UQ AI HDR Showcase 2026
The 5th run of the UQ wide HDR AI Showcase was held on June 10-11, 2026. The event was supported by the UQ AI research Network and organised by Dr Alina Bialkowski and Associate Professor Rocky Chen from the School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.
The two-day showcase featured 28 talks and 7 poster/demo presentations from 34 students across all disciplines including business, social science, agriculture, computing, engineering, education, arts, and. medicine. The oral presentations were delivered in four 1-hour sessions across two days, and all presentations were featured in a voting campaign for best presentation and people’s choice awards. The posters were presented in a dedicated poster session, where all participants had an opportunity to nominate their favourite ones.
Day 1 started with a thought-provoking opening address by Professor Pierre Benckendorff, Deputy Dean of the Graduate Research School, shifting the question from “Can I use AI in my research?” to what graduate skills should we value when AI can produce outputs, emphasising research culture, critical thinking, and the importance of asking the right questions. Day 1 also featured a keynote by Dr Stefan Hajkowicz, Chief Research Consultant from CSIRO, on “Becoming a Purple Person in a Purple Economy – combining tech skills (red) with human skills (blue)”, which highlighted the productivity benefits of AI when used correctly and potential for higher-value tasks, inspiring students to give AI a go, while emphasising the value of “learning to learn” and communication skills.
Another highlight for the day was the Panel Session moderated by Rocky. Panel members included Dr Ashleigh Richardson, Dr Aninda Saha, Dr Paul Vrbik, and Dr Shengyao Zhuang, with a collective message that given a well-defined problem and relevant context, AI is very good at finding answers, but we still need humans to ask the right questions.
Day 2 featured a keynote by Sophia Arkinstall, Founder of AI&Society, on "Beyond the Algorithm: AI Literacy for a Society that Works for Everyone”. She inspired students to always stay curious and the importance of meta-skills and critical thinking in the age of AI where answers are cheap, and how AI cannot replace an individual’s lived experience. A highlight of Day 2 was the Vibe-Coding session, where Dr Aneesha Bakharia ran a hands-on tutorial with attendees to create apps to enhance and demo their research via Interactive Explainers, Single Screen Apps, through to Full Software as a Service apps.
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HDR Showcase Prentations
The showcase concluded with a lively AI trivia session run by Professor Shane Culpepper and a series of awards to celebrate the outstanding work being undertaken by UQ HDR students on a variety of AI topics. The award winners were:
Best Presentation Award – Day 1 Presentation 
Gerard Hassed (School of Psychology) – “Red Lines: Intolerable AI Thresholds Informed by the Global Public and AI Experts”
Best Presentation Award – Day 2 Presentation 
Thomas Felesina (School of Psychology & Business School) – “Catching Prompting Bias Live: How People Use AI During Cross-Ideological Vaccination Debates”
People’s Choice Award – Poster 
Laura Esquivel Garcia (Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation) – “AI Parent Selection: Sensory and agronomic traits in strawberry (Fragaria x ananassa)”
People’s Choice Award – Day 1 Presentation
Talia Parker (School of Communication and Arts) – “Not MY Son: Sympathy For AI (Or, We Love WALL-E)”
People’s Choice Award – Day 2 Presentation 
Feng Luo (School of Electrical Engineering & Computer Science) – “Data Discovery for Reliable AI over Complex Tabular Data”
Our AI Trivia winners were: Gayan Kulatilleke, Saied Salem, Gerard Hassed, Wendi Ma, Caitlin Curtis & Ge Lee.
Students are encouraged to continue the conversation at the UQ AIRN AI Student Group.
Photos are courtesy of Samuel Martin-Espada.
