AI in the practice of science and AI in the practice of law

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The AI revolution is rapidly transforming everyday life, but what impact does this new technology have in the practice of science and in the practice of law? What are the opportunities, challenges and ethical implications of the use of AI within these fields?

Join the Australian Academy of Science and the Australian Academy of Law for our annual joint symposium, where an expert panel of scientists and legal professionals will explore these questions.

We will be joined by The Hon Chief Justice Lucy McCallum FAAL (Chair), along with expert panel members, Professor Jeannie Paterson FAAL, Director of the Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Digital Ethics at the University of Melbourne, Professor Will Bateman FAAL who leads research projects on the regulation of AI at the Australian National University Law School, Professor Toby Walsh FAA FTSE who is a leading researcher in artificial intelligence, and Dr Stefan Harrer, a globally recognised AI scientist and innovation leader who leads CSIRO's ‘AI for Science’ program.

 

Event details

Date: Monday 20 October 2025
Time: 5.30pm—7.00pm AEDT, followed by refreshments
Venue: Shine Dome in Canberra, and online livestream
Cost: $20 general admission; $10 students; free for Fellows of both academies; free livestream

 

Speakers

 

Justice Lucy McCallum is Chief Justice of the ACT and a former judge of the Supreme Court of NSW. She was appointed a judge of the Supreme Court of New South Wales in 2008 and in 2019 was elevated to the NSW Court of Appeal. In March 2022, she was affirmed as the Chief Justice of the ACT Supreme Court.
Professor Jeannie Paterson is a Professor of Consumer Protection and Technology Law and Director of the Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Digital Ethics at the University of Melbourne, and a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Law. Her research focuses on the regulatory and ethical challenges of safe and responsible AI, with a particular interest in the use of chatbots and virtual agents.
Professor Will Bateman is a Professor at the ANU Law School and a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Law. He specialises in legal regulation of public and private finance, with a special focus on central banking, sovereign debt markets, digital currencies and sustainable investing. He also leads research projects on the regulation of artificial intelligence in collaboration with computer science experts and public/private sector organisations
Professor Toby Walsh is Laureate Fellow and Scientia Professor of Artificial Intelligence at the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at UNSW, research group leader at CSIRO’s Data61, adjunct professor at QUT, external Professor of the Department of Information Science at Uppsala University, an honorary fellow of the School of Informatics at Edinburgh University, an Associate Member of the Australian Human Rights Institute at UNSW, and a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science and the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering.
Dr Stefan is a scientist, incubator, strategic advisor and executive manager. He builds and works with interdisciplinary, diverse technical and commercial teams at the intersection of digital health, neurotech, the life sciences and AI. Integrating safe and trustworthy AI systems into cloud and edge platforms to bring assistive data analytics and scalable data management tools to human decision makers in health, biotech, medtech and pharma is his core skill. He is an expert in producing and commercialising innovations in AI and science across complex, highly regulated environments spanning industry, academia and government.

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