Celebrating excellence: Deakin's newest ARC Laureate Fellow

The Australian Research Council (ARC) have named the 2017 ARC Laureate fellows this month. Designed to reflect Australia’s commitment to excellence in research, this prestigious award celebrates pre-eminent scientists and their leadership and mentoring contribution to Australia’s research community.

The Director of Deakin University’s Centre for Pattern Recognition and Data Analysis (PRaDA), Professor Svetha Venkatesh, was among those honoured. Professor Venkatesh is one of Australia’s leading experts in pattern analysis for accelerating scientific innovation. Her work has led to the development of several programs whose benefits span a range of industries. With significant financial incentive, the Fellowship will help Professor Venkatesh and the team at Deakin University to continue their important work.

Among Professor Venkatesh’s achievements is the development of a health analytics program to help doctors predict suicide risk in patients. The outcomes of this program have been spun out to create iHosp, a start-up that promises to improve efficiency and patient care in hospitals around the world.

Professor Venkatesh also played a key role in PRaDA’s development of the TOBY Playpad app, a program that is providing life changing therapy for children with autism.

To read more about the ongoing achievements and work of PRaDA, visit the Deakin University website.