Partnerships Between Academia and Research Infrastructure: Insights from Experience
Professor Ute Roessner AM FAA Chief Executive Officer Australian Research Council
Keynote speaker, Professor Ute Roessner will share insights from her career spanning research, major facilities and national research leadership. Drawing on her experience as a pioneer in metabolomics and as a former Pro Vice?Chancellor for Research Initiatives and Infrastructure (ANU), she will discuss how strong partnerships between universities and research infrastructure enhance the quality, speed and impact of Australian research.
Prof Roessner will outline practical lessons for building effective, inclusive collaborations, common challenges researchers face, and approaches to overcoming them. The session will also highlight the ARC’s role in supporting these connections and how purposeful engagement with infrastructure maximises public investment.
Professor Roessner AM FAA joined the ARC as Chief Executive Officer in March 2025. A world leader in the development and application of metabolomics and lipidomics in plant science and biotechnology, Ute’s pioneering work established frontier technologies for parallel analyses of hundreds of metabolites in plants, enabling comprehensive investigation into how plants function under environmental and genetic stimuli. Her research uncovered mechanisms that describe how plants respond to a variety of abiotic stresses, providing avenues for the development of more stress-resilient crops. She also investigated communication and interaction mechanisms between roots and beneficial microbes to improve nutrient and water uptake to enhance plant performance. She previously held the position of Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research Initiatives and Infrastructure) at the Australian National University and is an elected Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science.
