The NSW Smart Sensing Network has vast capability for expertise in data and artificial intelligence (AI). 

Meet three researchers, learn about their research and find out what draws them to work in data or AI.

Distinguished Professor Fang Chen is the Executive Director at the Data Science Institute at UTS.

Since completing my PhD in AI, my career has spanned diverse sectors including industry, government agencies, and academia, where I have focused on developing and deploying AI and data-driven innovations for societal benefit.

I've tackled complex challenges across transportation, water management, energy, agriculture, telecommunications, education, health, and real estate.

A notable project involved using sensors and AI to monitor the structural integrity of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, a critical landmark for Australians.

This initiative replaced risky manual inspections with safer, more accurate automated methods.

Similarly, deploying AI-powered technologies for sewer inspections has significantly reduced human exposure to hazardous environments, showcasing our commitment to safety and efficiency.

In water management, our AI solutions have played a pivotal role since 2020 in identifying and prioritising high-risk pipelines across NSW, resulting in cost savings exceeding $20 million and conserving 10,000 megalitres of water.

This exemplifies our approach of balancing life cycle costs with service requirements and risk exposure.

Currently, we are advancing initiatives in soil carbon analysis and emissions calculations to contribute to achieving a net-zero environment. 

Throughout my work, I advocate strongly for ethical AI practices, emphasising human-centered approaches.

For roles posing high risks to humans, I advocate responsible leveraging of sensing, AI, and robotics.

Conversely, applications impacting human values or privacy must undergo rigorous oversight and governance.

Ethical considerations will increasingly guide AI's development, ensuring fairness and accountability in its applications.

As AI capabilities expand, evolving data privacy and security measures will safeguard sensitive information.

Looking ahead, I foresee AI driving transformative changes across industries.

From enhancing healthcare through personalised treatment plans to optimizing autonomous systems for firefighting, AI promises significant efficiency and innovation. 

AI's role in sustainability, including resource management and environmental monitoring, will be crucial in addressing global challenges like climate change.

This integration of AI with human capabilities will enhance augmented intelligence, fostering smarter decision-making and creative problem-solving across diverse domains.

Professor Hanna Suominen is Professor of Computer Science and the Associate Director (Neuroinformatics) of the Eccles Institute of Neuroscience at ANU.

Since 2022, I have worked in Our Health in Our Hands, the inaugural ANU Grand Challenge Program that I co-founded in 2017 and which is a partnership with ACT Health.

I am the Big Data Program Leader and Co-Chair/Executive Leader (Computing and Engineering) of Our Health in Our Hands.

I am a well-recognised leader in health outcomes from the application of advanced data science and analytics strategies founded on Machine/Deep Learning and Natural Language Processing.

I have 20 years of experience in smart sensing and sense-making systems in health and medicine.

What draws me to working in data and AI is their power to personalise precision health in a resourceful, responsible, sustainable, and equitable way.

I balance the issues of safe and responsible innovation with the rapid spread of proliferation of data and AI by: contributing to better and better evaluation methods and their transfer to practice, both inside and outside academia; creating related education curricula, materials, and activities to result in concurrently an increasingly skilled new generation of workforce  empowered by these technologies; and by partnering in transdisciplinary projects across disciplines, professions, areas of expertise, and nations.

In the future, these innovative data resources, AI methods, data analyses, and their governance strategies will drive successful innovation in digital health and AI, leading to new discoveries and strong user engagement.

However, to realise these expected benefits, the related risks need to be studied and mitigated.

Dr Roba Abbas is a Senior Lecturer of Operations, Systems and Digital Transformation in the Faculty of Business and Law at the University of Wollongong. Dr Abbas is also Chair of the Technical Activities Executive Committee of the IEEE Society on the Social Implications of Technology.

I research business information systems, responsible innovation, and digital transformation across a range of interdisciplinary, socio-technical projects.

This includes exploring the impact and implications of embedding AI in research, teaching, and governance initiatives.

Examples of my projects focus on AI in the context of cybersecurity and cyber safety; higher education; human-centred design; socio-technical, ethical, and regulatory perspectives; pedagogical innovation; and the publishing landscape, among other areas.

These projects balance the opportunities and challenges of AI through risk-based, collaborative systems design approaches that intersect societal, technological, ethical, and regulatory requirements.

The future of data and AI demands enhanced socio-technical systems design methodologies based on extensive collaboration between citizens and stakeholders in academia, industry, and government to address a multitude of risks.

I am committed to advancing and co-creating these methodologies to support the responsible management of systems design and digital transformation projects.

Meet three researchers working in AI and data