Dr Carol Azzam Mackay is the Design and Innovation Manager at nandin, ANSTO’s Innovation Centre. Carol is an expert at the intersection of design and science to catalyse innovation, with broad experience across industry and research.
She leads ANSTO’s design innovation programs and initiatives, supporting staff and nandin members with experiential learning of innovation practice. She also supports the development of the nuclear workforce of the future through next-generation design programs, spanning primary, secondary, and tertiary education.
Carol delivers innovation capability at ANSTO, supporting the translation of research to impact and optimising scientific practice through creative approaches. She is passionate about seeing science tackle the problems of tomorrow, implementing strategic design thinking to bring clarity to complex issues and deliver tangible value to end-users.
Carol endeavours to foster multidisciplinary co-creation, recognising the immense value that diverse perspectives and expertise bring to the table. She aims to support teams from varied backgrounds to embrace open mindsets. Drawing from a global community of innovation best practice, she also represents ANSTO through nandin’sDesign Factory Global Network membership.
During her PhD, Carol facilitated design practice at Sydney Nano to help deliver cutting-edge smart sensing technologies for the Royal Australian Air Force. Through this, Carol challenged barriers to multidisciplinarity and encouraged shifting towards the collaborative and creative future of science.
Her career journey spans many other scientific fields, including forensic analysis, inorganic chemistry research, science communication, and design theory. Carol draws on this experience as a strong foundation for her multidisciplinary role.