Presenters

• 
  Mr Edward Santow, Human Rights Commissioner

  Mr Edward Santow

  Human Rights Commissioner
  

  

  Edward Santow has been Human Rights Commissioner at the Australian Human Rights Commission since August 2016. Ed leads the Commission’s work on technology and human rights; refugees and migration; human rights issues affecting LGBTI people; counterterrorism and national security; freedom of expression; freedom of religion; and implementing the Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture (OPCAT). Ed’s areas of expertise include human rights, public law and discrimination law. He is a Visiting Professorial Fellow at the University of New South Wales (UNSW), a member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council on Human Rights and the Fourth Industrial Revolution, and serves on a number of boards and committees. In 2009, Ed was presented with an Australian Leadership Award, and in 2017, he was recognised as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum. From 20102016, Ed was chief executive of the Public Interest Advocacy Centre, a leading nonprofit organisation that promotes human rights through strategic litigation, policy development and education. Ed was previously a Senior Lecturer at UNSW Law School, a research director at the Gilbert + Tobin Centre of Public Law and a solicitor in private practice.

• 
  Professor Karin Verspoor, School of Computing and Information Systems

  Professor Karin Verspoor

  School of Computing and Information Systems

  

  Professor Karin Verspoor, School of Computing and Information Systems, is currently the Director of Health Technologies and Platform Lead for Digital Health in the Melbourne School of Engineering, as well as Deputy Director of the Centre for Digital Transformation of Health. Trained as a computational linguist, Karin’s research primarily focuses on extracting information from clinical texts and the biomedical literature using machine learning methods to enable biological discovery and clinical decision support. Karin held previous posts as the Scientific Director of Health and Life Sciences at NICTA Victoria Research Laboratory, at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, and Los Alamos National Laboratory. She also spent 5 years in startups during the US Tech bubble, where she helped design an early artificial intelligence system.

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  Dr Alan Finkel, Australia's Chief Scientist

  Dr Alan Finkel

  Australia's Chief Scientist
  

  

  Dr Alan Finkel AO commenced as Australia’s Chief Scientist on 25 January 2016. He is Australia’s eighth Chief Scientist. Prior to his appointment, he served as President of the Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering (ATSE), and for eight years as Chancellor of Monash University. As Chief Scientist, Dr Finkel led the development of the 2019 National Hydrogen Strategy, which was adopted in November 2019. He also led the 2016 National Research Infrastructure Roadmap, the 2017 Review into the National Electricity Market (“Finkel Review”), and the 2018 STEM Industry Partnership Forum report. He serves as the Deputy Chair of Innovation and Science Australia