In May 2016, I was appointed to Associate Professor of Operations Research at QUT, within the School of Mathematical Sciences (SMS), making a return to academia after 10 years working in the consulting industry. This appointment by SMS aligns with the history and on-going strategy of the school to pursue teaching and research with real-world impact, a successful strategy leading QUT’s School of Mathematical Sciences to be one of the strongest performing schools of mathematics nationally.

Since completing a PhD in Operations Research at QUT om 2002, I continued at QUT as a Research Associate until 2006 before accepting a role as Mathematician within AECOM’s simulation and analytics team, becoming a Principal in 2010. In 2012 I accepted a technical lead role with consulting company Aurecon, as part of a small team tasked with building an operations modelling and analytics capability from the ground up. I played a leading role in the development of proprietary operations simulation platforms and supporting tools, predominantly in the areas of rail operations, bulk materials handling/mining, port operations and general queuing networks. This also included the development of optimisation models and algorithms which underpinned the planning engines within the simulation libraries. Leveraging this body of work, I was the technical lead on operational modelling for feasibility studies, master planning and operational optimisation for many large infrastructure projects within Australia and internationally. I continue to work collaboratively with Aurecon to maintain and continue development of these models and libraries.

Since May 2016, I have been a full-time Associate Professor at QUT. This role consists of an allocation of 40% teaching, 40% research and 20% service/administration. Prior to this current role, I was a sessional lecturer at QUT since 2010, delivering a third year Operations Research unit covering decision theory, queueing theory and simulation. I was also appointed as an Adjunct Associate Professor from 2012 to 2016. I am now unit coordinator for 2 undergraduate Operations Research units, and I am responsible for a post-graduate Operations Research module along with supervision of post-graduate students. Within SMS, I have a service role as Industry Engagement Director, working with the School Executive Committee and Industry Engagement Team on strategic initiatives to grow our involvement in collaborative research with industry.