Programme
Last updated: 2 February 2026*
* Programme subject to changes up to event day.
VENUE: University of Auckland, Grafton Campus, 85 Park Road, Auckland
DATE: Tuesday Feb 10 (10am) – Thursday Feb 12 (3pm)
WHPC NETWORKING BREAKFAST / PANEL DISCUSSION – Sponsored by Gigabyte: Wednesday Feb 11 University of Auckland, Grafton Campus, 8:00am – 9.30am
CONFERENCE DINNER: Wednesday Feb 11 (Dr Rudi’s Rooftop Brewing Co. 7:00pm – 10pm)
| 10:00 AM | Pre-conference workshop: Fundamentals of Deep Learning | ||
| 11:00 AM | NZ Carpentry Connect 2026 | ||
| 12:30 PM - 1.30 PM | Lunch | ||
| 4:30 PM | NZ Carpentry Connect 2026 - Closing remarks | ||
| 5:00 PM | Pre-conference workshop: Fundamentals of Deep Learning - Closing remarks | ||
| 9:00 AM | REGISTRATION OPEN ALL DAY | ||
| 10:00 - 10:30 AM | CONFERENCE OPENING - Mihi Whakatau | ||
| 10:30 - 11:30 AM | Keynote: Suzanne Duncan, Te Hiku Media | ||
| 11:30 - 12:30 PM | Plenary: NZ Science System REANNZ, Genomics Aotearoa and MBIE | ||
| 12:30 - 1:30 PM | LUNCH | ||
| 1:30 - 2:00 PM | Invited talk: Software as Research Infrastructure: How Australia’s Climate Simulator (ACCESS-NRI) enables climate researchers Paige E. Martin | Australia’s Climate Simulator (ACCESS-NRI) |
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| 2:00 PM | Talks 1 | Talks 2 | Talks 3 |
| Accelerating technology watch by generating an AI-driven taxonomy Anthony Dona | Digital Science | Biosecurity deployment of CRISPR-based environmental biosurveillance assisted with artificial intelligence Benjamín Durán-Vinet | University of Otago | Modern Multi-tenancy Solutions for HPC and AI Clusters supporting Kubernetes and MLOps Ron Bosworth | Xenon Systems | |
| Research Software Consulting in the Age of AI Alexander Pletzer REANNZ | Unlocking the potential of eDNA with streamlined data deposition tools Kiel Hards | EPI | A hybrid Slurm-Kubernetes platform to integrate AI workloads in HPC infrastructure Marco De La Pierre | Do IT Now | |
| When AI Goes Rogue: Exposing the Hidden Threats in Language Models Vijay Chakravarthy | Fujitsu Australia | Enabling data science at DairyNZ with Modern Science Workflows Ben Marmont | DairyNZ | Quantum Computing without Quantum Computers Jordi Blasco | Do IT Now, Richard Hoare | Sempre Technologies | |
| 3:00 - 3:30 PM | AFTERNOON TEA | ||
| 3:30 PM | Birds-of-a-Feather (BoF) 1 | Birds-of-a-Feather (BoF) 2 | |
| Turning intent into impact: Practical allyship for more inclusive eResearch communities Jana Makar | REANNZ, Vivian Chandra | Ally Skills NZ | Who Pays for Research Data Management? Shared Responsibilities and Sustainable Investment David Medyckyj-Scott | New Zealand Bioeconomy Science Institute, Yvette Wharton | Waipapa Taumata Rau, University of Auckland, Briget Lander | New Zealand Bioeconomy Science Institute | ||
| 5:00 - 6:00 PM | WELCOME RECEPTION | ||
| 8:00 AM | REGISTRATION OPEN ALL DAY | ||
| Welcome to eResearch 2026 Day 2 | |||
| 8:00 AM | WHPC Networking Breakfast / Panel discussion - Sponsored by Gigabyte | ||
| 9:30 - 10.30 AM | Keynote: Reasoning Models for Virtual Cells: Teaching AI to Think Through Biology, Ana-Maria Istrate, Chan Zuckerberg Initiative |
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| 10:30 -11:00 AM | MORNING TEA | ||
| 11:00 AM | Talks 4 | Talks 5 | Talks 6 |
| Discovering your inner RSE: The career path you didn’t know you had taken! Mercedes Randell | REANNZ, Matthew Laurenson | PFR, Janet Stacey | PHFS | Pipeface - processing big genomic data in the rapidly evolving long-read sequencing space Leah Kemp | Garvan Institute of Medical Research | Scans, Secrets, and Standards: The Tech Behind a Hardened SRE Tom Laurenson | Waipapa Taumata Rau, University of Auckland | |
| Preparing for the AI Era: Global Community Findings from the Research Data Alliance Trish Radotic | ARDC | AI as a Methods Engineer: JAX‑Based GWAS for Hoiho and Beyond Joseph Guhlin | Genomics Aotearoa & Department of Biochemistry, University of Otago | Co-design of multi-tenancy blueprints for digital research platforms Nathalie Giraudon, Kahu Anderson | REANNZ, Carvin Chen | Waipapa Taumata Rau, University of Auckland | |
| 11:45-11:50 AM | MINI BREAK | ||
| 11:50 AM | Talks 7 | Talks 8 | Talks 9 |
| Developing responsible AI training for researchers Laura Armstrong, Dr Toby Johnson | Waipapa Taumata Rau, University of Auckland | Genomics for health security: ngā pūnaha, ngā tāngata, me ngā hononga mō Aotearoa ināianei Rhys White | PHF Science | EESSI: Install once. Run anywhere. Collaborate everywhere. Evgeniia Golovina | Do IT Now | |
| Are You Ready for Connected Research Data Management? Lessons from Waipapa Taumata Rau Yvette Wharton, Dr Sarah Hopkins | Waipapa Taumata Rau, University of Auckland | Informatic Challenges in the Tikanga Guided Development of a Māori Pangenome Ben Halliday | University of Otago | Research software engineering: Using a full-stack data science approach to empower research insights Dr Petra Muellner | EPI | |
| 12:30-1:15 PM | LUNCH | ||
| 1:15 PM | PANEL - National Collaboration in AI Nick Jones | Waipapa Taumata Rau, University of Auckland | ||
| 2:00 PM | Talks 10 | Talks 11 | Talks 12 |
| Reshaping the Future of Healthcare & Life Science with AI and Accelerated Computing Wei Fang | NVIDIA | Global genomic data standards to uphold local interests and international frameworks Libby Liggins, Claire Rye | Waipapa Taumata Rau, University of Auckland | Rewiring HPC: Ultra Ethernet’s Ascent in a High-Performance World Kuangbin Yeu | Nokia | |
| Watched Over by Vision-Language Models of Loving Grace: Monitoring primate trade in online spaces Noel Zeng | Waipapa Taumata Rau, University of Auckland | Furthering Kaitiakitanga in the Aotearoa Genomic Data Repository Mik Black | University of Otago, Claire Rye | Waipapa Taumata Rau, University of Auckland | Empowering Research Through Integrated, Sovereign and Intuitive Platform Solutions Dan Mons | Sharon AI | |
| Charitable Giving for Health: Who Benefits From New Zealand’s Givealittle Crowdfunding Platform? Nick Young | Waipapa Taumata Rau, University of Auckland Lightning Talk ⚡ | Digital research capability for impact Nick Jones | Waipapa Taumata Rau, University of Auckland | Building Small Scale Trusted Research Environments Ron Bosworth | Xenon Systems | |
| Digital Twin Profiles for Community Well-Being Anju Sambasivan | PHF Science Lightning Talk ⚡ | |||
| Scalable, Efficient AI Nodes – On-Demand GPU Access for Researchers Sean Matheny, Victor Gambarini | Waipapa Taumata Rau, University of Auckland Lightning Talk ⚡ | |||
| 3:00 - 3:30 PM | AFTERNOON TEA | ||
| 3:30 PM | Birds-of-a-Feather (BoF) 3 | Birds-of-a-Feather (BoF) 4 | Birds-of-a-Feather (BoF) 5 |
| Shaping the Future of Digital Research Capability: A Sector-Led Discussion Georgina Rae | REANNZ | Telling the impact story: Strategies for sharing and showcasing research impact Jana Makar, Dr Alexander Pletzer | REANNZ | Scaling Shiny Apps – Moving scientific software from the lab bench to production Nick Snellgrove | EPI | |
| 7:00 PM | CONFERENCE DINNER | Dr Rudi's Rooftop Brewing Co. (Auckland Viaduct) | ||
| 8:30 AM | REGISTRATION OPEN ALL DAY | ||
| Welcome to eResearch 2026 Day 3 | |||
| 9:30 AM | Keynote: Making the Obvious Easy: How collaboration, scale, and AI are removing bottlenecks in rare disease diagnosis and discovery Cas Simons | Centre for Population Genomics (CPG) |
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| 10:30-11:00 AM | MORNING TEA | ||
| 11:00 AM | Talks 13 | Talks 14 | Talks 15 |
| Using AI tools in a virtual desktop for transcription Yvette Wharton, Dr Nidhi Gowdra, Noel Zeng, Sean Matheny, Dr Toby Johnson | Waipapa Taumata Rau, University of Auckland | The Rakeiora Genomic Medicine Pathfinder Program Dr Helen Wihongi | Te Whatu Ora, Claire Rye, Cristin Print | Waipapa Taumata Rau, University of Auckland | Exploring Integrations for a More Connected Research Platform with Open OnDemand Evgeniia Golovina | Do IT Now | |
| Artificial Intelligence: Ready for Rigorous Reviews? Dr Erin Wood | Waipapa Taumata Rau, University of Auckland | 12 Labours DigitalTWINS AI Platform: Enabling Development & Clinical Translation of Virtual Human Twins Thiranja Babarenda Gamage | Auckland Bioengineering Institute, University of Auckland | Smarter Storage - Data and Filesystem Management on REANNZ’s Advanced Computing Platform Nathalie Giraudon, Yuriy Halytskyy | REANNZ | |
| 11:45-11:50 AM | MINI BREAK | ||
| 11:50 AM | Talks 16 | Talks 17 | Talks 18 |
| Codesigning a Research AI GPU platform Nick Jones, Robin Bensley | Waipapa Taumata Rau, University of Auckland | Development and future on Web-based interactive viewers of anatomy and function on SPARC Portal Alan Wu | Auckland Bioengineering Institute, University of Auckland | Empowering New Zealand Researchers to Accelerate Digital Discovery in Open Science Carina Kemp | Amazon Web Services | |
| Progressive Development Environments: Scaffolding Computational Competency in Research Teams Joshua Duley Malaghan | Institute Of Medical Research | Investigating Extreme Performance Variability of a Chemistry Code Geoffrey Weal | REANNZ | On-premises Secure Research Environment - architectural design choices Martin Feller | Waipapa Taumata Rau, University of Auckland | |
| 12:30-1:15 PM | LUNCH | ||
| 1:15 PM | Talks 19 | Talks 20 | Talks 21 |
| Calibrate Aotearoa’s Large-scale Multi-agent Simulator Synthesis Public Transport Modelling against Real-Time General Transit Feed Specification Jingshu Tang | University of Canterbury, Public Science and Forensic Health | ORCID in Aotearoa New Zealand Tifany Oulavallickal | ORCID | The use of RO-Crate as a project archive Chris Seal | Waipapa Taumata Rau, University of Auckland | |
| Waves in ice dynamics: modelling and integrated multi-instruments measurements Nicolas Mokus | CNRS | Identifying Opportunities: How the NZ DOI Consortium can help you "Get Ready" Martin Gengenbach | Archives Library New Zealand Lightning Talk ⚡ | Containers in Research: Reproducibility, Portability, and Efficiency Chris Zweck | REANNZ | |
| Towards a Secure On-Prem AI Lab: Adventures with Apple Silicon Richard Dean| Public Science And Forensic Health | Ready for Community: International Data Week as a Catalyst for Aotearoa New Zealand’s Data Capability Trish Radotic | ARDC Lightning Talk ⚡ | Building stateful web apps that facilitate data sovereignty with R and ReactJS Tom Elliott | Inzight Analytics | |
| Rapid Deployment of a Trusted Research Environment for Agricultural Data Science at DairyNZ Mubashir Qasim | DairyNZ Lightning Talk ⚡ | |||
| Let’s talk about Green Computing Paola Corrales | 21st Century Weather Lightning Talk ⚡ | |||
| Breaking Research Silos: A Platform for Discovery, Connection, and Collaboration Waqas Munir | Academic Lightning Talk ⚡ | |||
| 2:15 - 2:20 PM | MINI BREAK | ||
| 2:20 PM | Invited talk: Re-platforming a National Memory: Storage, Culture, Cloud, and AI Andrea Goethals | National Library of New Zealand and Archives New Zealand | ||
| 2:50 PM | CONFERENCE CLOSE | ||
2026 Sponsors
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