Today, we’re profiling Nikola Vasovic, Senior Engineer at Tyndall, UCC and Chief Technology Officer at Tyndall spin-out Varadis. Nikola shares some insight into his career, one that has spanned many paths - research, engineering and commercial, delivering impactful IP to industry along the way.
Senior Engineer at Tyndall.
My story begins in 2008 when I joined the Faculty of Electronic Engineering in Nis, Serbia, as a researcher. Since 2012 I've worked with Tyndall in a visiting research capacity as an electronics project engineer, and over the last 3 years as a senior electronics engineer. My core focus has been electrical and radiation characterization of dosimetry devices and the development of read-out electronics (comprising hardware, firmware, and software) for radiation sensing systems, including RADFET and scintillator-based systems. The possibility of pushing the boundaries of technology to its limits and the potential to achieve innovation in various fields inspired me to reach for the stars and pursue a career in research. Also, the prospect of finding a practical use for my research work and being able to apply it to industry and support companies of different sizes and sectors greatly interested me.
Varadis spin-out launch in 2019.
My work with Tyndall spin-out Varadis is one such example. The world-leading, deep-tech radiation detection technology that became known as RADFETs was initially developed by a team of Tyndall researchers including myself, Aleksandar Jaksic and Russell Duane. The foundations of this technology were based on 30 years of research. It is a highly innovative and market proven technology. Licensing to Varadis and working with CEO Brad Wrigley has ensured that we are having a global impact across multiple sectors such as space exploration, aerospace, physics research organisations and healthcare sectors.
With the space sector in particular, our team has had plenty of commercial opportunities and collaborations with various agencies and companies over the years. For example, space exploration agencies like ESA, NASA, JAXA; international organisations like CERN; private companies like Sicel Technologies, General Atomic Electronics Systems (US), Kromek (UK). There was, and still is a huge demand for our product (RADFET) in a range of practical applications and we have learned where to strategically steer the direction of our research as a result of these industry collaborations.
The advantage of working with industry is that you have countless opportunities to tackle real world challenges and create solutions that make a significant impact on a global scale.