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Entries open for 2022 Australasian Women in AI Awards
Wed, 15th Dec 2021
FYI, this story is more than a year old

Entries are now open for the 2022 Australasian Women in AI Awards to recognise those who are taking the road less travelled and the women who are paving the way for others to reach even further and to dare to dream even bigger.

Nominees can be researching, working, leading, or innovating AI within industry, government, NGOs, research institutes, startups, or universities.

“These awards are held to recognise and celebrate the incredible work of women in AI across our region and bring the AI community together with leaders across industry, government and academia to work together for AI for social good and to address diversity, inclusion and gender bias in AI”, says WAI Awards ANZ 2022 ambassador Angela Kim.

“WAI is dedicated to empowering more females in AI and technology to ensure females can thrive in the digital economy in the future.”

The 2022 awards include 14 different categories:

  • AI in Health (includes aged care and disability services)
  • AI in Mining
  • AI in Law
  • AI in Finance (includes insurance and superannuation)
  • AI in Agribusiness
  • AI in Cyber Security
  • AI in Education
  • AI in Defence and Intelligence (includes aerospace, geospatial data/AI)
  • AI in Infrastructure (includes transportation, energy, renewable energy, water services, telecommunications, waste management and smart cities)
  • AI in Manufacturing
  • AI in Creative Industries 
  • AI in Sport
  • AI in Climate (includes data management, impact predictions, risk analyses)
  • AI in Innovation (includes any ground-breaking, new and emerging AI process or technology in additional fields not mentioned in the above industry sectors)

There is also a $30,000 prize pool up for grabs across two main awards. The 'Australia - New Zealand WAI Innovator of the Year' will receive $12,000, the runner-up will receive $8,000, and the second runner-up will receive $6,000. The winner of the Australia - New Zealand WAI Trailblazer award will receive a $4,000 prize.

All WAI award winners will benefit from endorsement, prestige, recognition, opportunities for collaboration, and extensive national and global media exposure.

All nominees and winners will be celebrated at an invite-only WAI Awards 2022 Gala Dinner at the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne on 31 March 2022. The gala dinner will be hosted by actor and presenter Julia Zemiro and will include an exclusive pre-dinner soiree for VIP guests of the premier, principal and lead partners together with a curated invitation list of guests of honour.

The judging panel includes 27 people, including:

Skyjed founder and CEO Leica Ison; Deakin University senior lecturer Muneera Bano;  Sydney Institute of Criminolgy deputy director Allan McCay; Ocean Advocate director and board member Jas Chambers; Core Intelligence Technologies cofounder Paul Conyngham; Microsoft Australia director and national CTO Lee Hickin; Opyl cofounder Michelle Gallaher; AI For Good Foundation founder and chair Michael Witbrock; University of Technology Sydney executive director data science, Fang Chen; Data61 director Jon Whittle; NAB CIO Anastasia Cammaroto; Unearthed founder and MD Justin Strharsky; Australian AI Standards Committee chair Aurélie Jacquet CIPPE; CBA chief decision scientist Dan Jermyn; ANU school of cybernetics senior fellow Ellen Broad; UTS deputy vice chancellor and vice president of innovation and enterprise, Glenn Wightwick; Frazer-Nash Consultancy digital innovation lead Rita Arrigo; AiLab cofounder and head John Flackett; FlatWorld Integration cofounder and CEO Kim Chandler McDonald; Google Cloud - AI's Isuru Fernando; Soul Machines VP of channel partnerships Hilary O'Connor; CSIRO Data61's Toby Walsh FAA; ASTRO 3D Centre of Excellence director Lisa Kewley; Microsoft indigenous global co-chair Dan Walker; Australian Academy of Science chief Anna-Maria Arabia; University of Waikato Artificial Intelligence Institute associate director Jannat Maqbool; and Newcrest Mining CIO Gavin Wood.

Nominations close on Monday, 10th January 2022.