People

DST GROUP

Vivian Nguyen

Vivian Nguyen is currently leading a multi-disciplinary team of Defence scientists, working alongside university researchers and international partners, to deliver the next generation workforce forecasting and planning capability to the Australian Defence Force (ADF). She developed a keen passion for Defence workforce planning several years ago and has applied her computer science, systems analysis and modelling and simulation expertise to developing innovative solutions for Defence workforce planning capability. Her research interest has expanded to include novel algorithms for scheduling, timetabling and resource allocation. Prior to this work, Vivian has contributed to a range of Defence science projects, including support to space operations and ubiquitous computing for collaborative environments.

Kristan Pash

A Simulation Analyst with DST Group, Kristan Pash holds a Bachelor of Information Technology (Mathematics and Computing) from the University of South Australia (UniSA). His work in DST has involved development and application of military simulations to inform analysis of current and future defence concerns. His current research interests lie in the realms of entity behaviour representation and implementation.

Cameron Pike

A Research Scientist with DSTG, Cameron holds a Bachelor of Science and Master of Engineering from the University of Melbourne. He joined DSTG in 2018 and since then has been involved in several workforce simulation, data analytics, and optimisation projects. He is the technical lead for the ATHENA workforce simulation software and has developed optimisation algorithms used to plan personnel recruitment, promotions, and allocation in the ADF. His current research interests are in novel allocation optimisation algorithms, simulation abstraction, and machine learning techniques for long-running simulations.

Katie Mortimer-Murphy

A Research Scientist who joined DST Group in 2019 after receiving a Bachelor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering (Hons) and a Bachelor of Mathematical and Computer Sciences from the University of Adelaide. Katie has a particular focus on data analytics and visualization, machine learning, and Design of Experiments.

Thomas Hewett

A Research Scientist with DSTG, Thomas holds a Bachelor of Mechatronic Engineering (Hons) and a Bachelor of Computer Science from the University of Wollongong. He joined Department of Defence as an engineer at CASG in 2020, developing electronic countermeasures and RF waveform simulation software for ADF vehicles before moving to DST Group in late 2021. He is now involved in systems modelling and analysis of Defence workforce, focusing on systems development and data validation/visualisation. His research interest lies in visual analytics and algorithm development.

UNIVERSITY ACADEMICS

Professor Terry Caelli

Professor of Data Science at Deakin University, Professor Terry Caelli is a Fellow of the International Association for Pattern Recognition (FIAPR) and a Lie Fellow of the Institute for Electronic and Electrical Engineers (FIEEE). His current interests lie in Data Analytics, Machine Learning, Cognitive Engineering and their applications in Health, Environment and Defence.

Professor Bill Moran

A Mathematician/Engineer and a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science, Professor Bill Moran holds professorial position at the University of Melbourne. He has worked both as a Mathematician and as an Engineer across many research areas. Between 2011 and 2013 he was Director of the Defence Science Institute at the University of Melbourne. His current research interests lie in Optimisation, Sensor Management, Signal Processing, Radar, and various topics in Mathematics.

Associate Professor Vicky Mak

A/Prof Vicky Mak-Hau is the Associate Head of School (Industry Research) at School of Information Technology, Deakin University. She completed a PhD in 2002 at The University of Melbourne in the area of Combinatorial Optimisation. She was one of the Chief Investigators in two Australian Research Council Discovery Projects, and is experienced in modelling and solving real-life decision making and optimisation problems such as: Aircraft Rotation, Vehicle Routing, Machine Scheduling, Radiotherapy Treatment Planning, Kidney Matching Optimisation, Day Oncology Ward Patient Scheduling, Hospital Ward Layout Planning, and Workload Allocation Optimisation.

Professor Richard Sinnott

Professor Sinnott is the Director of eResearch at the University of Melbourne and Professor of Applied Computing Systems. In these roles he is responsible for all aspects of eResearch (research-oriented IT development) at the University.

SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT TEAM

Melbourne eResearch Group

The Melbourne eResearch Group (MEG) under the leadership of Professor Richard Sinnott in the School of Computing and Information Systems supports the development, support and delivery of research-oriented IT systems to a wide range of research communities at the University of Melbourne. The group provides research-oriented software engineering using a combination of the current bleeding edge technologies through to more tried and trusted software solutions.

Software development contractors

The Workforce Analysis team works with a number of software development contractors with full stack expertise to deliver deployable solutions to the ADF.

PROJECT SUPPORT

Renzo Isola

An experienced Project Coordinator with a diverse career background within the Telecommunications, Railways and Defence industries. He received a B.Sc. in electronics engineering from the Ricardo Palma University and joined the team recently in early 2021. His role is to support the team in overseeing and tracking the progress of the major activity streams within the program, support the communication and liaison processes between DSTG team, research partners and industry collaborators, as well as provide general support to the whole collaborative team at large.