Category: Centre News

Our First Information Resilience PhD School!

Posted on by Kath Williamson

Thank you to all our delegates and speakers who participated in the CIRES inaugural Information Resilience PhD School!

Congratulations to our Prize Winners

3MT first place (session 1a) Rm 275
Sandy Spiers (Curtin University) – Maintenance Optimisation for Network Assets
Comment: A well-packaged 3MT presentation that reveals an exciting PhD journey.

3MT first place (session 1b) Rm 273
Tessa Faulks (Monash University) – Improving Nitrogen Use Efficiency (NUE) from Urea through the Development of a Novel Coating
Comment: Nicely engaged with the audience and presented the research idea in a clear and logical way. The poster is a professional visual aid that allows the audience to easily follow along and sets out a solid structure.

3MT runner up (session 1a)
Nazym Baizhiyen (University of Adelaide) – Measuring and Monitoring Particle Size Distributions to Divert Low Value Waste
Comment: Good use of intuitive examples, which is tremendously helpful for people outside the domain to grab the core idea of research.

3MT runner up (session 1b)
Hechuan Wen (The University of Queensland) – Run-time Causal Inference under Domain Shift
Comment: Hechuan delivered the presentation very confidently. He used simple words to clarify the research motivation and highlight the innovation efficiently and effectively. Well done!

3MT people’s choice (session 1a)
Jinchun Du (Monash) “Ultrafast Euclidean Pathfinding using Hub Labeling”

3MT people’s choice (session 1b)
Clement Lartey (UniofSA) “Outlier detection in flotation sensor information

Poster Session first place
Yiheng Hu (University of New South Wales) – 3D Point Cloud Multiview Registration
Comment: Great layout and clear communication of the core technical novelty.

Poster Session runner up
Xin Zheng (Monash University) – Multi-relational Graph Neural Architecture Search
Comment: A clear, coherent, concise poster that motivates viewers to search for the paper to read.

Poster Session people’s choice
Yerniyaz Abildin (UofAdelaide) “Constraints and Quantifying Uncertainty on Resource Domain Boundaries”

2022 Presentations on YouTube

2022 PhD School Photo Gallery

Watch the 2022 Highlights Video:

Expert Interviews – Challenges in Data Intensive Domains

Posted on by Kath Williamson

Video series which focuses on researchers at The University of Queensland working in data intensive domains with major data challenges. Featuring interviews with Australia’s top scientists including Prof Ian Frazer AC, Translational Research Institute [TRI], Prof Janeen Baxter, Centre Director, Institute for Social Science Research, and Prof Ove Hoegh-Guldberg, ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies.

PhD Scholarships at UQ

Posted on by Kath Williamson

Applications closed 6th October 2022.

To register your interest for future PhD scholarship opportunities, please email cires@uq.edu.au

Multiple positions available

We are recruiting for some exciting PhD opportunities to join CIRES, based at The University of Queensland, St Lucia campus.

You will have the opportunity to build innovative solutions for responsible and efficient use of data in a variety of application areas including health, education, insurance, and the public sector.

CIRES is currently recruiting for the following projects:

Applications close 6th October 2022. Apply now

UQ Scholarships Page

https://scholarships.uq.edu.au/scholarship/cires-queensland-health-phd-scholarships

About the scholarship

  • An ARC Stipend Scholarship, tax exempt and indexed annually, $34,938 per annum and top-up scholarship from $5,000 per annum, for 3.5 years, as well as a minimum $5,000 per annum in project support funds
  • For international students, you will also receive a UQ Tuition Fee Waiver Scholarship
  • The opportunity to work at one of Australia’s leading research and teaching institutions, The University of Queensland
  • Real-world experience as you undertake a one-year (equivalent) placement with the industry partner or government partner
  • The opportunity to be part of the ARC Training Centre for Information Resilience (CIRES) under the leadership of renowned computer scientist Professor Shazia Sadiq

CIRES is 1!

Posted on by Kath Williamson

Happy Birthday to us! 28th July 2022 marks 1 year since we finalised our Collaborative Research Agreement and officially commenced as CIRES. It has been a fantastic first year in the Centre and we’d like to acknowledge the efforts and contributions of all our CIRES colleagues and collaborators. Thank you everyone and looking forward to the next year together!

Our first cohort of HDRs below! From Left: Krishna Dermawan, Sam McDonald, Daisy Xu and Hechuan Wen

 

 

 

 

PhD Scholarship opportunity: Customer Data Stories

Posted on by Kath Williamson

Applications closed 15th July 2022.

To register your interest for future PhD scholarship opportunities, please email cires@uq.edu.au

 

This project will investigate how the availability of collective and personalised data summaries impacts end-users and customers, and what behavioural changes are enacted as a result. Improving customer decision making is an under-studied area. In collaboration with global insurance company, Allianz Partners Australia, this research will explore the use of data stories as an approach to improve customer engagement and decision making. A crowd-sourced approach will be utilised, and further in-the-wild studies will be conducted to validate and improve the method with the help of Allianz customer networks that span international health and life, travel, and automotive insurance.

We are seeking a highly motivated candidate with a working knowledge of concepts from applied statistics/probability, machine learning, algorithms and complexity, human-computer interaction, and marketing would be of benefit to someone working on this project. This project also requires proficiency in the Python programming language, and machine learning software packages such as Pytorch or Tensorflow.

Deadline for applications 15th July 2022.

Explainable Artificial Intelligence in education

Posted on by Kath Williamson

Explainable Artificial Intelligence in education

There are emerging concerns about the Fairness, Accountability, Transparency, and Ethics (FATE) of educational interventions supported by the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) algorithms. One of the emerging methods for increasing trust in AI systems is to use eXplainable AI (XAI), which promotes the use of methods that produce transparent explanations and reasons for decisions AI systems make. This paper explores what is common and what is different between education and other broader uses of AI, why do we need XAI in education, how can XAI help current and future learners and educational systems, and what are the open research questios for XAI in Education. The paper is a collaboration between CIRES Chief Investigator Dr Hassan Khosravi, Centre Director Professor Shazia Sadiq, and colleagues at the University of Technology Sydney, Monash University, The University of British Columbia, and The University of Sydney. It presents a framework, referred to as XAI-ED, that considers six key aspects in relation to explainability for studying, designing and developing educational AI tools. These key aspects focus on the stakeholders, benefits, approaches for presenting explanations, widely used classes of AI models, human-centred designs of the AI interfaces and potential pitfalls of providing explanations within education. Access the full paper here.

PhD Scholarships at UQ

Posted on by Kath Williamson

Applications closed 19th June 2022.

To register your interest for future PhD scholarship opportunities, please email cires@uq.edu.au

 

Multiple positions available

We are recruiting for some exciting PhD opportunities to join CIRES, based at The University of Queensland, St Lucia campus.

CIRES is seeking highly motivated PhD researchers to join the Centre for exciting projects with industry and government partners Max Kelsen, Queensland Police Service, and Queensland Health. You will have the opportunity to build innovative solutions for responsible and efficient use of data in a variety of application areas including health, education, insurance, and the public sector.

This is an opportunity to be part of an innovative HDR training program. As a PhD researcher with CIRES, you will have the opportunity to work collaboratively with university and industry partner supervisors on research with real world impact. During your degree, you will undertake a one-year (equivalent) placement with the industry or government partner.

We offer a generous scholarship package of $34,938 per annum (2022 rate) and top up scholarships from $5,000 per annum. We are now recruiting for the following projects. All positions are based at the University of Queensland’s St Lucia Campus in Brisbane.

Applications close 19th June 2022.

 

About the scholarship

  • An ARC Stipend Scholarship, tax exempt and indexed annually, $34,938 per annum and top-up scholarship from $5,000 per annum, for 3.5 years, as well as a minimum $5,000 per annum in project support funds
  • For international students, you will also receive a UQ Tuition Fee Waiver Scholarship
  • The opportunity to work at one of Australia’s leading research and teaching institutions, The University of Queensland
  • Real-world experience as you undertake a one-year (equivalent) placement with the industry partner or government partner
  • The opportunity to be part of the ARC Training Centre for Information Resilience (CIRES) under the leadership of renowned computer scientist Professor Shazia Sadiq

The cross roads for Australia’s digital future

Posted on by Kath Williamson

Hey Siri, what does Australia’s digital future look like?

Read about the recommendations to successfully pursue and realise a digital future for Australia by CIRES Centre Director Professor Shazia Sadiq in this piece written for the Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering (ATSE).

The emerging digital technologies sector presents many opportunities however we must address the digital divide to ensure equity of access to the benefits of digital technologies and also meet the skills requirements for a future digital workforce. The full article is available here.

Five PhD projects underway

Posted on by Kath Williamson

Our CIRES family is growing! 

Our first cohort of PhD students has commenced at the ARC Training Centre for Information Resilience (CIRES). Welcome Krishna Dermawan, Samual MacDonald, Daisy Xu and Hechuan Wen pictured here at CIRES HQ at The University of Queensland.

Krishna Dermawan will be working on the Improving Sepsis Management through Better Data and Rapid Learning project in collaboration with our government partner Queensland Health, and supervised by Professor Marta Indulska and Dr Ida Asadi-Someh.

Samual MacDonald will be working on the Advancing Deep Neural Network Reliability During Dataset Shift project in collaboration with our industry partner Max Kelsen, and supervised by Dr Fred Roosta-Khorasani.

Hechuan Wen will be working on the Using Data to Overcome Wellbeing Challenges Across the Life Spectrum project in collaboration with our government partner Health & Wellbeing Queensland, and supervised by Dr Tong Chen and A/Prof Hongzhi Yin.

Daisy Xu will be working on the Defining and Measuring Analytics Value project in collaboration with our industry partner Aginic, and supervised by Professor Marta Indulska and Dr Ida Asadi-Someh.

Welcome also to Lufan Zhang who has commenced at Swinburne University of Technology working with Paul Scifleet, Amir Aryani and the team at Astral.

VLDB Journal: 17-point Information Resilience Manifesto

Posted on by Kath Williamson

On behalf of the research team at the ARC Training Centre for Information Resilience (CIRES), I am delighted to share our vision for Information Resilience, outlined in our recently published paper in the VLDB Journal, Special Issue on Responsible Data Management. The cross-disciplinary team at CIRES presents Information Resilience as the nexus of responsible and agile approaches to information use, and outlines a 17-point manifesto for Information Resilience.

Read the full paper at https://lnkd.in/gAKAzbSs and reach out to us at CIRES to join the efforts to realise the manifesto together with our industry and government partners.

Third Round of PhD scholarship opportunities at UQ

Posted on by Kath Williamson

Applications closed 10th April 2022.

To register your interest for future PhD scholarship opportunities, please email cires@uq.edu.au

 

CIRES is seeking highly motivated PhD researchers to join the Centre for exciting projects with industry and government partners Max Kelsen, Queensland Police Service, and Queensland Health.

This is an opportunity to be part of an innovative HDR training program. As a PhD researcher with CIRES, you will have the opportunity to work collaboratively with university and industry partner supervisors on research with real world impact. During your degree, you will undertake a one-year (equivalent) placement with the industry or government partner.

We offer a generous scholarship package of $34,938 per annum (2022 rate) and top up scholarships from $5,000 per annum. We are now recruiting for the three projects below. All positions are based at the University of Queensland’s St Lucia Campus in Brisbane.

Any questions? Contact the CIRES Team via cires@uq.edu.au

Applications close 10 April 2022.

PhD scholarship opportunity, Swinburne

Posted on by Kath Williamson

Applications closed 30th November 2021.

To register your interest for future PhD scholarship opportunities, please email cires@uq.edu.au

 

Applications have closed for our PhD project “Information Architecture and Forensic Data Analysis” based at Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne working with Chief Investigator Dr Paul Scifleet and industry partner Astral Consulting.

This project investigates how can we improve information architectures to support more effective data discovery and the responsible sharing of data. What methodologies can best support the effective exchange of information inherent in enterprise information architecture? This PhD research project will investigate how organisations can leverage human & AI/ML approaches to improve the forensic discovery and analysis of organisational data across multiple and complex information architectures.

In the CIRES program, you will work collaboratively with university and industry partner supervisors who are leading research with real world impact. Your research will build on strong foundations of responsible data management, focusing on curating data at scale and building trusted data relationships. Over the period of your degree, you will also undertake a one-year (equivalent) placement with the industry partner, Astral Consulting Services Pty Ltd, and will collaborate and participate in industry-led projects.

Applications close 30th November 2021. For further PhD project opportunities, please visit our Study with Us page.

The Conversation article: Digital tech is the future, but Australia risks being left in the past

Posted on by Kath Williamson

Centre Director Professor Shazia Sadiq and colleague Thas Ampalavanapillai Nirmalathas have authored this article in The Conversation to accompany the new report released today “Australia’s Digital Future a nation of users or leaders?.” The Australian Academy of Science and the Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering have jointly issued an urgent call to action, asking the government and industry to recognise the importance of emerging digital technologies as a national science priority.

The report makes several key recommendations:

  1. elevate emerging digital technologies as a national science and innovation priority
  2. include research and innovation in emerging digital technologies in the 2021 Research Infrastructure Roadmap
  3. recognise emerging digital technologies as an independent growth sector.

Read the full strategic plan here.

Second Round of PhD Scholarships at UQ

Posted on by Kath Williamson

Applications closed 24 October 2021.

 

We are seeking highly motivated PhD researchers to join the Centre for exciting projects with the following industry & government partners: Aginic, Max Kelsen, Allianz Partners, Queensland Department of Education, Health & Wellbeing Queensland, Queensland Police Service, and Queensland Health.

Now open for application: 11 x PhD scholarships offered by the ARC Training Centre for Information Resilience [CIRES] .

Only domestic or onshore international candidates are eligible to apply.

PhD Scholarship applications now open!
Deadline 24 October 2021
For January or April 2022 start

This is an opportunity to be part of an innovative HDR training program. As a PhD researcher with CIRES, you will have the opportunity to work collaboratively with university and industry partner supervisors on research with real world impact. During your degree, you will undertake a one-year placement with the industry partner.

We offer a generous scholarship package of $34,627 per annum (2021 rate) and top up scholarships from $5,000 per annum. We are now recruiting for the following projects. All positions are based at the University of Queensland’s St Lucia Campus. Applications closed 24th October 2021.

For full details and how to apply visit our Study With Us page

If you have any questions about CIRES or applying for these projects, please contact our Centre Manager Kate Aldridge k.aldridge@uq.edu.au

The Brilliant article: How one scientist is cleaning up the world’s dirty data

Posted on by Kath Williamson

Centre Director Professor Shazia Sadiq was featured in this piece by The Brilliant looking at how data underlying algorithms is collected and the biases embedded in them. The way to disrupt this cycle of bias is information resilience, which means understanding how information is collected, and identifying all opportunities for bias to be introduced.

When Amazon developed an automated recruitment tool, the hope was that an unbiased, logical algorithm could read a CV and identify the best candidates. The algorithm turned out to be an engine of sexism, which was not only biased towards male resumes, but actively downgraded candidates if they came from one of two women’s universities in the USA. The problem was that the tool sought applicants whose CVs resembled previously successful job seekers; as most of these were men, the algorithm learned to reject women. It was stunning proof that algorithms are not neutral. They work according to the biases of the people who program them – a problem that computer scientist and Professor Shazia Sadiq is acutely conscious of.

Read the full feature article from The Brilliant here.

Associate Professor Hongzhi Yin awarded ARC Future Fellowship

Posted on by Kath Williamson

Congratulations to University of Queensland Researcher and Centre Chief Investigator Associate Professor Hongzhi Yin who has been awarded a prestigious Australian Research Council (ARC) Future Fellowship for the project “Decentralised Collaborative Predictive Analytics on Personal Smart Devices”. The 2021 ARC Future Fellowships scheme will see 100 new research projects funded at universities around Australia, focused on areas of national priority. Future Fellowships provide successful researchers with an opportunity to dedicate four years to their research endeavours in Australia. Hongzhi’s project will tackle the challenging problem of personalised predictive analytics with resource-constrained personal devices and massive-scale data.

See the full ARC media release here.

Momentum Article: Fixing data gone wrong

Posted on by Kath Williamson

The top 5 capabilities all businesses need to build an information resilience plan

Recent industry reports identify ‘data gone wrong’ as the biggest risk factor for emerging digital technologies such as artificial intelligence and autonomous decision making. However, with the right planning, a business can build information resilience to make embracing new technologies less risky, according to Centre Director Professor Shazia Sadiq. Read the full article in Momentum, The University of Queensland’s Business School magazine.

First Round of PhD Scholarships

Posted on by Kath Williamson

Applications closed 12 September 2021.

Be the first to know about the next round of CIRES PhD Scholarship opportunities, follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn.

 

We’re recruiting! 5 PhD positions available.

CIRES is seeking highly motivated PhD researchers to join the Centre for exciting projects with the following industry partners: Queensland Health, Queensland Police Service, and Max Kelsen.

This is an opportunity to be part of an innovative HDR training program. As a PhD researcher with CIRES, you will have the opportunity to work collaboratively with university and industry partner supervisors on research with real world impact. During your degree, you will undertake a one-year placement with the industry partner.

We offer a generous scholarship package of $34,627 per annum (2021 rate) and top up scholarships from $5,000 per annum. We are now recruiting for the following projects. All positions are based at the University of Queensland’s St Lucia Campus. Applications close 12th September 2021.

For full details and how to apply visit our Study With Us page

If you have any questions about CIRES or applying for these projects, please contact our Centre Manager Kate Aldridge k.aldridge@uq.edu.au