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The Role of Ethics in the Age of Automation

Announcement posted by Pearcey Foundation 22 Aug 2019

UK data ethics and privacy expert Roger Taylor to present the 2019 Pearcey Oration
The Pearcey Foundation has attracted international thought-leader Roger Taylor, Chair of the UK Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation to present the 11th Pearcey Oration at a dinner event at the Woodward Centre, Melbourne Law School on Tuesday, 27 August 2019. The event will feature the presentation of the 2019 Victorian Pearcey Entrepreneur of the Year, the 20th year for this award.
 
The 2019 Pearcey Oration will explore the key challenges Australia faces as we become increasingly reliant upon artificial intelligence. While AI has been prevalent in the software industry for many years, it is now being recognised as a pervasive force impacting our daily lives - professional, business and personal. As Roger Taylor will argue, the ethics surrounding the application of AI in our society is challenging as machines make more and more decisions without the context of human considerations. Taylor’s oration will include a "fireside" chat with Dr Greg Adamson, a world leader in ethics in technology and an Enterprise Fellow in Cybersecurity for the Melbourne School of Engineering at the University of Melbourne.
 
The Pearcey dinner is supported by the Victorian Government and forms part of its Digital Innovation Festival (DIF2019) program. DIF2019 runs over two weeks from 23 August to 6 September and is a unique initiative to develop, demonstrate and promote technology innovation across every sector of the economy and society.
 
The Pearcey Oration is presented each year by an eminent expert reflecting on critical contemporary issues impacting our nation that are driven by the introduction of advanced technologies into our society. Past Orations have been given by the ABC's Science Show host Robyn Williams, Victoria's Lead Scientist Amanda Caples and Paul Shetler's 2018 provocative Oration entitled "Be Bold Australia".
 
“Each year, the Pearcey Foundation is focused on presenting a topic that should be front of mind for our technology sector. In the face of the rapid development in automation and the increasing concerns about our individual privacy and the use of our personal data, it’s important that we think far more carefully about how we chart this new world safely,” said Wayne Fitzsimmons, Chair, Pearcey Foundation.

You can watch a video of the #DIF2019 Pitch for the Pearcey Oration from Jordan Green, chair of the Victorian Pearcey Committee here: https://youtu.be/whw1bCG7H50.

Pearcey Oration details
  • Date: Tuesday 27 August 2019
  • Time: 6.30pm for 7:00pm
  • Venue: Woodward Centre, 10th floor, Melbourne Law School (Building 106), University of Melbourne, 185 Pelham St, Carlton
  • Price: $250/ $150 (public funded R&D organisations and friends of Pearcey)
  • Special rates for tables
To register, please go to: Pearcey Oration 2019 or call Slatterys on 03 9663 3093.

For more information about the Victorian Pearcey Entrepreneur Awards, go to https://pearcey.org.au/vic.

Other State Awards --

About Roger Taylor, Chair, UK Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation
Roger Taylor is chair of the Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation. He has worked as an entrepreneur, a regulator and a writer. He has argued for a rebalancing of control over data and information towards citizens and civil society. He is chair of Ofqual, the qualifications regulator and a member of the advisory panel to Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation. His has written two books: God Bless the NHS (Faber & Faber 2014) and Transparency and the Open Society (Policy Press 2016). He co-founded Dr Foster which pioneered the use of public data to provide independent ratings of healthcare. He worked as a correspondent for the Financial Times in the UK and the US and, before that, as a researcher for the Consumers' Association.   

About Dr Greg Adamson, Associate Professor and Enterprise Fellow in Cyber Security, University of Melbourne School of Engineering
Greg is an internationally recognised leader in the area of ethics in technology and has particular interest in AI, cryptocurrency/blockchain, and cybersecurity, an area in which he led strategy and practice for wholesale banking at ANZ Bank for nearly a decade. Today Greg is the Enterprise Fellow in Cybersecurity for the Melbourne School of Engineering at the University of Melbourne and continues his long-standing global leadership roles in ethics, digital inclusion and the social implications of technology with the IEEE, the largest professional association in the world.
 
About the Pearcey Foundation
The Pearcey Foundation Inc. is a non-profit organisation established in 1998 to raise the profile of the Australian Information and Communications Technology (ICT) industry and profession. It was created in the memory of one of the greatest pioneers of the Australian ICT industry, Dr Trevor Pearcey. By celebrating the heroes in our industry, past present and future, the Foundation is looking to attract and encourage young Australians into this most exciting of global high technology sectors of our nation.

Web: www.pearcey.org.au
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