The Australian Research Council (ARC) Industrial Transformation Training Centre in Optimisation Technologies, Integrated Methodologies, and Applications (OPTIMA), has received Australian Government funding of $4.86 million through the Australian Research Council Industrial Transformation Research Program. The University of Melbourne, Monash University, and an inaugural group of ten industry partners have invested a further $3 million and made significant in-kind contributions. OPTIMA has 18 chief investigators across the University of Melbourne and Monash University, and a further 13 partner investigators across our industry organisations and three international partner universities. Numerous other researchers working in optimisation at other universities are part of OPTIMA as Associate Investigators.
Headquartered in Melbourne Connect, OPTIMA brings together the various interdisciplinary fields with advanced optimisation technologies – mathematics, statistics, computer science, engineering, and economics.
OPTIMA’s initial industry partner cohort spans the energy resources, advanced manufacturing and critical infrastructure sectors. Given the ubiquitous need for optimisation technologies to support decision-making within many more industrial sectors, OPTIMA’s expansion will include opportunities for more industry partners to join in future years.
Beyond working with industry partners, OPTIMA researchers also engage with academic colleagues in other fields on cross-disciplinary research projects, supporting other researchers where optimisation knowledge is required to advance solutions to a wide range of societal challenges.
OPTIMA’s leadership is steered by an Executive Committee, which takes advice from external members of its Industry Advisory Committee (IAC) and Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC), and its’ sub-committees for Education and Training (E&T), Outreach; and Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI).
Optima's Mission
Industrial transformation via increased uptake of trusted and sophisticated optimisation technologies.
Optima's Goal
By connecting industry partners with world-leading interdisciplinary researchers and talented students, OPTIMA’s goal is to advance an industry-ready optimisation toolkit while training a new generation of industry practitioners and over 120 young researchers, producing a highly skilled workforce of change agents for industrial transformation.
@OPTIMA_ARC
Our first public-facing seminar of the year will be held in person at Melbourne Connect, delivered by OPTIMA CI Prof. Peter Stuckey on The Bitcoin blockchain: what can mathematical modelling teach us?
Register on the event page.
https://optima.org.au/events/optima-seminar-15-feb-23/
#optimisation #seminar
We want to officially welcome OPTIMA's new Chief Investigator, Professor Ariel Liebman. He is the director of the Monash Energy Institute and leads the RACE for Networks Program in the Reliable Affordable Clean Energy for 2030 CRC.
https://optima.org.au/staff/professor-ariel-liebman/
#energy #optimisation
Maths, stats and data science skills are in demand at @AGLEnergy
Lots of employment opportunities for #AMSICareersDay23 attendees to discuss with the AGL team during today's careers fair at @melbconnect
The OPTIMA debate is now available for you to view. Is decision-making better left to machines than humans? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDwF_SDqj-k
We have created a new webpage for non-members to access OPTIMA updates and information. Want to know more? https://optima.org.au/pathways-to-optimisation/
#optimization
Congratulations to OPTIMA Director Professor Kate Smith-Miles - named a 2022 Fellow by The Australian Academy of Science.
Our CI Kate Smith-Miles and AI Ellie Hajizadeh have been collaborating with DSTG. Download for free the article in Springer Nature, "A machine learning enabled hybrid optimization framework for efficient coarse-graining of a model polymer".
Associate Investigator Sevvandi Kandanaarachchi will be representing OPTIMA in The Random Sample Podcast which gives you a glimpse into the world of mathematics, data science and statistics. Check it out @RandomSamplePOD
In November OPTIMA is hosting our Centre Launch. We are proud to be showcasing our first year in operations. In 2020, we were funded $4.86 million from @arc_gov_au
We welcome this opportunity to highlight our achievements.
https://optima.org.au/outreach-and-events/