CSIRO partners to take on challenges with next-generation graduates

CSIRO has announced that more than 75 businesses and universities will support 165 university scholarships to tackle 12 real-world challenges as part of its Next Generation Graduates programs.

Students will work on a broad range of social, economic and industrial challenges including improving outcomes for disadvantaged school students, data-centric and machine-driven engineering, AI in mental health, smart manufacturing and sensing, digital privacy and cybersecurity, national quantum technology capabilities, and enhancing industry operations through the metaverse.

CSIRO’s Data61 Director, Professor Jon Whittle, said understanding AI and emerging technologies will be an advantage for the next generation of Australian researchers.

“This program offers university students a unique opportunity to be a part of a multidisciplinary team and work across industry, research and the university sector,” he said. “Students will be solving real-world challenges with industry and research experts as well as a diverse range of other Honours, Masters and PhD students in a truly multidisciplinary environment.”

$10.4 million from CSIRO’s Next Generation programs will be combined with $5.8 million from industry and university partners to co-fund the first round of student scholarships.

“The range of universities and industries putting forward submissions for the Next Generation programs shows how ready Australia is for this kind of collaboration,” Whittle said.

Student enrolments open in May and will be led by partner universities. Over the next six years, the Next Generations Graduates program is expecting to fund at least 480 nationally competitive scholarships to attract and train the next generation of technology specialists.

CSIRO has estimated that Australian industry will need up to 161,000 new AI specialist and AI-savvy workers by 2030. The program will build a pipeline of homegrown, job-ready graduates to unlock the immense economic opportunity offered by artificial intelligence and emerging technologies.

The full list of Next Generation Artificial Intelligence challenges and partners and Next Generation Emerging Technologies challenges and partners can be found on CSIRO’s website.

Image: Students will collaborate in a rich and diverse research environment.