Aaron is an Associate in Watson Farley & Williams’ Dispute Resolution Group.
Aaron is a US-qualified attorney with extensive experience in international arbitration and dispute resolution. Aaron has represented clients in the deep seabed mining, renewable energy, technology, oil and gas, petrochemical, electric power distribution, sports and glassworks industries.
Aaron has particular expertise in complex matters of public international law, including rights under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), bilateral investment treaties and multilateral free trade agreements.
Before joining WFW in Bangkok, Aaron worked in the New York City office of an international law firm.

Ben Murphy is an accomplished professional with a Bachelor of Engineering in Electrical and Electronics. With over ten years of extensive experience in the field, he currently serves as the Acting Manager of Engineering at the Curragh mine in Blackwater. His expertise lies in implementing and overseeing engineering initiatives, ensuring operational excellence and safety within the mining industry.

Sandra Nowosad, M.Sc.: studied mining engineering at Pontificia Universidad Catolica del Peru in Lima Peru, and later a Masters in
Mining Engineering at Clausthal University of Technology (CUT). Since 2019 she works as research assistant at CUT, in the field of mining technologies and automation focused on mines of the future.
Currently she is program advisor and lecturer at CUT as well as the Chair of the Education Committee of the Society of Mining Professors (SOMP).

Sandra Nowosad, M.Sc.: studied mining engineering at Pontificia Universidad Catolica del Peru in Li,a Peru, and later a Masters in
Mining Engineering at Clausthal University of Technology (CUT). Since 2019 she works as research assistant at CUT, since 2021 she is a doctoral candidate in the field of mining technologies and automation focused on mines of the future.
Currently she is program advisor and lecturer at CUT for Mine Closure, Underground Mine Safety and, Mining Technologies and Automation.

With extensive experience and a unique understanding of location-based technology applications within the resources sector, Jason works with some of Australia’s largest mining operators to enhance transparency, improve workflows and boost productivity.
In addition to his professional pursuits, Jason is also the leader and drummer of Perth-based band, Soul Lab.

Dave Osborne has over 50 years of experience in the minerals industry having worked as a process engineer through the ranks to senior management in both coal and iron ore. He has had several roles in process plant operations, project development and delivery, research and technology and technical marketing up until initiating the Somerset business in Australia in 2015, where he has eventually moved into a supporting role as Industry Advisor. The original business model was in the recovery of ultrafine metallurgical coal from tailings streams, which formed a sound basis for further company expansion. Somerset was originally founded in the USA a couple of years earlier and since then the company has steadily grown and has emerged as a global player, recently moving focus onto mineral tailings treatment which usually involves a combination of valorization and dewatering prior to “dry” disposal and safe handing of solids cake generated by a solidbowl centrifuge. This has drawn upon his wide experience in dewatering but has also been based on a strong partnership with the Centrisys company in the USA for dewatering, and more recently with Eriez for valorisation.

These company partnerships have led to the successful application of leading-edge technologies in the resources sector, including mineral processing and resource recovery; mine tailings dewatering and management; coal-to-liquid fuel development; and acid mine water management.

In addition to valorization to recover more principal product materials, additional attention is paid in seeking other potential products in partnership with academic groups in local universities and this has been achieved via adjunct professor roles in University of Queensland and University of Western Sydney in Australia as well as other strong partnerships in north America.

Panel Chair: Michelle Keegan (AROSE)
Panellists:
- Andrew Dempster (UNSW);
- Greg Hunter (National Space Society);
- Nina Hooper (Interlune)
- Burkhard Seifert (BHP)

Panel Chair: Gavin Lind (AUSMASA)
Panellists: Lena Abrahamsson (Univ Luela); Angel Tobar (Epiroc); Ismet Canbulat (UNSW); Chris Gibbs Stewart (AustMine)

Panel Facilitator: Vinayak Dixit, UNSW
Panellists:
- Rajesh Krishnan, QNULabs
- Neville Plint, Mining3
- Andrew Scott, BHP

Panel Chair: David Eyre, UNSW
Panellists: Rahman Daiyan (UNSW); Elisabeth Clausen (RWTH Aachen); John Fennell (ICA)

Panel Facilitator: Clare Larkin-Sykes, Forelight Advisory
Panellists:
- Sarah Boucaut, CEEC
- Scott David, Shapeable AI
- Pierre Gouhier, Newcastle Institute for Energy and Resources
- Carla Martinez, WSP Australia

Dibyayan Patra is a PhD Fellow at the University of New South Wales (UNSW), Sydney, Australia, working under the supervision of Associate Professor Simit Raval at the Laboratory for Imaging of the Mine Environment (LIME). He received his Bachelor of Technology degree in Electronics and Communication Engineering with a specialization in Internet of Things and Sensors from Vellore Institute of Technology, Vellore, India. Following his graduation, he worked as a Systems Engineer at Tata Consultancy Services in Kolkata, India, for a year. His current research focuses on utilizing cutting-edge technologies like laser scanning and machine learning, to enhance safety and automation in underground mining operations.

I, Annika Pekkari, will present our research results regarding the miners of the future. I was born and raised in Luleå, which is a city by the Arctic Circle in northern Sweden. My academic background is in sociology, but I am doing a PhD in human work science at Luleå University of Technology. My research area is the effects of the green transition on future mining work.

Juncong (Jason) is a PhD graduate from the University of Queensland. Jason's work focuses on bringing digital twins into remote mining operations with the use of spatial computing technologies such as virtual reality and mixed reality. His research provides the knowledge around digital twins for the minerals industry and objective evidence to the true values of spatial computing in the vision of a mining metaverse.

Pasindu Ranasinghe is a first-year PhD candidate at UNSW Sydney. He is working under Associate Professor Simit Raval in the laboratory of Imaging of the Mine Environment (LIME). He is actively involved in developing cutting-edge technologies to enhance safety and automation within the mining industry through the application of computer vision and machine learning techniques. His expertise lies in SLAM, LiDAR, computer vision and hardware integration. He is proficient in programming with Python, MATLAB, R, and C++.
In 2022, Pasindu graduated with first-class honours in mechanical engineering, specializing in mechatronic systems. His exceptional academic performance and active involvement in extracurricular activities earned him the prestigious Best Student award from the Institution of Mechanical Engineers.

Karthik Rau is the CEO of Senzit, a leading provider of automotive telematics solutions. Senzit's AI-enabled IoT platform makes it easy for companies to monitor the operational efficiency of their fleet vehicles.

Prior to joining Senzit, Karthik was the Founder & CEO of Stoke Systems, a pioneer in Edge AI and Industrial IoT and was a Senior Director at Atmel Corporation, a leading provider of semiconductor solutions for the IoT market. He previously held engineering and management roles in the semiconductor and hardware industries.

Karthik received his MBA from IE Business School in Madrid, Spain.

A/Prof Simit Raval has more than 28 years of combined experience in mining industry and academia. He is specialised in the integration of sensing technologies. He leads a group of researchers focused on utilising data from sensors mounted on various platforms, from satellite through to UAVs/drones, to visualise, identify and monitor the environmental and safety aspects of the operations. He has supervised PhD research projects involving drone-based smart sensing (hyperspectral and LiDAR), underground mobile laser scanning, image-based automated material characterisation, mine automation, mine rehabilitation/closure, climate change and asteroid mining. Simit has received SIX teaching awards including International Tim Shaw Award for innovation in teaching and learning (2018) and UNSW Vice Chancellor’s Awards for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning (2020).

Meredith is currently Head of Sustainability at Orica, with over 18 years experience across process engineering, industrial manufacturing and technology, sustainability and decarbonisation/net zero planning. She holds a Bachelor of Engineering (B.E.) and a Bachelor of Science from the University of Melbourne.

Throughout her career, Meredith has achieved significant milestones, including most recently key accountability for Orica's decarbonisation initiatives. Currently based in Melbourne, Australia, Meredith is committed to driving positive change, particularly in hard-to-abate and emissions-intensive industry.

Physicist Dr Lyle Roberts is Head of Photonics at Advanced Navigation where his team works at the nexus of photonics, signal processing, and laser interferometry to develop breakthrough technologies for navigation. Lyle joined Advanced Navigation in 2021 after Vai Photonics, the company he co-founded to commercialise his research at The Australian National University, was acquired.

Prior to co-founding Vai Photonics in 2021, Lyle was a research fellow at the ANU’s Centre for Gravitational Astrophysics researching a range of technologies including instrumentation for satellite laser ranging systems such as NASA’s Mass Change (MC) and Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) missions. Lyle now heads Advanced Navigation’s development of Navigation Doppler LiDAR for lunar and terrestrial exploration.

Julio is currently the Regional Digital Services Manager – APAC for FLSmidth, based in Brisbane Australia. Julio has 20+ yrs. of experience in both the mining and power/energy sectors. His passion is pioneering and the development of both technology & innovation solutions within the mining sector. Julio has extensive experience in engineering & maintenance services, business development, people management, digital transformation, as well as sales & marketing across APAC and Europe. Julio has a bachelor’s in electrical engineering and a PhD in chemical engineering.

Iuliia is a Senior Associate in Watson Farley & Williams’ Dispute Resolution Group.
Iuliia specializes in investment and commercial arbitration including experience representing States and State entities. Iuliia advises clients on complex matters of public international law, including on all aspects of deep seabed mining and the law of the sea. Iuliia also advises on corporate structuring to obtain investment protections under international investment treaties and free trade agreements.
Iuliia has 4 years’ experience at the Permanent Court of Arbitration in the Hague, assisting tribunals in inter-State and investor-State arbitrations.
Prior to joining the firm, Iuliia practiced in leading law firms in Amsterdam and Paris, where she worked on high-profile commercial and investor-State disputes. Iuliia served for four years as Assistant Legal Counsel at the Permanent Court of Arbitration in the Hague, where she assisted arbitral tribunals in inter-State and investor-State matters.

Nirman Sarkar is a hands-on digital product leader with proven ability to identify and deliver significant business value across mining & manufacturing value chains. He has experience in the area of data analytics including several years solving complex mining industry challenges leading cross functional and multi geography teams.