Academia meets industry in new podcast

Meet the makers of Lab Notes, a podcast celebrating Australian science, innovation and entrepreneurship.

Remember when the Sunday papers were packed with personality profiles of authors, artists and film stars? Now journos vie to interview epidemiologists. Finally, science is having its moment in the sun.

And – as part of his day job as an entrepreneur – Coalcliff Surf Life Saving Club president Dr Leo Stevens is tapping into the zeitgeist with a podcast series called Lab Notes, aiming to capture the stories of successful Australians so they can become role models for the next generation.

“Outside of Surf Life Saving I am a scientist and entrepreneur, essentially working to connect researchers with the wider world of business,”
Leo told 2508.

“Throughout 2020 I hosted a podcast series focused on Australian innovation, and I am just about to launch Season 2 alongside a new co-host, Prof Marc in het Panhuis.”

Marc is a professor of materials science at the University of Wollongong. He says: “Australia has an amazing pool of researchers and punches above its weight in fundamental discovery.

“However, we need to do more to translate research out of the university and into industry.”

Lab Notes Season 2 will feature interviews with many Australian experts, including Dr Maryam Parviz (founder/CEO of SDIP Innovations, maker of a bone graft technology based on her academic research); Rob McInnes (a Sydney-based lawyer specialising in licensing university research)
and the 2508 district’s own Rhys Cornock, an Otford-based grant-writing consultant, specialising in technology and social-enterprise start-ups.

Curious to learn more? So were we.

2508 sat down for a chat with Leo and Marc at UOW’s Innovation Campus.

Tell us about what you’re doing.

Marc: We’re doing a podcast series for Lab Notes, which is a series that Leo has started, where he does longer interviews with people who are entrepreneurs or scientists, and are straddling that bit where you commercialise research.

In this next season, we’re adding something called The Brief to that. The Brief is a short, quick-fire episode of 10 minutes, where Leo introduces a subject from the world of entrepreneurs. And I introduce a subject that comes from the world of science. Then we interview each other about that.

It’s been recognised in Australia that universities should do a lot more commercialisation.

And it’s also been recognised that entrepreneurs should tap into the great research that has been done at Australian universities. But we all speak different languages. Everybody uses different terminologies.

The Brief is a series of short episodes that can really help you further understand the landscape that entrepreneurs operate in and university academics operate in.

What we’re ultimately aiming at is that we get better connectivity between entrepreneurs and people that come from academia.

Will the podcasts appeal to the average person?

Leo: Definitely. We try to cut out most of the jargon and technical language and what we haven’t cut out, we cover in The Brief as a kind of glossary of terms.

About half of every interview is really focused on the personal story of the scientist, the entrepreneur. It’s similar to ABC Radio’s Conversations series – you’re hearing about how they’ve come to be where they are now, and that’s not technical at all.

To give examples: [2017 NSW Scientist of the Year, nanotechnology and polymer science luminary] Gordon Wallace, who’s the professor here at UOW. We interviewed him very early on and talked about his childhood experiences in Northern Ireland during the Troubles. That is about what shaped him as a person.

I also talked to Dr Liz Barbour, who now runs the Cooperative Research Centre in Honey Bee Products. She started life in Africa, and her journey from there to Australia has been really fascinating. She grew up around elephants in this kind of safari environment, which is so different from what we know here in Australia.

Finding out what made a scientist be where they are is part of the podcast too.

I think the general public views scientists as a bit aloof, but I think everybody supports science in principle. I don’t think scientists are underrepresented or under-appreciated per se, but I do think they are dehumanised a bit, you know, it’s a very abstract concept to a lot of people, and having this opportunity to just see what scientists are like outside the lab, I think is very valuable in bringing that personal connection back.

Leo, tell us about your path from growing up in the small village of Stanwell Park to studying science at UOW?

My parents were both in the research and academic space. My mum, particularly, she was a lecturer at Sydney University in applied mathematics. My dad was a bit more of a Western Suburbs lad. He did his electrical engineering degree and ended up working for the CSIRO at Lucas Heights. Again, in that science and applied research space. So I was well aware of the challenges of academia and of research from a young age.

I attended both Smiths Hill High School and Caringbah High School and ended up at the University of Wollongong, probably because the research labs here ran outreach projects to allow year 10 kids to come and experience university life.

I loved my time as an undergraduate. It was a very liberating time and an exciting time for any young kid to go to university and have that freedom, but also be challenged with new ideas and new spaces.

I completed my PhD in 2017 [at the ARC Centre for Excellence in Electromaterials Science]. And since then I’ve been quite project-based – starting businesses, running businesses and assisting others to do the same.

I’ve worked on a land development site at Figtree. I started a 3d printing business in Corrimal called Upward Manufacturing, and then [social enterprise] Eon Labs, which is intending to get more back towards the research commercialisation space. It also sees me linking up with groups like Sydney Angels, who do early-stage funding for entrepreneurs.

Why did you start the Lab Notes podcast?

Leo: Networking is really important to all business development, and having a vehicle like a podcast opens a lot of doors. You can say to someone, ‘Hey, I’d love to come and meet you.’ Or you could say, ‘Hey, let’s record a podcast.’

So it’s a foot in the door, but it also is about brand-building for Eon Labs.

It’s been incredibly interesting and a way for me to network with people that I wouldn’t have been able to before.

My final episode from last year was with [pioneering burns researcher, surgeon and inventor] Professor Fiona Wood – she was an Australian of the Year in 2005. I had no business talking to her really other than this podcast, and that I wanted to. So it’s been fantastic.

Marc, why are you excited about being part of Lab Notes, Season 2?

Marc: Because I learn a lot through this, I learn a lot about commercialisation of research.

I’m a professor of materials science. So I teach chemistry for engineers, bionanotechnology, instrumental analysis. In my research activity,
I work on mechanical behaviour of fins and surfboards. I really like doing outreach.

Most universities really like their researchers to commercialise, which can be a very daunting task, because there’s a lot of terminology involved. This podcast can help people who are thinking about commercialising their research to get an idea of what the landscape is like.

What’s one of the big differences between academic and commercial worlds?

Marc: Universities are generally in there for a long shot in terms of research. Researchers can approach a project and spend 10, 50 years on producing outcomes.

A company would work on a very different timescale.

How did you two meet?

Leo: Marc was my PhD supervisor between 2012 and 2017, but the first time we met would have been 2008 or 2009.

Marc: We’ve been working together on and off for a long time. And I really like what Leo is doing with his company Eon Labs, the way it’s approaching research in a different way.

Leo: The first project that I was put on under Marc, he was running a research lab that focused on materials science, particularly around nanotechnology. My PhD was more in the biotechnology side. We were testing out materials for nerve regeneration.

What have you got lined up for Lab Notes in 2021?

Marc: We have 26 episodes of the Brief. And we’ll also have close to 26 episodes of the long interviews – there’ll be a full year, like a weekly release of episodes.

Leo: Marc has just lined up Paul Wellings, the vice-chancellor of this university. We have lot of entrepreneurs as well, deep tech entrepreneurs…

Did you say deep tech?

Leo: Deep tech refers to technology companies that are developing new materials, new systems that require a fair bit of research and development to get to market. To be a deep tech entrepreneur you’re really designing new technologies to bring to market.

Is Lab Notes a commercial venture?

Leo: No. There’s no advertising or anything on the podcasts, they’re available for free.

The cost of producing a podcast is minimal, other than time. So it’s personally financed at the moment. The purpose of it is to develop the branding and marketing for Eon Labs.

Have you ever done anything like this before?

Leo: No … and I certainly had a steep learning curve about audio editing and production too.

I definitely still enjoy the interviews the most.

What have you learned?

Leo: I’ve got a lot more respect for the process of editing. I understand how big a time commitment that is now. I’m definitely improving my interview style as well. I was quite structured in my questions early on. I’ve really learned to be able to follow the conversation flow a lot more.

What is your audience like?

Leo: It’s mostly Australian, but one of the things that surprised me is it’s been picked up quite a bit in the US, so about a third of our listeners actually come from America, which was never the intention, but I guess they’re very entrepreneurially minded.

We had about 1000 [listeners] in the first season. Demographically, it is mostly younger people, probably 20 to 30 age bracket. Students and entrepreneurial young researchers is our ideal audience. And then the next tier, who we’d certainly want to be listening, would be people like investors and university administrators.

Where can we find the podcasts?

Leo: They’re hosted with an organisation called Podbean, but they were distributed through all the major platforms. So Amazon iTunes, Spotify, Google podcasts, if you search for it on most of those platforms, you can find Lab Notes.

Lab Notes Season 2 launched on 17 February. Visit the website at labnotes.podbean.com

Find out more about Dr Leo Stevens’ social enterprise Eon Labs at www.eonlabs.org