School of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering

Susan Beetson

Computer Scientist

The University of Queensland

Like my Dad, I was good at mathematics. He taught me to add faster than a calculator, through songlines and Culture on Country—through understanding core knowledge systems, lived experience through application, and persistence. My 6th grade teacher saw me as a programmer. Years later, I was setting up local area networks and writing scripts for document automation.

I progressed through IT roles to ICT Management and being totally self or mentor taught, I enrolled in university as a mature age student. I learned an understanding of fundamentals taught to me in my early life—core theories, frameworks and application, and persistence. My honours (1st class) led me to a PhD. I explored information systems theory, to understand the phenomenon that occurs between dyad pairs in culturally different social media networks.

My translational research today ensures practical and beneficial outcomes toward economic independence, as determined by Aboriginal communities. We design and develop systems using immersive and emerging technologies to teach and collect Cultural Knowledges, Aboriginal archival methods to store and retrieve Knowledges, machine learning alongside kinship systems to facilitate cultural integrity and validation, which protects ICIP. We analyse these Knowledges, alongside Western science, to relate local, national, and global initiatives.

Susan Beetson is a Superstar of STEM.