Meet VIC hub leaders
Victoria hub leaders work as a team with an extended committee for a better outreach. Reach out if you want to be part of this great team.
Yvonne Durandet
Yvonne is Associate Professor (Advanced Manufacturing) in the Department of Mechanical and Product Design Engineering, and Academic Director (Work Integrated Learning) for the School of Engineering in Swinburne University of Technology. She has extensive industry experience, and actively pursues industry-engaged projects for Teaching & Learning, and Research. She successfully led R&D projects for Excellerate Australia, AutoCRC, and CAST CRC. She was awarded the David StJohn CAST Industry Partners’ Award, based on nominations by Henrob (UK) Pty Ltd and BlueScope Steel Ltd for achievements in laser assisted self-pierce riveting and in laser surfacing of Al-Zn-Si coatings respectively. She received two CAST commercialisation awards for laser assisted joining and laser assisted cutting technologies. Prior to joining Swinburne, Yvonne was a Senior Research Engineer at BHP where she led strategic projects on twin roll strip casting of steel, near net shape casting of non-ferrous metals, direct casting of steel wires and continuous hot dip metallic coatings of steel sheets.
Pascal Marty
Pascal is the Regional Director of the CNRS (National Centre for Scientific Research) Office for Oceania based within the University of Melbourne. Before that, Pascal was Director of the Maison Française d'Oxford from September 2020 to August 2025. From 1998 to 2010, he was a researcher with the CNRS where he worked at a research unit called the "Centre for functional and evolutionary ecology", in Montpellier, then at the French centre for research in social sciences in Prague. Since 2010, he has been a University professor of Environmental Geography, and taught this subject at the University of La Rochelle, at Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon and at the University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne. Pascal Marty’s research addresses the interactions between societies and their natural environments. He has conducted this at the mixed research unit called the “Laboratory of Social dynamics and Spatial Reconstruction” (CNRS, Paris 1 Panthéon Sorbonne University, Paris Nanterre U., Paris 8 U., Paris U.). Between 2011-2017, Pascal was Deputy Scientific Director for the CNRS at the Institute of Human and Social Sciences (InSHS). From 2017 to 2020, he coordinated the evaluation of French research laboratories in Humanities and Social Sciences at the French High Council for Evaluation of Research and Higher Education.
Vincent Lemiale
Vincent is Group Leader of the Natural Systems Modelling Group at CSIRO, where he leads a multidisciplinary team of scientists and engineers developing modelling and analytics systems to support emergency preparedness, disaster response, and climate resilience across Australia. With over 20 years of experience delivering applied modelling and data-driven solutions for government and industry, Vincent specialises in natural hazards, evacuation modelling, and agent-based simulation. He translates research into operational decision-support tools with real-world impact, including platforms for bushfire simulation, emergency evacuation, and data analytics that support planning and resilience. Projects developed by his team include Spark, Australia’s bushfire simulation platform; SEEKER/SAFER, tools for evacuation modelling; and INDRA, a data analytics platform underpinning multiple digital products, including My Climate View . Vincent is also lead scientist for PiXIE, a multi-purpose agent-based modelling library with applications in evacuation, crowd dynamics, and disease spread.
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Fouad Abo
Fouad is an international Environment professional working as Principal and Senior Technical Director at GHD with more than 30 years of local, national, and international expertise in many developed and developing countries. He has multiple leading roles both in project and leading global team to technical excellence, growth, and success. Fouad holds international and national experience including in capacity building, environmental and health and safety management system, hydropower and other green energy, remediation and management of contaminated sites/water, lecturing and supervision PhD students, training, mine rehabilitation, environmental audits and expert witness. As an executive and senior executive, he has also developed executive management skills and has undertaken numerous management resident courses at renown business schools, executive management communications, strategic thinking and negotiation including media training.
Jessica Coldrey
Jessica is an international sustainability leader, interdisciplinary artist and sustainability strategist based in Melbourne. She serves as Board Secretary of the United Nations Association of Australia (Victoria Division) and has built a career fostering strategic partnerships to advance green building, decarbonisation and systems change. Recognised as one of edie's 30 Under 30 Sustainability Leaders, a UNLEASH Global Talent, and among the Top 50 Women in Engineering (UK), her work bridges sustainability, creativity and innovation. Jess's artistic practice has been exhibited internationally, including at Tate Britain, the Australian Museum of Photography and the UN COP26 Climate Summit. Passionate about social impact, she mentors emerging sustainability and STEM professionals while championing collaborative, inclusive approaches to creating a more resilient and sustainable future.