Current position

• Associate Professor, Discipline of AI and Data Science, School of EECMS, Curtin University, Perth, WA

Biography

I am an Associate Professor in AI at Curtin University with more than two decades of research in applied AI, spanning foundational work in statistical signal processing and large-scale pattern recognition through to deployed technologies in health and community settings. 

My early research produced practical methods for robust signal estimation, anomaly detection in large-scale data streams, and real-time computer vision, work that led directly to commercialisation. I co-founded iCetana Ltd in 2009, whose AI-powered surveillance technology is now deployed globally, and holds a US patent underpinning its core detection engine. A later cybersecurity research program produced HyprFire Pty Ltd, a second successful Curtin spin-off. Both were recognised through Curtin Innovation Awards (2009, 2017). During this period I also won the IEEE Young Author Best Paper Award (2011) for work published in IEEE Transactions on Signal Processing. I also co-authored a conference paper, which received a Best Paper Award in 2024

My research focus has since grown into AI for health and community, where my approach remains the same: develop methods that work at scale, reach deployment, and address problems that matter to people. I lead the AI program in a cardiology collaboration with the Perkins Institute of Medical Research, where an ECG diagnosis platform is progressing to clinical validation at Fiona Stanley Hospital. I am the AI Lead of Healthy Connections, Curtin's flagship First Nations health project, which has deployed its companion app Kawu-Palya in remote Pilbara communities and won back-to-back INCITE Social Impact Awards in 2024 and 2025. I am also a core member of the SMAAT research group, which is developing AI-assisted diagnostic technologies for children with speech sound disorders; the team received a Curtinnovation Award in 2024 and is currently developing a minimum viable product (MVP) in 2026 as part of its pathway towards commercialisation. A further radiology AI program, developing explainable methods for X-ray and CT interpretation, received a Curtinnovation Award in 2025.  I also have interest in data and AI governance and responsible AI adoption.

I have supervised six PhD students to timely completion across these research areas, several of whom have gone on to win national innovation and research awards of their own.

I lead AI activity across eight active cross-disciplinary research clusters involving 50+ researchers, where I create the conditions for others to do their best work

• I am the AI Lead of Healthy Connections, Curtin's flagship First Nations health project, back-to-back winner of the INCITE Social Impact Award (2024, 2025). Our companion app Kawu Palya is deployed in remote Pilbara communities, with hundreds of people screened for early signs of chronic disease.
• I am the AI Lead of a cardiology AI program with the Perkins Institute, where an ECG diagnosis platform is heading to clinical trial at Fiona Stanley Hospital in 2026.
• I am a member of SMAAT, an international research group developing technologies to help speech language pathologists diagnose children with speech sound disorders, with the platform pursuing commercialisation pathway in 2026.
• I lead the IAMAI research group, bringing together Computing staff and students to solve challenging real-world problems using AI.
•  I was the Course Coordinator of the Master of AI and the Master of Computing, AI Major, leading provisional ACS accreditation in 2025.
• I am a Fellow of the AITAI Institute, collaborating with researchers, policymakers, and industry to inform responsible AI adoption in WA.
• I am a co-founder of two successful start-ups: iCetana and Hy p rFire.
• I serve on the editorial board of Mathematical Foundations of Computing.

Awards and Grants

• 2026 HILT CRC Industry Short Course grant. With K. Robertson and Bivios.
• 2026 Anthorpic's AI for Science rare disease research grant. With a large cross-institution rare disease research team.
• 2026 PATREC Industry-Funded Project: Road Safety Research. With T. Tan, R. Gupta and A. Grose.
• 2026 NBF Teaching & Learning Grant. Creating Cultural Safety for Indigenous Students by Promoting Noongar Language Materials. With B. Biedermann, B. Larson, C. Steele, M. Cirocco, Y. Li, K. Willie, and R. Keckenberg.
• 2026 Fellow of the AITAI - AI Institute
• 2025 Health Innovation Collaboration Grant (SAE&HS). Automated 3D Coronary Segmentation with Deep Learning: Transforming Cardiac Diagnosis and Planning through Scalable AI. With Prof. L. Tee and team.
• 2025 Contributied to Curtin's AI involvement in the new Rare Care Comprehensive Centre, an initiative led by other key partner organisations. With Prof. Tele Tan and other members of the Curtin team.
• 2025 FHRI Enabling Scheme: Transforming medical discovery: next-generation high-performance computing infrastructure for accelerated translational research. With Prof. Girish Dwivedi and a large UWA/Perkins-Curtin team.
• 2025 Curtinnovation Awards (Winner): Aura-CXR. With Chayan Mondal, Dr Ashu Gupta (FSH), Prof. Fiona Wood (FSH), Prof. Tom Gedeon, and Prof. Tele Tan.
• 2025 INCITE Awards Social Impact (Winner) Kawu Balya: Your Health, Your Story. With the Healthy Connections team: Prof. Andrew Maiorana, A/Prof. Susannah Soon, Dr Kit Yan Chan, Cate Hollingsworth, Henry Truong, Jim Hie Ling, Jacob Arvino, Stefan Hoffman.
• 2025 Curtinnovation Awards (finalist): NeuroPose. With Dr Himanshu Agrawal, Prof. Yue Rong, and Prof. Tele Tan.
• 2025 Future Health Research Innovation (FHRI) Grant - Innovation Challenge Generative AI Application Stage 2 (with Professor Girish Dwivedi, Professor Andrew Maiorana, A/Professor Susannah Soon, Dr Kit Y Chan, A/Prof. Abdul Ihdayhid, Dr Najmeh Fayyazifar, Professor Mohammed Bennamoun, Dr Hadi Afsharan, Dr Md Moniruzzaman).
• 2024 Best Paper Award in the International Conference on Recent Advances in Artificial Intelligence & Smart Applications (RAAISA) , India. With Tanmay Singha and Aneesh Krishna
• 2024 DFAT Study Mission Grant on digital transformation and energy transition for a high-level delegation from Vietnam (with Associate Professor Lien Duong, Curtin University and Professor Tuan Ngo, the University of Melbourne)
• 2024 Curtinnovation Awards Science & Engineering (with Dr Roslyn Ward, A/Prof. Petra Helmholtz, Dr Richard Palmer, Dr Geoff Strauss and the broader SMAAT team )
• 2024 iAwards Finalist (with Dr Susannah Soon and the Healthy Connections academic team
• 2024 INCITE Awards Winner Social Impact Category (with Dr Susannah Soon and the Healthy Connections academic team) and Finalist Research & Innovation (Industry ) Category
• 2024 WANMA Award (with Dr Roslyn Ward and the SMAAT team )
• 2023-2024 The Challenge PoC Award, co-funded by WA Department of Health and Curtin University (with Dr Susannah Soon and the Healthy Connections academic team)
• 2024 DFAT Grant AM10694 (Program Lead of a cross-disciplinary team)
• 2024 CSIRO Next Generation Graduates Program - Effective and Ethical Use of AI and Data Science in Law Enforcement (Investigator role in a large team).
• 2023 Future Health Research and Innovation Fund (FHRI) grant - Innovative Challenge 2023 - Generative AI Applications (with South Metropolitan Health Service, Dr Ashu Gupta, Dr Md Zakir Hossain, Professor Tele Tan, Professor Tom Gedeon).
• 2023 WANMA Award (with Dr Roslyn Ward and the SMAAT team 
• 2023 DFAT Grant AM9463 (with a multi-disciplinary team from Curtin) successfully delivered in the Perth program and Canberra/Melbourne program.
• 2022 MRFF Grant (with Dr Roslyn Ward and the SMAAT team )
• 2022 WANMA Award (with Dr Roslyn Ward and the SMAAT team )
• 2022 Curtin Cross-Campus Cybersecurity Research Seed Funding (with Prof. I. Murray, Dr S. Soh, F. Matabi, A/Prof. N. Thompson)
• 2021 WANMA Award (with Dr Roslyn Ward and the SMAAT team )
• 2021 Curtin Malaysia Collaborative Research (CMCR) Grant (with S Soh, M Lazarescu and L H Chong)
• 2017 Curtin Innovation Award (with Mr Prandl, A/Prof Lazarescu and Dr S Soh)
• 2012-2015 ARC Linkage Grant (with Prof. Venkatesh and Dr Phung)
• 2010 Young Author Best Paper Award, from the IEEE Signal Processing Society
• 2009 Runner-up for Curtin Innovation Award (with Prof. Venkatesh, Dr Lazarescu, and Dr Budhaditya)
• 2008-2011 ARC Linkage Grant (with Prof. Venkatesh, Dr Liu, Dr Lazarescu, Dr Tan)
• 2007-2011 Curtin Research Fellowship