Meet Dr Cal Devney – Central Queensland Regional Coordinator

Dr Cal Devney is the Central Queensland Regional Coordinator based in Gladstone.  Portrait image of Dr Devney

Dr Devney’s career in education, technologies and science spans more than 15 years across multiple sectors. She’s passionate about the future of education within the spectrum of diversity and aims to empower young people and people who are young-at-heart to own their potential through creativity, innovation, teamwork and a desire to make the world a better place.  

Dr Devney is not only a Regional Coordinator, but she’s also the Founder and Director of two businesses – Blue Sea Books and Onedur Consulting.  

Regional Coordinator role 

Dr Devney’s role as a Regional Coordinator is to drive a collaborative and dynamic approach to foster diversity and engagement in the local science and innovation ecosystem in the Central Queensland region. 

In practice, Regional Coordinators support events, activities and projects that encourage Queenslanders’ participation and awareness of science and innovation within their region. 

After being in the role for only 5 months, Dr Devney said, “the innovation community in Queensland is a thriving ecosystem and as a Partner Up Queensland Regional Science and Innovation Network Hub Coordinator, I play a critical role in leveraging my expanding network to partner up organisations and individuals for better outcomes. 

“I can fill gaps in the innovation ecosystem by amplifying existing opportunities, creating new opportunities, and connecting stakeholders from a range of backgrounds and skills- and knowledge-bases.” 

Achievements (so far!) 

Dr Devney has been busy at work encouraging the Central Queensland region to get involved in science and innovation.  

Ready, Set Code! assistive technology event 

Dr Devney worked in partnership with Community Lifestyle Support and Queensland Aerial Founder Darren Jeacocke to bring a design thinking and social innovation challenge to secondary youth and disability support workers in the Bundaberg region.  

The event was held in June 2022 and supported by Advance Queensland where students worked together to design innovative assistive technology solutions for people with disability.  

This pilot event was very well received and a second event is scheduled for November 2022. 

Securing funding from a major industry partner to host the 2023 Australian National Hydrogen Grand Prix event 

Dr Devney is leading a cluster of interested stakeholders to successfully bring the inaugural Australian National Hydrogen Grand Prix event to Central Queensland. She is working with a diverse range of stakeholders to host the event in Central Queensland and funding for the program is now being sought for the 2023-24 season.   

Incorporating innovation into a science and sustainability community showcase event 

Dr Devney co-wrote the application for the Central Queensland STEM Hub to secure funding from Inspiring Australia to host a science and sustainability event in Gladstone – the Energy, Environment and Our Sustainable Future CQ Showcase.  

The funding was received and Dr Devney is working to incorporate local priorities into the event by using the showcase as a platform to ignite community conversations about energy, hydrogen, advanced manufacturing and innovation in renewable energies. She is also going to showcase researcher and social enterprise activities in science and sustainability.   

The event will cater to a wide audience, from families, to entrepreneurs, to citizen scientists, industry, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and youth innovators.  

Find out more 

Visit the Partner Up Queensland webpage to find out more about this initiative.   

Stay up to date on our social channels to find out what’s happening in each region and ways you can get involved.  

 
Last updated 21 Sep, 2022
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