CIDS
Professor Melanie Johnston-Hollitt
Director, Curtin Institute for Data Science
Leads the institute direction across data science, AI, research software, industry engagement and applied research delivery.
CIDS people
Who leads
Led by the CIDS director, with senior Curtin leadership around the work.
Project direction starts with CIDS, but it is backed by Curtin's research, faculty and innovation leadership. That matters when a project needs academic depth, institutional support or a pathway into industry.
Institute leadershipFaculty connectionIndustry pathway
Curtin University
John Curtin Distinguished Professor Melinda Fitzgerald
Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Research
Sets university research strategy and supports the research partnerships that CIDS work plugs into.
Faculty of Science and Engineering
Professor Chris Rawson
Interim Pro Vice-Chancellor, Science and Engineering
Connects CIDS into Curtin's computing, engineering, mathematics and science capability.
Innovation and industry
Dr Daniel Marrable
Director, Innovation Central Perth
Links university expertise, industry problems and delivery pathways through Curtin's innovation network.
CIDS leadership shapes the fit, then hands the work to the right project team.Talk to CIDS
Org chart
The CIDS team, from institute leadership through delivery.
The public org chart is less useful as a pile of boxes than as a map of who carries which part of the work: leadership, partnerships, software, data science, HPC and research-data infrastructure.
Director
Professor Melanie Johnston-Hollitt
Director, CIDS
Leads the institute and sets the direction for applied data science, HPC, research software and industry-facing work.
Business, partnerships and operations
3 people in this branch
Dr Valentina Tiporlini
Business Development Manager
Strategic partnerships, AI initiatives and project pathways.
Wioletta Karas
Institute Administrator
Institute operations, coordination and director support.
Dr Daniel Marrable
Director, Innovation Central Perth
Industry innovation, data analytics and visualisation pathways.
Software delivery
4 people in this branch
Veelash Mongar
Software Development Team Lead
Web applications, end-user training and research software.
Josh Williams
Software Developer
Front-end, mobile and custom software architecture.
Dr Batbold Sangi
Software Developer
Backend development, machine learning and large data systems.
Alex Massen-Hane
Software Developer
Programming, optimisation, data analysis and HPC.
Data science and HPC
2 people in this branch
Dr Torrance Hodgson
Senior Data Scientist
HPC workflows, parallel computing and radio astronomy imaging.
Rebecca Handcock
Senior Data Scientist
Spatial data science, research evaluation and bibliometrics.
Research data partnership
3 people in this branch
Matthias Liffers
Product Manager, ARDC
Persistent identifiers, metadata profiles and research tracking.
Amanda Del Valle
Senior Business Analyst, ARDC
Requirements, data infrastructure and stakeholder management.
Trish Radotic
RDA Regional Community Manager, ARDC
Project management, community engagement and technical sales.
Project teams are assembled from this structure rather than assigned as a one-size-fits-all department.
Expertise and disciplines
The work can start as software, data, research or delivery.
CIDS covers the specialist layers that usually have to cooperate for data projects to land: the data itself, the models, the software, the infrastructure, the governance and the transfer back into practice.
Data engineering
Data readiness, pipelines, warehouses, APIs and the clean foundations models need.
AssessmentIntegrationQuality checks
Data science and AI
Machine learning, forecasting, optimisation, computer vision and responsible model evaluation.
ModellingEvaluationDecision support
Research software
Interfaces, tools and research code that move beyond notebooks into reliable use.
DashboardsPortalsWorkflow tools
Infrastructure
Compute choices, cloud patterns, secure environments and high-performance pathways.
HPCCloudSecure data
Governance
Privacy, ethics, assurance and documentation for work that has to withstand review.
RiskEthicsControls
Capability building
Training, technical mentoring and handover so teams can keep using what is built.
TrainingPlaybooksHandover
Who works on my project
Small delivery teams, assembled from three practical groups.
The exact mix depends on the brief. A project might need one data scientist and a project lead, or a wider build team with software, data, governance and training support.
Software
People who turn research and workflow needs into usable systems.
Solution architect
Shapes the build, integration points and technical tradeoffs.
Full-stack developer
Builds interfaces, APIs, dashboards and production workflows.
Research software engineer
Turns analysis code into tools that can be rerun and maintained.
UX and service designer
Maps users, decisions and handover moments into the product.
Integration specialist
Connects new work with existing systems, data sources and vendors.
QA and release support
Tests behaviour, documents releases and catches delivery risks.
Data
People who assess, prepare, model and explain the evidence.
Data scientist
Builds models, tests assumptions and explains what the result means.
Data engineer
Prepares robust data flows, schemas, access patterns and checks.
Machine learning specialist
Chooses, trains and evaluates models for the problem at hand.
Analytics translator
Connects technical work to operational decisions and constraints.
Visualisation specialist
Makes patterns inspectable through dashboards, reports and maps.
Governance reviewer
Checks privacy, ethics, access and assurance requirements.
Project management
People who keep the project scoped, coordinated and explainable.
Project lead
Owns delivery rhythm, decisions, blockers and partner communication.
Scoping lead
Turns the rough question into options, risks and a first plan.
Partnership manager
Coordinates Curtin, industry, government and external contributors.
Funding advisor
Matches the work shape to grants, schemes and budget evidence.
Technical writer
Makes plans, findings and handover material clear enough to use.
Training coordinator
Plans workshops, capability uplift and post-project adoption.
Affiliates and Curtin network
Affiliate researchers extend the CIDS bench into Curtin faculties.
These are the people and research areas CIDS can connect into when a project needs specialist academic depth beyond the core delivery team.
Faculty of Humanities
Dr Ashish Doshi
Areas of Research: Visualisation, photogrammetric 3D reconstruction, computer vision, VR technologies, HPC hardware infrastructure and software development.
Faculty of Science and Engineering
Rakib Hasan
Areas of Research: Natural language processing, deep learning, trustworthy AI and affective computing.
Faculty of Health Sciences
Dr Saurabh Gupta
Areas of Research: Cancer genomics and bioinformatics.
Faculty of Humanities
Professor Lucy Montgomery
Areas of Research: Open knowledge, scholarly communication, university performance, open access and digital scholarship.
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