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8th Australia-Spain Research Forum: A Digital World

Conference organised by the Spanish Researchers in Australia-Pacific.

The association Spanish Researchers in Australia-Pacific (SRAP)  organises annually the “Australia-Spain Research Forum”, a multidisciplinary conference aimed at the wider community, to highlight Australia-Spain research and present broad research and cultural topics which are of special interest to the Australian and Spanish societies.

SRAP promotes and supports networking between Australia-Pacific and Spanish research institutes and universities and provides assistance and networking support for Spanish researchers in Australia-Pacific. The Australia-Spain Research Forum is our main networking event, putting together Australian and Spanish researchers in multiple disciplines, as well as between universities, research centres, industries, diplomats and artists who have an interest in scientific research.

In 2022 we are organising the 8th Australia-Spain Research Forum entitled “A Digital World“, with the aim of showing “How the digital world is all around us”.  It will be hosted at the Australian Hearing Hub, Macquarie University (Sydney, NSW) on Friday 25th of November 2022 with the option of attending virtually or in-person.

This edition of the SRAP Forum is sponsored by the Spanish Embassy in Australia, the Australia-Spain Council Foundation, the Ramón Areces Foundation,  Instituto Cervantes Sídney  and Indra Australia – to whom we are extremely grateful for their continuous support.

The 2020 Australia-Spain Research Forum “Big Data” and the 2021 Australia-Spain Research Forum “A Collaborative World” were successful not only because of the expertise of the speakers and the very interesting talks but also because on-line participation was possible, with all the presentations available in the SRAP YouTube Channel.

This 2022 SRAP Australia-Spain Research Forum promises an exciting program about how the digital world is all around us. We will discuss three “Big questions” with key experts speakers:

  1. artificial Intelligence,
  2. block chain and digital security,
  3. and virtual reality,

followed by a series of applied talks with concrete applications of the digital world in Astronomy, soil mapping, education, art and design, and oceans.

We will also host a roundtable about “is living in a digital world good or bad for humankind?” to trigger the conversations and discussions about what good things have brought the digitalisation… and what bad things!

During the breaks we will have demos of a Virtual Reality system, thanks to TFOM and CSIRO.

We will close the 2022 SRAP Australia-Spain Research Forum with the announcement of the winner of the new SRAP-frA Early Career Research Award and the launching of the PhD Cotutelle Program between Macquarie University, SRAP and Instituto Cervantes with two Spanish universities.

Attending the 2022 Australia-Spain Research Forum “A Digital World” is free, you can register to attend virtually or in person now.

Program

The program of the 8th Australia-Spain Research Forum “A Digital World“ is available in this link to a PDF file (including the Conference Poster). The Conference Booklet compiling all the information (program, abstracts, bios, acknowledgements) can be found in this link to a PDF (size of 8 Mb).

The program of the 8th Australia-Spain Research Forum “A Digital World“ is:

10:00-10:30
REGISTRATION
+ WELCOME COFFEE

10:30 – 11:00
FORMAL OPENING
– HE Ms Alicia Moral-Revilla
Spanish Ambassador in Australia
– HE Miguel Bauzá More
Spanish Ambassador in New Zealand
– Prof. David Couts
FSE Dean, Macquarie University
– Ms Inmaculada Riera
General Director, Spanish Chamber of Commerce
– Mr Israel Lozano Barragán
CEO Navantia Australia
11:00 – 11:10Opening address from SRAPDr. Ángel R. López-Sánchez
(SRAP & Macquarie University)
11:10 – 12:20
SESSION 1:
BIG QUESTIONS
 		Chair:
Assoc. Prof. Marian Vidal-Fernández
(University of Sydney & SRAP)
11:10 – 11:30BIG QUESTION 1:
Artificial Intelligence:
When and how to regulate AI
a comparative view with some
personal thoughts		Dr José-Miguel Bello y Villarino 
(UTS & SRAP)
11:30 – 11:50BIG QUESTION 2:
Block Chains:
Blockchains and fractal governance:
towards a decentralisation roadmap		Prof Marta Poblet (RMIT) 
11:50 – 12:10BIG QUESTION 3:
Virtual Reality:
The connected world of tomorrow:
how VR can take us
beyond being there 		Dr Vanessa Moss (CSIRO) &
Dr Glen Rees (TFOM)
12:10 – 1:45
LUNCH & NETWORKING
Including demonstration of VR system
1:45 – 3:00
SESSION 2:
Digital World applied

Chair:
Dr Mariel Familiar López
(Griffith University & SRAP)
1:45 – 2:00Digital AstronomyDr Nuria Lorente
(Macquarie University & SRAP)
2:00 – 2:15Digital Soil MappingDr Mercedes Roman Dobarco
(University of Sydney & SRAP)
2:15 – 2:30Digital EducationProf Abelardo Pardo
(Univ. South Australia & SRAP)
2:30 – 2:45Digital Art and DesignMr Jonathan Zawada
2:45 – 3:00Digital OceansDr Marta Ribó
(Auckland University of Technology & SRAP)

3:00 – 3:45
COFFEE BREAK
Including demonstration of VR system

3:45 – 5:00
SESSION 3		Chair:
Óscar Pérez-Concha
(UNSW & SRAP)
3:45 – 4:15 FINAL DISCUSSION: 
Is living in a digital world
good or bad for humankind?		Panel: 
– Dr José-Miguel Bello y Villarino
– Prof Abelardo Pardo
– Prof Marta Poblet
– Dr Vanessa Moss
4:15 – 4:35SRAP-frA Early Career
Research Award		Dr Joaquín Valderrama & Winner
4:35 – 4:40Medal to
Dr. Joaquín Valderrama		HE Ms Alicia Moral-Revilla
(Spanish Ambassador in Australia)
4:40 – 4:55Launching of the PhD
Cotutelle Program
between Macquarie University,
SRAP & Instituto Cervantes		Prof Tracy Rushmer
(Macquarie University),
Dr Ángel López-Sánchez
(Macquarie University & SRAP)
& Ms Coral Martínez
(Instituto Cervantes)
4:55 – 5:00Concluding remarksAssoc. Prof Sergio León-Saval
(University of Sydney & SRAP)
5:00 – 6:00

Conference Photos & Drinks

7:30 – 9:30Conference Dinner

Speakers

The 2022 SRAP Australia-Spain Research Forum promises an exciting program about how the digital world is all around us. 

We will discuss three “Big questions” with key experts speakers:

  • Dr José-Miguel Bello y Villarino (UTS & SRAP): BIG QUESTION 1: Artificial Intelligence.
  • Prof Marta Poblet (RMIT): BIG QUESTION 2: Block Chain
  • Dr Vanessa Moss (CSIRO) & Dr Glen Rees (CSIRO): BIG QUESTION 3: Virtual Reality

followed by a series of applied talks with concrete applications of the digital world:

  • Dr Nuria Lorente (MQ & SRAP): Digital Astronomy
  • Dr Mercedes Roman Dobarco (USyd & SRAP): Digital Soil Mapping
  • Prof Abelardo Pardo (Univ. South Australia & SRAP): Digital Education
  • Mr Jonathan Zawada: Digital Art and Design
  • Dr Marta Ribó (AUT & SRAP): Digital Oceans

We will also host a roundtable about “Is living in a digital world good or bad for humankind?” to trigger the conversations and discussions about what good things have brought the digitalisation… and what bad things!

We will close the 2022 SRAP Australia-Spain Research Forum with the announcement of the winner of the new SRAP-frA Early Career Research Award and the launching of the PhD Cotutelle Program between Macquarie University, SRAP and Instituto Cervantes with two Spanish universities.

Registration

While the 2022 SRAP Australia-Spain Research Forum “A Digital World” is free we require that all virtual and in-person attendees register through Eventbrite.

To register for the 8th Australia-Spain Research Forum follow this link.

Through this registration, attendees will receive a Zoom link from which they will be able to virtually attend the Forum.

Sponsors & LOC

The 8th Australia-Spain Research Forum “A Digital World: How the digital world is all around us“ is organised by Spanish Researchers in Australia-Pacific (SRAP).

Sponsors

This edition of the SRAP Research Forum is sponsored by

to whom we are extremely grateful for their continuous support.

Local Organising Committee (LOC)

  • Inés Benavente
  • Inmaculada Conde
  • Mariel Familiar López
  • Eladio Hernando
  • María Jones Caballero
  • Cristina Martínez Lombilla
  • Eva Millares
  • Sergio León-Saval
  • Paula Llull
  • Ángel R. López-Sánchez (Chair)
  • Jorge Pinilla
  • Sergio Pinilla
  • Ana Rubio
  • Luis Salvador-Carulla
  • Carmen Salvador Palomeque (co-Chair)
  • Joaquín Valderrama
  • Marian Vidal-Fernández