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Director, The Brain Dialogue, ARC Centre of Excellence for Integrative Brain Function, Monash University

Dr Nowak runs The Brain Dialogue, an initiative of the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Integrative Brain Function. The Brain Dialogue is a first-in-Australia program, designed to maximise the social, economic, and scientific benefits of brain research through a Responsive Research and Innovation (RRI) approach.

Previously, Rachel worked as a research scientist in agriculture and reproductive physiology, and as a science journalist, specialising in the social, economic and ethical implications of discovery.

She has won numerous awards for science journalism. She has worked in the US for several magazines, including Science, and at New Scientist, firstly as Washington Bureau Chief, and then as Australasian Editor.

Rachel is member of The Gene Technology Ethics and Community Consultative Committee (GTECCC) of the Office of the Gene Technology Regulator, Department of Health.

She is also Non-Executive Director, COSMOS Media Pty Ltd., and a member of the Human Research Ethics Committee at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research.

She sits on the advisory board of the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for All-Sky Astrophysics

Rachel is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

She runs the consultancy Rachel Nowak and Associates, which works to strengthen ties between industry, society and academia.

Experience

  • 2010–present
    Consultant and Principal, knowledge brokering and strategy, Rachel Nowak and Associates
  • 2014–present
    Director, The Brain Dialogue, an initiative of the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Integrative Brain Function
  • 1990–2009
    Senior Writer, Washington Bureau Chief, and Australasian Editor, Science, New Scientist, Journal of NIH Research and other publications

Education

  • 1990 
    Johns Hopkins University, MA, The Writing Seminars
  • 1985 
    University of Leeds, PhD, reproductive physiology