2025 Speakers and Program Preview | EMBL Australia

Program Overview

(Please note this program is subject to change)

🧠 Week One – Big Ideas & New Tools

Be welcomed by Jo McEntyre, Interim Director, EMBL-EBI.
Explore national efforts in AI and machine learning across the life sciences.
Attend focused sessions on mathematical modelling, systems biology, and computational approaches.
Build skills in:
- Machine learning for life sciences (Australian BioCommons)
- Data visualisation


Monday 1 December	Welcome and Intro to AI Across Australia Chief Scientist South Australia, Prof Craig Simmons Jo McEntyre, Interim Director, EMBL-EBI
Tuesday 2 December	AI in the Life Sciences & Communicating with Impact Workshops kindly presented by Australian BioCommons WORKSHOP: Machine Learning in the Life Sciences Dr Benjamin Goudey, Australian BioCommons, AI Technical Lead WORKSHOP: Mastering Data Visualisation Design Dr Giorgia Mori, Training and Communications Officer
Wednesday 3 December	Biological and Computational Sciences Proudly supported by the ARC Centre of Excellence for Mathematical Analysis of Cellular Systems (MACSYS) Through the use of mathematical models, data analysis and computational thinking, we’ll ask and answer research questions in a new way. Content covered on these two MACSYS supported days will be presented by their diverse group of Chief Investigators, experts in mathematics, statistics, and machine learning, biophysics, computer science, bioinformatics, and data science.
Thursday 4 December	Math and Modelling Proudly supported by the ARC Centre of Excellence for Mathematical Analysis of Cellular Systems (MACSYS) Lan Nguyen, Group Leader, SAiGENCi
Friday 5 December	Australian Indigenous Genomics Dr Jimmy Breen, Chief Data Scientist of the Indigenous Genomics research group at The Kids Research Institute Australia Associate Professor Bastien Llamas \| Evolutionary Biology, Genetics, Ancient DNA and Bioinformatics Dr Justine Clark, Postdoctoral Research Fellow

🧬 Week Two – Applications, Communication & Careers

Investigate applied research topics, including Indigenous genomics, and Omics and therapeutics
Imaging techniques and AI integration
Build your communication and storytelling skills
Explore career paths with guest speakers from academia, industry, government, and research infrastructure.

📢 Build your presentation skills

3MT presentations throughout the 2 week course
Prepare group presentations to reflect on the learned skills from the week
Present your work in a poster presentation, with expert feedback and guidance


Monday 8 December	Omics Workshops kindly presented by the South Australian Genomics Centre
Tuesday 9 December	The Future of Regenerative Therapies Proudly supported by the Solutions for Manufacturing Advanced Regenerative Therapies (SMART) Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) This session brings a strong industry and commercialisation lens to the course, covering topics such as biomanufacturing, bioseparation, and biomaterials, and clinical enablement. Participants will explore how scientific advances in regenerative medicine are translated into real-world applications and scalable technologies.
Wednesday 10 December	Communicating to Diverse Audiences Dr Jonathan Berengut, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, UNSW Jodie Haigh, Scientific Communications, ARC Poster Session (open to the public)
Thursday 11 December	Imaging Techniques and AI Applications Associate Professor Izzy Jayasinghe, Head of the Department of Molecular Medicine in the School of Biomedical Sciences, UNSW
Friday 12 December	Career Development and Pathways Prof Kathy Andrews, Impact CV workshop Panel and discussions with leading experts across industry, academia, international, policy, research infrastructure and more! with Dr Denis Bower, CSIRO and Dr Monica Espinosa Gomez, from the Office of Australia’s Chief Scientist