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Doctor of Philosophy, Policy and Governance (University of Queensland)
Dr Bernadette Hyland-Wood is a Research Fellow at the Centre for Data Science, Queensland University of Technology, specialising in responsible data science and deploying generative AI technologies. She is a chief investigator in the QUT Digital Media Research Centre. Her research explores the adoption of rapidly emerging AI platforms by regulators and industry, focusing on data ethics and governance. She has led international initiatives on data exchange standards to support digital research and evidence-based policymaking. Dr. Hyland-Wood holds a PhD from The University of Queensland (2021), where her dissertation, Bridging the Open Data and Public Policy Gap, examined barriers and facilitators to government data sharing.
A seasoned technology entrepreneur, she has founded multiple startups, including two that were acquired—one by a U.S. Fortune 100 company. Her work bridges academia, industry, and policy, emphasising applied research and research translation to ensure responsible AI and data-driven decision-making.
Her contributions include highly cited applied research on crisis communications (COVID-19), public trust, national data legislation, and the U.S. DATA Act. Her work has been published in Humanities and Social Sciences Communications and Springer Nature and she has appeared on media outlets, including the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), and Radio New Zealand.
Additional information
Bernadette founded several digital platform startups in Australia and the U.S. She oversaw the development of a pioneering standards-based scalable graph database and visualization platform. For two decades, she has been involved in Open Source Software (OSS) projects and data standards (W3C). In 1997, she is one of ten co-founders of Women in Technology (WiT), Australia’s largest professional networking organization supporting women in digital technologies and scientific research.