about

Hi, my name is Jonathan Knott and I’m a Researcher, Engineer and (sometimes) Entrepreneur currently living in Wollongong, Australia.

Please feel free to get in contact.

experience

Research Fellow

Facility for Intelligent Fabrication

University of Wollongong

October 2022 -

Interim Assistant Director

Institute for Superconducting and Electronic Materials

University of Wollongong

September 2021 - October 2022

Providing day-to-day operations leadership and support for a 100+ person flagship research institute at the University of Wollongong. Responsible for:

  • Managing workplace health and safety activities for researchers, including developing and approving Risk Assessments and Safe Work Procedures for all research activities
  • Managing and coordinating outreach and engagement efforts across a range of stakeholders, including delivering tours and producing multiple international conferences and workshops
  • Preparing funding proposals for a range of research- and industry-focused opportunities

Research Fellow

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences

University of Wollongong

January 2021 - October 2022

Working on a DMTC Ltd.-funded project on superconducting devices for naval applications, with partners QUT, DSTg, and Thales Australia.

Node Leader

SafeREnergy Hub

University of Wollongong

November 2020 -

Leading and supporting UOW-node activities of a ~$10M Australian Research Council-funded multi-institution, multi partner research hub on safe and reliable energy storage and conversion technologies. Responsible for:

  • Coordinating UOW node activities with central SafeREnergy Hub activities
  • Representing UOW node on SafeREnergy Hub Executive Committee
  • Facilitating contract negotiation between UOW node, SafeREnergy Hub and UOW industry partners

Director

Upward Manufacturing

Sept 2017 - October 2022

In 2017 I co-founded Upward Manufacturing to provide 3D printing and engineering services, education and outreach to the Illawarra. Responsible for:

  • Delivering custom engineering and product prototyping services
  • Developing workshop and education curricula (including NESA-accredited training)
  • Delivering workshop training (over 150 attendees in total)
  • Strategic planning, product development and business management
  • Selecting, sourcing, commissioning, and maintaining a range of FDM and SLA printers, 3D scanners, IT and other hardware

Project Manager / Research Fellow

Insitute for Superconducting and Electronic Materials

University of Wollongong

March 2015 - June 2020

Project managing and working on the $10.5M Smart Sodium Storage System (S4) Project. Responsible for:

  • Leading the negotiation of the $2.7M Funding Agreement with ARENA, included writing detailed Milestone Deliverables
  • Leading the development and execution of the five-way Consortium Agreement with national and international partners
  • Negotiating, purchasing, deploying and commissioning of over $250k in CAPEX equipment – including developing engineering solutions to allow a number of complex systems to be integrated within the ISEM;
  • Playing a major role in the engagement of nine Research Fellows and six HDR students – including writing position descriptions, liaising with UOW HR, being a panellist for multiple selection committees
  • Writing and delivering nine major Milestone Reports to ARENA totalling over 700 pages of content – including developing detailed technical reports, financial statements and administrative reports
  • Engineering and developing a full Energy Management System (EMS) for renewable generation and storage, including integrating multiple commercial inverters and other data sources with innovative prediction and control algorithms

portfolio

Projects

Publications

M. Maeda, J.H. Choi, J.C. Knott, J.H. Kim, G. Hahn, H. Kang, S. Hahn, S. Choi, Disorder anisotropy of layered structure in multi-band MgB2 superconducting materials with high critical current performance, Journal of Alloys and Compounds. 934 (2023) 167873. link

J.C. Knott, S. Nielsen, P. O’Brien, R. Hickey, S. Van, A. Bailey, F. Souto, M. Newman, R.R. Taylor, High-Temperature Superconductors: Technologies and Solutions for Naval Applications, Prodeedings of IMC2022, Sydney, Australia, 2022: p. 17.

S. Elphick, D. Robinson, S. Perera, J. Knott, J. David, G. Drury, Impact of Sustained Supply Voltage Magnitude on Consumer Appliance Behaviour, IEEE Transactions on Power Delivery. (2022) 1–1. link

S. Elphick, D.A. Robinson, J.C. Knott, S. Perera, I. Afandi, N. Wilmot, Quantifying the impact of supply frequency adjustments for DER control on consumer appliances, Proceedings of the 2022 20th International Conference on Harmonics & Quality of Power (ICHQP), 2022: pp. 1–6. link

A. Truran, A. Drenoyanis, I. Babic, S. Elphick, J.C. Knott, Battery energy storage systems in Sewage Pumping Stations: Site resilience and other opportunities, in: OZWater’21, 2021: p. 189. link

F. Gebert, J. Knott, R. Gorkin III, S.-L. Chou, S.-X. Dou, Polymer electrolytes for sodium-ion batteries, Energy Storage Materials. 36 (2021) 10–30. link

I. Babic, S. Elphick, J. Knott, A. Drenoyanis, A. Truran, Design of a Battery Energy Storage System for Critical Infrastructure, Proceedings of the 2020 Australasian Universities Power Engineering Conference (AUPEC), IEEE, 2020: pp. 135–140. link

D. Patel, W. Qiu, M. Mustapić, J.C. Knott, Z. Ma, D. Gajda, M. Shahabuddin, J. Xu, S. Choi, M. Tomsic, S.X. Dou, Y. Yamauchi, J.H. Kim, M.S.A. Hossain, Evaluation of a solid nitrogen impregnated MgB 2 racetrack coil, Supercond. Sci. Technol. 31 (2018) 105010. link

C. McLauchlan, J. David, D. Robinson, S. Elphick, J. Knott, Wollongong University Laboratory Microgrid: a Design for Flexibility, Proceedings of the 2018 Australasian Universities Power Engineering Conference (AUPEC), IEEE, 2018: pp. 1–6.

J. Knott, D. Sutanto, K.M. Muttaqi, D. Robinson, S. Elphick, S.X. Dou, H. Bustamante, R. Muller, Developing novel sodium-ion batteries for sewage pumping stations, Proceedings of the Ozwater’18 Conference (2018) 1–8. link

J.C. Knott, Design, modelling, characterisation and analysis of biasing techniques for saturated-core Fault Current Limiters, (2016).

J.C. Knott, P.A. Commins, J.W. Moscrop, S.X. Dou, Design Considerations in MgB2-Based Superconducting Coils for Use in Saturated-Core Fault Current Limiters, IEEE Transactions on Applied Superconductivity. 24 (2014) 1–4. link

J.C. Knott, J.W. Moscrop, Increasing energy efficiency of saturated-core fault current limiters with permanent magnets, IEEE Transactions on Magnetics. 49 (2013) 4132–4136. link

J.C. Knott, K. Radhanpura, R.A. Lewis, Annealing of Sb-doped GaAs to optimize for terahertz emission, (2010).

J. Knott, R.A. Lewis, Studies of the electroresistive properties of electronic oxides, (2009).

J.C. Knott, R.A. Lewis, Metastability in the resistance of polycrystalline La0.8Li0.2MnO3, Physica Status Solidi (RRL)–Rapid Research Letters. 3 (2009) 154–156.

J.C. Knott, D.C. Pond, R.A. Lewis, Metal-insulator transition and electroresistance in lanthanum/calcium manganites La1-xCaxMnO3 (x = 0–0.5) from voltage-current-temperature surfaces, PMC Physics B. 1 (2008) 1–15.

Media

J. Knott, Charging ahead: how Australia is innovating in battery technology, (2018).

CV

Download my latest CV here.