Meet the DRAs

Phone: +61 2 8079 2500
Email: jonathan@intersect.org.au

Jonathan has twenty-five years of experience in research across both industry and academia, with a focus on health and medical applications of bioinformatics and data science. Prior to joining Intersect, Jonathan was an Associate Professor in Bioinformatics in the Sydney Medical School of the University of Sydney for twelve years, and during that time held coincident appointments as the Chief Technology Officer of Children's Medical Research Institute and the Chief Executive Officer of Sydney Bioinformatics. Jonathan holds a PhD in Chemistry from the University of Sydney; conducted postdoctoral training at Fox Chase Cancer Center, in Philadelphia, USA; and has six years of experience in the biotechnology / medical technology industry, including appointments as Senior Bioinformatics Scientist at Proteome Systems Ltd, a biotechnology start-up, and Founder of his own digital health start-up. For over six years, he has led the Intersect Services Team, including Intersect's core Membership Services: a team of  Digital Research Analysts and Digital Research Trainers providing digital research training and support to the researchers of Intersect member universities across Australia. Since 2022, he has overseen the establishment and operation of 3AI: Intersect's data science and analytics service that provides researchers in universities, government, and industry with access to critical data science, artificial intelligence, and machine learning support.

Email:

aidan.wilson@intersect.org.au

Academic Background:

Master of Arts, Linguistics

BLib. Stud., Linguistics

About:

Aidan Wilson is Intersect’s eResearch Analyst at Australian Catholic University, where his role includes administering the REDCap system, delivering user training, and supporting ACU’s users with consultation and advice. In his time as eResearch Analyst he has worked across several universities with research from a diverse range of disciplines. He is also a REDCap developer, having published several External Modules, and is active in the consortium community, assisting other administrators with tips, tricks, and troubleshooting. 

Aidan has a Masters by Research in Linguistics from Melbourne University, where his research was focused on the verb morphology of the Traditional Tiwi language, from the Tiwi Islands, Northern Territory. He has 9 years of experience at PARADISEC as data manager, archive systems officer; 7 years as Field Linguist and researcher.

Personal Interests:

Australia's Indigenous languages. Data management. Automation and solution design. Helping researchers achieve their aims.

Email: ankit@intersect.org.au

Location

University of New England

Academic background

PhD, Theoretical Physics, University of Adelaide

BSc, High Performance Computational Physics (Honours) (First Class), University of Adelaide

Personal interests

Data collection, visualization, and analysis; using data science and machine learning tools to solve complex problems

Experience

Dr. Ankit Beniwal is a Digital Research Analyst at the University of New England, commencing his new role in mid-May 2024. He holds a PhD in Theoretical Physics from the University of Adelaide and has garnered extensive research experience during his tenure as an associate at King’s College London, UK, and UCLouvain, Belgium, over a period of 5 years. Transitioning to the industry, Ankit brings over 8 years of expertise in utilising diverse programming software and operating high-performance computing systems. He is now dedicated to leveraging his academic background to explore machine learning tools and advance data-driven solutions in both research and practical applications.

Email: dj@intersect.org.au

Location:

La Trobe University

Academic Background:

Master of Data Science
Bachelor of Mathematical Sciences

Personal Interest:

Supporting researchers in achieving their best research goals and outcomes using REDCap, graph databases and machine learning

Experience:

Ayodeji Ladeinde is Intersect’s Digital Research Analyst at La Trobe University (Bundoora campus) where his role includes administering the University's REDCap instance, delivering user training, and supporting LTU researchers towards achieving their goals and outcomes. Before his current role, he worked overseas at a Reserve Bank for over 10 years, leading process improvement and policy development for secondary market operations as well as managing the Real-Time Gross Settlement System.

DJ has a Masters in Data Science from Deakin University, He discontinued his PhD at Monash University in June 2023 due to family commitments and his research was focused on the use of graph databases for requirements analysis.

Email: hamideh@intersect.org.au

Location:

University of Adelaide

Academic Background:

PhD, Computer Science
Msc, Information Technology Management
BSc, Industrial Engineering

Personal Interest:

Using technology for good

Experience:

Dr. Hamideh Iraj is a Digital Research Analyst at Intersect Australia, based at University of Adelaide. She has a strong track record of completing quantitative projects in different domains. She is very keen on using her analytical, programming and machine learning skills to solve real-world problems.

Email: heela@intersect.org.au

Location:

University of New South Wales

Academic Background:

PhD, Social and Political Sciences
MA, Social Sciences
BSc, Computer Science

Personal Interests:

Researching racism and Islamophobia in Australian political discourse.

Experience:

Dr Heela Popal is the Digital Research Analyst at UNSW. She has 5+ years as a sessional academic tutor and Digital Research Trainer.

Email: xingyong@intersect.org.au

Location:

Western Sydney University

Academic Background:

PhD, Theoretical & Computational Chemistry

BSc, Chemistry

Personal Interests:

Computational study of chemistry, biophysics and nanomaterials.

Experience:

Jeff Wang is the Intersect Digital Research Analyst for Western Sydney University, with a research background in Computational Chemistry. He is the WSU Qualtrics Brand Admin and one of the WSU REDCap administrators. Jeff has more than 3 years’ experience in delivering training courses and supporting researchers on the use of digital research tools, such as Qualtrics, REDCap, and Excel.

Email: jianzhou@intersect.org.au

Location:

University of Technology Sydney

Academic Background:

PhD, Photovoltaic Engineering

BE (Hons I), Photovoltaic and Solar Energy

Personal Interests:

Training and researcher engagement. Engineering system design and optimisation. Renewable energy innovation.

Experience:

Dr Jianzhou Zhao is a Digitial Research Analyst based at University of Technology Sydney. Jianzhou holds a PhD in Photovoltaics and Solar Energy Engineering. He has 6+ years as an digital research training instructor and coursework demonstrator; 2+ years as a Project Manager and a Research Assistant.

Email: katherine@intersect.org.au

Location:

University of South Australia

Academic Background:

PhD Information Science
Master of Arts (Digital Library Learning)
Grad. Dip Info Studies
Bachelor of Music

Personal Interests:

New and emerging roles for information professionals, particularly around data science, research data management, and in the GLAM (galleries, libraries, archives and museums) sector; Digital Humanities; Public Libraries' relationship to the Public Sphere.

Experience:

Dr Katherine Howard is Intersect Australia's Digital Research Analyst for UniSA. She supports UniSA researchers by providing expertise in various digital tools and technologies, facilitating access to NCI's HPC (Gadi), and coordinating Intersect's training program for UniSA staff and students. Katherine's background is in Information Science and she has extensive national and international experience as a researcher and academic. Katherine was most recently a Research Fellow with the ARC-funded 'Library and Information Science Research in Australia' (LISRA) project, aimed at enabling and encouraging research in Australia's library and information profession. Prior to this, she was an Early Career Development Fellow at RMIT; has held academic positions at QUT and UniSA; and undertaken sessional work with Curtin University and Charles Sturt University. Dr Howard has received many scholarships and research awards. She was awarded a two-year scholarship to undertake the Erasmus Mundus International Master in Digital Library Learning, studying with world-renowned Information Science scholars in Norway, Estonia and Italy. Katherine was the first person outside of North America to win a Eugene Garfield Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship, and her PhD, completed at QUT, was nominated for an Outstanding Doctoral Thesis Award. Katherine's research focuses on new and emerging roles for information professionals, particularly around data science, research data management, and in the GLAM (galleries, libraries, archives and museums) sector. She also has a keen interest in the Digital Humanities.

Email: kyle@intersect.org.au

Location:

University of Canberra

Academic Background:

PhD, Ecological Modelling

BSc(Hons) Botany, Ecology, and Plant Physiology

Personal Interest:

ML/AI
Data Science

Expertise:

Kyle Hemming is a Dgitial Research Analyst based at the University of Canberra. Kyle has 7+ years experience using the programming language R and in statistics. He has a range of teaching experiences, including student supervision, science communication, tutoring and guest lecturing. Kyle completed his undergraduate and honours at the University of Otago, New Zealand, and recently finished his PhD on invasive plant ecology at the University of Canberra.

Email: mariam@intersect.org.au

Location:

Deakin University

Academic Background:

PhD, Human-computer Interaction
MSc, Informatics

Personal Interest:

REDCap; Research Data Management; instructional design

Experience:

Mariam Tebourbi is a Digital Research Analyst based at Deakin University. She has longstanding experience in helping NGOs as well as government bodies build technical capabilities. Additionally, she has a research background in designing technology-based methods and tools to help organisations better engage diverse communities in the International Development sector. 

Email: marium@intersect.org.au

Location:

Intersect

Academic Background:

Ed. M., Technology, Innovation and Education

BSc (Hons), Computer Science

Personal Interests:

Spatial analytics, ICT4D, Applications of technology in education, public sector, and research.

Experience:

Marium Afzal Khan is the Digital Research Analyst from Intersect at the University of Adelaide. She has over 7 years of experience incorporating technology and data analytics across multiple industries including education, health, governance, and research. Marium has a background in computer science with a Masters in Educational Technology.

Email: olivia@intersect.org.au

Location:

Australian Catholic University

Academic Background:

PhD, Evolutionary Biology
BSc (Hons) Ecology, Evolution, and Chemistry

Personal Interest:

The use of data in complex problem-solving, adaption and resilience of communities and biological systems to changing conditions, education

Experience:

Olivia Davies is a Digital Research Analyst based at Australian Catholic University. She has a background in biological sciences, having completed a PhD in molecular and evolutionary biology applied to Australian’s glorious native bees. Olivia has also worked in local government on the challenges of climate change resilience and mitigation in the community. With 8+ years experience in data and statistics teaching, Olivia is passionate about meaningful, straightforward, and best practise application of data analysis to problem-solving and research.

Email: peta@intersect.org.au

Location:

University of New England

Academic Background:

Masters of Environmental Management

BSc, Marine Science and Management

Personal Interest:

Currently undertaking a PhD using secondary data analysis and behavioural science to investigate student retention in higher education.

Expertise:

Peta Scott has been the Intersect Digital Research Analyst at the University of New England since late 2018. Peta has a broad research background spanning environmental science, mental health, higher education, learning analytics, and behavioural economics. Peta has expertise in both qualitative and quantitative research methods, practices, and software with specialisations in R programming, SPSS, Qualtrics, and NVivo. Peta also prides her work on strategic projects at UNE focussing on business improvements. Peta also enjoys supporting researchers by simplifying complicated programs and processes. Peta has 6+ years experience in higher education research and corporate analysis.

Email: sachin@intersect.org.au

Location:

Deakin University

Academic Background:

PhD, Computational Design
Bachelor of Computer Science & Engineering

About:

Sachin Wasnik is a Digital Research Analyst based at Deakin University. He has broad experience in the design and development of Data Science projects. He has worked as a Digital Research trainer leading Python, R and Data visualisation courses. He has finished his PhD in applying Deep Learning to EEG time series data at the University of Sydney.

Personal Interests:

Data Science, Machine Learning

Experience:

Sachin Wasnik is a Digital Research Analyst based at Deakin University. He has broad experience in the design and development of Data Science projects. He has worked as an eResearch trainer leading Python, R and Data visualisation courses. He has finished his PhD in applying Deep Learning to EEG time series data at the University of Sydney.

Email: sam@intersect.org.au

Location:

La Trobe University

Academic Background:

PhD, Exercise and Sport Science
Bachelor of Exercise and Sport Science (Honours)
Bachelor of Business (Sport Management)
Bachelor of Commerce (Economics)

Personal Interests:

Physiology and psychology of endurance exercise, macroeconomics, education.

Experience:

Dr Sam Ryan is a Digital Research Analyst at Intersect Australia, based at La Trobe University. He is a Doctor of Exercise Science with research experience in quantitative data collection and analysis methods, data management practices, and teaching of research technologies to research students and early career researchers. He remains an active researcher in the field of exercise science alongside his work with La Trobe researchers and is currently completing a Bachelor of Commerce majoring in Economics. He has 6 years as a Sport Scientist in professional football, 5 years as an active researcher at Australian Catholic University and University of Technology Sydney, 3 years as a Sessional Teaching Academic at La Trobe University.

Email: xiaoying@intersect.org.au

Location:

Deakin University

Academic Background:

PhD, Electrical and Computer Engineering
Master of Telecommunication and Information Systems
Bachelor of Electrical Engineering and Automation

Personal Interest:

Digital platforms and approaches in broad research disciplines on data acquisition, visualisation, analysis and automation. Support researchers to achieve their best research goals and outcomes.

Experience:

Dr Xiaoying Wang is Intersect’s Digital Research Analyst at Deakin University (Burwood campus). She has a PhD of Electrical and Computer Engineering from RMIT and worked with Cook Medical and RMIT on multiple university-industrial collaborative projects for 4 years as a postdoctoral researcher, with research focus on computer vision, image processing, machine/deep learning and data analysis. She has 7 years of experience in high-quality collegiate teaching on engineering and computer science subjects. She has also designed and established digital platforms to support interdisciplinary projects in biomedical research, material and manufacturing research for automatic data characterisation, visualisation and analysing using MATLAB, C++ and R languages.