Keynote: A Decade of Experiences Educating the Next Generation of Cloud Savvy Developers

Abstract: Prof Sinnott has taught Cluster and Cloud Computing at the University of Melbourne since 2013 with class sizes growing from 50 (2013) to most recently over 400 (2023). In this time, there has been a continued evolution of technologies used for Cloud-based systems to support scalable big data processing applications. This talk covers aspects of the technological roadmap and lessons learnt in teaching the course including usage of national Cloud infrastructures. It provides examples of the case studies undertaken by students in developing full-stack, scalable software systems tackling large-scale heterogeneous data-driven challenges.

Biography: Professor Richard O. Sinnott (BSc, MSc, PhD) is Professor of Applied Computing Systems at the University of Melbourne. He has been technical lead on a multitude of large-scale international projects with emphasis on big data and security worth over $500m. This includes numerous projects in the defence, intelligence and biomedical domains. He has over 450 peer-reviewed publications across a range of computing and application-specific domains.

Keynote: Navigating Patterns and Anti-patterns in Research Technology Adoption for Speed and Effectiveness

Abstract: How are the research organisations and researchers that are in the forefront of technology adoption thinning about how new technologies and methods can improve the speed and effectiveness of research?  From technologies like GenAI and Quantum, to methodologies like Agile and MicroServices, there are some strong patterns and anti-patterns that are emerging.  This talk will discuss the patterns of success that are being seen in the customers that AWS work with in the research space and what trends we see being important in coming years.

Biography: Matt Greensmith is Amazon Web Services - Australian Public Sector Head of Solution Architecture. Matt runs a team of specialist architects in the AWS Public Sector business. An experienced and innovative technology leader, Matt understands that technology alone will not drive success, it needs to support the outcomes the people are trying to achieve. Matt has been working in the research space since the early 2000’s from building some of the early Infiniband clusters in Australia, through research data storage solutions, and currently spends a lot of time talking to Australian universities about how to use cloud methods to support research outcomes.  An experienced public speaker and a media spokesperson with published guides on data governance and driving analytics solutions.