Following our announcement of the Women in Defence Awards 2024 finalists, ADM will be introducing each of our amazing finalists across the categories in more detail. Today we are focusing on the finalists in our Research and Development category.
In this category, judges were looking for entries that exhibited outstanding success in Research and Development in 2023 and were able to demonstrate real world, practical applications for that research, with additional evidence of having overcome personal challenges to do so.
The winners and Hall of Fame inductee will be announced at a gala dinner at The National Arboretum, Canberra, on 17 October 2024. Book your tickets here – we hope to see you there!
Oleksandra Molloy WINNER
Senior Lecturer in Aviation, Aviation Program Coordinator, University of New South Wales
Australian Defence Force Academy
Oleksandra led the first evidence-based interview research across Australia and Ukraine with Defence, industry, government, and academia representatives to contribute to the growing interest and success around uncrewed systems in the air, sea, and land; may inform future Defence strategy and investments. She led the research in RAS-AI in Defence and partner with CAE to develop AI driven evaluation system for mission aviators. She is Chair of WOMEN@UNSW Canberra Champions Program, Director of Education of Women in Aviation Australian Chapter, Chair of the Women Network in Road Safety of the Australasian College of Road Safety.
The judges were impressed by the demonstrated practical outcomes of Oleksandra’s research into the use of Drones in Ukraine and the ethical implications of AI-enable decision support systems are of immediate and practical importance to the ADF. Oleksandra’s outreach, mentoring and promotion of cadets within ADFA and young women in general via Women in Aviation International (AU Chapter) and fund-raising work in aide of displaced children in Ukraine inspired the judging panel.
Khushboo Singh
Research Fellow
University of Technology Sydney
Khushboo has designed an innovative high-power, wide-band beam-steerable antenna for DSTG. This ground-breaking antenna system is the first of its kind designed, fabricated and tested in Australia. There are no comparable systems offering such extensive bandwidth coverage and high-power capabilities combined with beam-steering functionalities. The antenna system allows the Australian Defence Force to transmit large volumes of data or track suspicious radio activity across a wide bandwidth, while maintaining a nearly undetectable profile to potential adversaries.
Olga Zinovieva
Lecturer, Lecturer in Mechanical Engineering and a Mechanical Engineering Program Coordinator in the School of Engineering and Technology
UNSW Canberra
Olga served as the Lead Chief Investigator on a project aimed at developing and testing an advanced material solution to enhance the protective capabilities of combat helmets while keeping them lightweight. This innovative solution integrates advanced composite panels and new metamaterial architectures produced with cutting-edge manufacturing technologies, including the patented XTclave and advanced additive manufacturing. In collaboration with a colleague, Olga developed one of the world’s fastest software prototypes for microstructure simulations for additive manufacturing. This prototype, along with other software prototypes, has the potential to contribute to the development of sovereign software solution for advanced additive manufacturing.
