ADM+S Members Awarded 2024 ARC Early Career Industry Fellowships
Author Natalie Campbell
Date 8 May 2024
Congratulations to Dr Jose-Miguel Bello y Villarino from the University of Sydney and Dr Jessica Balanzategui from RMIT University who are amongst just 50 recipients of the 2024 ARC Early Career Industry Fellowship grants.
Announced on 6 May 2024, ARC Acting Chief Executive Officer Dr Richard Johnson said that offering the opportunity for early career researchers to collaborate in an industry setting is critical to ensuring Australia’s capability in meeting future industry-identified challenges.
Dr Bello y Villarino’s project ‘Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Anticorruption’ is a collaboration with the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC), and seeks to realise the revolutionary potential of artificial intelligence systems as an anticorruption tool, providing a legal and policy roadmap to ensure data and methods are properly designed and deployed.
“The appointment is, above all, an exceptional opportunity to work with a leading partner on how to use AI and ADM in government in ways that are effective and efficient to achieve social goals, but ensure that the use of those future tools are procure and deployed responsibly,” said Dr Bello y Villarino.
“The partnership with ICAC, Australia’s longest-standing anticorruption agency, is expected to build in-house capacity and knowledge diffusion within ICAC, as well as deliver a holistic approach to ensuring the sustainability and broader impact of the project in other Australian anticorruption agencies.”
Dr Balanzategui’s project ‘Enhancing Discoverability of Australian Children’s TV in the Streaming Era’, aims to protect the Australian children’s TV sector by developing an understanding of how children use video streaming platforms to access local and age-appropriate content.
In collaboration with The Australian Children’s Television Foundation, the project expects to generate new evidence to inform regulation, investment, and strategy around children’s TV, as well as well as develop an education program with additional partner ACMI.
Dr Balanzategui explains, “this Fellowship provides me the opportunity to contribute directly to the Australian children’s television sector at a time of significant flux and policy change for the industry.
“For over 40 years the Australian Children’s Television Foundation (ACTF) has been a pivotal strength of the sector and the policy settings that undergird it, but the structure of the sector has been overhauled in the streaming era.”
Working with an advisory board of representatives from the ABC, ACMA and Screen Australia, the project will develop a prototype platform showcasing child-centred design principles for the benefit of the broader sector.
ARC Early Career Industry Fellowships are funded for three years under the Industry Fellowships Programs to help build innovation in the industry, community, not-for-profit, and other government and publicly funded research sectors.
Read the ARC Media Release.
