IMCRC fulfils APR.Intern partnership

IMCRC has funded 23 PhD research internships, successfully fulfilling its partnership with Australia’s national all-sector, all-discipline PhD internship program, Australian Postgraduate Research Intern (APR.Intern). 

The partnership, which commenced in 2019, was designed to help small to medium enterprises (SMEs) lift their advanced and digital manufacturing capabilities in the wake of the fourth industrial revolution (Industry 4.0). 

With the support of a skilled PhD student over three to six months, SMEs sought to address specific business challenges using smart technologies such as artificial intelligence, data analytics, automation, robotics and additive manufacturing. 

Of the 23 interns placed, nine have gone on to secure ongoing employment with their internship partner, eight in newly created roles and one in an existing position. 

The 23rd IMCRC co-funded intern, Bui Quoc Huy (Tony) Nguyen, a student from Swinburne University, recently commenced his internship with Norden Body Works, a Melbourne-based converter of buses for wheelchair accessibility. Tony is supporting Norden with its research into the application of technology to optimise wheelchair passenger transport.

Norden Body Works General Manager Leo Driessen said that Tony, with his expertise in electronics and information technology, would help Norden accelerate its research and development (R&D) into an Internet of Things enabled solution, which has the potential to deliver a commercially viable product to offer benefits to wheelchair accessible bus operators.