Women in AI Awards 2022: Winners

The Women in AI Awards Australia and New Zealand for 2022 were held in Melbourne last week, and the trophies were awarded to the top women committed to using AI in the region.

Dr Amanda Caples, Dr Tony Lindsay, Dr Denis Bauer, Ramona Vijeyarasa, Professor Helen Frazer, Professor Joanna Batstone

• Women in AI Awards 2022: The transformative nature of AI

The most prestigious award of the night, the WAI Innovator of the year, was awarded to Professor Helen Frazer, radiologist, breast cancer clinician and clinical director at BreastScreen, St Vincent’s Hospital Melbourne, who is using deep learning artificial intelligence for breast cancer detection with mammography.

Frazer’s research also covers the ethical, social and legal implications of AI in healthcare, as well as health workforce preparation for AI tools and decision making.

In a Linkedin post commenting on her win, Frazer said, “I am deeply honoured by the recognition, which also acknowledges the incredible team and partners: St Vincent's Hospital Melbourne, St Vincent's Institute of Medical Research, BreastScreen Victoria, University of Melbourne, and University of Adelaide. Together we are on a mission to transform breast cancer screening with AI.”

Professor Helen Frazer, clinical director, St Vincent's Hospital Melbourne

Frazer was also awarded the AI in health award.

Other women in this category include the first runner-up Denis Bauer, group lead at CSIRO and an internationally recognised expert in artificial intelligence. She is CSIRO’s principal research scientist in transformational bioinformatics.

According to Bauer, “Winning the WAI Innovation award is a wonderful recognition and underlines for me how ready Australian Innovators are in bringing AI solutions to the global market with the help of cloud-computing.”

Bauer also won the AI in Innovation award.

The second runner-up in the innovation category went to Ramona Vijeyarasa, senior lecturer – program head, juris doctorate in the faculty of law at the University of Technology Sydney. She is the chief investigator behind the legislative index, combining law, engineering and data science to address the role of law in gender inequality.

Vijeyarasa said, “Receiving the Women in AI award provides the perfect evidence for why artificial intelligence and law can be allies in the fight for social justice.”

Vijeyarasa also won the AI in law award.

Winners in other categories are as follows:

WAI Trailblazer of the year and AI in Climate: Camille Goldstone-Henry

Stela Solar, director of the National Artificial Intelligence Centre (NAIC), Camille Goldstone-Henry, founder Xylo Systems Australia, Dr Jon Whittle, director Data61

AI in Creative Industries: Angie Abdilla
AI in Agribusiness: Melanie Zeppel
AI in Cybersecurity: Elena Sitnikova
AI in Defence and Intelligence: Flora Salim
AI in Education: Sandy Heldsinger
AI in Finance: Anna Leontjeva
AI in Infrastructure: Adriana-Simona Mihaita
AI in Manufacturing: Cori Stewart
AI in Mining: Eun-Jung Holden
AI in Sport: Rochelle Eime

Digital Nation Australia is a media partner for the Women in AI Awards Australia and New Zealand 2022.