ADM+S Summer School: building research capability for next-generation automation
Author ADM+S Centre
Date 13 February 2026
The ARC Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision-Making and Society (ADM+S) held its annual Summer School from 11–13 February 2026 bringing together over 120 researchers from its 8 partner universities across the ADM+S community.
Over three days, participants engaged in a rich program of interactive workshops, bootcamps, mentoring sessions and networking opportunities designed to strengthen methodological, technical and research capabilities, while fostering collaboration and connection across the Centre.
Sally Storey, Manager, Research Training and Development at RMIT University and organiser of the Summer School, said the event plays an important role in building research capability across ADM+S.
“The Summer School is our largest event of the year in the Research Training Program and a key opportunity for our geographically dispersed students and research fellows to come together in person, helping to build cohort and community while sharing knowledge and experimenting with new ideas.”
The program explored key themes including inclusive research methodologies, generative AI and scholarly communication, Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) systems, AI governance, academic publishing, career development and more.
ADM+S PhD candidate Brooke Coco said the opportunity to connect face-to-face with fellow researchers from across the ADM+S network was a standout feature of the event.
“The highlight always for coming to these Summer Schools is the chance to connect with other HDR and ECR students from all sorts of different universities and nodes all across Australia, that I don’t often get the chance to talk to in person.”
ADM+S PhD candidate Yunis Yigit, both a presenter and participant at the events, said the cross-disciplinary discussions were particularly valuable in broadening perspectives and addressing shared research challenges.
“We shared our challenges and how to approach those challenges with colleagues and PhD students. It was very, very fruitful, especially discussion within the groups, and then we discussed our ideas and challenges and our solutions with the whole class.”
“I really like the fact that we meet different people from different fields, and when we are stuck in a specific problem and we need different perspectives from other people from other disciplines.”
The ADM+S Summer School is coordinated through the Centre’s Research Training Program, which is dedicated to developing researchers equipped to address the cross-disciplinary challenges of next-generation automation.
ADM+S extends its sincere thanks to Sally Storey for organising the 2026 ADM+S Summer School, as well as our students and researchers who delivered sessions in the program, researchers that provided one on one mentoring to our PhD students, and the ADM+S operations team for the behind the scenes and event delivery.
