Photo: At the National Biosecurity Forum from right to left from the University of Melbourne (CEBRA): Sean Haythorne, Research Software Engineer, Professor Andrew Robinson CEO, and Associate Professor Susie Hester Deputy CEO; then on the right Biosecurity Commons Project Manager Rob Clemens.
Brisbane, Queensland – Biosecurity Commons’ Project Manager, Dr Rob Clemens, took part in a lively panel discussion at the National Biosecurity Forum on Wednesday 5 April 2023.
Featuring on a panel titled ‘Technology and industry co-design’, Dr Clemens spoke about the platform and its potential to improve biosecurity analytics and how this opportunity should be grasped.
The Forum brought together a diverse range of industry, government and community stakeholders from around Australia to discuss challenges, opportunities, and innovative approaches for protecting Australia’s biosecurity system.
Speaking during the panel session, Dr Clemens said Biosecurity Commons has been able to use the incredible work of CEBRA at the University of Melbourne and ‘translate that science into point and click dashboard tools where anybody has access’ without the need of advanced coding skills.
He also emphasised the advantage of having an online environment which facilitates collaboration and comes with ‘curated data, all assumptions, workflows and results you can not only share but also use as a template for later – and you can update those results with new data’.
Dr Clemens was asked about whether the platform hints at the future for biosecurity and what the next steps are.
He said: “The next step is to keep that active translation going and to build a community of people who are using these tools and collaborating across jurisdictions.
“Building that bridge between science and professionals is what this platform does. We can take science and translate it into easy-to-use tools so I hope we can take advantage of that.”
He finished by reiterating the importance of an engaged community which can collaborate and share, and how an online tool like Biosecurity Commons is one way of making that happen. “If we break down these silos it’s game changing,” he said.
Biosecurity Commons launches on 10 May, find out more.
