Rate My Professor Darren Bagnall

Professor Darren Bagnall is the Dean of the School of Engineering in the Faculty of Science and Engineering at Macquarie University, appointed in August 2017. He previously held a position at UNSW Sydney from December 2013 to July 2017. Earlier in his career, he worked at institutions including the University of Southampton, University of Strathclyde, Tohoku University, and the University of Salford, where he developed his expertise in semiconductor devices, nanophotonics, and solar energy. As Dean, Bagnall has focused on establishing a progressive School of Engineering with innovative pedagogy and an inclusive culture. He has prioritized gender balance, successfully increasing the proportion of women among academic staff from 10% (3 out of 27) to 25% (10 out of 40) within 18 months of his arrival. Under his leadership, the School has advanced research in sustainable technologies, including contributions to the Smart Green Cities Research Centre and ARENA-funded projects on advanced solar cell production techniques such as microwave annealing.

Bagnall's research output includes significant publications in high-impact journals. Key works are 'Nanostructured Gas Sensors: From Air Quality and Environmental Monitoring to In-Door Human Healthcare' (Sensors, 2021, cited by 98), co-authored with Xiaohu Chen, Michelle Leishman, and Noushin Nasiri; 'Metal-Organic-Frameworks: Low Temperature Gas Sensing and Air Quality Monitoring' (Chemosensors, 2021, cited by 39), with Xiaohu Chen and Reza Behboodian; 'Capillary-Driven Self-Assembled Microclusters for Highly Performing UV Photodetectors' (Advanced Functional Materials, 2023, cited by 17); 'Highly Porous ZnO/CNT Hybrid Microclusters for Superior UV Photodetection' (ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, 2024, cited by 11); 'Microwave Annealing of Silicon Solar Cells' (Applied Physics Letters, 2023); and 'Morphology-Driven UV Photodetection in Self-Powered Pt/ZnO Nanotetrapods' (Nano Today, 2025). He is ranked 4112 among the World's Top 2% Scientists in Applied Physics. Bagnall has contributed to public discourse on engineering challenges, including semiconductor manufacturing in Australia, offshore renewable energy infrastructure, and the implications of global population growth. The School of Engineering under his deanship joined the Semiconductor Supply Chain Security Bureau in 2022 to enhance national capabilities. He teaches ELEC8870 High Performance IC Design.