Prof Michael Higgins gears up to speak at UOW’s Big Ideas Festival

Big ideas will be presented at the University of Wollongong (UOW) this Wednesday night, with a wealth of knowledge to be shared by a number of recently promoted professors.

Amongst those presenting at this year’s UOW Big Ideas Festival is ACES Chief Investigator Prof Michael Higgins, who will talk on ‘Decoding human cell communication with artificial materials’.

Each professor gives a 10-minute talk on their ground-breaking research visions. The night aims to both entertain and challenge the audience. Other presentation topics include data mining to help lose weight, foods for better brain health and education access for all. The festival also features live music, entertainment, interactive stalls and pure excitement around the world of possibilities on show.

In the build-up to tomorrow night’s event, we caught up with Prof Higgins for a short chat about his talk and what we can expect from the festival.

You’re set to speak at the 2019 UOW Big Ideas Festival. How did this exciting opportunity come about?

I was honoured to receive the invitation to present from the research office at the University of Wollongong (UOW) on behalf of Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Research and Innovation, Professor Jennifer Martin. Myself and the other Big Ideas speakers had a meet and greet with Prof Martin and introduced our research topics. Over the past couple of months, we’ve been working closely with the research office team to fine-tune our talks for Wednesday night – just to ensure they will inform and entertain the audience. I’m really excited to be a part of this event.

The title for your Big Idea talk is ‘Decoding human cell communication with artificial materials’. Without giving too much away, can you explain a bit more about what it will be about?

The talk will be on how we can use advances in microscopy to ‘touch’ and ‘see’ single molecules in action. This is providing unprecedented insight into the interactions between biomolecules and various artificial materials or surfaces that are increasingly finding their way into the human body.

The line-up of speakers is set to make it a fantastic event. Who out of your fellow speakers are you most interested to hear from?

I’m actually looking forward to hearing from all the other speakers. The topics of very important for everyone’s well-being and health in the future. There’s even a talk on understanding superannuation! Every speaker has something valuable to offer and it should make for a fantastic evening.

What else can we expect from the festival?

A great atmosphere, an evening of entertainment, with an opportunity to meet others and chat about amazing ideas!

Thanks for your time and good luck with your big idea.

Due to the event’s popularity, it is now fully booked out. However, you can live stream it here.