Selina Cao

Dr Zhe (Selina) Cao is a Research Fellow in Strategy and Entrepreneurship at UQ Business School and an ARC Research Fellow at the ARC Centre of Excellence in Synthetic Biology. Her research investigates how collective action becomes possible under conditions of uncertainty, institutional fragmentation, and competing demands, particularly in contexts shaped by rapid scientific and technological change and the pursuit of sustainable impact.

Rather than treating innovation as a problem of coordination or control, Selina’s work examines the institutional, relational, and sensemaking conditions that enable actors to align action, negotiate legitimacy, and sustain collaboration when roles, rules, and authority are incomplete or contested. Drawing on process theory, institutional analysis, and paradox scholarship, her research contributes to interdisciplinary debates on governance, innovation, and responsible technological transformation. Her work addresses themes including entrepreneurial and innovation ecosystems, university–industry collaboration, interdisciplinary research, paradox and non-dual thinking, and the societal implications of emerging technologies.

Methodologically, Selina adopts an interpretive, qualitative, and process-oriented approach, with a strong emphasis on in-depth fieldwork and comparative case analysis. Her current research focuses on the commercialisation and governance of synthetic biology in Australia, with particular attention to translational research infrastructures, stakeholder engagement, and public legitimacy in national research initiatives. She chairs the Commercialisation and Translation Advisory Committee at the ARC Centre of Excellence in Synthetic Biology and contributes to the Centre’s strategic thinking and external engagement.

Selina holds a PhD in Management and Entrepreneurship from Imperial College London. During her doctoral studies, she conducted longitudinal fieldwork on the evolution of large-scale digital innovation initiatives in China as a visiting researcher at Tsinghua University, and worked extensively with early-stage ventures through the Imperial Enterprise Lab. Prior to academia, she held corporate and professional roles at DuPont in the United States and PwC in North America, experiences that continue to inform her interest in the lived realities of organisational and institutional change.