Paul Watson is Professor of Computer Science and Director of the Digital Institute. He is PI of the EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Cloud Computing for Big Data and also directed the £12M RCUK-funded Digital Economy Hub on Social Inclusion through the Digital Economy. He graduated in 1983 with a BSc in Computer Engineering from Manchester University, followed by a PhD on parallel graph reduction in 1986. In the 80s, as a Lecturer at Manchester University, he was a designer of the Alvey Flagship and Esprit EDS systems. From 1990-5 he worked for ICL as a system designer of the Goldrush MegaServer parallel database server, which was released as a product in 1994. In August 1995 he moved to Newcastle University, where he has been an investigator on research projects worth over £40M. His research interest is in scalable information management with a current focus on Cloud Computing. He sits on the board of Dynamo North East, an industry-led organisation created to grow the IT economy of the region. Professor Watson is a Chartered Engineer, a Fellow of the British Computer Society, and a member of the UK Computing Research Committee. He received the 2014 Jim Gray eScience Award.
Kari began her PhD in Social Psychology in 2015. She is interested in understanding how best to promote mindsets that increase psychosocial well-being, with a particular emphasis on understanding compassionate mindsets in various populations. Kari received her BA from Emory University in 2012. After graduation, Kari spent two years as the Program Coordinator for the Emory-Tibet Partnership and coordinated the visit of the Dalai Lama to Emory in 2013. Kari also spent a year studying wintertime mindset above the Arctic Circle in Norway under a Fulbright research grant. In her spare time, Kari enjoys visiting her friends abroad and reading fiction novels.
Toby Walsh is an expert in the study of Artificial Intelligence. He is a Research Leader at Data61 (formerly NICTA) in the Optimisation Research Group where he leads the Algorithmic Decision Theory project. Data61 is Australia's Centre of Excellence for ICT Research. He is also Professor of AI at UNSW. He has been Editor-in-Chief of two of the main journals in AI: the Journal of Artificial Intelligence Research, and AI Communications. He is currently Associate Editor of one of the leading journals in computer science, the Journal of the ACM covering the area of Artificial Intelligence.
Steve Worthington is an Adjunct Professor at Swinburne University. He was previously Professor of Marketing at Monash University's Department of Marketing from 2002 to 2013, prior to which he worked at several universities in the United Kingdom and in executive roles at a UK bank and UK supermarket group. At Monash, Steve taught Strategic Marketing in the MBA program and Relationship Marketing and Marketing Financial Services in the Master of Marketing program. His research interests are focused on the distribution of financial services, particularly through the channel of payment cards. These topics are of interest to both academics and practitioners. His paper Banking without the Bank, International Journal of Bank Marketing was ranked 12th highest downloaded article in 2012 (was 2nd most downloaded in 2011) and remains the 4th highest in terms of immediacy. This focused on the opportunities and challenges facing new entrants into the financial services market, particularly from brands such as Tesco Bank and Virgin Money. Steve is a member of the Financial Services Institute of Australasia and of the Academic Standards Board of the International Academy of Retail Banking. He is also an associate of the Australian Centre for Financial Studies (ACFS) for whom he wrote a paper entitled, Regulatory Interventions and their Consequences in the Australian Payment Card System, which was published in October 2013.
Tobore O. Okah-avae is a PhD Candidate at Lancaster University Law School. His research focuses on Corporate Governance/Corporate Law issues in Anglo-America. His PhD thesis is on the justice of excessive CEO compensation with a particular focus on British and American company executives.
John Daley is the CEO of Grattan Institute, which conducts independent, rigorous and practical analysis of Australian public policy. John Daley has 20 years experience at the intersection of the public sector, private enterprise, and academia. His diverse background includes law, finance, education, and workers compensation. Previous roles include the University of Melbourne, the University of Oxford, the Victorian Department of Premier and Cabinet, consulting firm McKinsey and Co, and most recently ANZ where he was Managing Director of the online stockbroker, E*TRADE Australia. John has a DPhil in Public Law from the University of Oxford, and degrees in Law and Science from the University of Melbourne.
