Co-Chairs
Philip Hall, RelmaTech Limited (UK)
Philip is a Director and the Chief Executive Officer of RelmaTech Limited (UK), a company he co-founded to develop secure integrated spatial management solutions for autonomous and semi-autonomous vehicles operating in the land, marine and airspace domains. RelmaTech currently has patents pending for its Secure Integrated Airspace Management (SIAM) system.
Philip is also an Associate Professor (At Large) with the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering at The University of Melbourne (Australia) where he supports collaborative international research programs focused on the practical application of emerging technologies. Previously he held tenures as Adjunct Professor at The University of Western Australia, and The University of the South Pacific.
Philip is a Senior Member of IEEE and a Fellow of both the Australian Institute of Management and Engineers Australia. In IEEE he is a member of the Aerospace and Electronic Systems Society (AESS) and the Society on Social Implications of Technology (SSIT). In AESS he is Vice Chair of the UAV Technical Panel, Chair Southeastern Michigan Chapter 3 (AES10/COM19), and has recently been appointed an AESS Distinguished Lecturer for 2017-2018. In SSIT he is Vice President of the Board of Governors and an SSIT Distinguished Lecturer. He is a regular guest editor of the SSIT Technology and Society Magazine, and an associate editor of the CSP Journal of Unmanned Vehicle Systems. He also served as a finalist judge for the UAE Government 2015 and 2016 ‘Drones for Good’ Awards, and the inaugural 2016 ‘Robotics & Artificial Intelligence for Good’ Award.
Philip currently serves on the IEEE-USA Government Relations Council (GRC) as Chair of the Committee on Transport and Aerospace Policy, and also as Co-Chair of the Ad Hoc Committee on Artificial Intelligence Policy. He represents the GRC on the Executive Committee of the IEEE Global Initiative for Ethical Considerations in the Design of Autonomous Systems, and it’s Committee on Effective Policymaking for Innovative Communities involving Artificial Intelligence and Autonomous Systems. He is also a member of IEEE-SA Working Groups for IEEE P7000™ Model Process for Addressing Ethical Concerns During System Design and IEEE P1920.1™ Aerial Communications and Networking Standards.
Thas A Nirmalathas, Melbourne Networked Society Institute
Professor Thas Nirmalathas is the Director of Melbourne Networked Society Institute, which is an interdisciplinary research institute focusing on challenges and opportunities arising from society’s transition to a networked society.
Prof Nirmalathas obtained his BEng and PhD in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from the University of Melbourne in 1993 and 1998 respectively. Between 2000 and 2004, he was the Director of Photonics Research Laboratory (Melbourne Node of Australian Photonics CRC) and also the Program Leader of Telecommunications Technologies Program. From 2004 to 2006, he was the Program Leader for the Network Technologies Research Program in NICTA. He was also the acting Lab Director of VRL in 2007. Between 2006 and 2008, He was the Research Group Manager of the Networked Systems Group of Victoria Research Laboratory (VRL) at the National ICT Australia (NICTA), a premier Australian research centre of excellence in ICT. Between 2010 and 2012, he was the Head, Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering at the University of Melbourne. In 2012, he co-founded the Melbourne Accelerator Programs (MAP) to support entrepreneurial activities of the University Community through business acceleration models. He remained as the Director of MAP for the period between 2012 and 2015 and provided academic leadership and remained as an Advisory Board Member between 2015 and 2017.