Workshops
2025 Workshops
About the Workshop Facilitators:
On the Reg Team
On The Reg Team was established in 2024 by Dr Jason Downs and Professor Inger Mewburn, bringing together over four decades of combined experience in higher education. Our partnership emerged naturally from a 15-year professional friendship and our successful podcast "On The Reg," which has been running for five years and has garnered over 100,000 downloads.
Professor Inger Mewburn
Professor Inger Mewburn, widely known as "The Thesis Whisperer," has served as the Director of Researcher Development at the Australian National University for the past decade, where she has revolutionised approaches to researcher training and development. Her expertise in research productivity and academic career development complements Dr Jason Downs' international experience in educational leadership, policy development, and innovation.
Dr Jason Downs
Dr Jason Downs bridges the gap between academic research and real-world innovation in higher education. With over two decades of global experience spanning Australia to Vietnam, Jason brings a fresh, internationally informed perspective to educational leadership and technological integration.
His extensive work encompasses shaping institutional policies, educational programme design, and exploring AI's transformative potential in learning and research environments. Jason consistently delivers practical, forward-thinking solutions that enhance academic practice.
Having led courses across the Asia-Pacific region, including Singapore, Vietnam, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Jakarta, and Australia, Jason has accumulated valuable experience teaching both large undergraduate cohorts and specialised postgraduate programmes. This global perspective profoundly informs his approach to educational policy, programme design, and stakeholder engagement.
Jason has led teams responsible for institutional Academic Integrity, Quality and Standards, and programme design. His particular interest in AI's applications for learning and research has positioned him as a thought leader in this rapidly evolving field, helping academics navigate the balance between technological innovation and scholarly rigour.
Sami Mäkeläinen
Sami Mäkeläinen is a leading strategic foresight professional with emphasis on mindful adoption of emerging technologies including Artificial Intelligence. His career began in the development of online commerce and banking platforms, transitioning to mobile technology research at Nokia. In Australia, he held pivotal roles at Telstra Corporation and founded its Strategic Foresight practice, where he specialized in harnessing long-term technology trends and their business implications, including in implementation of AI governance.
Currently affiliated with the Institute for the Future and running Transition Level, his own AI consulting entity, Sami is a key influencer in ethical AI governance and implementation.
With an MSc in Computer Science, Sami also serves as a Senior Industry Fellow at RMIT FORWARD, and in the steering committee for University of Melbourne’s Centre for AI and Digital Ethics (CAIDE). His work centers around teaching mindful application of generative AI and other emerging technologies, their societal impact, and role in building resilient systems and facilitating capability uplift for organizations. He has facilitated foresight projects globally and enabled organizations in various domains to adapt to a rapidly evolving technological landscape. Sami is the authority for organizations seeking to integrate generative AI into both their strategic and operational planning.
