Alex is the Creative Lead at the Academy. His international career spans two decades as a writer, director, animator and script consultant in senior roles across the animation and VFX industries, working at companies including Rising Sun Pictures, Animal Logic, Flying Bark and Script Central. Most recently Alex worked on ‘Peter Rabbit’ and wrote and directed the Chinese animated feature films ‘Frog Kingdom 3’ and ‘Frog Kingdom 4’. He was co-director of the animated feature ‘Blinky Bill: The Movie’, animation supervisor on Zack Snyder’s ‘Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole’ and lead animator on the Oscar-winning animation feature ‘Happy Feet’.

Technical Lead at the Academy, Dan has over 10 years’ experience in pipeline, lighting and look development at Method, Dr.D and Animal Logic. He has worked on films such as The Great Gatsby, Deepwater Horizon, Gods of Egypt, Ghostbusters, and Happy Feet Two. Dan was also key in designing the award winning ‘Turret’ Shotgun+USD pipeline used at the Academy, and in steering our real-time technologies.

Andrew Johnston is Associate Professor at the University of Technology Sydney, where he works as the Research Director of the UTS Animal Logic Academy, an education and research studio focusing on creative practice and digital technologies. He also co-directs the Creativity and Cognition Studios, an interdisciplinary research group working at the intersection of performance, art and technology.

Sarah is our Studio Coordinator, providing administrative and operational assistance for the department and students. In managing the day-to-day operation of the studio, Sarah oversees academy enquiries and admissions, provides primary student contact and support, and coordinates studio events and social media. Sarah’s focus is to support the academy in the delivery of its award-winning program and to help produce the next generation of animation and visualisation professionals.

Naomi is a graduate of the Master of Animation and Visualisation and now works in Pipeline Support for the Academy. Naomi supports our Technical Lead as well as our students in solving problems and developing new tools to ensure project work is delivered efficiently to our award-winning pipeline. Her experience as Surfacing Lead on the student project ‘SubAqua’ and a Surfacing/Lookdev Artist on the short film ‘Bounty Hunter’ has given her hands-on experience and insight in how best to support the students through both the creative and technical challenges of collaborating on professional-level projects.

As the Production Technology Support Officer, Seng has over 5 years’ experience working for UTS in numerous departments. His background combines video, photo production and computer systems administration. Seng supports all the technology used at the Academy, including workstation computers, cinema projection, mixed and virtual reality.