About us | Deakin Institute for Frontier Materials

The Deakin Institute for Frontier Materials is Australia’s largest materials science research institute – delivering transformational innovation to the materials around us and how we make them.

We bring together world-class, collaborative researchers who tackle the biggest challenges facing businesses and society, and with our partners, we create superior materials that are lighter, stronger and sustainable. Our expertise spans a wide range of disciplines, including engineering, chemistry, textile science and technology and metallurgy.

We are a global leader – as the home of Deakin University’s textile science and engineering, we are ranked first in Australia and 35th globally for textile science and engineering in the 2025 Shanghai Global Ranking of Academic Subjects (GRAS).

Our purpose

Vision

To lead and inspire innovations in materials science and engineering that have a transformational benefit to society.

Mission

To create and translate knowledge at the frontier of materials science for globally raised standards of living by:

Re-designing materials for a circular economy
Imparting materials with extraordinary functionality
Through excellence in research quality, translation, training and research culture

Explore our materials science research

Our facilities

The institute spans across Deakin University’s Waurn Ponds campus, which is less than one hour drive from Melbourne and 15 minutes from the Geelong CBD and the Burwood campus in Melbourne.

Among its cutting-edge facilities, the institute has three pilot-scale facilities, uniquely positioning it to help accelerate the commercialisation of novel products or components at any stage of the value chain without interrupting business as usual in a commercial factory.

Carbon Nexus is the world’s largest open-access carbon fibre pilot line.
The Future Fibres Facility is a bespoke laboratory and industry-scale facility that supports research and development in fibres, yarns and fabric.
The Battery Research and Innovation Hub is a world-class facility for advanced battery design, fabrication and testing.

At the Waurn Ponds campus, Deakin Institute for Frontier Materials is situated within Deakin University’s Geelong Future Economy Precinct, which is an ecosystem of industry, technology and academia that fosters groundbreaking, greener innovations in advanced manufacturing.

Explore our pilot scale facilities Explore our research facilities