Energetic and Resourceful, with a Global Reach

Sumen Rai is Director of the Defence Innovation Partnership (DIP), a collaborative initiative of the South Australian Government, Defence Science and Technology Group and the three South Australian universities.

Sumen is responsible for leading national and international R&D engagement and collaboration between researchers, industry and government, to deliver innovative solutions to Defence as well as supporting research, development and innovation activities for Defence SA and the South Australian Space Industry Centre.

Sumen has extensive government experience in developing and delivering major initiatives across investment attraction, trade, and industry development in the mining engineering, services and technologies, cleantech, space, and defence sectors.

Sumen has been involved in driving novel initiatives such as the Convergence Series which foster conversations about major defence and national security challenges through transdisciplinary perspectives and collaboration.

Sumen has previously worked as a teacher and lecturer in Arts and Design & Technology, a science communicator, and coordinator of outreach and engagement initiatives including several open government hackathons such as the NASA Space Apps Challenge.

Sumen holds a Master of Sustainability, Bachelor of Arts (Hons), Bachelor of Education (Hons), and Bachelor of Science in Ecology and Spatial Science.

Phone +61 8 8463 7152
Mobile +61 438 815 365
Sumen.Rai@defenceinnovationpartnership.com

Bez Mohammadi is Pathways Manager at the Defence Innovation Partnership. In his role, Bez works closely with project teams to identify and promote their research to commercialisation partners and end users. He is also responsible for scoping further funding and partnership opportunities for project teams to scale-up.

Bez brings extensive experience working across technology and entrepreneurship, including co-founding several space and social enterprise start-ups.

Over the past five years, Bez has worked in the aerospace and defence industries across business development, operations and stakeholder engagement. Prior to his role at the Defence Innovation Partnership, Bez was a technology and project analyst at Accenture, working on large-scale digital transformation projects in risk and compliance within the financial services sector.

As an active member of the start-up community, Bez enjoys taking part in hackathons, pitching competitions and attending launch events for new start-ups.

Bez holds a degree in Innovation and Entrepreneurship from University of Adelaide.

Phone +61 8 8463 7305
Mobile +61 483 393 778
Bez.Mohammadi@defenceinnovationpartnership.com

Merril Kirk is Program Operations Manager at the Defence Innovation Partnership. In her role, Merril is responsible for leading the grants management process for the organisation’s Collaborative Research Fund. She also manages the Defence Innovation Partnership’s daily operational requirements and engagement activities, including the Convergence Series events, workshops and conferences.

Merril brings extensive knowledge of South Australia’s industry base, having worked with the South Australia public sector for over 17 years and has experience in the areas of tourism, employment, training, workforce development and industry development.

Prior to joining the Defence Innovation Partnership, she was a supply consultant with the Industry Capability Network (ICN) where she focused on building supply chains in the mineral, renewables, space and defence sectors.

Merril is proactive in building professional and collaborative networks to maximise opportunities locally and globally for South Australian businesses.

Phone +61 8 8463 7105
Mobile +61 484 310 073
Merril.Kirk@defenceinnovationpartnership.com

Phil Temby commenced as Associate Director Defence Innovation Partnership in July 2024; embedded as the Defence Science and Technology Group (DSTG) representative.

Since joining DSTG in 2002, Phil has worked with various parts of Defence, including Army, Navy, and RAAF clients, and collaborated extensively with universities and industry on Defence projects. Phil has expertise and research interests spanning a broad range of areas including human-systems performance, decision-support tools, human-machine teaming, simulation-based training, team resilience, and translational research.

Throughout his DSTG career, Phil has held various research leadership positions, managed numerous collaborative research projects, and most recently worked as the Scientific Advisor to Headquarters Forces Command. Phil holds a Bachelor of Science with First Class Honours from the University of Adelaide, a Masters in Psychology from the University of South Australia, and a Graduate Certificate in Scientific Leadership from the University of Melbourne.

Phil has served on several national and international research panels, published extensively, and received various awards in recognition of his contributions to Defence innovation, science and technology. Phil is excited to be part of the DIP team and is looking forward to fostering partnerships that can enhance Defence capability.

+61 8 8463 7103
+61 0487 756 969
Phil.Temby@defenceinnovationpartnership.com