Aditya Putranto

The right path to an academic career

During his years at Monash, the stars aligned for Aditya Putranto (PhD 2013, awarded Mollie Holman Doctoral Medal for the best PhD thesis). A reputation for excellence in research and teaching, along with a strong commitment to doctoral students, had attracted him to the University.

Monash PhD has prepared him to be a well-rounded academic, not only with descent research skills but also strong teaching capabilities and leadership attitudes. To date, Aditya has served as an academic across the United Kingdom, Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia and China. During the PhD, I had the opportunity to engage with outstanding people, from supervisors to lecturers to students. My mentor – a great professor – taught me a lot about how to work with others. And I served as a teaching associate in a number of courses. All this has paid off in my academic career.”

Aditya believes a balanced research and teaching portfolio will open doors to an academic career. “Academics are expected early on to demonstrate strong research potential and outcomes, as well as effective and engaging teaching methods. He is now both research active and talented teacher. Research wise, to-date, he has successfully published 49 peer-reviewed journal papers, 1 book (published by Cambridge University Press) and 3 book chapters aside from securing research grants from a couple of funding bodies including from Royal Society United Kingdom.

In his research, Aditya has focused primarily on sustainable systems aiming at achieving net zero in food, energy and environmental systems. He has seamlessly integrated sustainability with digital technology through digital sustainable systems. He is experienced in establishing modeling and simulation tools for helping industry and community to result in carbon-neutral environment.

In line with his passion and talents in education, he has led and managed a number of curriculum development projects and teaching innovation initiatives. He has developed interdisciplinary curriculum and strongly embedded sustainability aspects into the curriculum. This is supported by ‘workshop-based learning’ and ‘Design-based learning’ to allow students to consolidate their understanding to prepare the students with problem solving and cross-disciplinary skills for creating green processes and products.

While doing his PhD, Aditya had the chance to present his research at international forums, where he mingled with leading experts in the field. Not only that, his findings were published in top journals. It wasn’t long before Aditya was awarded the Mollie Holman Doctoral Medal for best doctoral thesis in the faculty. “Senior researchers suddenly began to consider my ideas more seriously,” he shares. “Because of the award, they came to view me as an emerging researcher.”

Of course, Aditya has faced some challenges along the way. “I confronted limited research infrastructure, but was able to overcome this by collaborating with prominent research groups who allowed me to use their facilities,” he reveals. “I also had to learn to better manage my time in order to juggle research and teaching.”