Professor Stephan Riek joined UniSC's Graduate Research School as the Dean in early 2020. Before coming to UniSC, Stephan was the Deputy Dean of the University of Queensland Graduate School. Stephan has experience in developing innovative international and industry-based partnerships for postgraduate research students.
As Deputy Dean of UQ's Graduate School, Stephan was responsible for about 4,500 Higher Degree by Research candidates across all disciplines, coordinating skills training and the strategic management of external international partnerships such as joint doctoral degrees.
He has also previously worked as Co-Director of the UQ Centre for Exercise and Healthy Brain Ageing and founding Director of the Centre for Sensorimotor Performance.
Stephan is an experienced Professor with skills in Research, Research Design, Life Sciences, Higher Education Administration and Leadership. He is responsible for the Higher Degree by Research (HDR) program across all disciplines of the university. He provides strategic planning and operational oversight to align and support the University's broader strategic objectives.
Professor Riek has published over 100 papers in international scientific journals and was a recipient of a prestigious Research Council QEII Fellowship to undertake research of national and international significance.
He has gained more than $7.5 million in competitive research grants and conducts collaborative research with industry partners including Boeing Research and Technology Australia.
Stephan's expertise across a number of disciplines including biomechanics, neurophysiology, and psychology gives him the broad portfolio of skills required to develop a more complete understanding of the field. Stephan works in collaboration with academic colleagues with expertise in molecular and cellular neuroscience, cognitive neuroscience, and biomechanics as well as industry partners. This work has been supported by more than $10 million in competitive research grants and has attracted over 5500 citations (H-index 37).
Most recently, Professor Riek, lead a team as Co-Director of the Centre for Exercise and Healthy Brain Ageing which examines the impact of physical exercise on cognitive function in the elderly and also collaborative with researchers from Boeing Research and Technology-Australia to optimise VR and AR technologies in pilot training.
Research areas
- neuroscience
- musculo-skeletal
- biomechanics
Notable Publications
- AN McInnes, JM Castellote, M Kofler, CF Honeycutt, OV Lipp, S Riek, J Tresilian, W Marinovic (2021) "Cumulative distribution functions: An alternative approach to examine the triggering of prepared motor actions in the StartReact effect" The European Journal of Neuroscience, 53, 1545-1568
- EM Reuter, JB Mattingley, R Cunnington, S Riek TJ Carroll (2019) "Pushing attention to one side: Force field adaption alters neural correlates of orienting and disengagement of spatial attention" The European Journal of Neuroscience, 49, 1, 120-136
- L Chye, S Riek AD Rugy, RG Carson, TJ Carroll (2018) "Unilateral movement preparation causes task-specific modulatoin of TMS responses in the passive, opposite limb" Journal of Physiology, 596, 16, 3725-3738
- LA Leow, A Uchida, JL Egberts, S Riek, OV Lipp, J Tresilian, W Marinovic (2018) "Triggering Mechanisms for Motor Actions: The Effects of Expectation on Reaction Times to Intense Acoustic Stimuli" Neuroscience, 393, 226-235
- LA Leow, AD Rugy, W Marinovic, S Riek, TJ Carroll (2016) "Savings for visuomotor adaption require prior history of error, not prior repetition of successful actions" Journal of Neurophysiology, 116, 4, 1603-1614
- EM Reuter, R Cunnington, JB Mattingley, S Riek, TJ Carroll (2016) "Feedforward compensation for novel dynamics depends on force field orientation but is similar for the left and right arms" Journal of Neurophysiology, 116, 5, 2260-2271
- F Helm, W Marinovic, B Kruger, J Munzert, S Riek (2015) "Corticospinal excitability during imagined and observed dynamic force production tasks: Effortfulness matters" Neuroscience, 290, 398-405
- CM Zupanc, R Burgess-Limerick, A Hill, S Riek, GM Wallis, AM Plooy, MS Horswill, MO Watson, DG Hewett (2015) "A competency framework for colonoscopy training derived from cognitive task analysis techniques and expert review" BMC Medical Education, 15, 1, 1-11
- W Marinovic, M Milford, T Carroll, S Riek (2015) "The facilitation of motor actions by acoustic and electric stimulation" Psychophysiology, 52, 12, 1698-1710
- W Marinovic, V Flannery, S Riek (2015) "The effects of preparation and acoustic stimulation on contralateral and ipsilateral corticospinal excitability" Human Movement Science, 42, 81-88
Professor Stephan Riek is the Dean of the Graduate Research School and his areas of knowledge include biomechanics, neurophysiology, psychology, molecular and cellular neuroscience, cognitive neuroscience.