Whilst working as a biomedical engineer at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in Sydney I undertook a PhD on image processing techniques for accurate assessment of 3D eye movements. The eye tracking system was used clinically at RPAH in the diagnosis of vestibular (balance) disorders, and was also of interest to NASA as small rotational movements of the eye reflect output from the otoliths, the gravity-sensing 'accelerometers' of the inner ear that are affected in the virtual absence of gravity during orbital spaceflight. At the completion of my PhD in 1996 I was offered a position as a post-doctoral research associate at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City under Professor Bernard Cohen. I had the unique opportunity of managing a large international NASA-funded project that flew a human centrifuge, capable of generating 1-g of centripetal acceleration, aboard the shuttle Columbia during the 1998 Neurolab mission (STS-90). This was the first (and so far only) application of 'artificial gravity' in human spaceflight. I was also hired as a consultant by the European Space Agency (ESA) Directorate of Manned Spaceflight to oversee the development of the Neurolab video-oculography software, a critical experimental component used to assess otolith function during centrifugation in space and on the ground. Contrary to previous studies, otolith-ocular reflexes and orthostatic tolerance were preserved during and after the Neurolab flight. Based on these results I submitted a proposal to NASA hypothesizing that regular exposure to artificial gravity (centrifugation) aboard the Neurolab mission helped maintain otolith-ocular and otolith-sympathetic reflexes that are usually impaired following extended periods of microgravity. This, my first project as principal investigator, was awarded in 2000.

Over the subsequent 15 years I was the principal investigator on NASA flight studies totaling over US$6.3 million aboard the space shuttle and the Mir and International space stations (ISS). My last flight project, awarded in 2009, has assessed the ability of astronauts to operate complex machinery (simulated aircraft landings and driving a car) on the day of landing after 6-months aboard the ISS. Astronaut testing was completed in June 2015, and the study results were presented to NASA's mission architecture team to help plan early crew activities after lengthy transits in microgravity for future exploration-class missions. In 2005 I applied the measurement technologies developed in support of astronaut assessment to the evaluation of pathological gait in Parkinson's disease, and I have since received funding for this work from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Michael J. Fox Foundation. In 2016, after 20 years at Mount Sinai, I returned to Australia to start a new career at CQUniversity. As Deputy Dean Research (2016-2022)  I had the pleasure of managing the diverse research portfolio within the School of Engineering of Technology. I am currently the director of the newly established Centre for Machine Learning, Networking and Education Technology (CML-NET), which provides bespoke AI-based solutions to problems in the areas of agriculture, marine science, resources, aviation and healthcare.