2019 winners and finalists

My research is to develop machine learning algorithms, an important element of AI. One main development is fuzzy machine learning, and has been applied in industries such as telecommunications, real estate, and healthcare, to deal with data missing, data uncertainty and data dynamically changing issues in AI-based decision-making.

Five years ago, I established IBMD research institute to translate the advances in material and photonics technology into advanced, live cell imaging technology. We can convert the most sophisticated biomedical discoveries to tackle the most pressing issues that we face in Australia today like cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and antibiotic resistance issues and save our lives.

The heart of my research looks at really social justice issues around the Indigenous community. The Bowraville community, they were the ones who, focused on the importance of telling their story through film so we worked with them to do a documentary. There are a range of responsibilities that come with the real privilege of telling somebody’s story. We were the university that stood up when nobody else had the guts to do it.

For over fourteen years, our team have been developing advanced robotics technologies to address the dangerous and labour intensive task of maintaining civil infrastructure. Through close collaboration with industry partners, we have developed a range of autonomous robots that have improved the way the Sydney Harbour Bridge, water mains and other infrastructure are maintained. These robots will significantly improve workers’ OH&S.

I’m a marine social scientist so I work on the social aspects of fisheries and aquaculture and marine conservation. Fisheries and aquaculture can contribute to environmental sustainability through having stakeholders who are interested in the quality of the environment. We're engaged particularly in Indonesia where the government has been pushing to understand more of the social and economic aspects of their fisheries and primary producers who are interested in using the environmental resources sustainably.

My research area involves the chemical analysis of traces such as gunshot residues and illicit drugs, and how they can be used to support investigations. So when learning involves a research inspired experience, students are significantly more engaged.  In the Faculty of Science, a subject called Principles of Scientific Practice has had four to five thousand students complete an enquiry orientated practical exercise, and in the Faculty of Transdisciplinary Innovation I’ve helped to develop a new Honours program, which is launching this year, and I’m really excited to see the outcomes from that.

My research is in the obligations that individuals and companies like banks owe that have featured in the royal commissions for example that have hit the news recently. Academics sit in the middle of all the stakeholders – the clients, the courts, the lawmakers, and the joy and value of academic research is being able to say “look, there is a gap here that hasn’t been identified or a problem that hasn’t been seen.” I get to share this with my students who love seeing that the law is dynamic and not as straight forward as the textbooks make it sound, and research is part of that response to those social challenges. I have students who take these issues further in their Honours research and I give lectures overseas to share the importance of my research and the impact it has on the laws they are studying.

My research examines strategies and approaches to improving the educational outcomes of students with disabilities. One of the greatest challenges our teachers face in schools, is catering for the diversity of students in their classrooms. I’ve integrated my research with my teaching by using the knowledge to develop a suite of subjects here at UTS, which allows our students to specialise in this particular field of education, which in turn will lead to positive outcomes for students with disabilities in their classrooms.