Charles Sturt appoints behavioural data science leader

Charles Sturt University has appointed Professor Ganna Pogrebna as the Inaugural Academic Director of the Charles Sturt Cybersecurity and Data Science Institute.

Pogrebna is a pioneer in behavioural data science, which combines behavioural science and data science techniques to understand, model and predict the behaviour of humans, algorithms and complex systems.

She was previously the lead of the Behavioural Data Science strand at The Alan Turing Institute, and remains at the institute as a fellow working on hybrid modelling approaches between behavioural science and data science.

She has also previously worked at Columbia University in New York, the University of Bonn, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, the University of Innsbruck, the University of Warwick, the University of Birmingham and the University of Sydney.

Pogrebna said her goal in the new role will be to avoid building a silo.

“I have spent several weeks visiting our researchers across the university’s campuses and became aware of the incredible work they are doing,” she said.

“The new institute will aim to support our local talent and build on it, seeing how we can develop new research collaborations in Australia as well as internationally. We will work closely with industry on new practical initiatives and promote diversity and inclusion in data science by working with our First Nations advisers as well as by increasing female and minority groups’ participation in cybersecurity and data science.”

Image credit: ©stock.adobe.com/au/Konstantin Postumitenko