Advancing Trust & Identity for Higher Education and Research Roundtables 2026

• CIO’s and CISO’s in the higher education and research sector
• National Research Infrastructure leaders
• AAF project partners and collaborators
• Government representatives
• Industry partners to the higher education and research sector

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Meet the panellists

A full list of panellists will be published prior to the events.

John is the Head of Trust & Identity Strategy and Futures at the Australian Access Federation. He is responsible for helping to adapt AAF’s services to meet stakeholder needs in a rapidly changing external environment. With 25 years’ experience in the higher education and research sector, John has a strong track record of successfully delivering large, complex projects and in developing innovative approaches to business and technology solutions.

Dr Siddeswara Guru leads the development of Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network or TERN Data Services and Analytics Platform. He is a skilled Program Lead with expertise in research and development, product development, and data management, focused on the earth and environment domain. He works at creating data-driven solutions to address environmental challenges and improve sustainability.

TERN is Australia’s ecosystem monitoring network. They build relationships and infrastructure to enable long-term, standardised collection of data and samples from across the continent. They store and openly share these resources, such as our environmental monitoring and assessment data, to support terrestrial and coastal ecosystem science and environmental management. TERN infrastructure, skills, data and samples are crucial to protecting Australia’s biodiversity and achieving a net zero future.

Mr Postnikov is an identity industry leader with over 20 years blending deep software engineering, TrustTech and FinTech mastery. He is currently the Managing Director, APAC and Global Ecosystems Director at Scytáles AB. He is an experienced identity professional who led consumer identity architecture for the largest banks in Australia. He is a dedicated contributor to global identity standards and the community with the goal of improving privacy and user experience, solving real-life problems and delivering new identity capabilities. He is Vice Chairman and Community Representative at OpenID Foundation and Head of Identity Strategy and Architecture at ConnectID (Australia Payments Plus). His special interest areas are digital identity and open banking ecosystems.

Dr Stockdale is currently the Director, Cyber Security, with responsibility for IT Infrastructure, Data Services and operational security at The University of Queensland (UQ). He is also the Director of AusCERT, a not-for-profit organisation based at The University of Queensland and one of the oldest CERTs (Computer Emergency Response Teams) in the world.

A firm believer that security is everyone’s business, he advocates for “security is job zero” and is everyone’s responsibility. Exploring new markets, delivering new products and delivering services that the clients truly value are strong drivers for Dr Stockdale.

With a career spanning 38 years, it has seen him in roles straddling electronic engineering, IT and astrophysics. His 6 years as a university researcher was the catalyst for travelling to and falling in love with Australia, which he now calls home.

Linden is a digital identity practitioner and international speaker focussing on privacy, human rights and digital customer experiences. Currently she is a Senior Product Manager for Customer Digital Identity at the National Australia Bank, with prior roles at PwC, Ping Identity, ForgeRock and Australia Post, and holds a Masters of Public Policy & Management from the University of Melbourne.

Dr Murray, a reformed banker, turned senior researcher and project manager, and is currently serving as the Director of External Engagement and Partnerships at Astronomy Australia Limited (AAL). AAL provides Australian based astronomers access to a range of world-class national and international facilities to support groundbreaking science and projects to upgrade or future proof national and international astronomical infrastructure. As a ‘connector of people with a problem’ Dr Murray prides himself on fostering authentic and enduring partnerships that advance the Australian astronomy community.

Mr Phillips is the co-founder of Sezoo, an Australian digital advisory firm owned by 460degrees. Experienced in transformation projects for business-critical systems, He has led several transformation projects with leading Australian universities through 460degrees, including replacing student management systems at three major Australian universities. His work with Sezoo leverages open standards and cryptographic proofs to help organizations and governments build and protect value through resilient, trustworthy ecosystems for the benefit of all. He actively participates in open-standards communities including the Linux Foundation (Trust over IP),  W3C, DIF,  and UN/CEFACT. He is a registered UN/CEFACT expert and is co-lead of the “Global Trust Registry” project which is defining a Global Registrar Information Directory. He was a contributing author of the “Self-Sovereign Identity” book.

Greg Sawyer joined CAUDIT in January 2020 as Director, Cybersecurity Program and was appointed CAUDIT’s Chief Executive Officer in April 2022. Prior to this Greg was seconded as the Strategic Initiatives Development Manager in 2019 from the University of Sydney. Greg has over 25 years’ experience in the Higher Education sector between the University of Sydney and UNSW Sydney. During that time, he has held technical roles within Faculty IT Manager and Communication Services, desktop and infrastructure before moving into management and director roles within Infrastructure, Security and Project management. Prior to this he completed 11 years in the Department of Defence – Army focusing on electronics, radio communication and cypher including operation service in Cambodia with the United Nations.

Dr Halliday has more than 30 years’ executive and management experience in entrepreneurship and innovation as an inventor, founder, investor, academic and industry professional in the private and public sectors. She has published in academic peer reviewed journals and has been a successful applicant in competitive grant programs as both an academic researcher and as an industry partner. She is an inventor on granted patents and has been involved in raising millions of dollars for multiple start-up companies. She has negotiated multi-million-dollar licensing transactions and collaboration agreements in the development of early-stage technologies. Dr Halliday has extensive experience in strategy development and implementation and been a non-executive director of seven start-up companies and is currently a member of several Advisory Boards. She has been a member of grant assessment committees and of several venture fund investment committees.

Professor Hutchinson is an internationally recognised science leader, researcher, and academic with over two decades of experience driving innovation and impact across diverse fields, including pain, addiction, biophotonics, and defence technologies. He is the inaugural Dean of Research for the College of Health at Adelaide University, having recently served as the Interim Director of the Institute for Photonics and Advanced Sensing (IPAS) at the University of Adelaide.
His research, focusing on neuroimmune signalling and the objective measurement of pain, has led to paradigm shifts in understanding chronic pain and addiction, translating into new therapeutic strategies and significant economic impact, including the progression of three medicines to clinical trials and the generation of over $500 million in market impact and capitalisation from spin-out companies.  His influence extends to numerous national strategic and ministerial appointments. Professor Hutchinson is a current member of the Prime Minister’s National Science and Technology Council and the Australian Economic Accelerator Board. He serves as Chair of the Safeguarding Australia through Biotechnology Response and Engagement (SABRE) Alliance and the Australian Pain Solutions Research Alliance (APSRA). His past significant roles include President of Science and Technology Australia (STA) (2021-2023), and membership on the ARC Legislative Review panel and the ARC CEO Advisory Council.

Karl Sellmann is the Chief Information Security Officer at Flinders University and Chair of AHECS, where he leads efforts to strengthen cyber security across the higher education sector. With experience spanning higher education since 2007 and prior leadership roles in industries such as defence, retail, and logistics, Karl is a strategic technology leader known for driving digital transformation and fostering innovation. He is a strong advocate for building collaborative ecosystems that connect academia and industry to address emerging digital challenges and support secure organisational growth.

Meet the Chairs

Heath Marks was appointed by the Council of Australian University Directors of Information Technology (CAUDIT) in July 2009 to head a team to deliver the sustainable operations of Australia’s Trust and Identity services for Research and Education. This includes the national trust authentication framework the Australian Access Federation (AAF), and the Open Researcher and Contributor ID (ORCID) Consortium Lead for Australia. He is an IT professional with a wealth of management experience in the successful delivery of transformational Information Technology within the tertiary education and research sector supporting the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS). Heath participates in many national and international committees and working groups on trust, identity, cybersecurity, and company strategy.

Deputy CEO of the AAF, Margie is well known in the sector, holding significant leadership roles, including Director Library Services University of Wollongong (UOW), former Chair of the Council of Australasian University Librarians (CAUL), former member and Chair of the ORCID Governance Group, former Board Director of the AAF, Board Director of CAVAL, and member of the Cambridge University Press Australian and New Zealand Advisory Board.