Before joining Deakin in July 2016 he was team leader of the Composites team at CSIRO, where he worked for 27 years. Russell is a graduate of the University of Adelaide and completed his PhD at Monash University on the subject of thermoplastic toughening of highly crosslinked epoxy networks.
Since then, his work has focused on network and engineering polymers, specifically understanding how to control network properties for improved performance or processing.
He has published about 70 papers in peer reviewed journals, four book chapters and submitted about 40 major client project reports to various multi-national companies and Australian SMEs. His research interests include new polymer matrices for advanced composites, self-healing materials, nanocomposites and processable thermoplastic composites.