E3 - Dr Sarah Pearson | Innovation | Particle Physics, Cancer Diagnosis & Cadbury

I am joined by Dr. Sarah Pearson, the current Deputy Director-General for Innovation at Advance Queensland. We discuss Sarah’s career that started in Particle Physics but has since included, cancer research, Cadbury confectionary, and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), with a huge focus on collaborative innovation. Sarah’s LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarahpearsoninnovation Sarah’s Twitter https://twitter.com/InnovationSarah Advance Queensland Website https://advance.qld.gov.au/ Timestamps: 00:01:14 – Sarah’s current work at Advance Queensland 00:02:14 – Innovation out of COVID-19 00:03:40 – The ups and downs of Sarah’s Oxford PhD 00:09:00 – Careers Highlights 00:11:17 – Moving to Australia 00:11:47 – Working at McKinsey 00:12:52 – Becoming a parent – refocusing priorities 00:14:40 – Moving to Armidale – moving back into Physics and restructuring 00:16:36 – Breast Cancer research 00:18:23 – Outreach programs to get young people, especially women into STEM 00:19:18 – Open Innovation at Cadbury 00:22:33 – Back to Australia – struggled for a bit 00:23:08 – CEO at ANU Enterprise + Night jobs like the Scaling Frontier Innovation Program 00:26:54 – Canberra Innovation Network – company to build an ecosystem. Mass collaboration. 00:28:33 – Brief UoN stint 00:28:37 – Chief Innovation Officer at DFAT 00:30:29 – Head of Innovation Queensland 00:30:44 – Work-life balance 00:32:11 – Important Networks and influential people 00:36:10 – Childhood impacts on career. Moving around a lot. 00:38:37 – Merging innovation with encouraging women in STEM 00:43:14 – How to build inclusive new economies? 00:44:07 – How will innovation change the future? Intro Music by Supakarn Nakavisuit (https://bit.ly/33ZtIh8) Outro Music by Kasimir Gregory SMArt – “Puppy” by Kasimir Gregory