Powering the Future: State of Play for Fusion Energy

Powering the Future seminar #7

About this event

The Melbourne Energy Institute invites you to the final seminar in the 2026 Powering the Future series, discussing breakthroughs in fusion energy and what they could mean for Australia’s future energy systems.

Nuclear fusion has long been explored for its potential to deliver clean, high-yield energy with minimal environmental impact. Recent global advancements, from national laboratories to private ventures, have brought the prospect of net energy gain closer to reality. In this session, Alex Borovskis, co-founder of Helixos, will explore the current state of research, the technologies being trialled, and the engineering challenges that remain.

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Speaker

Alex Borovskis
Co-founder
Helixos
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Alex Borovskis is a global cleantech leader with deep expertise in fusion and fission technologies. Alex has led the development of national strategies, global technoeconomic assessments, and supply chain analyses for the fusion industry.

As the Co-founder of Helixos, his team delivers commercialisation, strategic communications, and technical advisory services to global research organisations, investors, technology developers, end-users, and governments.

Alex has a background in chemical engineering and chemistry with experience working on major complex infrastructure and manufacturing projects in the nuclear and aerospace industry, across both private and public sector organisations.

Moderator

Professor Richard Sandberg
Director, Melbourne Energy Institute
Chair of Computational Mechanics
University of Melbourne
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Richard Sandberg is the Director of the Melbourne Energy Institute, and Chair Professor of Computational Mechanics in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Melbourne. His main interest is in high-fidelity simulation of turbulent flows in turbomachinery and aerospace applications in order to gain physical understanding of flow and noise mechanisms. He also uses the data to help assess and improve low-order models that can be employed in an industrial context, in particular by pursuing novel machine-learning approaches. He received his PhD in 2004 in Aerospace Engineering at the University of Arizona and prior to joining the University of Melbourne, he was a Professor of Fluid Dynamics and Aeroacoustics in the Aerodynamics and Flight Mechanics research group at the University of Southampton and headed the UK Turbulence Consortium (www.turbulence.ac.uk). He was awarded a veski innovation fellowship entitled: "Impacting Industry by enabling a step-change in simulation fidelity for flow and noise problems", was granted an Australian Research Council Future Fellowship for 2020-2024, and was elected Fellow of the Australasian Fluid Mechanics Society in 2024.

About MEI's Powering the Future Seminar Series

Bringing together leading researchers and industry experts, MEI’s Powering the Future seminar series will explore the key technological, political and societal developments shaping the energy sector.

Designed for energy industry professionals, government stakeholders, students, and academics, the seminars aim to foster informed discussion across technical, economic and policy dimensions of the energy transition. Each session will be delivered in a hybrid format, allowing participants to attend in person or join online.

Read more about the seminars, and sign up to be notified when the seminars are open for registration.

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed are those of the presenter and do not necessarily reflect the official position of The Melbourne Energy Institute and The University of Melbourne.

The Melbourne Energy Institute welcomes broad discussion. Please engage respectfully and considerately with all perspectives.

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