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Dr. Azadeh Ghari-Neiat is a Senior Lecturer in Software Engineering at the University of Queensland. Her research sits at the intersection of the Internet of Things (IoT), mobile computing, crowdsourcing, federated learning, and cybersecurity, with a particular focus on building trustworthy, privacy-preserving intelligent systems deployed at scale. Her current work explores federated fine-tuning of large language models (LLMs), enabling collaborative model adaptation across distributed environments without compromising data privacy, with emerging interests in the security and robustness of autonomous AI agents – bridging her long-standing expertise in distributed computing with the evolving challenges of trustworthy generative AI.

She completed her PhD in Computer Science at RMIT University in 2018. Prior to joining UQ, she was a Senior Lecturer at Deakin University, where she received two teaching awards and an innovation award from the School of IT in 2023 in recognition of her excellence in teaching, student engagement, and innovation, and previously held positions at the University of Sydney as a postdoctoral research fellow and casual lecturer.

At UQ, she coordinates COMP2701 (Generative AI) and lectures in DECO3800/7380 (Design Computing Studio 3), supervises postgraduate research students in areas including trustworthy LLM systems, and serves as program convenor of the Master of Software Engineering programs.

Dr David Ross, CPEng, RPEQ, MAICD, APEC Engineer, IntPE(Aus), is a recognised information security expert, a director on the boards of Australian proprietary and public companies, a Founding Director and current Chair of the Cloud Security Alliance Australia, a past Chair of Standards Australia’s IT-038 Committee for Cloud Computing and Distributed Platforms, has represented Australia as Australia’s Head of Delegation to numerous international ISO/IEC standards development plenaries over the past ten years, and is a co-editor of the ISO/IEC Standard 27071:2023 “Cybersecurity — Security recommendations for establishing trusted connections between devices and services”.

David is a Chartered Professional Engineer (CPEng), Registered both nationally (NER) and in Queensland (RPEQ), with degrees in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Class I Honours in the field of Computer Science, and a PhD in Information Security.

David is a Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP), Certified Information Security Manager (CISM), Global Industrial Cyber Security Professional (GICSP), SABSA Chartered Practitioner in Architectural Design (SCPA) and has also been a Payment Card Industry Qualified Security Assessor (PCI QSA) for ten years previously.

He is currently an Associate Professor with the University of Queensland’s UQ Cyber group and has previously worked as a cyber security consultant in critical infrastructure, heavy industry, utilities, finance and commercial sectors.

David has worked in the computer industry for 30 years and specifically in cyber security for over 20 years. He has particular expertise in Autonomous Vehicle Communications Security, Industrial Automation and Control System (IACS) Security, Cloud Computing Security, Wireless Network Security, the Payment Card Industry, and Public Key Infrastructures.

His consulting roles typically involve security infrastructure development and review, including co-operative and autonomous vehicles communications, enterprise architecture and industrial control systems for the resources and government sectors, as well as consulting in specialist areas of government and enterprise PKI, IoT and IACS.

David is a Senior Member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), a Chartered Member of Engineers Australia (EA), an Honorary Life Member of the Australian Information Security Association (AISA) and a Member of the Association of Computing Machinery (ACM), as well as leading the Cloud Security Alliance Australia (CSA-AU).