Despite significant investments in big data technologies, many Australian businesses and organisations are yet to fully benefit from the transformative power of data to capitalise in new markets or to achieve anticipated efficiency gains. This lag is not unique to Australia but poses both a risk to the security and resilience of our data pipelines, as well as an opportunity to position Australian businesses at the forefront of value creation and monetisation of data assets.
A new technology training centre at UQ – the ARC Training Centre for Information Resilience (CIRES) aims to remove the barriers to data-driven transformation by bringing together business organisation end-users, technology providers and cutting-edge research. Led out of UQ’s School of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering, and including ISSR Director Professor Mark Western and Professor Rhema Vaithianathan, alongside researchers from Swinburne University of Technology the Centre collaborate with a broad range of industry leaders and government organisations. The Centre will draw on:
- Research expertise from the disciplines of data science, computing, mathematics, business, statistics and social science.
- Government, corporate, and subject matter experience expertise from a range of partners with technical and domain expertise in health, law enforcement, insurance, transport, IT, statistics, digital technologies and services.
As well as leading the Responsible Use of Data Assets theme, Professor Western will partner on a project with the Queensland Department of Education on Human-Centred Data Literacy Curriculum for Complex Educational Organisations. This project will advance understanding of the development and adoption of systematic and human-centred mechanisms for providing training and support in digital literacy in large and diverse multilevel educational organisations. It will focus on articulation, co-creation and validation of a curriculum on data literacy, which is supported by strategies such as digital badging.
Also under the Responsible Use of Data Assets theme, Professor Vaithianathan will partner on the Community Attitude to Law Enforcement Data project alongside the Queensland Police Service. Using a mixed-methods approach the research will involve frontline police from the Queensland Police Service (QPS), citizens who have been subject to policing, and vulnerable communities, to explore ways to increase the trust that people place in the use of their data.
The CIRES five-year program of works will kick off in early 2021.
The ISSR team: Professor Mark Western and Professor Rhema Vaithianathan
