NextSense Centre for Innovation

The NextSense centre for innovation on the Macquarie University campus represents a new era for hearing and vision loss in Australia.

Custom-designed for people with hearing and vision loss, it will be a place to nurture, trial and share new ideas to drive better outcomes in sensory disability. And it will demonstrate to others what inclusive spaces look like.

A state-of-the-art, nationally and internationally significant social infrastructure project, it will house our national operations and be a major centre for delivering hearing and vision loss health and disability services, education, and research. It is a tactile, tailored and therapeutic space that addresses specific needs and presents unique experiences. It will be an environment that is interconnected, collaborative and community-oriented with an emphasis on connecting function, people and space.

Importantly, it will be a focal point for connecting the rich expertise across our 20 sites, remote services, and research and education programs with what we learn from others to build insights that drive change. A place for collaboration with colleagues across Macquarie University campus and beyond, it will leverage the bench strength across multiple fields: service delivery, research, health, disability, education, government, and industry. It will be a drawcard for leading thinkers and practitioners and demonstrate what best practice inclusive education could look like in future.

It’s where we will combine world-leading knowledge with real-world expertise, bringing a valuable service delivery perspective to wider policy and practice conversations around hearing and vision loss. The powerful new partnerships that we form will help cement Australia as a world leader in hearing and vision loss and help build a more inclusive society.