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences (1992-2001) and founding Director (2001-2009) of the Liggins Institute of the University of Auckland. He has published over 750 scientific papers and has written extensively on the science-policy and science-diplomacy interfaces, and co-authored both technical and popular science books. He leads work on the factors affecting social cohesion and how societies respond to new technologies. He also chairs the NZ government’s reviews of universities and the science system. Amongst international awards, he was awarded Singapore’s highest scientific honour, the Presidential Science and Technology medal in 2021 and the American Association for Advancement of Sciences Science Diplomacy award in 2016.
 

Other panel members

Professor Frank Bloomfield, ONZM, FRSNZ
Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research and Innovation)

Professor Frank Bloomfield, ONZM, FRSNZ, is the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research and Innovation) at the University of Auckland and is responsible for assisting and advising the Vice-Chancellor and University Council on research policy, strategy and research management. He plays a key role in developing relationships with the University's research funders and collaborators, promoting the research profile of the University both locally and internationally, and overseeing the operation of the Research and Innovation Office. Professor Bloomfield also is the Chair of the Board of UniServices, the University of Auckland’s innovation and commercialisation company. Prior to becoming the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research and Innovation), Professor Bloomfield was Director of the Liggins Institute, one of the University’s Large Scale Research Institutes.

Professor Margaret Wilsher 
Chief Medical Officer ADHB and Honorary Professor of the University of Auckland

Professor Margaret Wilsher (Chief Medical Officer ADHB and Honorary Professor of the University of Auckland) is a respiratory physician and clinical researcher, collaborating with ABI engineers. She was formerly CMO at ADHB and responsible for research and innovation in that role. She was a member of the MedTech CoRE advisory board and has also sat on advisory boards for the NZ Health Strategy and Health Research Strategy, and has had a number of other ministerial appointed national roles. Currently, Margaret sits on the Pharmac Board and the University of Auckland Health Research Governance Committee. She has current research interests in structure-function relationships in interstitial lung disease, where AI is used for computer-assisted CT pattern recognition.

Dr. Diana Siew

Dr. Diana Siew is co-founder of national strategic initiatives aimed at connecting and growing NZ's MedTech sector through collaborative partnerships. Her contributions include co-leading the Consortium for Medical Device Technologies (CMDT), the MedTech CoRE, and Te Titoki Mataora MedTech Research Translator
Diana is currently leading the development of Medtech-iQ Aotearoa, a national medical devices and digital health innovation hub led by the University of Auckland and ABI in conjunction with 20 partners across NZ.

She is the ABI's Strategic Relationships Lead and Strategic Partnerships Director of Medtech-iQ Aotearoa Tamaki Makaurau at the University of Auckland. With her team, Diana also manages Cloud9, ABI's MedTech nurtur-ator. Prior to landing at the ABI, she held research, management and sector specialist roles at Industrial Research Limited and Callaghan Innovation.

Diana loves mentoring researchers interested in innovation and commercialisation, and is deeply committed to supporting start-ups as they navigate their growth and development. She is actively engaged in the medtech community through advisory and governance roles, which currently includes Pharmac and the HealthTech Activator.

• Arthur Sun
• Yidan Xu
• Cheng Huan Lu
• Jet Wright
• Ric John Ombid
• Alireza Sharifzadeh-Kermani
• Mehran Akbarpour
• Taiji Endo
• Evan Cao

Dr. Recep Avci is a Senior Research Fellow at the Auckland Bioengineering Institute and a member of the Gastrointestinal Motility Research Group. His research focuses on developing advanced mathematical models and computational strategies to identify the structural and bioelectrical factors underlying gastric motility disorders. Additionally, he works on enhancing experimental and analytical techniques for the non-invasive assessment of gastrointestinal electrophysiology. His work aims to contribute to a deeper understanding of gastrointestinal health and improve diagnostic accuracy.

Justin is a Professor in the Department of Engineering Science and Biomedical Engineering, and the Auckland Bioengineering Institute, University of Auckland. He graduated with a Bachelor of Engineering (Honours first class) in Engineering Science (1999) and a PhD in Bioengineering from the University of Auckland (2004). From 2011 to 2013 he was an Aotearoa Fellow funded by the Robertson Foundation in the Auckland Bioengineering Institute. He is a Principal Investigator in the musculoskeletal modelling group where he leads research into computational biomechanics, orthopaedics, sports science, forensics, brain mechanics, and ADHD. His work integrates biomedical imaging, gait analysis, wearable sensors, large population data, statistical models, and computational mechanics.

Mark Billinghurst is the Director of the Empathic Computing Laboratory at the Auckland Bioengineering Institute at the University of Auckland in Auckland. He earned a PhD in 2002 from the University of Washington and conducts research on how virtual and real worlds can be merged, publishing over 850 papers on Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality, remote collaboration, Empathic Computing, and related topics. In 2013 he was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand, in 2019 was given the ISMAR Career Impact Award in recognition for lifetime contribution to AR research and commercialization, and in 2023 elected as a Fellow of the IEEE.

• Best published paper
• Excellence in graduate supervision
• Excellence in research translation
• Professional staff excellence Award
• Research staff citizenship award
• ABI Media Engagement Award
• Three Minute Thesis Winner
• Three Minute Thesis Runner-up
• Three Minute Thesis People’s Choice
• ECR Showcase People’s Choice
• Postgraduate Poster Winner
• Postgraduate Poster Runner-up
• Postgraduate Poster 3rd Place
• Summer Student Poster Winner
• Summer Student Poster Runner-up
• Summer Student Poster 3rd Place

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