Applied and Explainable AI (AXAI) Group

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(Image credit: Ilya. Well, mostly AI.)

Group Members

Staff

Students

AXAI Group Guidelines

Purpose and Benefits

  • Knowledge Exchange: Hear about diverse topics, especially those outside your immediate expertise.
  • Feedback & Idea Generation: Share your work to receive valuable feedback and spark new ideas.
  • Problem-solving Outlet: Use the group as a resource when facing obstacles or getting stuck in your research.

Meeting Structure

  • High-Quality Presentations: Each session features one primary student speaker ("facilitator") who leads the meeting.
  • Preparation and Effort: The facilitator should invest effort in clearly communicating their topic, maximising the value for both the presenter and the audience.
  • Group Effort: The other group members should take the time to read any material circulated before the meeting. They should contribute to the discussion respectfully, knowing that they want the same in return!

(Suggested) Meeting Formats

  • Research Updates: Practice presenting your latest research clearly to get "free" feedback/insights.
  • BYO Research Problem: Bring specific research challenges for group problem-solving.
  • Topic Discussions: Introduce a topic by clearly summarising key paper(s), formulating discussion points, or defining areas where input is needed.

Facilitator Requirements

  • Meetings are scheduled well in advance, with a rotating presenter.
  • Topic Finalisation: You should finalise your topic with Dr Andrew Lensen at least two weeks before the meeting.
  • Circulate Material: Pre-reading material for your talk (if any) should be circulated at least one week before the meeting. This includes, for example, the paper you will be presenting.

Meetings

Date Room Presenter Topic
...2026!      
08/12/25 TBA End of year celebration??
01/12/25 CO431 Nimasha Herath TBD
24/11/25 CO431 TBD TBD
17/11/25 CO431 Skipped (PRICAI/IVCNZ conferences)
10/11/25 CO431 TBD TBD
03/11/25 CO431 Sofie Claridge Experiences from NASA JPL
27/10/25 CO431 Labour Day!
20/10/25 CO431 Ali Knott Transparency in Algorithmic and Human Decision Making: Is There A Double Standard?
13/10/25 CO431 Skipped
06/10/25 CO431 Ilya Shabanov Latest work
29/9/25 CO431 Johniel Bocaco AI in Government 201: Enabling A More Humane and Human Public Service
22/9/25 CO431 Skipped
15/9/25 M&H Coffee @ Milk and Honey
08/9/25 CO431 Skipped
01/9/25 CO431 Nimasha Herath Discussion of 2nd PhD objective
25/8/25 CO431 Skipped (Scheduling)
18/8/25 CO431 Abigail Clennell Power efficient algorithms for photon transport
11/8/25 CO431 Skipped (Illness)
04/8/25 CO431 Dr Emily O'Riordan Overview of AI Weather Research
28/7/25 CO431 Johniel Bocacao All-of-Government AI Assurance model
21/7/25 CO431 Snacks 'n' Chats
14/7/25 CO431 Skipped
07/7/25 CO431 Ryan Jaggers Fieldwork Overview
30/6/25 CO431 Break
23/6/25 CO431 Alix Schultze Overview of background research using ML for binary equivalence
16/6/25 CO431 Paula Maddigan YOLO Object Detection model fine-tuned for detecting kākā
09/6/25 CO431 Johniel Bocacao KCDC vs “The People” - The Flood Model Dividing The Coast.
02/6/25 King's Birthday! University Shut
26/5/25 CO431 Sofie Claridge PhD Proposal
19/5/25 CO431 Ilya Shabanov Latest work
12/5/25 MARU101 Nimasha Herath Discussion of results from PhD Objective 1 + problem-solving
05/5/25 CO431 Abigail Clennell Latest Kākā posture research
28/4/25 MARU101 Hayden Andersen Highlights of the latest AI and Productivity Report
21/4/25 Easter Monday! University Shut
21 March to
18 April 		Andrew away --- social catchup(s)
10/2/25   All AXAI Resumption! (Re-)introductions & planning
Jan '25 to
Feb '25 		Summer Break!
December '24 "Coffee December"
4/11/24   Johniel Bocacao econometrics* sucks: can reinforcement learning save it?
21/10/24   Abigail Clennell More Kākā Stuff
14/10/24   Nimasha Herath Automatic Flood Detection from Sentinel-1 Data Using Deep Learning Architecture
07/10/24 Skipped! Enjoy 1 hour of touching grass.
30/9/24   Ilya Shabanov Using Machine Learning to Link Climate, Phylogeny and Leaf Traits in Eucalypts Through a 50-fold Expansion of Current Leaf Trait Datasets
23/9/24   Sofie Claridge Practice Europe talk
16/9/24   Hayden Andersen LLM XAI paper
09/9/24   Sofie Claridge Microsoft's Generative AI report
02/9/24 General Discussion
26/8/24 Andrew on Annual Leave --- social catchup!
19/8/24   Johniel Bocacao TBD, perhaps Treasury Report
12/8/24   Abigail Clennell Update on MSc research
05/8/24 Andrew at School Meeting --- social catchup!
29/7/24   Paula Maddigan Paper Discussion: "Recurrence over Video Frames (RoVF) for the Re-identification of Meerkats"
22/7/24 Andrew away --- social catchup(s)
15/7/24
08/7/24   Sofie Claridge Sofie's Birthday!! Cake & Discussion of AI News
01/7/24   Johniel Bocacao AI in Government 101
24/6/24   Hayden Andersen XAI: Roundtable
17/6/24   Sofie Claridge / Ilya Shabanov Practice presentation / journal paper overview
10/6/24   Abigail Clennell MSc research discussion
03/6/24 King's Birthday!
27/5/24   Nimasha Herath PhD Proposal Practice
20/5/24   Hayden Andersen Taxonomy of XAI
13/5/24   All Introductions

This topic: Users/Andrew > AXAI
Topic revision: 03 Nov 2025, lensenandr