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BRISBANE QLD 4001 AUSTRALIA
Biography
Dr Petra Kuhnert is a Senior Principal Research Scientist at CSIRO, working at the intersection of statistics, machine learning and AI to support better decision making in complex, high stakes environments. Her work focuses on developing AI driven methods that are fit for purpose, grounded in real world evidence, and designed to be usable by decision makers in government, industry and the community.
She is recognised for leadership in applied and responsible AI for environmental and agricultural decision making, including work supporting Great Barrier Reef policy. Her contributions have been acknowledged through awards including 1st Runner Up, APAC Women in AI Innovator of the Year, and the APAC Women in AI Award for Environment and Biodiversity (2023).
More recently, her work has focused on breaking barriers to adoption of AI driven decision tools by enabling stakeholders and end users to engage with complex physical and simulation based models through machine learning emulators. She also works with geospatial and satellite data to support timely insight and decision making in disrupted systems, including global food supply chains affected by conflict. She is now working with a multidisciplinary team to support farmers and agronomists in developing an AI enabled crop model to help understand the impacts of disruptors such as climate variability on farm level decisions.
Her previous roles include Associate Science Director for University Engagement, one of CSIRO’s Research Integrity Advisors, and Group Leader of the Statistical Machine Learning Group in CSIRO’s Data61. She has co authored 100+ journal articles, with 6,000+ citations and a Google Scholar h index of 30+. Her collaborations span leading government departments, universities and industry.
Other Interests
I am involved with an initiative called RLadies (https://www.rladies.org/). As I am often in new cities, I helped found both the Canberra and Darwin branches in Australia. R is an open-source statistical programming language and forms the basis for many of my packages, methods and tools that I have developed, particularly the tools relating to visualisation and Great Barrier Reef loads estimation. Starting these chapters, particularly in more remote locations such as Darwin, has created opportunities to discuss my work with others who have interests from a broad range of backgrounds that lead to potential collaborations. This initiative has also offered women and gender-diverse people a voice in the coding and tech space that form the basis of many AI solutions. It has also expanded my collaboration network and my opportunities to engage with more diverse thinking.
I am a member of Women in Technology (WiT) and a newly founded Women in AI group in Brisbane.
Professional Areas
Academic Qualifications
-
1993
B App Sci (Mathematics)
Queensland University of Technology -
1994
B App Sci Honours (Mathematics)
Queensland University of Technology -
2003
PhD Statistics
Queensland University of Technology
Achievements and Awards
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2023--
APAC WAI Award - 1st Runner Up - Innovator of the Year
Jewlrock -
2023--
APAC WAI Award - Environment and Biodiversity Category
Jewlrock -
2022--
Venables Award for new developers of open source software (Team Effort)
Statistical Society of Australia -
2013--
Abdel El-Shaarawi Young Researcher’s Award
The International Environmetrics Society -
2010--
Julius Award
CSIRO -
2010--
CMIS @ the Table
CSIRO -
2009--
Best Poster
The International Environmetrics Society Conference -
2008--
Best Poster
Iinternational Biometrics Conference, Dublin
Related links
ORCID 0000-0001-9070-0091
We have publications by Dr Petra Kuhnert
Published data & software
We have published items by Dr Petra Kuhnert