Schedule
Room – Meeting Room 3
| Time | Event |
|---|---|
| 9:00 - 9:15 | Welcome and Opening Remarks |
| 9:15 - 10:00 | Invited Talk #1 |
| 10:00 - 10:30 | AM Break |
| 10:30 - 12:00 | Participating in DC Presentation (in Meeting Room 1&2) |
| 12:00 - 1:30 | Lunch Break |
| 1:30 - 2:00 | Invited Talk #2 |
| 2:00 - 2:15 | Short Talk from a Grad Student |
| 2:15 - 3:00 | Participating in DC Presentation (in Meeting Room 1&2) |
| 3:00 - 3:30 | Break |
| 3:30 - 4:15 | Participating in DC Presentation (in Meeting Room 1&2) |
| 4:15 - 5:30 | Poster Session |
| 6:00- 22:00 | Dinner with Mentors |
Keynote Talks
Title: Planning Your Path Through Academia Speaker: Dr. Pascal Bercher
Abstract: Doing a PhD can feel like solving a partially observable planning problem with ill-defined actions and an unknown goal. In this talk, I’ll reflect on my own (decidedly suboptimal) trajectory and the heuristics I wish I had early on. Topics include choosing research directions, the power of colleagues and reviewing, and time management strategies, among others. It’s a mix of reflections and well-meant advice — some of it hopefully helping to derive a better policy for navigating a PhD (and convincing you to start one in the first place).
Bio: Pascal Bercher is an Associate Professor at the Australian National University. His research studies the theoretical and algorithmic foundations of automated planning, with a focus on Hierarchical Task Network (HTN) and Partial-Order Causal-Link (POCL) planning. His work combines complexity analysis, heuristic search, and model engineering to better understand how planning problems can be efficiently solved, verified, and automatically repaired. His greatest passion lies in supervising and mentoring students, helping them find their own path in research and academia.
Title: So You Want To Do a PhD … Speaker: Dr. Stylianos Vasileiou
Abstract: Doing a PhD can be intimidating and challenging. However, when done right, it can be a momentous and transformative experience. In this talk, I will draw from my personal PhD endeavor and present a few friendly suggestions that I believe can lead to an enjoyable and fulfilling PhD experience. A PhD can be hard, but that does not mean that you cannot (or should not) have fun along the way.
Bio: Stylianos (Stelios) Vasileiou is an Assistant Professor of AI at New Mexico State University. His main research interest lies in developing human-aware AI systems that can effectively interact and collaborate with human users. His research draws and combines ideas and techniques from several fields, including knowledge representation and reasoning, planning, machine learning, as well as philosophy and cognitive psychology. His work has been featured in leading conferences and journals such as AAAI, KR, NeurIPS, and JAIR. Prior to joining NMSU, he earned his PhD from the McKelvey School of Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis (2025), an MSc in Artificial Intelligence from the University of Southampton (2017), an MSc in Applied Mathematics from the University of Glasgow (2016), and finally a BSc in Statistics and Actuarial-Financial Mathematics from the University of the Aegean (2014).
Doctoral Consortium and Launchpad Dinner
Join us for an evening of networking and celebration!
Venue: The Builder’s Arms Hotel
Address: 211 Gertrude Street, Fitzroy VIC 3065
Schedule:
- 6:00 PM - Guests arrive – drinks and canapé service commence
- 10:00 PM - Event concludes
Walking distance: Approximately 30 minutes from The University of Melbourne.