Stephanie Mittiga is the Digital Transformation Agency lead of the AI in Government Taskforce, jointly led with the Department of Industry, Science and Resources to help the APS safely, ethically and responsibly harness the opportunities of AI. Stephanie brings her training as a lawyer and her experience in international policy and research to the Taskforce, and led the development of the interim guidance on publicly available generative AI platforms released in July this year. Stephanie is also driving the Commonwealth’s work with NSW and other jurisdictions to progress a consistent national approach to the assurance of AI in government.

Darshil leads ASIC’s data and analytics strategy and is responsible for the management and use of data across the organisation, as well as analytics and business reporting services.

Darshil has more than 20 years’ experience in end-to-end data management, including data governance, data strategy, data leadership, business intelligence, and advanced analytics. Previously, he was ASIC’s Head of Analytics and Business Intelligence and Senior Manager Data Strategy.

Prior to joining ASIC, Darshil was the Head of Data Governance and later Head of Data Strategy at Bupa, and held data leadership positions for a number of organisations including Connexity, Experian and GE Capital. He holds a Masters in Computer Management qualification.

Fawad is an experienced leader with a demonstrated history of delivering transformational outcomes across Business, Data & Analytics, and Information Communication Technology domains.

He has been involved in and led large-scale transformation programs, initiatives, and strategies for over a decade, and has worked across Federal agencies including the Australian Taxation Office and Department of Defence.

As Assistant Commissioner – Enterprise Data & Analytics at the Australian Taxation Office, Fawad is the steward of the majority of the ATO’s Data & Analytics solution architecture and production support ecosystem, is also leading one of the largest Data & Analytics transformation initiatives in Australia, the Modernising Insights and Intelligence (MII) Program. Leading a team of over 400, he is known for his passionate and vibrant leadership style and his love of everything agile, data, and cloud. His pathway to Data & Analytics has not been a traditional journey, however this experience has established him as an emerging thought leader in how to approach D&A transformation initiatives at scale.

Nicole Stephensen is Partner at premier privacy and data protection consultancy, IIS Partners.

With more than two decades in privacy, Nicole is widely recognised for her extensive local and international expertise in privacy program management and acculturation. She is a sought-after speaker about the interface between privacy, cyber security, risk management, ethics and trust; and her frank, candid and practical approach to privacy has established her as a trusted advisor to executives and boards.

She is a subject matter expert and Guest Lecturer for tertiary course curricula in Australia and abroad and is well known for her privacy discourse on smart cities and critical infrastructure, IoT/ IIoT, public interest technologies and digital policy affecting young people.

She is a Fellow of the Australian Information Security Association (FAISA) and is a leading member of the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP), where she chairs the IAPP’s KnowledgeNet Chapter for Queensland.

Lauren leads the Digital Strategy, Policy & Engagement Branch at the Digital Transformation Agency, where she is responsible for leading the development and implementation of whole of APS digital strategies and policies to support digital transformation.

 Lauren is focussed on improving the delivery of government services, providing positive experiences, and delivering value for Australian citizens, and is passionate about driving change within the public sector to achieve this.

 Lauren previously worked at the Australian Electoral Commission and the Civil Aviation Safety Authority, leading large scale service delivery and digital transformation programs, focussed on the design, development and implementation of solutions to enable the delivery of business and operational outcomes.

Alicja is the Chief Data Officer of IP Australia. She has over 20 years experience working with and on all things data in both the public and private sector. She currently leads a team that is spread across Australia and focused on Data and Information Governance, Data Engineering, building a data platform on AWS and the Data Front Door team – a BI and Analytics function and who are in the process of creating IP Australia’s 3rd iteration of a data strategy.

Tim de Sousa is a strategic and operational privacy expert with more than 17 years of experience. Tim works at the intersection of privacy, information governance, emerging technologies and digital transformation in both the public and private sectors. His expertise spans Australia, the Asia-Pacific region and the European Union.

Tim combines a deep understanding of regulatory frameworks and approaches stemming from his direct experience as a regulator, and extensive practical privacy, information governance and digital transformation experience in the corporate and public sectors. Prior to joining FTI Consulting, Tim held senior roles with Westpac, the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, the New South Wales (“NSW”) Government Department of Customer Service and the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (“OAIC”) in addition to consulting major Australian corporates including Qantas and nbn Co. In 2020, Tim was listed in the Apolitical/World Economic Forum’s “Agile 50” as one of the “World’s 50 Most Influential People Revolutionising Government.”

Pia Andrews is an open government, digital transformation and data geek who has been trying to make the world a better place for 20 years. She usually works within the (public sector) machine to transform public services, policies and culture through greater transparency, democratic engagement, citizen-centric design, open data, emerging technologies and real, pragmatic actual innovation in the public sector and beyond. She believes that tech culture has a huge role to play in achieving better policy planning, outcomes, public engagement and a better public service all round. She is also trying to do her part in establishing greater public benefit from publicly funded data, software and research. Pia was recognised in 2018 and 2019 as one of the global top 20 most Influential in Digital Government and was awarded as one of the Top 100 Most Influential Women in Australia for 2014. Pia has also studied martial arts since 1990, and brings the philosophies and practices of Gung Fu and Chan Buddhism into her work every day.

Pia is currently taking something of a public sector sabbatical, working as a Strategic Advisor to the Public Sector in AWS. She is in a newly formed team made up of experienced public servants who provide futures oriented policy and outcomes focused advice, support, exploration and experimentation, to agencies and departments across Australia.

Rohan Samaraweera leads the Data Science branch at the Department Of Home Affairs. The branch was established in 2019 to mature, modernise and broaden Department artificial intelligence, machine learning and data science capabilities. Under his leadership the branch has evolved into an agile and adaptive team leveraging the unique data, expertise, and intersecting missions within the Department to create public good. The branch continues to expand its analytics capabilities and services to support a broader range of portfolio areas, domestic and international partners.

Rohan maintains a strong focus on impact of AI and digital technologies on government institutions, AI ethics and public sector innovation challenges. He is also a committed advocate of building public sector human capability through vocational training pathways and non-traditional talent pipelines.

Prior to joining Home Affairs in 2016, Rohan had a career as a Signals Intelligence Officer with the Australian Signals Directorate, operating in the nexus between data, technology and intelligence tradecraft in support of military and counter-terrorism operations.

Stephanie Mittiga is the Digital Transformation Agency lead of the AI in Government Taskforce, jointly led with the Department of Industry, Science and Resources to help the APS safely, ethically and responsibly harness the opportunities of AI. Stephanie brings her training as a lawyer and her experience in international policy and research to the Taskforce, and led the development of the interim guidance on publicly available generative AI platforms released in July this year. Stephanie is also driving the Commonwealth’s work with NSW and other jurisdictions to progress a consistent national approach to the assurance of AI in government.

Introducing Emma Liversidge, a leader with over 15 years of experience establishing and evolving best-in-class capabilities to drive business performance and empower decision making.

Emma’s expertise is in building insight-powered organisations leveraging transformation and technology through the power of people. Emma blends emerging AI practices and tools with business fundamentals to provide clear and digestible performance narratives amidst complexity.

Emma is the founder of The Insight of Things a boutique advisory firm, a thought leader and keynote speaker on data leadership, strategy, culture and governance, and is on the Queensland AI Hub Advisory Committee focused on grassroots activation, and is a Director of AI start-up, FreddyMatch. FreddyMatch puts AI to work for good by matching volunteers with great experiences to drive social benefit.

Professor Angie Abdilla is a palawa woman. She is the founder and Director of Old Ways, New. Over the past 10 years, her interdisciplinary practice has expanded to combine research, strategy, design, and product management of software engineering. Angie’s purpose has been to reignite the old ways of thinking, doing and being with technology. Her deep commitment and trust in the ‘old ways’ otherwise known as, Indigenous Traditional Knowledges also centers her principles, always questioning “who really benefits” within the design and development of frontier technologies.

As a Professor at the Australian National University’s School of Cybernetics, she utilises a range of research agendas and approaches in the development of AI. From strategic design methodologies, cultural and creative practice and alternate software engineering for culturally rich, and safe automation, Angie is dedicated to the creation of technologies that embody the principles of connecting with, and care for Country, and kin.

In 2018, she co-founded the Indigenous Protocols and Artificial Intelligence working group (IP//AI). She is a member of the Scientific Council of the Association of AI Ethicists (AAIE), CSIRO’s Data61 Advisory Group, the National AI Centre Think Tank, and has been a member of the Global Futures Council on Artificial Intelligence for Humanity as part of the World Economic Forum in 2022.

Bill Simpson-Young is co-founder and Chief Executive of Gradient Institute, a non-profit research institute that works to build safety, ethics, accountability and transparency into AI systems. He has a background as a software engineer and technologist and has led teams of researchers, software engineers and designers developing novel computer technologies for global technology companies (Canon and Unisys) and research institutions (CSIRO and NICTA). He and his teams have built new technology and products in areas such as machine learning, computer vision, spatial data systems, data privacy, web technologies and computational law.​ Bill has also been on the executive teams of three leading Australian science and technology organisations (Canon’s Research and Development lab CiSRA, National ICT Australia and CSIRO’s Data61) and is on the NSW Government’s AI Review Committee, the ANU School of Computing Advisory Board and several government research grant review committees.

Gianluca MISURACA is founder and Vice President on Technology Diplomacy and International Relations of Inspiring Futures (IF), a global consultancy network with headquarters in Lausanne and Seville, which provides strategic advisory services to several International Organizations and public and private institutions worldwide. Among his key assignments he is currently leading, on behalf of the European Commission’s Service for Foreign Policy Instruments (FPI), the “International Outreach for human-centric Artificial Intelligence” (InTouchAI.eu) initiative; and he is the Team Leader and Project’s Coordinator of the “Digital Partnerships in Action” (DPA) facility support to assist the implementation of the Digital Partnership Agreement of the EU with Japan, the Republic of Korea and Singapore.

As part of his academic roles, Gianluca is the Executive Director of the Master on Artificial Intelligence in public services (AI4GOV) led by the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid and the Department of Design of Politecnico di Milano. Previously, Gianluca was a Senior Scientist at the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre where, from 2009 to 2020, he was leading research and policy support in the field of Digital Governance, Social Innovation and Artificial Intelligence.

Dr Qinghua Lu is a principal research scientist and leads the Responsible AI science team at CSIRO’s Data61. She is the winner of the 2023 APAC Women in AI Trailblazer Award. She is part of the OECD.AI’s trustworthy AI metrics project team. She also serves a member of Australian’s National AI Centre Responsible AI think tank. She is an IEEE senior member. She received her PhD from University of New South Wales in 2013. Her current research interests include responsible AI, software engineering for AI/GAI, and software architecture. She has published 150+ papers in premier international journals and conferences. Her recent paper titled “Towards a Roadmap on Software Engineering for Responsible AI” received the ACM Distinguished Paper Award. Her forthcoming book, “Responsible AI: Best Practices for Creating Trustworthy AI Systems”, is set to be published by Pearson Addison-Wesley at the end of 2023.

Nicole Stephensen is Partner at premier privacy and data protection consultancy, IIS Partners.

With more than two decades in privacy, Nicole is widely recognised for her extensive local and international expertise in privacy program management and acculturation. She is a sought-after speaker about the interface between privacy, cyber security, risk management, ethics and trust; and her frank, candid and practical approach to privacy has established her as a trusted advisor to executives and boards.

She is a subject matter expert and Guest Lecturer for tertiary course curricula in Australia and abroad and is well known for her privacy discourse on smart cities and critical infrastructure, IoT/ IIoT, public interest technologies and digital policy affecting young people.

She is a Fellow of the Australian Information Security Association (FAISA) and is a leading member of the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP), where she chairs the IAPP’s KnowledgeNet Chapter for Queensland.

Theresa Dirndorfer Anderson is Director and Chief Data/AI Ethicist at Connecting Stones. She is an award-winning scholar and practitioner with nearly thirty years of experience tackling the challenges of information, data and ethical technologies. She was recently recognised as one of IAPA’s (Institute of Analytics Professionals of Australia) Top25 data analytics leaders. Theresa sits on the NSW Government’s Artificial Intelligence Advisory and Review Committee and is a project editor for an international standard for data usage. She is also a data ethics advisor to the International Science Council (ISC) Committee on Data (CODATA), where she is contributing to a global project shaping cultures of CARE in relation to data policy and practice. She remains an Honorary Fellow with the UTS Centre of Connected Intelligence, where she was inaugural Director of a uniquely human-centred and transdisciplinary data science postgraduate program from 2014-2018.