Professor Robert Shepherd is the Director of the Bionic Ear Institute and a Professor of Medical Bionics in the Department of Otolaryngology at the University of Melbourne.

He received his PhD in Otolaryngology from the University of Melbourne. Professor Shepherd’s doctoral thesis examined the safety and efficacy of multichannel cochlear implants and contributed to Cochlear Ltd’s successful FDA approval for the clinical use of a multichannel cochlear implant.

Professor Shepherd has held international research appointments throughout his career at the Virginia Merrill Bloedel Hearing Research Center, University of Washington, Seattle USA; Department of Physiology, JW Goethe University, Frankfurt, Germany and Boys Town National Institute for Communication Disorders in Children, Nebraska, USA. Early on in his career he was a mathematics and science teacher, and has continued his commitment to Australian education by teaching undergraduate students and supervising 14 postgraduate students throughout his career to date.

Professor Shepherd has authored 130 peer-reviewed scientific papers and invited book chapters, given over 150 presentations at national and international conferences including 45 as an invited speaker. He has been the Principal Investigator on more than $5.3M of research funding including US National Institute of Health contracts. He continues to work closely with industry through research links with Cochlear Ltd. and Living Cells Technologies Ltd.