Speakers
Meet Our Expert Speakers
Learn from industry leaders and innovators shaping the future of systems engineering
Katina Michael
Katina Michael is the inaugural program director of the MBA (Technology and Digital Strategy) at The University of Sydney Business School. She is professor of Strategy, Innovation and Technology. She connects technical, policy, and public audiences, raising awareness of socio-technical challenges and how to address them through human-centered systems design. Michael was formerly a joint professor in the School for the Future of Innovation in Society and School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence where she was also the Director of the Centre for Engineering, Policy and Society (CEPS) and a Senior Global Futures Scientist at Arizona State University. She is the founding editor-in-chief of the IEEE Transactions on Technology and Society and has advised governments and industry worldwide on responsible innovation. Her research helps guide professionals through the complex impacts of AI, automation, and digital transformation. She is a champion of public interest technology and principled innovation.
Dr. Stephen Craig
Dr Stephen Craig is the Director of the National Energy Analysis Centre at CSIRO, Australia’s national science agency.Stephen has more than 25 years of experience in applied research, strategy development and commercial innovation in systems engineering, digital technologies, and communications. Prior to joining CSIRO, Stephen led the national centre of excellence for Digital Engineering at Boeing Defence Australia, and he was Head of Strategy and Business Development at a spatial data analytics start-up.Stephen received his PhD in climate system modelling from Stockholm University. He spent many years in Sweden in leadership roles in mobile communication systems research, development and optimisation at Ericsson before returning to Australia in 2015.
Kiri Parr
Kiri Parr is a leading expert in construction law and procurement strategy, with more than 30 years’ experience advising on some of Australia’s most significant projects. She is known for simplifying complex contracts and designing procurement models that foster collaboration, reduce risk, and improve project outcomes. Through her independent advisory practice, Kiri helps clients and industry professionals navigate procurement frameworks and construction contracts, drawing on her background in private practice and senior in-house legal roles. Kiri is also an active contributor to the global construction community. She serves on the FIDIC Contracts Committee and the Law Council of Australia’s Construction and Infrastructure Committee, and sits on the boards of the Society of Construction Law Australia and the Dispute Resolution Board Foundation.
Lucio Tirone
Lucio Tirone is the Assembly, Integration and Verification (AIV) Lead Engineer for the Square Kilometre Array Observatory, with responsibility over the system level integration and verification phases of the low frequency radio telescope SKA-Low. Starting from a background in software-based electromagnetics, he grew a field expertise of over 25 years in Systems Engineering activities in large technological projects in the Defence, Aerospace and Transport sectors. He has been Head of the Systems Engineering department of Fincantieri, the largest Italian naval shipbuilder, co-founder and Technical Director of the engineering company Aster, Director of the EMEA Sector (Europe, Middle East and Africa) of INCOSE, the International Council on Systems Engineering, and co-founder and President of the Italian Association of Systems Engineering. Lucio Tirone holds both INCOSE CSEP and ESEP Certifications (Certified and Expert Systems Engineering Professional). He is also OMG-Certified Systems Modelling Professional and certified IBM Rational Systems and Software Engineering Sales Professional.
Prof Andrew Dempster
Professor Andrew Dempster is Director of the Australian Centre for Space Engineering Research (ACSER) in the School of Electrical Engineering and Telecommunications at the University of New South Wales (UNSW). He has a BE and MEngSc from UNSW and a PhD from the University of Cambridge in efficient circuits for signal processing arithmetic. He was system engineer and project manager for the first GPS receiver developed in Australia in the late 80s and has been involved in satellite navigation ever since. His current research interests are in satellite navigation receiver design and signal processing, areas where he has six patents, and new location technologies, and space systems, especially those related to extracting water. He is leading the development of space engineering research at ACSER.
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