Professor Drew Evans

Dr Drew Evans is a Professor and Professorial Lead within the Future Industries Institute at the University of South Australia, with expertise in thin film coatings for commercial applications.  His work focusses on enhancing the performance and manufacturability of materials for application in industry. He is a former Future Fellow - Australian Research Council ("Revolution through evolution - new conducting polymer materials" 2017 - 2020).

In 2006 he received his PhD in interfacial science from the Department of Applied Mathematics at the Australian National University in Canberra, Australia. During this time he worked under the Cooperative Research Centre for Functional Communication Surfaces, working with some of the leading international paper making companies.

Upon completion of his PhD, Drew spent 4 years as a scientist with the Research Laboratories of Australia. In this role, he was involved with the development and commercialisation of a new liquid toner printing technology. His role within this development included developing and commissioning a pilot production facility, leading fundamental R&D projects in materials and colloidal science to overcome technology road-blocks, and value-adding to existing client projects. Based in Adelaide, Australia, he was an integral part of the small R&D team developing a world leading technology in collaboration with the leading digital printing companies in Europe, Asia and America.

In late 2010 he joined the Mawson Institute at the University of South Australia as a senior researcher under another Cooperative Research Centre project, the AutoCRC. This project has seen the development of a light-weight shatter-proof plastic mirror for replacement of conventional glass mirrors, in partnership with a leading international automotive OEM supplier, SMR-Technologies. After the commercialisation in 2012, Drew and the team engaged with SMR on a range of Next Generation Automotive Coatings through the Automotive Australia 2020 CRC.  In 2019, this led to the commercialisation of new decorative products for the interior of vehicles - first integrated into a (confidential) UK supercar brand.  

In 2014, Drew was part of a core team that facilitated the establishment of a new South Australian company, Heliostat-SA. This company brings together UniSA with 3 private industry partners to form a consortium to deliver Concentrated Solar Power solutions to the global energy marketplace.

Drew is leading efforts to engage a diverse range of industry partners with new conducting polymer technology.  This includes a partnership (since 2016) with Sentek Pty Ltd developing new sensor technology for agriculture.  Beyond this, the conducting polymer tech is being explored for use in new energy storage devices - through the ARC training centre for future energy storage technology (storEnergy, 2019-2024) and the French-Australia international research network for energy stroage (2019 onwards).  Extending into novel energy devices with EntX Limited and their GenX technology (2020 onwards), GenT technology (2021 onwards), and underlying purification technology (2022 onwards). 

To date Drew has secured over $21M in research funding since 2011, for both fundamental and applied studies in the materials science field. He has supervised over 70 international intern students from leading universities (ETH, Bath, Aachen, etc), 10 PhD students to completion, and is currently involved in supervising 5 full time PhD and 2 Masters students.

As a result of his research achievements, he was awarded the 2013 SA Tall Poppy of the Year prize and the 2019 Ralston Medal for Excellence in Physical Chemistry. In 2022 Drew was part of the SIGWater project in the SmartSatCRC that was awarded the Environment and Sustainability prize at the Asia-Pacific Spatial Excellence Awards.  Following on from this, he was a member of the South Australian Science Council upon invitation from SA's Chief Scientist from 2014 - 2018. In 2016 Drew was the recepient of the BioSA Young Achiever Award for his contribution to industry in South Australia.  Also, Drew is a member of the Early- and Mid-Career Research Forum Executive under the Australian Academy of Science (2018 chair, 2019 deputy chair).  In 2019, Drew was invited to the Australian Academy of Science's National Committee for Materials Science and Engineering. He is a current member of the executive for the Australian Materials Research Society.

Drew’s experience and expertise demonstrates his passion for conducting cutting edge fundamental science for the development of high-tech products and advanced materials in partnership with industry. This passion includes engaging the wider community on aspects of materials science and manufacturing through several UniSA supported teaching initiatives, as well as public lectures and online forums (including The Conversation).

• American Chemical Society,
• International Association of Colloid and Interface Scientists,
• Australian Research Council's Nanotechnology Network,
• Materials Australia,
• Australian Institute of Company Directors

Qualifications

• Doctor of Philosophy The Australian National University

• Bachelor of Science The Australian National University

Work history

• 2006-2010 Research Laboratories of Australia, Adelaide, Australia
• 2010-2015 Mawson Institute, University of South Australia, Adelaide, Australia
• 2015- Future Industries Institute, University of South Australia, Adelaide, Australia