Date: 6 November 2024
Time: 9.30am
Morning tea and registration
Time: 10.00am
Professor Genevieve Bell is the 13th and first female Vice-Chancellor of the Australian National University. Holding a PhD in cultural anthropology from Stanford, she is renowned for her work at the intersection of cultural practices and technology. Genevieve has spent over two decades in Silicon Valley with Intel and is a key voice in global AI and human society debates.
In 2017, Genevieve returned to Australia where she established the 3A Institute at ANU, focusing on AI-enabled cyber-physical systems, and later became the inaugural Director of the ANU School of Cybernetics. In addition to her roles at the ANU, Genevieve is a Member of the Prime Minister's National Science and Technology Council, Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering (ATSE), member of the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) AI Council, and an Officer of the Order of Australia.
Time: 10.15am
Associate Professor Julia Powles, Director of the UWA Tech & Policy Lab
Julia Powles is the Director of the UWA Tech & Policy Lab and Associate Professor of Law and Technology at the University of Western Australia. She is an international research leader in privacy, intellectual property, internet governance, and the law and politics of data, automation, and artificial intelligence. Her current research interests include Big Tech culpability, tech crimes, and data governance in health and performance contexts. Julia serves on Australian federal and state committees on generative AI in education, AI and copyright, privacy and responsible information sharing, responsible AI, and robotics. Prior to joining UWA, she worked at Cornell Tech, NYU, Cambridge, The Guardian, and the World Intellectual Property Organization. Julia studied genetics, biophysics, and law at ANU and UWA, and received her master’s from Oxford and PhD from Cambridge.
Time: 11.00am
John Noel Viana, Research fellow, Justice and Technoscience Laboratory, School of Regulation and Global Governance, ANU
John Noel Viana is a research fellow at the Justice and Technoscience Laboratory of the School of Regulation and Global Governance at the Australian National University. His work focuses on social justice, diversity, and equity in healthcare and biomedical research. He has examined gender, racial, and geographic diversity in various precision health applications – from palliative care to mental health and infectious diseases. His recent publications underscore the need to promote intersectional inclusion in precision medicine, examine responsible innovation through an Antipodean lens, and address epistemic injustice in bioethics discourse.
Toby Walsh, ARC Laureate Fellow and Scientia Professor of AI at UNSW and CSIRO Data61
Toby Walsh is Chief Scientist of UNSW.AI, UNSW's new AI Institute. He is a strong advocate for limits to ensure AI is used to improve our lives, having spoken at the UN, and to heads of state, parliamentary bodies, company boards and many others on this topic. This advocacy has led to him being "banned indefinitely" from Russia. He is a Fellow of the Australia Academy of Science, and was named on the international "Who's Who in AI" list of influencers. He has written four books on AI for a general audience, the most recent is "Faking It! Artificial Intelligence in A Human World".
Emma Burns, Data and AI Specialist, Environment and Sustainability, Microsoft
Since completing her doctoral research at UNSW in conservation genetics and phylogeography, Emma has worked in various roles in environmental consulting, research, government (both State and Commonwealth), and industry. She is currently a Data and AI Specialist, Environment and Sustainability, with Microsoft. Emma is passionate about solving problems using science and technology for public good outcomes and has published extensively on diverse topics in ecological research, natural resource management and science-policy. She serves on the Editorial Board for Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems, Agroecology and Ecosystem Services and is a proud mother of three wonderful children.
Time: 11.45am
Networking event
Time: 12.15am
Lunch break
Time: 1.10pm
Hayley Teasdale & Chris Anderson, Australian Academy of Science
Hayley Teasdale has experience in delivering science policy projects and developing innovative methods for producing science policy advice. She was named Women’s Agenda Emerging Leader in Science in 2024 for her work developing new methods for science advice that were inclusive of Traditional Knowledges. She has experience as a researcher turned entrepreneur, has worked for multiple start-ups in Australia and the US and has been involved in research translation and commercialisation in the fields of health tech and robotics.
Chris Anderson is the Director of Science Policy at the Australian Academy of Science, where he leads efforts to translate scientific research into actionable policy recommendations. With decades of experience in Australian science and higher education, Chris has worked in both political and non-political roles, including advising Ministers of Science and Higher Education.
Throughout his career, Chris has spearheaded significant initiatives to enhance science policy, most notably during the COVID-19 pandemic, where he played a pivotal role in the Academy's leadership of the Rapid Research Information Forum. His work spans a broad spectrum of critical topics, including climate change impacts, data-intensive research, greenhouse gas removal, the Great Barrier Reef, and the influence of external forces like geopolitics and artificial intelligence on the science system.
Time: 2.00pm
Guy Blucher, Defence Science and Technology Group
Guy Blucher has been working on applied AI in the Defence domain for more than 2 decades. The bulk of his career has been focussed on applying computer vision techniques at scale to multi-model imagery data problems, with a strong focus on software engineering practice as an enabler. More recently he has been maturing the computational and software engineering environment of Defence Science and Technology Group (DSTG) through the provision of common enabling tools and services to accelerate computational science and AI innovation inside Defence. In August 2024, Guy was seconded from DSTG to a leadership position within the newly established Defence AI Centre.
Stela Solar, Department of Industry, Science and Resources
Stela Solar is the inaugural Director of Australia’s National AI Centre at the Department of Industry, Science and Resources, with the mission to accelerate positive AI adoption and innovation that benefits business and community. Currently, Stela also serves as Co-chair of the Commonwealth AI Consortium.
She has previously held roles at Microsoft including Global Director of AI Solution Sales, as well as roles across IT distributors and technology startups. Over the past 15 years, Stela has led business model transformations which enable organisations to capture new revenue opportunities and build competitive advantage with emerging technologies such as Cloud, IoT and AI.
With a background in sustainability and creative industries, Stela thrives in ambiguity, change and purpose-led organisations. Outside of the technology arena, Stela enjoys the challenge of competitive sailing and tries to find time to play cello and piano.
Jason Downs, “On the Reg”
Dr Jason Downs bridges the gap between academic research and real-world innovation in higher education. With over two decades of global experience, Jason brings a fresh, internationally informed perspective to educational leadership. His work spans shaping institutional policies to exploring AI's potential in learning, always with an eye on practical, forward-thinking solutions. Jason has led teams responsible for institutional Academic Integrity, Quality and Standards, and program design. He is committed to excellence in education and is particularly interested in AI's transformative potential in learning. Beyond his professional work, Jason co-hosts the successful podcast "On The Reg" with Professor Inger Mewburn, which has garnered over 100,000 downloads. This platform allows him to share insights and engage with a broader audience on topics related to higher education and beyond.
Time: 2.45pm
Afternoon break
Time: 3.00pm
EMCR rapid-fire talks & prizes
Time: 3.15pm
Julia Powles, Emma Burns, Chris Anderson and Stela Solar
Time: 4.00pm
Closing remarks
ANU
CSIRO
© 2025 Australian Academy of Science
