Challenge Judging Panel

  • Alex Blood

    Executive Director Mineral Resources, Department for Energy and Mining

  • Carl Spandler

    Associate Professor at the University of Adelaide

  • Flavia Tata Nardini

    CEO and Co-founder at Fleet Space Technologies

  • Dr Judy Halliday

    Chief Operating Officer, OSACE, Department for Innovation and Skills

  • Adrian Beer

    Chief Executive Officer at METS Ignited Australia Ltd

  • Lizzie Brookman

    Innovation Systems Partner at Unearthed

Meet the Judges

The Department for Energy and Mining and Unearthed have assembled an exciting panel of judges to support the assessment of submissions for Thinking Critical South Australia. Considered experts in their field and representative of all areas of the industry including commercial enterprise, start-ups, government and academia, our judges bring of wealth of experience and knowledge to the challenge. Their role will be to review and score the submissions in line with the assessment criteria as outlined in the challenge rules.

Let’s meet the judges…

About Alex Blood

Alex Blood’s extensive professional experience spans the globe. She has held global, national corporate and advisory roles in mining, oil and gas, infrastructure and industrial projects across Australia, Asia-Pacific and Africa. In her current role within the South Australian Department for Energy and Mining, Alex’s division oversees the regulation of the exploration, mining and extractive mineral industries as well as providing leading pre-competitive geoscience data and innovation through the work of the Geological Survey of South Australia.

Alex is Chair of the Australian New Zealand Board for environmental professional certification. She has received a number of awards and was the first woman to be awarded Australian New Zealand Environmental Practitioner of the Year.

About Carl Spandler

Carl Spandler is a recognised leading researcher in critical minerals geoscience in Australia. He has held university research positions at ANU Canberra, James Cook Uni, Townsville and Bern, Switzerland and was co-director of the Economic Geology Research Centre at James Cook, until moving to the University of Adelaide 2020.

Carl is the founding Director of the Australian Critical Minerals Research Centre at the University of Adelaide, combining world-class expertise across Geoscience and Engineering to carry out multidisciplinary research in the discovery and extraction of critical minerals to benefit society.

About Flavia Tata Nardini

Flavia Tata Nardini began her career at the European Space Agency as a Propulsion Test Engineer. She then joined TNO, the Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research to work on advanced space propulsion projects.

In 2015, Flavia co-founded Fleet Space Technologies, a connectivity company set to maximise resource efficiency through low cost, low power remote massive IoT. Fleet are on track to launch 140 nanosatellites by 2027, launching their seventh and eighth later this year, enabling the next industrial revolution with a ubiquitous connectivity platform.

Flavia has recently added Mission Chair of the 7Sisters Moon Mission to her achievements, Australia’s mission of discovery for Earth, the Moon and Mars.

About Dr Judy Halliday

Dr Judy Halliday is the Chief Operating Officer of the Office of the South Australian Chief Entrepreneur in the Department for Innovation and Skills. In this role, she is responsible for supporting the Chief Entrepreneur and the Entrepreneurship Advisory Board, as well as delivering on the Government’s commitment to growing entrepreneurship and supporting start-up and scale up business in South Australia.

Judy has more than 25 years’ executive and management experience in entrepreneurship and innovation as an inventor, founder, investor, academic and industry professional in the private and public sectors. She has published in academic peer reviewed journals, been a successful applicant in competitive grant programs as both an academic researcher and as an industry partner, and has been a non-executive director of 7 start-up companies. Judy is currently a member of several Advisory Boards and has been a member of venture fund investment committees for the Medical Research Commercialisation Fund and Uniseed.

About Adrian Beer

Adrian is the CEO of METS Ignited, the Industry Growth Centre for the Mining Equipment, Technology and Services sector.

Adrian’s background is electrical engineering, designing and commissioning mineral processing systems. His broad career has spanned small technology companies, mining operations and commodity trading, to holding global leadership positions within the world’s largest industrial technology corporations. Adrian brings extensive experience in the supply of industrial technology solutions and business transformations projects in capital intensive industries.

Adrian has completed a MBA from the University of New England (Australia), is a Fellow of The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy and a member of the Society for Mining, Metallurgy and Exploration. He holds advisory board positions with Newcastle Institute for Energy and Resources (NIER), and SMARTSAT CRC, and is a member of the Global Mining Guidelines Group leadership team.

About Lizzie Brookman

Lizzie is a highly experienced professional who has spent the last two decades working across pharmacy, retail and technology industries in Melbourne, Sydney and Perth. Combining strong business acumen and a keen ability to identify market opportunities, Lizzie has helped hundreds of independent business owners successfully enter and navigate competitive landscapes, seize opportunities and position themselves to maximise their commercial success.

Motivated by the exciting prospects that open innovation is unlocking for industry all over the world, its role in driving innovation and our path to a greener future, Lizzie joined Unearthed in 2020 as Innovation Systems Partner. In her role at Unearthed, Lizzie champions open innovation, supporting industry partners in the mining and resources sector to connect and harness the power of the crowd, building innovator communities to help solve strategic challenges and deliver value.

Do you have a question? 

For more information about the challenge or to ask our team a question, check out the challenge page on the Unearthed website.