Analytics & Insights Manager

Grace Chung named grand winner in Women in AI awards. Wed, 9th Sep 2026 (Today) Women in AI has announced the winners of its 2026 awards for women working in artificial intelligence across the Asia-Pacific region, with Grace Chung named Grand Winner. Chung, Engineering Director and Head of Google Research APAC, also won the Foundational AI category. Associate Professor Dr Sharifah Sakinah Syed Ahmad was named First Runner-up, and Rita Arrigo, Founder of AI Native Futures, was named Second Runner-up. Now in their sixth year, the awards recognise women working across artificial intelligence, machine learning, data science, robotics, research and social impact in the public, private, non-government and university sectors. More than 1,000 nominations were submitted this year, with 50 finalists selected. Chung has helped build Google's AI research presence in the region. Her work includes founding Google's first AI research lab in Australia, established as part of the company's AUD $1 billion Digital Future Initiative. She now leads Google Research across APAC. Her career has spanned speech recognition, natural language processing and machine learning, as well as engineering leadership across products including ChromeOS, Chrome and Search. She is also a Fulbright Scholar and holds a PhD in Computer Science from MIT. The winners spanned a broad range of sectors and disciplines. In agribusiness, Su-Ann Porter, Head of Advanced Analytics - Data, Insights and AI at GrainCorp, won the AI in Agribusiness/Smart Farm and Rural Development category. In cyber security, Christina Wiremu-Brook, Founder and CEO of Kuria AI, won AI in Cyber Security (Risk Management). Associate Professor Dr Sharifah Sakinah Syed Ahmad of Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka won AI in Data, including data mining and predictive analytics. Dr Phyo Phyo San, Lead Research Scientist (AI/ML) at Defence Science and Technology Group in the Australian Government, won AI in Defence and Intelligence. Alexandra Thornton, AI Experience Lead at Westpac, won AI in Finance/FinTech. In health, Chantal Velasque, Head of Data and Analytics at Uniting NSW/ACT, won AI in Health/Biotech/MedTech. Louise Anderson, Senior Director, AI Product at Optus, was recognised in infrastructure, while Professor Mimi Zou of UNSW and Tenth Floor Chambers won in law. Other winners included Tori Starkey, Director at Kudosity, in marketing technology and creative industries; Aayushma Pant, Data Engineer at Earth AI, in mining; and Farina Riaz, Program Coordinator at MIT AIIHE and CSIRO Visiting Scientist, in space and quantum. Rita Arrigo won the Communicating in AI category, while Nella Luan, Head of Data Science at National Australia Bank, won for GenAI, agentic AI and entrepreneurship. Dr Mihoko Otake-Matsuua, Team Director at the RIKEN Centre for Advanced Intelligence Project and Director of Fonobono Research Institute, won AI for Social Good. Dr Ruey Yuan Lee, President of Hylove Business, won AI for Innovation. Dr Mandana Ghanavati, Senior Research Fellow at UNSW Sydney, won in climate and environment, and Dr Sidra Alam, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, won in education. Shannon Harty, AI Product Manager at Lendi Group, won Emerging Leadership in AI. Dr Zijue Chen, CERC Research Fellow at CSIRO, won in manufacturing, while Bobbie MacDougall, Lead Product Manager at Lendi Group, won in property technology. Leadership awards The program also recognised individuals and organisations in executive and leadership categories. Dan Jermyn, Chief AI Officer at Westpac, received the Warratah AI Luminaries award, while EBOS Group was named Golden Wattle Top Supportive Organisation. Wendy Simpson, Chair of Wengeo Group, won the Banksia Leader Advocate award. Shenaz Waples, Group Executive, People and Culture at Colonial First State, won the People, Talent and AI Leadership Award. Rowena Westphalen, Technical Success Lead ANZ at OpenAI, won the AI Inspiration and Technology Leadership Award. Belinda White, AI Adoption and Engagement Lead at CBA, was recognised in AI Adoption and Engagement Leadership, and Loren Sinclair, Enterprise Sales Director at Databricks, won for AI Go to Market and DEI Leadership. Renata Borovica-Gajic, Associate Professor in Data Analytics at the University of Melbourne, won AI Academic Excellence and DEI Leadership. The Australian Institute for Machine Learning at Adelaide University received the Responsible AI Research Leadership Award, and Natalie Piucco, Field CTO, Applied AI at Google Cloud, won AI Engineering and Cloud Leadership. Dr Liming Zhu, Research Director at CSIRO, was named Male National Champion. The event in Sydney drew more than 250 attendees from across the AI sector. Women in AI said its Australia and APAC chapter was established in 2017 by Angela Kim and is part of a wider network that has grown to more than 19,000 members across 150 countries. Angela Kim, President of Women in AI Australia, outlined the group's aims alongside the awards results. "At Women in AI Australia and APAC, we empower women and minorities to become AI and data experts, innovators and leaders," Kim said. "This awards platform elevates innovation, builds visibility, creates connections and strengthens the future of responsible AI. We're delighted to celebrate the vision, resilience, excellence and inspiration which each of this year's award winner trailblazers, visionaries and individuals represents for the next generation of AI leaders."

Jessie Davis moves into rail transportation sector. by Telum Media 31 August 2026 4:40 AM Jessie Davis has commenced at Auckland One Rail as Communications Specialist (contract), where she is responsible for managing external and internal communications ahead of the launch of New Zealand's largest transport infrastructure project, the City Rail Link. Jessie was previously Communications Manager at not-for-profit B Lab Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand, and prior to that worked as part of the Sustainable Business and Communications team at Unilever ANZ. She has also held roles across a number of communications agencies and continues to run her own consultancy, Davis Communications, servicing clients including the CSIRO Total Wellbeing Diet. Telum Media creating connections. Book a demo You might also enjoy. Hannah Stenning has been promoted to Head of Corporate Affairs for Westpac Institutional Bank. Based in Sydney, she first joined Westpac's corporate affairs team in 2024 as Executive Manager, working across various functions within its Business & Wealth Division. Prior to joining the banking and finance sector, Hannah spent time in an internal comms role at KPMG Australia, following more than a decade in the media, including roles at News Corp and Nine. 31 August 2026 2:08 AM The Earned View Every discovery call reaches the same moment. Somewhere between the pleasantries and the pricing, the prospect asks a version of the same question. How do you actually know if your PR is working? How is it proven? Research conducted by the International Association for Measurement and Evaluation of Communication (AMEC) suggests that the communications measurement gap is less about whether practitioners recognise the importance of proving impact, and more about how measurement is embedded into daily practice. A 2024 industry survey conducted on behalf of AMEC found that while practitioners report aligning PR metrics with broader business goals 80 per cent of the time, only half say measurement and evaluation get a dedicated budget line, and just 51 per cent say clients scope one into the RFP or SOW in the first place. The intent is there. The funding and follow-through often aren't. And client demand for proof is rising faster than the industry's ability to supply it. The same survey found seven in 10 practitioners say most or all their clients now require measurement, evaluation, and reporting to demonstrate effectiveness, and three-quarters say they're actively testing or adopting new measurement tools to keep pace. The demand side of the equation has clearly shifted. Whether the supply side, proof that actually holds up, has kept pace is a different question. The next blind spot, AI. In May, AMEC launched its GEO Principles for AI-led measurement, and one thread runs through them: visibility in an AI-generated answer is not, by itself, an outcome. The principles ask practitioners to distinguish being surfaced by an AI system from actually shifting awareness, trust, behaviour, or impact. They also call for practitioners to document the tools, prompts, platforms, dates, and other assumptions behind AI-visibility claims, and to treat observed AI outputs as directional evidence rather than definitive proof. That matters because AI visibility risks becoming PR's next version of AVE: a number that looks precise, is easy to report, and tells you much less than it appears to. The channel has changed. The measurement problem hasn't. Get weekly access to insights from the regions that matter to you. The relic everyone still leans on. 31 August 2026 1:00 AM 5 mins read Industry update Melior has been appointed agency of record for Rodd & Gunn, covering both the brand's fashion business and its growing hospitality venture, The Lodge Hospitality Group. The agency will be supporting the in-house team working across all strategic communications, talent engagement, event programming and brand partnerships. The two businesses will be run as separate accounts, each with its own dedicated strategy, bolstering Rodd & Gunn's ambitions for its heritage menswear label and The Lodge's positioning in hospitality. Daniel Higgins, Founder and Managing Director of Melior said: "We're thrilled to welcome Rodd & Gunn, one of New Zealand's most iconic heritage brands, to the Melior portfolio. Utilising our global experience we will be focused on sharpening the brand's presence in the Australian market and elevating The Lodge's hospitality offering. "Having worked with and launched some of the world's most respected brands across hospitality and F&B, I am eager to bring that expertise to Rodd & Gunn and The Lodge." 28 August 2026 6:15 AM