Leanne Sobel is a PhD graduate from the University of Technology Sydney.

Show Notes: https://www.theknowledgemill.com/episode26/

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Leanne Sobel is a strategic designer, educator, and researcher. She is currently the director of strategic design at Snowmelt and an Adjunct Fellow at the University of Technology Sydney Business School. Leanne brings a wealth of experience to her practice, having worked on public and private sector projects over her 20 + year career including working in diverse domains such as design education, experiential design, place-based strategy, innovation, management consulting, organisational strategy and design thinking.

Leanne holds a Bachelor of Design from Swinburne University, Master of Management from the Macquarie Graduate School of Management, and a PhD of Management from UTS in which she investigated the role of design in strategy. Leanne is an experienced training facilitator of executive education specialising in strategic design, strategy, complexity, and organisational change. She teaches in the UTS Executive MBA and has extensive experience in design-led workshop facilitation for strategy, organisational challenges, and innovation initiatives. She is also a member of the UTS Centre for Climate Risk and Resilience, UTS Change for Good, and the UTS Innovation and Entrepreneurship Collaborative.

Leanne is the first repeat guest I’ve had on The Knowledge Mill and, more importantly, is a close friend and valued colleague of mine. Since she was featured in the second episode of the podcast - a conversation we recorded in November 2022 - she has completed her PhD and moved into her current roles with Snowmelt and UTS. To get a recording done before her PhD was conferred, we actually sat down to speak earlier in 2025 and I’ve held onto that recording so this episode could be the finale for 2025. The two years between drinks proved a valuable opportunity for both of us to reflect on how some things - like studies, projects, and jobs - change while other things - like friendships - hold steady.

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This episode of The Knowledge Mill was recorded in my office at UTS on May 2, 2025.

Corey Cutrupi is a PhD candidate at the University of Technology Sydney.

Show Notes: https://www.theknowledgemill.com/episode25/

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Corey Cutrupi is part-time educator, part-time exercise scientist, researcher and full-time sport enthusiast. Currently, his research has taken him on a quest to better understand how organisations can effectively leverage major events in women’s football to create sustainable growth in Australian women’s football. The centrepiece of this study was the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023, hosted in Australia and New Zealand. While it was no secret how the bandwagon of women’s football was full as a result of this event, Corey is on the pursuit to identify what strategies are most effective in making sure that bandwagon remains at capacity.

Previously, Corey has worked at Tennis Australia, Football NSW, and has had various roles in health and sport following a sport and exercise science degree. Today, he teaches in the undergraduate and postgraduate Sport Management streams in the UTS Business School as he looks to conclude his PhD. Still finding time to work in the corporate health space, Corey enjoys the balance of combining his passions into a dynamic working week. Ultimately, sport is Corey’s biggest passion, and when he isn’t playing sport (likely due to his knack for an injury), he is living and breathing it as an educator, spectator and behind the scenes.

Corey and I first met each other in 2019 when I was coordinating one of the subjects he took as part of his Masters course at UTS. At the time, I was at the same stage in my PhD that he is now at in his own PhD. Life goes around in funny circles this way. Corey and I have no difficulties talking about sport and the lives we both lead around it, but this time we decided to turn on the microphones. While we did manage to keep the focus on Corey’s PhD, we also unpacked a number of critical issues in the sport world – i.e., the things that keep us both engaged in this field of research and teaching.

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This episode of The Knowledge Mill was recorded in my office at the University of Technology Sydney on November 21, 2025.

Lauren Wood is a PhD candidate at the University of Technology Sydney.

Show Notes: https://www.theknowledgemill.com/episode24/

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Lauren Wood is a researcher and educator exploring how wearable sensors and artificial intelligence can help us better understand human movement. With an interdisciplinary background spanning sport science, engineering education, and design, Lauren is passionate about shaping the future of sport and health technology through design thinking and data analytics.

Lauren has collaborated with elite sporting organisations as a research assistant to integrate digital tools into high-performance environments to improve usability and support holistic wellbeing from grassroots to the elite level. She also teaches engineering design and innovation at UNSW Sydney, leading student teams in human-centred design, prototyping, and technology development. Lauren aims to always take a systems approach that connects the athlete, coach, and researcher to make wearable data meaningful, ethical, and actionable

Lauren is currently completing a PhD at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS), where she focuses on detecting subtle running gait asymmetries using wearable inertial sensors and machine-learning models. Her work brings together biomechanics, data science, and design to translate complex sensor data into practical insights for athlete wellbeing, rehabilitation, and performance.

Lauren and I came into this conversation knowing we shared a mutual interest in design, but we’re also both very interested in wearable tech. As a result, this conversation takes a few novel turns, including a discussion of how Lauren has had to teach herself coding even while undertaking her PhD - something I think will fascinate you as much as it did me.

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This episode of The Knowledge Mill was recorded on the Moore Park Campus of the University of Technology Sydney on July 17, 2025.