DrBahareh Nakisa

Dr Bahareh Nakisa is a Senior Lecturer in Applied Artificial Intelligence and Course Director of Postgraduate Applied AI in the School of Information Technology at Deakin University.

She co-leads the Human-Centric Technologies Lab (HuTech), an interdisciplinary research initiative dedicated to shaping advanced technologies that augment human capabilities, enhance human–technology collaboration and remain aligned with human values, needs and real-world contexts.

 She received her PhD in Computer Science (Artificial Intelligence) from Queensland University of Technology, where she was awarded the Executive Dean’s Commendation for an Outstanding Doctoral Thesis, recognising research in the top 5% of doctoral work. Prior to joining academia, she worked as an AI scientist in industry.

Dr Nakisa is internationally recognized in human-centred, trustworthy and ethical artificial intelligence, with a particular interest in how intelligent systems can understand people, learn from them, and collaborate with them effectively. She studies how adaptive and agentic AI systems can co-evolve with humans over time, learning from human behaviour, feedback and physiological state while adapting to changing needs, capabilities and contexts. Her research brings together human–AI teaming, alignment, adaptive and agentic intelligence, reasoning and causal inference, computational models of human cognition, and multimodal human-state understanding. A central goal of this work is to develop intelligent systems that are not only capable, but also safe, trustworthy, interpretable and aligned with human values, strategic objectives and broader societal priorities.

Her research has particular relevance to complex and high-stakes environments, including defence, emergency response, healthcare, transportation, space and environmental decision-making, where effective human–AI collaboration, appropriate trust, reliability and human oversight are critical. Her work also addresses trustworthy AI across the broader technology lifecycle, connecting technical advances in intelligent systems with responsible deployment, assurance and governance.

Dr Nakisa has established a substantial externally funded research portfolio, securing > $3 million in competitive research funding from Australian and international government, research and industry organisations.

Her research has attracted substantial competitive funding and strategic investment from leading national and international government, defence, research and industry programs. Her funded portfolio includes an Australian Research Council Discovery Project, major US defence research funding (AFRL-AOARD), Fire Rescue Victoria, Microsoft, CSIRO, the Victorian Government, the Advanced Manufacturing Growth Centre, Bendigo Bank and Table Tennis Australia, alongside a growing network of national and international research and industry partners. These collaborations demonstrate the breadth, competitiveness and translational impact of her research across high-priority areas including defence, emergency response, healthcare, advanced technologies, environment, education and industry.

She has published > 80 research articles across artificial intelligence and computer science and supervises research spanning human–AI teaming, trustworthy AI, reinforcement learning, multimodal sensing and intelligent systems.

Beyond her research, Dr Nakisa is an active contributor to the international AI community. She is regularly invited to deliver keynotes, invited talks and industry presentations on human-centred AI, trustworthy and responsible AI, human–AI teaming and emerging intelligent systems, including a TEDx talk and presentations to major academic, government and industry audiences.

She has served as a reviewer for US National Science Foundation (NSF) research funding proposals and regularly reviews for leading AI conferences and high-impact international journals.

She has a strong track record in research training and supervision, currently supervising more than 10 PhD researchers and having supervised more than 50 Master’s research students across areas including human–AI teaming, trustworthy AI, reinforcement learning, multimodal sensing and intelligent systems. Her supervision reflects the interdisciplinary nature of her research and includes projects spanning AI, engineering, health, human performance and environmental applications.

Her interdisciplinary work also extends to the impact of generative AI on engineering education and professional practice, with this work presented at the 2025 Deakin Teaching and Learning Conference. Her work also extends to AI in education and the future of learning, exploring how students and educators can develop the capabilities needed to work effectively and responsibly with emerging AI technologies. This work has received international attention and has been featured in Forbes.

Through HuTech, Dr Nakisa has helped establish a broader interdisciplinary research agenda around the relationship between advanced technologies and the human, organisational, societal and environmental systems in which they operate. HuTech is founded on the view that the impact of emerging technologies cannot be understood through technical performance alone. Its vision is to advance technologies that augment human capabilities and improve human and societal outcomes while remaining trustworthy, responsible and sustainable. The initiative brings together complementary perspectives to address the interactions between technological capability, human behaviour and experience, organisational practice, societal values and environmental impact, helping bridge the gap between technological innovation and responsible real-world adoption.