Our speakers and facilitators
If you are interested in a keynote speaker or facilitator, please email us at info@transhumanism.com.au
MEOW-LUDO DISCO GAMMA MEOW MEOW
Meow-Ludo is an advocate for emerging technologies. He started Australia's first open access molecular biology lab, BioFoundry. The goal of this was to democratise science by reducing the cost and technological barrier with respect to molecular biology.
He plays mainly in the fields on microbiology, electronics, microfluidics, and astrobiology with a focus on closed complex systems. Last year he had an opal card implanted in his hand, and was fined for modifying the card. This began the first cyborg law case in Australia, and is currently still in court. He also is a federal candidate with the Science Party, running in 2017 in the seat of New England on a platform promoting AgTech.
Alyse is a software developer at Palo IT and has worked in AI and Blockchain startups. Alyse is also a freelance tech writer covering AI, Transhumanism and Emerging Tech. Alyse has co-founded three ventures including a genomic data machine learning startup, a health startup and Transhumanism Australia.
Alyse is also a startup mentor at CSIRO's ON: Sci-Tech Accelerator Program. Her startup, Genomix, was selected into both University of Sydney's Incubate and HCF's Catalyst startup accelerator programs.
Prior to this, Alyse was a founding team member of KPMG's Innovate team, focused on helping corporates innovate.
PETER SIMPSON-YOUNG
Peter's story with neurotechnology started from measuring levels of consciousness in a sleep lab whilst studying neuroscience, psychology, and philosophy at the University of Sydney. He started prototyping non-invasive brain stimulation devices in 2015 with Neill Wainwright & Dominik Fretz and spent much of 2018 developing a wearable non-invasive brain stimulation device with $65,000 of early-stage startup funding. Peter recently joined AbilityMate, a Sydney-based startup founded by Mel Fuller and Johan Du Plessis who fabricate custom made ankle-foot orthoses using medical-grade 3D printers. They’ve raised a $850,000 of social impact investment and $1.2m Disability Sector Scale Up Grant to provide 10 orthotists with a free open source 3D scanner.
Peter's presentation discusses novel ways to read and write to the brain. He’ll review consumer neurotechnologies and outline the race to develop the first at-home brain stimulation therapy. He'll discuss the feasibility of non-invasive brain computer interfaces and compare emerging technologies capable of thought-to-text. Peter will share recent innovations in 3D printing that enable low-cost fabrication of medical devices to improve healthcare service delivery. And Peter will briefly discuss US funding priorities, industry perspectives for neurotechnology, and the future of non-invasive brain stimulation.
DR ANDREA LEONG
Andrea is a microbiologist with an interest in how we can interact with microbes beyond obliterating them with antibiotics. In 2016 she completed a PhD at UNSW and the Brien Holden Vision Institute on the ability of antimicrobial peptide surface coatings to resist infection. She then moved into microbiome research with a biotech company in the chronic diseases space. Andrea is the leader of the Science Party and was its lead senate candidate for NSW at the 2019 federal election. She is an advocate for accountability and respect for evidence in government.
SHANE GREENUP
Shane is the founder of rbutr, the creator of The Socratic Web and an expert in digital misinformation and false beliefs. Immediately after graduating with a double degree majoring in Philosophy, Molecular Biology, and The History and Philosophy of Science, Shane became a web entrepreneur specialising in digital marketing and online community building. Shane's broad, generalist background gives him a unique perspective on the web and its potential impact on humanity over the coming decades.
Shane's broad set of passions also include blockchain technology, universal basic income, ethical non-monogamy, transhumanism, drug legalisation, biotechnology, social progress, philosophy, psychology, neurobiology, monetary policy, arbitrage trading, entrepreneurialism, innovation and community development.
ROWAN BRAHAM
Dr Rowan Braham is a Senior Innovation Engineer in the Laing O’Rourke Engineering Excellence Group, a leading centre for innovation in the engineered and build environment. Rowan has worked across a range of disciplines, including virtual and augmented realities, machine learning and data driven engagement, robotics and 3D printing, both in developing the technologies and leading their business implementation. Rowan has a strong belief that innovation is not just gizmos and gadgets, but is instead the interaction of technology with society and culture. He has developed and delivered a range of engagements around technology, culture and their interactions for local universities, Sydney Science Week, the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences (Powerhouse Museum), and Academy X.i
“We’re at an inflection point of being able to cure all diseases including the ageing process, solving intelligence, and conquering scarcity to create abundance.”
KPMG’s Senior Tech & Innovation Manager and Co-founder of Transhumanism Australia, Peter Xing co-founded this community that educates and invests in scientific research and technologies to enhance the human biological condition. From nanotech, biotech and artificial intelligence, Peter seeks to accelerate its research and applications to benefit society and wellbeing through Transhumanism Australia.
NATHAN WATERS
Nathan Waters is a futurist, entrepreneur and social decentralist. He is the founder the Web3 community, SydEthereum and founder of the mutual credit skill economy, Peerism in preparation for our post-capitalist future.
Nathan promotes an autonomous vehicle #vanlife and was the community manager for Consensys in Sydney.
Nathan also co-founded Hackagong, Australia's largest hackathon, which aims to ignite a grassroots culture of innovation and entrepreneurship in regional communities such as Wollongong and Bega.
ANURAJ GAMBHIR
Anuraj mentors organisations ranging from tech startups to large multinationals in order to spearhead their innovation agenda. He has over 26 years’ experience working across the mobile ecosystem spanning five continents, with organisations such as NASA/JPL, Optus, Logica/Aethos, T-Mobile, Orange, GSM Association, Sharp, Siemens, Spice, Ericsson, MTS and Globacom.
Anuraj coined the term, “Simplexity”, which is the essence of his work in curating relevant ecosystems, embracing digital disruption, designing compelling/novel solutions and creating delightful end user experiences (“Most Lovable Products”).
Anuraj has been actively involved in the evolution of key mobile initiatives, and was instrumental in launching the first integrated camera-phones outside of Japan, the Orbitor project (predecessor of the iPhone). He helped conceptualise the world's lowest cost tablet (Aakash for the Education sector), and also helped design a Innovation Thinking Lab (iZone) which incorporated a world first EEG-based neuro-feedback system.
Anuraj consults and speaks on Connected Devices/Wearable-tech, Smart Mobility, AI, Immersive Transmedia Storytelling via AR/VR-MR/XR, and Industry/Academia/Start-up Collaboration igniting sparks across industries, disciplines and verticals.
JOHN SHEA
John is a coach, mentor and trainer specialising in technology strategy and innovation. He has more than 20 years of experience in technology primarily in the startup sphere consisting of fintech, healthtech, biotech and media.
John was the Head of Research and Development at biotech company, Life Letters, which offered a range of DNA tests that provide insights into an individual’s health - helping them make informed health decisions. His research focused on artificial intelligence and machine learning associated with health and genetics.
John holds a Bachelor of Computer Science from the University of Newcastle, a Masters in Business Administration from the University of St. Gallen and have studied Artificial Intelligence at the University of New South Wales.
ANDREW GREIG
Andrew is a Customer Success & Operations Manager at Intellify, a machine learning consultancy. He has a burning interest in the future of humanity, especially in its relation to technology.
Andrew has four ‘B"‘ degrees: biochemistry, biotechnology, business and bodies. He has extensive experience in performance coaching and communicating the primarily non-technical pursuits of exercise, nutrition, and mindset/meditation. He also has been learning ever more about artificial intelligence in his current role.
Andrew has spent much of his life envisaging and actively trying to create a world in which we combine the intrinsic magic of technology, science, and the human experience into something greater.
BEAU WILLIAMS
Beau is a co-founder of Transhumanism Australia and worked in technology consulting for Ricoh Australia and AuthO, a global leader in Identity-as-a-Service (IDaaS), provides thousands of enterprise customers with a Universal Identity Platform for their web, mobile, IoT, and internal applications.
SAM BARTON
Sam is the host of "Talk of Today", a podcast where he interviews experts about developments in the world and what they could mean for the future.
Sam is currently studying philosophy and complexity science at the University of Sydney.
"We're at a unique point in time of history, perhaps the history of life itself. We possess technological prowess that borders on the godlike, but our wisdom is lacking. I'm studying philosophy and complexity science so that I'm better equipped to understand and engage with some of the most important discussions of our time.
We face challenges today that transcend national borders. The institutions and incentives we have in place are ill-equipped to deal with these challenges.
I believe a part of the solution to these problems is the creation of a digital global citizenship -- citizenship for all. This digital country could be used to advocate for global interests and act as a vehicle to deliver access to basic needs and rights around the world."
SKEEVE STEVENS
Skeeve is a Futurist, Transhumanist, entrepreneur, and technology polymath. He specialises in such areas as Future Crime, Internet Architecture, Virtual & Augmented Reality, Machine Intelligence, Computer Vision, Robotics, IoT, Smart Cities, Brainwear, Biohacking and Superhuman Performance.
He speaks internationally on all these topics and is an advisor to governments, military and law enforcement on critical infrastructure protection, counter-terrorism and the weaponisation of advanced technologies and their use in urban conflict, terrorism and crime. He is a former Director of the Internet Society, former Chair of the Policy Committee of Internet Governance organisation APNIC.
SHANTI KORPORAAL
Shanti is a Futurist, Serial Entrepreneur, Speaker, Facilitator, Whisky Chick and most of all, lives for Lightbulb moments.
She is co-founder and Director of Future Sumo, VR the World, Chip My Life, Niisch, eintellego Networks, eintellego Networks and Elastic Venues, with her husband, Skeeve. Her companies are about empowering her clients to grow and flourish in their own businesses or department.
Shanti is about transferring the knowledge that she has from her own life and experiences in a way that is relevant to the people she is with that results in a lightbulb moment, that leads to long term change and empowerment.
TIM CANNON
Tim is a futurist, grinder, and CEO and co-founder of Livestock Labs, a startup based in Sydney's Cicada Innovations which has developed an implantable health tracker for your livestock.
He is also the CTO of Grindhouse Wetware, a biotech startup that creates technology to augment human capabilities and where the implant health trackers have previously been tested.
Tim has had a variety of body modification implants, and has been referred to in the media as a "cyborg". Tim's combined experience gives Livestock Lab's motto that it's "Safe for Animals, Tested on Humans".
He has a long-term vision that journeys into theology. Across time, he sees the human brain connected to so much technology that most of our organic bodies become redundant.
DR JAMES JANSSON
James is the deputy leader of the Science Party. James Jansson grew up in Sydney’s west as the eldest of 6 children. He studied mathematics and later teaching at the University of Sydney. He did a short stint teaching in a school in western Sydney. Since then, James has completed his PhD in mathematical modelling of HIV disease progression and epidemiology. James has founded two Fintech startups, media payments startup, Tapview, and blockchain startup, XCredits.
James is excited about using technology and science to solve big problems in a cost effective way.
JONATHAN WOODS
Jonathan is a passionate technologist with a desire to disrupt current practices in science, medicine and finance to improve the world and humanity.
Co-founder and CFO at Livestock Labs, he is an experienced risk specialist with a demonstrated history of working in the financial services industry as a leading consultant and advisor to top corporations in the United States, the United Kingdom and Australasia with PwC, Deloitte, the Commonwealth Bank of Australia and fintech startups. His work has included advisory in the management of business operations, operational risk, major projects, suppliers and outsourcing and financial statements.
IAN WOOLF
Ian Woolf is a broadcaster, science journalist, and writer who lives in Sydney, and produces, presents, interviews, writes and edits for the weekly Diffusion Science Radio weekly radio show and podcast. Ian has a degree in Applied Science, worked as a solar astronomer, software engineer, systems programmer, webmaster, Cisco CCNA tutor, Computational Theory lecturer, and subject coordinator, and Physics demonstrator.
Ian has recorded podcasts of researchers from the Science Faculty of UTS to for the Science Communication curriculum,and for promotion of UTS research. Ian was the "Philosopher" at the "Immortality for Beginners" "Science On Tap" public panel discussion sponsored by Cosmos magazine.
AVINASH SINGH
Avinash Singh is a researcher at the University of Technology Sydney, working on Brain Computer Interfaces. In addition, his research interests include Neural Engineering, Cognitive Neuroscience, Transhumanism, and Longevity. He is the founder of the India Future Society and board member of the International Longevity Alliance. He is actively involved in supporting initiatives on the Singularity, Transhumanism and Longevity.
STEFAN VAN DER WEL
Stefan is a technology strategist, AI enthusiast, and lucid dreamer. He is passionate about the workings of consciousness in intelligent entities, including the philosophical debate as well as the latest physiological discoveries through science and technology.
By day, he provides technology strategy, architecture and delivery management services for information management and analytics initiatives with a focus in cloud, big data and master data. With 12 years of experience within leading business intelligence, software and management consultancies, Stefan has recently worked with IAG, CBA, Suncorp and QBE. In the past he has worked with Zurich Insurance, Optus, ANZ Bank, Shanghai Bank, Medibank, ACT Health, Queensland Health, Customs New Zealand, Telecom NZ (Spark, Chorus) and Vodafone NZ.
Stefan was also a C++ developer for SourceForge.net on the Dune Legacy project, an effort by a handful of developers to revitalize the first-ever real-time strategy game. His contribution has mainly been rewriting the AI, introducing linear algebra driven adaptive decision making.
BRENDAN CLARKE
Brendan works in Proxy Operations at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia and is a co-founder of Transhumanism Australia. Brendan ran as the Science Party Candidate for Berowra in the 2016 Australian Federal Election.
Brendan is passionate about guiding Australia towards its best possible future. Inspired by the exceptional utopia of “Project Australia” in Marshall Brain’s short story, Manna, Brendan applies his knowledge in cryptocurrencies, the maker movement, AI, robotics, cybersecurity and connectivity to design, develop and deploy solutions to accelerate this future.
LEO MAYBE
Leo is passionate about technogaianism.
Leo has over 20 years’ experience in the information technology space. His strengths and passion are in the areas of open-source software, security, distributed systems and innovation. He has worked with governments, corporates and startups across various industries including health, finance and education.
Leo has spent over 10 years focusing on fostering industry evolution towards automated and orchestrated programmable infrastructure, decoupled/decentralised and clustered architectures (virtualisation, private/public/hybrid cloud, high-performance computing clusters), with fleet sizes in the tens of thousands. He has in-depth focus in business transformation, data centre & cloud migrations, monitoring & instrumentation, and integrated systems management.
ANDREW DESPI
Andrew is a Director of Ecosystems at artificial intelligence company, a·kin AI. He is building partnerships to enable a·kin to improve human wellbeing at scale.
Formerly at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Andrew helped create CommBank's emerging technology capability from scratch by building a global ecosystem of startups, VCs, universities and technology partners. He integrated capability across strategy, human-centred design and emerging technologies to define visions of the future world (2030) for people and businesses, and how the Bank's role should change in order to stay relevant.
Andrew ran dozens of experiments across blockchain / smart contracts, Internet of Things, AgTech, AI and the sharing economy culminating in a world-first asset sharing experiment for agriculture as part of the Bank's vision for a machine-to-machine (M2M) economy. He is proud to have supported Australia's tech ecosystem through sponsorships, events, startup engagement and mentoring.
JAMES FERGUSON
James is a Genomic Systems Analyst in the Genomic Technologies team at the Garvan Institute of Medical Research.
James has contributed to multiple publications in the field of genomic research. He is also the cofounder of Cerebro Biosytems, which has developed a process to drastically reduce the wait time for superbug infection diagnosis and help select the best antibiotic drugs for treatment.
In addition, James is a developer for Healius Limited, one of Australia's leading listed healthcare companies.