Note: all Key Stories are in A1 - G.25 Auditorium.
Amanda Miotto Griffith
Siobhann McCafferty ARDC
Joanna Salerno QCIF
Senn Oon QUT
Dr Danny Meloncelli QCIF
Fellice Catelo UniSC
Dr Virginie Perlo QUT
Dr Ryan Newis QCIF
Dr Sara Hutchinson UniSC
Dr Emily Kahl Pawsey Supercomputing Center
Dr Emily Kahl Pawsey Supercomputing Center
Siddeswara Guru TERN
Joanna Salerno QCIF
Senn Oon QUT
Dr Danny Meloncelli QCIF
Fellice Catelo UniSC
Dr Virginie Perlo QUT
Julie Toohey Australian Access Federation
Dr Sara Hutchinson UniSC
Graham Matchett UniSC
Dr Kevin Witzenberger QUT
Prof. Michelle Riedlinger QUT
Prof. Ross Young UniSC
Richelle McNae CSIRO
Joanna Salerno QCIF
Senn Oon QUT
Dr Danny Meloncelli QCIF
Fellice Catelo UniSC
Dr Amany Gouda-Vossos ARDC
Xiang Zhao QCIF
Dr Kevin Witzenberger QUT
Prof. Michelle Riedlinger QUT
Dr Cooper Smout Open Heart + Mind
Prof. Robert Harvey UniSC
Joanna Salerno QCIF
Senn Oon QUT
Dr Danny Meloncelli QCIF
Fellice Catelo UniSC
Robert Fleet QUT Digital Observatory
Dr Bogdan Mamaev Australian Internet Observatory
Dr Sara King AARNET
Dr Ade Adeyinka QCIF
Dr Cooper Smout Open Heart + Mind
Joanna Salerno QCIF
Senn Oon QUT
Dr Danny Meloncelli QCIF
Fellice Catelo UniSC
Robert Fleet QUT Digital Observatory
Dr Simon Musgrave LDaCA / Monash
Dr Sara King AARNET
Dr Ade Adeyinka QCIF
Paul Salmon UniSC
Alise Fox QLD Department of Primary Industries
Dr Danny Meloncelli QCIF
Dr Moji Ghadimi QCIF
Dr Abigail Koay UniSC
Dr Steven James UniSC
Joanna Salerno QCIF
Senn Oon QUT
Dr Danny Meloncelli QCIF
Fellice Catelo UniSC
Meirian Lovelace-Tozer
Dr Ade Adeyinka QCIF
Jo Savill ARDC
Mark Crowe Australian Genome Research Facility
Dr Lachlan McKinnie UniSC
Dr Ashar Malik UQ
Adam Serghini UQ
Nicholas Pittman Relational Insights Data Lab, Griffith
Jessica Chen Relational Insights Data Lab, Griffith
Sharron Stapleton Griffith University
Dimanthinie De Silva QUT
Robert Fleet QUT Digital Observatory
Dr Ade Adeyinka QCIF
Steele Cooke AARNet
Jo McCallum Griffith
Dr Ashar Malik UQ
Adam Serghini UQ
Stéphane Guillou UQ Library
Nicholas Wiggins UQ
Sharron Stapleton Griffith University
Dr Sam Hames UQ
Dr Lachlan McKinnie UniSC
Dr Ade Adeyinka QCIF
Alise Fox QLD Department of Primary Industries
Dr Karen Sutherland UniSC
Dr Ashar Malik UQ
Adam Serghini UQ
Cameron Rutter QUT
Dr Ade Adeyinka QCIF
Join this interactive session to sharpen your skills in networking with researchers and those outside your field. You'll learn how to craft a great pitch to introduce yourself and explain your research in an engaging way. Meet fellow researchers, make new connections, and find commonalities with others. Also enjoy drinks and nibbles!
This session is facilitated by the Australian Research Data Commons, which runs Research Link Australia - a gateway for Australian R&D information. It’s ideal for finding partners in research and industry.
Prof. Ross Young Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research and Innovation), UniSC
Professor Ross Young is Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research and Innovation) at the University of the Sunshine Coast. Prior to joining UniSC, Ross had extensive experience in clinical and academic health and in medical research. This included as Chair of Trauma Rehabilitation at the Jamieson Trauma Institute, Metro North Health; Executive Dean, Faculty of Health and Executive Director of the Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation at Queensland University of Technology (QUT); and Director of the Behaviour Research and Therapy Centre (Psychiatry) at the University of Queensland.
A clinical psychologist by background, Ross’s research interests are in the integration of psychological and biological risk factors in mental illness, often linking whole genome and -omics data with clinical data. He is committed to social justice and maximising health outcomes for all people, particularly the most vulnerable in our communities. Ross supports the use of novel digital and technological solutions to address important health and societal challenges, and his commercial collaboration and patent activity has included licensing gene chip technology.
At RezBaz Ross has been asked to reflect on the importance of research partnerships, embracing an entrepreneurial mindset and some of the lessons learnt in his career that he would have taught his “younger self”.
As artificial intelligence (AI) becomes more advanced and ubiquitous across society, concerns are increasing around the risks associated with different AI technologies. In this presentation I argue that stakeholders are failing to ensure the design of safe, ethical, and beneficial technologies and that we are rapidly moving toward a point of no return. An overview of current and future AI risks is presented, following which the critical role of Human Factors (HF) in the design of safe, ethical, and beneficial AI is articulated. Case studies are used to demonstrate these arguments, showing where risks emerge and where HF input is required. To close, the SECURE (Safe, Ethical, Controllable, Usable, Responsible, and Effective) AI Human Factors Integration lifecycle is presented to demonstrate what Human Factors input is required at different lifecycle stages, and what controls are needed to manage AI safety risks.
Paul Salmon , UniSC
Paul is a professor of Human Factors and creator of the Centre for Human Factors and Sociotechnical Systems at the University of the Sunshine Coast. He has almost 25 years’ experience of applied Human Factors and systems science research in a diverse set of domains. His current research interests are focused on the application of systems science to manage global level risks. Paul has received several prestigious awards from the International, Australian, US, and UK Human Factors and Ergonomics societies, and for the past 5 years The Australian has identified him as Australia’s field leader in the area of quality and reliability.
This is the talk I wish someone had given me—and also the one I still need to hear myself. Join me for an honest, and occasionally chaotic look at the lessons I’ve learned (and often ignored) on the way to building a career in digital science. From imposter syndrome and perfectionism to career plot twists and awkward small talk, this presentation isn’t about having it all figured out — it’s about figuring it out as you go. Expect practical advice, hard-won insights, and reassurance that even the people who look confident on the outside are probably just winging it too.
Alise Fox Senior Fisheries Scientist, QLD Department of Primary Industries
Alise is a mathematician, science communicator, and advocate for gender and neurodivergence representation in STEM.
As a fisheries scientist, her job is to figure out how many fish are in the ocean. She develops population models for wild-caught species in Queensland waters. You could say she's a mathemafishian... Her work combines big data, maths, stats and ecology; securing food, jobs and a healthy ocean for our future.
She has a long track record of science communication, like travelling to outback Queensland for STEM outreach, appearing in Vogue magazine and performing science stand-up comedy. Alise has been honoured with a Queensland Women in STEM Prize and is in the current Superstars of STEM cohort.
Do you feel like everyone around you is smarter than you, and you are worried that they may discover you don't belong here? Or that you are faking it? Does it feel like you have gotten to your position due to a lucky break and not skill?
Welcome to the Impostor Syndrome. This is a strange psychological phenomenon that makes ordinary people – even brilliant ones – feel like they're frauds, fakes, inadequate, and undeserving. Even incredibly successful people like Neil Armstrong and Emma Watson feel like this sometimes.
Anyone can feel like this, especially if you are in a career in tech or research. Its particularly prevalent if you are from a diverse background (Women in STEM, international, etc). It can affect you at any stage of your career.
Come learn more about it from a fellow Impostor and hear about coping mechanisms to help you sidestep this feeling!
Amanda Miotto eResearch Analyst, Griffith
Amanda Miotto is an eResearch Analyst for Griffith University, with 15 years of experience in the industry. She started off in the field of Bioinformatics and learnt to appreciate the beauty of science before discovering the joys of coding. She aims to bring innovations and resources to researchers to help accelerate their research projects.
This Workshop presents the Australian Persitent Identified ('PID') National Roadmap and discusses institutional implementations. We will present the roadmap, discuss the five priority PIDs and look particularly at the benefits of a coherent national capability for all of Australia. We will also present two use cases and open the floor to questions and discussion.
Siobhann McCafferty Project Manager, ARDC
Siobhann McCafferty (She/her) is a Project Manager for the ARDC and professional PID Nerd. She is part of the National PID Team and also works on projects with the Humanities, Social Sciences and Indigenous Research Data Commons. While not at work she is mostly upside down and/or covered in cats.
This workshop offers an introduction to Artificial intelligence (AI) methods and Machine Learning concepts, focusing on both Supervised and Unsupervised approaches. Participants will use R to explore techniques such as clustering and Random Forest, gaining experience with realistic data, that can be adapted to their field or study. Designed for beginners with basic R knowledge, the session will build foundational skills in applying AI to data analysis. No prior experience in machine learning is required, making this a practical and accessible entry point into modern AI methods.
Dr Virginie Perlo , QUT
Dr Virginie Perlo is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow - Data Science at Queensland University of Technology (QUT). She graduated with a PhD in Bioinformatics and Genetics at the University of Queensland (2021). She also holds two Master’s degrees in Molecular Biology and Genetics (Pierre and Marie Curie University (UPMC), now Sorbonne University) and in Aquatic Productions Management (University of Montpellier).
Dr Perlo has more than ten years of experience in molecular biology, multi-omics analysis and bioinformatics on big projects. She also has significant experience in public and private informatics sectors, holding diverse roles such as a software engineer, project manager, and business analyst. She has a strong interest in metabolic network modelling, data visualisation, unsupervised machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI). She is currently involved in the Mind and Body performance patch project funded by the Defence Science and Technology (DST). Her role in the project as a data scientist will be to generate a pipeline to combine many datasets (omics, psychological and physiological) to identify stress biomarkers and optimise human performance.
EcoCommons Australia hosts a variety of Advanced Ecological Modelling Notebooks aimed at bridging the gap between platform-based analysis tools and hands-on coding. EcoCommons offers notebooks in both Quarto markdown (.qmd) and Jupyter Notebook (.ipynb) formats, making it easier for users to interact with and customise workflows. This workshop will focus on a notebook which guides users through the process of calculating and visualising Species Richness and Shannon diversity indices, which are a commonly used metrics for analysing and conducting statistical comparisons for ecological surveys.
In this workshop we will cover:
The aim of the workshop is to make participants feel confident to run an EcoCommons notebook and understand the workflow in calculating and visualising Species Richness and Shannon diversity.
Dr Ryan Newis , QCIF
Ryan has a diverse range of research experience (lab, field, data analysis) within the environmental sciences, ranging from environmental and ecological monitoring (water, soil, plants, animals) to chemical, landscape and molecular ecology. Ryan played a key role in pollination ecology research at Griffith University, focused on using field and molecular techniques to investigate the impacts of bee and insect pollination on horticultural crop yield, quality, nutrition and paternity. His own PhD studies focused on exploring the impacts of stingless beehive propagation, and tree resin (e.g. Eucalyptus) foraging behaviour using molecular techniques such as DNA metabarcoding.
At QCIF, Ryan is a Data Scientist and R Developer within the EcoCommons and Sustainable Futures team.
How to use your time wisely and write well. This session will focus on developing strategies for productive writing identifying useful tools and implementing tips and tricks to encourage regular writing as well as introducing the benefits of events such as Academic Writing Month and writing buddies/collaborations. The second part of the session will address common issues with academic writing and provide resources, tips and tricks to improve this important skill.
Dr Sara Hutchinson , UniSC
Dr Sara Hutchinson works at UniSC as a Student Success and Learning adviser and has a background in written communication. She taught into Creative writing and English at the university before taking up the professional role where she specialises in HDR support including running Academic Writing Month and one-on-one writing sessions.
Are you looking to scale up your eResearch workflows to use really big data or compute? Interested in AI but no idea where to start? No worries, I got your back!
The Pawsey Supercomputing Research Centre is one of two Tier-1 supercomputing facilities in Australia. Pawsey is home to Australia's (and the southern hemisphere's!) most powerful supercomputer, Setonix, but we also provide a range of training, software engineering and research data consulting services to Australian researchers across a wide variety of research domains. We can help get you up and running, or work with you to help optimise your data and compute workflows to make sure you get the most out of your research tools.
In this talk, I'll provide an overview of Pawsey's high-performance computing and research data systems, as well as how we're working with researchers in Queensland to develop and optimise research software across domains like physics, chemistry, and health and life sciences. I'll also discuss the available schemes to get access to Pawsey's systems and services, and round it out with plenty of time for Q&A.
Dr Emily Kahl Supercomputing Applications Specialist, Pawsey Supercomputing Center
Dr Emily Kahl is a Supercomputing Applications Specialist at the Pawsey Supercomputing Centre, and is based remotely in Brisbane. Emily develops and maintains software for molecular simulation, with a specific focus on GPU-accelerated computing and machine learning methods in quantum chemistry. She has extensive experience developing and supporting software for computational chemistry and molecular modeling and has contributed to multiple open-source molecular dynamics projects. She is also an advocate for open-source software in computational science, and the code she has developed for atomic and molecular simulation has seen widespread use by Australian and international researchers. Prior to joining Pawsey, Emily completed her PhD in physics at the University of New South Wales and worked as a research software engineer at the University of Queensland.
Discover how TERN’s national-scale infrastructure supports cutting-edge ecosystem research. This workshop introduces TERN’s open-access data, tools, and services, which help researchers monitor and understand Australia’s diverse environments. Through case studies and interactive demonstrations, participants will learn how to access and apply TERN resources to advance their work in ecosystem science, environmental management, and beyond. The workshop is ideal for researchers, students, environmental managers, and policymakers interested in advancing their understanding of Australian ecosystems through robust, open-access infrastructure.
Whether new to TERN or looking to deepen your engagement, this session will equip you with the knowledge and tools to harness TERN’s capabilities to support impactful ecosystem science.
Think of your ORCID iD as your academic footprint. Your unique 16-digit identifier that keeps all your research neatly connected in one place. It’s more than just a profile, because it connects and consolidates all your research outputs and activities. By allowing trusted organisations like ARC, NHMRC, your university, or publishers to update your ORCID record automatically, you can skip the tedious admin work and dive deeper into what really matters, your research! Keep your academic identity strong and stress free with ORCID
In this interactive session, you'll explore how to shape a researcher profile that captures more than just your titles, it reflects your journey, your purpose, and what makes your work matter. Think less “template,” more you on the page. We’ll share tips for building authentic profiles across digital platforms so you can take what fits and make it your own.
Dr Sara Hutchinson , UniSC
Dr Sara Hutchinson works at UniSC as a Student Success and Learning adviser and has a background in written communication. She taught into Creative writing and English at the university before taking up the professional role where she specialises in HDR support including running Academic Writing Month and one-on-one writing sessions.
Graham Matchett , UniSC
Graham Matchett is a Career Guidance Officer at the University of the Sunshine Coast, with over 20 years’ experience helping individuals at all stages of their academic journey shape meaningful careers. He specialises in guiding people to articulate their professional identity, value proposition, and sense of purpose, translating these into authentic career narratives. Graham’s work bridges education, employability, and industry, supporting people to present themselves with clarity and confidence in academic and professional settings.
This hands-on workshop builds on our ongoing research project aimed at understanding and demystifying the rapidly evolving ecosystem of research-specific generative AI (RGAI) tools. As generative AI becomes increasingly embedded in academic workflows, it is critical to develop methods for systematically evaluating these tools' capabilities, limitations, and implications.
Building on our inventory of RGAI platforms, the workshop will guide attendees through a structured evaluation process based on the extended app walkthrough method (Light, Burgess & Duguay, 2016). This method enables a critical mapping of each tool’s affordances, constraints, intended applications, and embedded norms.
Through collaborative analysis and discussion, we will explore how these walkthroughs can inform the development of 'report cards', a framework for communicating the technical and ethical dimensions of RGAI tools to broader academic and public audiences. Drawing on recent work (Snoswell et al., 2023; Gilbert et al., 2023), we will also consider how these evaluations can support future research into how generative AI is reshaping scholarly communication, authorship, and the academic publishing process.
By the end of the session, participants will have practical experience in auditing generative AI tools and a deeper understanding of how to critically engage with their integration into academic research and writing.
Dr Kevin Witzenberger , QUT
Kevin Witzenberger is a research fellow at QUT’s GenAI lab, Chief Investigator on an ARC funded Discovery Project on Generative AI and the future of academic writing and publishing, and affiliate investigator at the ARC Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision-Making and Society. His research background is grounded in science and technology studies and media theory. In the GenAI Lab Kevin’s research focuses on the risks and opportunities of generative AI and the skills and competencies required by humans and machines to address emerging social and cultural challenges.
Prof. Michelle Riedlinger , QUT
Michelle Riedlinger is a Chief Investigator on an ARC funded Discovery Project on Generative AI and the future of academic writing and publishing. She is an Associate Professor at the Queensland University of Technology. Her research interests include platformised engagement with scientific research, and, most recently, how understandings generative authenticity are impacting knowledge industries. She collaborates with a team of researchers considering the impacts of GenAI on the scholar economy, building on the teams’ past research efforts investigating the platformisation of research discovery, digital disruptions to academic research communication, critical digital literacy in academic environments, AI’s cultures of use, ethics and policy implications.
The CSIRO ON Innovation Program helps transform cutting-edge research into real-world impact. Designed for research-driven innovation, ON provides entrepreneurial researchers with the skills, networks, and pathways to successfully commercialise their ideas. The program fosters collaboration between researchers, industry, and investors, driving Australia’s deep-tech innovation and strengthening its innovation ecosystem.
Clinical data sharing in health and medical research offers significant potential to uncover new discoveries and increase efficiency in the research process, which will overall improve patient outcomes. To support this, the Australian Research Data Commons (ARDC) has built national research infrastructure to enhance the discoverability, access, and reuse of data from health research studies across Australia.
In this workshop, participants will learn how to discover and request clinical trials data using one of ARDC’s key national platforms: Health Data Australia (HDA). The HDA platform is a national catalogue designed to connect researchers with valuable Australian health datasets (researchdata.edu.au/health/).
This workshop will also introduce a practical framework for the secondary use of clinical trials data, developed in collaboration with the Health Studies Australian National Data Asset (HeSANDA) and researchers from the NextGen Evidence Synthesis Team at the NHMRC Clinical Trials Centre, University of Sydney. The development of the practical framework for the secondary use of clinical trials data was also informed by research literature, stakeholder consultations, and expert guidance.
This workshop is designed for researchers, data scientists, and health professionals interested in leveraging secondary clinical trials data for new research. By the end of this workshop, participants will be able to:
Dr Amany Gouda-Vossos Skills Development Lead (Health and Medical), ARDC
With expertise in molecular sciences, evolutionary biology, behavioural sciences, and health and science education, Amany employs an evidence-based approach to build the capabilities of researchers and project partners. Her passion to foster a strong learning culture was cultivated through her experience across university and corporate settings.
Dr Danny Meloncelli , QCIF
Danny leads QCIF’s digital research training program, overseeing the development and delivery of high-impact courses that equip researchers with critical skills in coding, statistics, data management and bioinformatics. Danny has a PhD in Analytical Chemistry and a Master of Data Science. Prior to joining QCIF at the start of this year, Danny was a STEM Learning Adviser at UniSC for over a decade. Danny has a passion for simplifying complexity, upskilling others, fostering a growth mindset, and harnessing the power of education to create lasting impact.
Participants will learn about basic programming concepts including simple and complex data types, conditionals and looping that are applicable to Python and other languages. This workshop will prepare participants to carry out batch analysis and equip them with the knowledge to start creating automated pipelines to increase data processing power and productivity.
Joanna Salerno Data Scientist, QCIF
As a Data Scientist at QCIF, I provide comprehensive support across QCIF’s research projects. I work closely with researchers to understand their project needs so that I can provide tailored support to advance their work. I also deliver workshops designed to help researchers upskill in areas such as programming, statistical analysis, data management, and research communication.
eResearch workflows increasingly rely on new computing technologies, such as big data analytics, massively-parallel computer simulations, or large-scale AI training workloads. These technologies promises to vastly increase the scale and kind of research that's possible to do... if we can write our code to take full advantage of them. Making use of big compute and big data often requires a shift in thinking around how we structure our code, as inefficient software limits how effectively you can use these computing resources. Plus, time spent waiting for code or data pipelines to complete is time not spent doing research.
Squeezing every available bit of performance out of your code can be extremely time-consuming, but fortunately, a little bit of know-how can go a long way. This talk will provide an introduction to performance engineering, with a focus on practical techniques for compute- and data-heavy workflows. I will discuss important trends in research computing hardware and software, as well as how the prominence of high-level languages such as Python and R have changed the research computing landscape. Finally, I'll share some methodologies and open-source tools which will help you get the most 'bang for your buck' when optimising slow code in your research pipelines.
Dr Emily Kahl Supercomputing Applications Specialist, Pawsey Supercomputing Center
Dr Emily Kahl is a Supercomputing Applications Specialist at the Pawsey Supercomputing Centre, and is based remotely in Brisbane. Emily develops and maintains software for molecular simulation, with a specific focus on GPU-accelerated computing and machine learning methods in quantum chemistry. She has extensive experience developing and supporting software for computational chemistry and molecular modeling and has contributed to multiple open-source molecular dynamics projects. She is also an advocate for open-source software in computational science, and the code she has developed for atomic and molecular simulation has seen widespread use by Australian and international researchers. Prior to joining Pawsey, Emily completed her PhD in physics at the University of New South Wales and worked as a research software engineer at the University of Queensland.
EcoCommons Australia offers a comprehensive suite of resources for ecological modelling, including an intuitive, user-friendly platform featuring thousands of trusted datasets and a range of expert-developed workflows for species distribution and community modelling.
This workshop will begin with a brief introduction to species distribution models (SDMs), followed by a guided tour of the EcoCommons platform. We will cover:
By the end of the workshop, attendees will understand how to run effective SDMs, select fit-for-purpose data, and produce accurate and meaningful results — all within a point-and-click environment.
Xiang Zhao Software Developer and R Specialist, QCIF
Xiang Zhao (Zhao) joined QCIF in 2024 as a Software Developer and R Specialist, focusing on maintaining and developing ecological algorithms for the EcoCommons Platform. During his MPhil at QUT, he utilized spatial mapping, modeling, statistics, and optimization algorithms to study historical biodiversity survey patterns in terrestrial Antarctica, proposing an optimal survey design for future research. At QUT, he also tutors in GIS and Environmental Planning units, leveraging his expertise in GIS and cartography. Zhao spent two years traveling across Australia as a backpacker. Prior to this, he worked on a conservation project in Southwest China aimed at protecting giant panda habitats from the threat of free-ranging livestock. This project earned him the BirdLife International Young Conservation Leaders Award.
This workshop introduces Metavaluation, an open-source framework for recognising and rewarding diverse research contributions—from data sharing and teaching to mentoring, organising, and behind-the-scenes work that often goes unseen.
Its key innovation lies in treating peer evaluations as valuable contributions themselves—using a self-referential process that pegs all other valuations to these reviews as a ‘base unit’ of value. This creates a dynamic feedback loop that directly rewards participation while generating transparent, relative value scores across all contributions.
In the first part of the workshop, we’ll explore the development of Metavaluation—from its origins as a radically transparent peer-review model aimed at accelerating Open Science, to its evolution through participatory festivals into a general-purpose framework for community-led evaluation. We’ll share pilot data from commons-oriented communities across science, arts, technology, and environmental sectors—demonstrating how the system flexibly recognises what matters to different communities, while also creating pathways for coordination between them.
In the second part, we’ll use ResBaz Queensland 2025 as a live case study. Participants will nominate and evaluate real contributions to the event—such as talks, mentorship, organising, or community support—via a simple, inclusive peer-review process. Together, we’ll generate a live dataset that maps what this community values most, and explore how this data can support recognition, guide future events, and connect aligned communities across domains.
You’ll leave with:
Dr Cooper Smout Founder, Open Heart + Mind
Dr Cooper Smout is a neuroscientist, designer, and open science advocate working at the intersection of collective sensemaking, participatory governance, and systemic reform. He founded Free Our Knowledge, a collective action platform for academic reform, and Open Heart + Mind (OHM), a charitable organisation developing open-source tools to empower diverse communities. His current work centres on Metavaluation — a protocol for participatory evaluation that generates transparent, interoperable value metrics to support fair recognition and reward, decentralised coordination, and collective governance across research and commons-oriented ecosystems.
What do we do when we want to analyse genes, mRNAs or proteins from organisms that are hard to work with? For some target species, tissues may not be available - either due to ethical concerns or the protected/endangered nature. For good reasons, other organisms are subject to biosecurity restrictions (e.g., Varroa mites and Red Imported Fire Ants). In this workshop, I will demonstrate ways we can use bioinformatic and gene synthesis approaches to overcome these limitations, which is compatible with the 3Rs - Replacement, Reduction, and Refinement in the context of animal research. I will give an introduction to key genomic databases - including the UCSC Genome Browser and Ensembl, and show how data mining and Bioinformatic tools (SignalP, Philius, Snapgene) can be used to build accurate gene models and improve annotations for membrane proteins. I will demonstrate how we are applying these approaches to characterise neurotransmitter receptors in Red Imported Fire Ants - a major environmental pest in Queensland - with the aim of designing eco-friendly insecticides that do not harm other beneficial insects.
Prof. Robert Harvey Associate Dean, Research, UniSC
Professor Harvey obtained his PhD in Natural Sciences (Biochemistry) from the University of Cambridge and carried out postdoctoral studies at the Institute for Cell Biology and Clinical Neurobiology in Hamburg and the Max-Planck-Institute for Brain Research in Frankfurt. Prior to his appointment at UniSC, he was Professor of Molecular Neuroscience and Genetics at the UCL School of Pharmacy (London, United Kingdom). At UCL, he was Associate Director for Research, Chair of Research Committee and Research Excellence Framework Impact co-ordinator. Professor Harvey also served on several Departmental and Faculty committees including the Athena Swan Committee, the UCL Open Access Academic Advisory Group and the UCL Faculty of Life Sciences Senior Management group. Prof Harvey relocated to the University of the Sunshine Coast in 2017, where he became Discipline Lead for Biomedical Science (2017-2022). He is currently Professor of Pathophysiology and Associate Dean (Research) for the School of Health (2022-2026). Prof Harvey is a member of the UniSC School of Health Executive and Chairs the UniSC School of Health Research Committee. He is also the Field Chief Editor of the open access journal Frontiers in Molecular Neuroscience. Prof Harvey has served as a peer reviewer for Science in Australia Gender Equity (SAGE), the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) and as a member of the Australian Research Council (ARC) College of Experts (2021-2024).
This workshop will introduce participants to loading, cleaning and exploring data in Python with the aid of Pandas. This will be a BYO data focussed workshop with participants encouraged to bring their csv, excel or other files. The main objective is to get participants familiar with loading and exploring data in environments that are not Excel in preparation for more sophisticated computational methods.
Robert Fleet Senior Data Scientist, QUT Digital Observatory
Robert Fleet is a Senior Data Scientist/Developer at Queensland University of Technology's Research Infrastructure, where he specialises in AI implementation for research and social network analysis. He is also an Affiliate of the QUT node of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision Making and Society, and a certified Carpentries Instructor.
This workshop introduces the Australian Internet Observatory (AIO). Focusing on data donation approaches and the AIO dashboard, it will showcase how researchers of all skill levels can collect and study data using these tools. We will explore what topics can be investigated, what insights can be gained, and how the AIO can complement or expand existing research methodologies.
Participants will be introduced to the interfaces of digital media tools and their associated ethical considerations and limitations for social science and humanities research. This workshop aims to facilitate the use of digital media tools in research by introducing modern, cutting-edge resources that do not require sophisticated technical skills. These tools can be quickly deployed to explore a variety of research questions, allowing researchers to focus on their inquiries without a steep technical learning curve.
Dr Bogdan Mamaev Research Training Manager, Australian Internet Observatory
Bogdan Mamaev is the Research Training Manager at the Australian Internet Observatory (AIO). Having utilised a variety of digital methods in his research and in collaborations within political science and communications, he is dedicated to empowering researchers to use these approaches to enhance research outcomes and design more efficient methodologies for data collection and exploration.
This workshop will include jargon busting around network technologies. And some hands-on activities. You will learn about networks and diagnostic tools, and where all these things fit in the researcher’s toolkit.
By the end of this workshop, you should be able to:
Dr Sara King Training and Engagement Lead, AARNET
Dr Sara King is the Training and Engagement Lead for AARNet. She is focused on outreach within the research sector, developing communities of interest around training and skills development in eResearch. She is passionate about helping others develop the infrastructure and digital literacies required for working in a data-driven world, translating technology so it is accessible to everyone.
In this Data Carpentry workshop, learn how to import, work with, and plot vector and raster-format spatial data in R. The workshop also touches on spatial metadata (extent and coordinate reference systems), reprojecting spatial data, and working with raster time series data.
This workshop expects attendees to have used R, dplyr and ggplot2 before.
Stéphane Guillou Technology Trainer, UQ Library
Stéphane is a technology trainer at the UQ Library, promoting Open Research practices and teaching about Open Source tools for scripting, data analysis, data visualisation and authoring. Before then, he worked in plant science research and studied botany and ecology.
This workshop is designed for beginners taking their 'first steps' with AI in data contexts and follows on from the first workshop in the series. It builds on the BYO data concept form the pervious workshop and moves from data ingress, cleaning and exploration to simple processing of data with AI as an aid.
Robert Fleet Senior Data Scientist, QUT Digital Observatory
Robert Fleet is a Senior Data Scientist/Developer at Queensland University of Technology's Research Infrastructure, where he specialises in AI implementation for research and social network analysis. He is also an Affiliate of the QUT node of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision Making and Society, and a certified Carpentries Instructor.
Concordances are a very useful tool for anyone who works with textual data. Concordancing tools (also referred to as Keyword in Context or KWIC tools) provide us with a listing of all occurrences of a word in a text along with some surrounding context. A concordance is therefore an excellent starting point to explore how a word is used in a text. Most KWIC tools also have the capability to sort results according to the context of the instances, by preceding words or following words or a combination of the two, and these capabilities allow us to extract more specific information from concordances.
In this workshop, you will:
Dr Simon Musgrave , LDaCA / Monash
Simon Musgrave is Research Support and Training lead for the Language Data Commons of Australia project at The University of Queensland and an Adjunct Research Fellow in the School of Languages, Literatures, Cultures and Linguistics, Monash University. Amongst other research interests, he has been interested throughout his career in the use of technology for linguistic research.
R Shiny is a popular R package that allows you to transform complex analytics into powerful, user-friendly interactive visualisation tools.
In this workshop we will provide an introduction to R Shiny, and how you can use it to create web apps, and more interactive data visualisations.
We will go over how to build a basic Shiny application, and cover the best practices and resources when approaching Shiny.
Dr Ade Adeyinka , QCIF
Ade is a casual trainer with QCIF. Previously, he was the digital research analyst at Southern Cross University (SCU) and the University of Southern Queensland (UniSQ). He specializes in the application of quantitative and qualitative techniques in proffering solutions to financial, social and management problems. His PhD thesis was on the application of weather index-insurance in managing drought risks among Australian farmers.
Have you ever wondered why, thanks to your fast internet at home you can stream movies in UltraHD smoothly, but your data upload is super slow?
Sometimes sharing data with collaborators can be tedious, slow and frustrating.
This workshop addresses some data handling solutions in a research context. The workshop will introduce some research data movement tools, with a hands-on introduction to FileSender and a peek into Globus, a service that enables large-scale data transfers.
By the end of this workshop, you should be able to:
Come along and learn how to make data transfer easy and convenient for you.
Dr Sara King Training and Engagement Lead, AARNET
Dr Sara King is the Training and Engagement Lead for AARNet. She is focused on outreach within the research sector, developing communities of interest around training and skills development in eResearch. She is passionate about helping others develop the infrastructure and digital literacies required for working in a data-driven world, translating technology so it is accessible to everyone.
This practical workshop will help participants to choose and use the appropriate standard statistical test for their data by introducing key concepts of inferential statistics in R. Participants will learn how to compute and interpret hypothesis tests for popular statistical models such as correlation, contingency tables, chi-square test, t-test and ANOVA.
Dr Ade Adeyinka , QCIF
Ade is a casual trainer with QCIF. Previously, he was the digital research analyst at Southern Cross University (SCU) and the University of Southern Queensland (UniSQ). He specializes in the application of quantitative and qualitative techniques in proffering solutions to financial, social and management problems. His PhD thesis was on the application of weather index-insurance in managing drought risks among Australian farmers.
Come hear from a panel of data-focused professionals, how they came to be in their careers and what career pathways are available in their spaces.
Alise Fox Senior Fisheries Scientist, QLD Department of Primary Industries
Alise is a mathematician, science communicator, and advocate for gender and neurodivergence representation in STEM.
As a fisheries scientist, her job is to figure out how many fish are in the ocean. She develops population models for wild-caught species in Queensland waters. You could say she's a mathemafishian... Her work combines big data, maths, stats and ecology; securing food, jobs and a healthy ocean for our future.
She has a long track record of science communication, like travelling to outback Queensland for STEM outreach, appearing in Vogue magazine and performing science stand-up comedy. Alise has been honoured with a Queensland Women in STEM Prize and is in the current Superstars of STEM cohort.
Dr Danny Meloncelli , QCIF
Danny leads QCIF’s digital research training program, overseeing the development and delivery of high-impact courses that equip researchers with critical skills in coding, statistics, data management and bioinformatics. Danny has a PhD in Analytical Chemistry and a Master of Data Science. Prior to joining QCIF at the start of this year, Danny was a STEM Learning Adviser at UniSC for over a decade. Danny has a passion for simplifying complexity, upskilling others, fostering a growth mindset, and harnessing the power of education to create lasting impact.
Does your computer struggle with your research workload? Would you like to access extra resources and share a computer with collaborators?
Whether it's data analysis, simulation, or other computing work, the ARDC Nectar Research Cloud provides researchers with more computational power. This service gives you access to fast, secure, and powerful cloud computers, helping you to accelerate your research!
This session will feature exemplary cloud computing projects, useful support resources, and a Q&A opportunity. No prior knowledge or experience is required.
Meirian Lovelace-Tozer ,
Meirian is a Skills Development Lead (Services) at the Australian Research Data Commons (ARDC). With over 10 years of experience in education, Meirian is committed to making an impact through empowering Australian research communities with a competitive advantage. Meirian delivers training and resources that support researchers to effectively leverage ARDC services.
The Carpentries is an international data science training organisation with a strong focus on Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Accessibility (IDEA). In this session we will use extracts from the Carpentries Instructor training curriculum to discuss why IDEA is important, and explore what we can all do to enhance equity, inclusion, and accessibility when training or teaching others.
Mark Crowe , Australian Genome Research Facility
Mark Crowe is an accomplished Instructor, Trainer, and Director for The Carpentries, a global community dedicated to teaching foundational computational and data science skills. With a strong background in skills development, Mark has been instrumental in the growth of data science training offerings to Queensland researchers over the last several years.
In addition to his role at The Carpentries, Mark serves as the National Research Partnerships Manager at AGRF (Australian Genome Research Facility). Here, he facilitates innovative research collaborations, leveraging AGRF's state-of-the-art genomics platforms to support high-impact scientific research.
Mark's expertise and dedication to advancing research and education make him a highly respected figure in both the computational and genomics communities.
This presentation will cover core lessons I have learned through a PhD in bioinformatics. In particular, it will focus on the core skills and knowledge that can support success in a bioinformatics research project.
Dr Lachlan McKinnie , UniSC
I am a recent PhD graduate in bioinformatics from the University of the Sunshine Coast. My research focused on investigating the molecular biosynthesis pathways of red algae, and utilised large-scale genomics analysis. I am a skilled data scientist and Python coder, which I use for data analytics, program automation, and web development.
This workshop will cover how to use generative AI, such as CoPilot or ChatGPT, to generate and edit coding languages such as Python to generate publication-ready graphs and other outputs. It will cover essential topics such as how to use generative AI, core coding essentials for generating graphs, and common issues when using AI.
Dr Lachlan McKinnie , UniSC
I am a recent PhD graduate in bioinformatics from the University of the Sunshine Coast. My research focused on investigating the molecular biosynthesis pathways of red algae, and utilised large-scale genomics analysis. I am a skilled data scientist and Python coder, which I use for data analytics, program automation, and web development.
This workshop will include ~45 minutes of talk time, where I introduce types of machine learning and how to evaluate developed models. This will then go into a hands-on exercise in evaluating classical models developed using support vectors for classification problems. Attendees will be given data and code. They will use Google Colab to run the code. The workshop will then move into quantum machine learning. It will develop analogs between classical and quantum machine learning. The students won't be able to run the quantum algorithm, but I will demonstrate results.
Dr Ashar Malik , UQ
Ashar is a senior postdoctoral researcher in Professor David Ascher’s lab at the University of Queensland, where he builds computational models to tackle complex biological problems. His work spans protein structure modeling, molecular evolution, and deep learning, with a growing emphasis on quantum machine learning. Ashar focuses on hybrid quantum-classical approaches tailored for the NISQ era, aiming to expand the frontiers of structural biology and precision medicine.
Adam Serghini , UQ
Adam Serghini is a PhD Student at the University of Queensland and specializes in computational biology with a focus on protein phosphorylation research. Throughout his doctoral studies, he has leveraged advanced machine learning techniques to tackle critical challenges in understanding physiological and pathological protein phosphorylation.
This practical workshop is designed for researchers seeking to automate and streamline the entire data lifecycle-from collection to visualisation-using Microsoft Forms and Power BI.
Participants will learn how to:
By the end of this session, attendees will be equipped to automate repetitive data tasks, reduce manual errors, and accelerate the journey from data collection to impactful research insights. No prior experience with Microsoft Forms or Power BI is required.
Nicholas Pittman Data Analyst, Relational Insights Data Lab, Griffith
Nicholas Pittman is a Data Analyst at the Relational Insights Data Lab. In this role, he designs and implements complex solutions for clients with tricky problems and interesting datasets. Using a broad range of tools including R, Shiny, JavaScript, and PowerBI, Nicholas’ focus is not just on the how these models or data is important, but why.
Jessica Chen Data Analyst, Relational Insights Data Lab, Griffith
Jessica Chen is a Data Analyst at the Relational Insights Data Lab who combines a strong interest in data engineering with an exceptional ability to merge and link complex datasets. Skilled in a variety of tools including UiPath, Python, R, RShiny, PowerBI and even Adobe’s suite of tools for editing the Show Me the Data podcast, Jess is known for her willingness to learn and bring new ideas to the forefront.
Learn basic data cleaning techniques in this hands-on workshop, working with structured text data and using open source software OpenRefine.
On completion of this workshop, participants should be able to:
Sharron Stapleton Research Library Specialist, Griffith University
Sharron is a Research Library Specialist at Griffith Library providing training and advice to researchers on finding external data and primary sources for research and preparing data for analysis, visualisation and publishing. Sharron is a certified Data Carpentry instructor, a strong supporter of open research for societal benefit and is regularly involved in ResBaz as a trainer and organiser.
This workshop covers the basics ('101') of web archiving as an alternative to simple copying and pasting from the internet. It positions web archiving as a more sophisticated approach to digital research, while maintaining an accessible, beginner-friendly tone that invites participation from those new to the concept.
Robert Fleet Senior Data Scientist, QUT Digital Observatory
Robert Fleet is a Senior Data Scientist/Developer at Queensland University of Technology's Research Infrastructure, where he specialises in AI implementation for research and social network analysis. He is also an Affiliate of the QUT node of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision Making and Society, and a certified Carpentries Instructor.
This presentation is designed for researchers, postgrads, and academics who manage their own code but may not have a background in system administration. Participants will learn how to use Git, Ansible, and Docker — three powerful tools that can transform the way they manage, automate, and share their research code.
During the presentation, attendees will be guided step-by-step through using Git for version control, Ansible for automated environment configuration, and Docker for creating consistent, portable execution environments. By the end of the session, participants will understand the fundamentals of git, automating system setups, and how to run their code in reproducible containers.
Topics Covered:
Crafting Clarity: Data as Design is a 90-minute hands-on workshop for researchers who want to elevate their data storytelling. Moving beyond charts and tables, this session explores how design principles can transform raw data into compelling, clear, and impactful visual narratives. You'll learn practical strategies to communicate complexity, engage diverse audiences, and make your research more accessible and memorable. Whether you’re preparing a presentation, publication, or pitch, this workshop will give you the tools to design with intention, align form with meaning, and craft data stories that resonate. No design experience necessary, just curiosity and a willingness to experiment.
Jo McCallum , Griffith
Jo McCallum is a skilled designer and knowledge exchange practitioner with a background in both traditional craft and emerging technologies. With over a decade of experience translating complex research into visual narratives, Jo has taught data design in both Australia and the UK, helping researchers, policy professionals, and creatives communicate their work with clarity and impact. Her practice sits at the intersection of insight and aesthetics, drawing on deep expertise in design thinking, visual strategy, and human-centred communication. Jo brings a collaborative, hands-on approach to data storytelling that empowers researchers to turn information into action.
Quick R spatial introduction, focusing on key concepts, and useful commands for handling and visualising vector data with essential R Spatial packages.
(Prior knowledge of R is required. Please only register if you have used R before, or if you took part in this ResBaz' R introduction.
Stéphane Guillou Technology Trainer, UQ Library
Stéphane is a technology trainer at the UQ Library, promoting Open Research practices and teaching about Open Source tools for scripting, data analysis, data visualisation and authoring. Before then, he worked in plant science research and studied botany and ecology.
Nicholas Wiggins , UQ
Nicholas is a Technology Trainer at the University of Queensland Library, and an Archaeologist. He also has a background in IT, GIS, Ecology, and Palaeoecology. He does fieldwork throughout Queensland, and provides training in R, QGIS, Python, Git, and a variety of other research related software. He is always excited to explore and learn more.
This workshop will introduce methods for computational analysis of text, particularly core approaches from corpus linguistics (keyword analysis) and data science (topic modelling). Using pre-built computational notebooks from LADAL (https://ladal.edu.au/tools.html) we will introduce the steps and decisions needed to conduct a computational analysis of a textual corpus, and discuss how and where these approaches might fit into your research toolkit.
You will learn how to:
Note that this workshop is best taken following the workshop 'Exploring texts using concordances', but can be attended as a standalone. No experience programming in R is necessary.
Dr Sam Hames Research Fellow, UQ
Dr. Sam Hames is a research fellow in computational humanities with UQ's School of Languages and Cultures and the research analytics lead for the Language Data Commons of Australia. Sam's PhD was on machine learning for medical imaging analysis, and he has an extensive background as a data-focused software developer supporting social media and web researchers. His primary research focus is to understand how computation can enable qualitative and interpretive inquiry across the humanities and social sciences.
Dr Karen Sutherland , UniSC
Dr Karen Sutherland is a Senior Lecturer in Public Relations at the University of the Sunshine Coast, and a Certified AI Consultant. Dr Sutherland has a strong track record of guiding organisations in leveraging AI to enhance efficiency and reduce costs, providing AI guidance to organisations such as Eumundi Markets and Noosa Council. Her accolades include the 2023 Book Excellence Award in Public Relations and multiple Stevie Awards in 2022. She has designed and delivered training and workshops globally for over a decade across various sectors like health, small business, and education. Her research spans AI in strategic communication, B2B relationships, and social media practice. Dr Sutherland has authored two editions of her book 'Strategic Social Media Management – Theory and Practice' published by Palgrave Macmillan downloaded more than 160k times, and her next book, 'AI for Strategic Communication', is due for a 2025 release. Dr Sutherland has featured in academic journals and media including ABC News Breakfast, Nine News, the Wall Street Journal and has been Ticker's AI and social media expert for the past five years.
This session will demystify some of the questions you might have about copyright and your research.
What you'll learn about:
Note, this session is designed to provide general copyright guidance, not legal advice.