Professor Alan Duffy
Swinburne University of Technology
Biography:
Professor Alan Duffy is the Pro-Vice Chancellor of Flagship Initiatives at Swinburne University of Technology, bringing together diverse research teams with industry and government stakeholders to deliver transformative programmes in Flagship sectors such as renewable technologies, AI, space and aerospace, and health innovation. He has a background in computational astrophysics, creating model galaxies to understand dark matter on national supercomputers. Alan has leveraged his experiences in software development and simulations to found mDetect, a spin-out from his dark matter research that uses particles from space known as muons to scan large underground volumes for the mineral resources sector.
Abstract:
As AI and data-intensive research transform scientific discovery, Australia faces a fundamental challenge: how do we build globally competitive research infrastructure at national scale while meeting the diverse needs of researchers and institutions across the country?
This keynote will explore the tensions shaping our digital research future: the growing cost and complexity driving centralisation, the need for seamless access and shared capabilities across disciplines and borders, and the importance of sustaining distributed expertise, technical career pathways and local research capabilities in uncertain times.
Looking ahead, how can Australia balance national scale, global connectivity and local needs to create an accessible, resilient and connected research ecosystem that enables discovery and delivers benefits nationwide?
