The University of Melbourne will be hosting the 2026 IEEE Australian Information Theory School (AusITS) from Monday, Feb 16th to Thursday, Feb 19th in Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
The school will provide graduate students and postdoctoral researchers with the opportunity to engage with leading experts in Information Theory, Communication Theory, and Machine Learning through short lectures, as well as the chance to present their own work.
Graduate students and postdoctoral researchers in Australia and New Zealand working on problems in information/communication theory and machine learning are encouraged to apply with the title and a short abstract of a poster that they would like to present.
Early bird fee: AUD $125 (before 16 January 2026)
Normal fee: AUD $160 (from 17 January 2026)
With the generous support of the IEEE, a limited number of discounted rooms are available at Graduate House.
Co-sponsored by: Dept. Electrical & Electronic Engineering and School of Computing & Information Systems, The University of Melbourne
Agenda:
https://sites.google.com/view/2026ausits/program-abstracts-slides
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

End-of-Year Celebration: Bowling & Laser Tag at Bowling Clayton
The IEEE GRSS Student Chapter is excited to invite you to our End-of-Year Celebration, featuring bowling and laser tag games at Bowling Clayton.
This fun and interactive event offers a great opportunity for students and members to relax, socialise, and celebrate the end of the year together. Whether you’re aiming for a strike on the bowling lanes or enjoying the excitement of laser tag, there will be something for everyone.
Please register to secure your spot, as places are limited.
We look forward to celebrating the end of the year with you and strengthening our GRSS student community.
Clayton, Victoria, Australia

Rehabilitation robotics leverages the principle of "practice makes perfect" by using repetitive task-based exercises to facilitate motor re-learning and functional recovery, particularly in poststroke rehabilitation. Rooted in neurocognitive rehabilitation theories, robot-assisted therapies provide tailored, intensive training routines that meet individual patient needs. Learning control (LC) strategies, originally developed in 1978 to achieve high tracking performance in industrial applications, offer a compelling framework for controller designs in this field. Unlike traditional control methods, LC algorithms improve performance over time by utilizing information from previous iterations. This talk highlights recent advances in LC designs and illustrates how various LC algorithms effectively address the unique challenges posed by rehabilitation robotics. Additionally, it explores future opportunities for integrating learning control into rehabilitation systems and outlines key research questions for advancing control theory in this critical area.
Co-sponsored by: Dept. Electrical & Electronic Engineering, The University of Melbourne
Speaker(s): Prof Ying Tan from the University of Melbourne
Level 2, Building 193 (EEE), The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia, 3010, Virtual: https://events.vtools.ieee.org/m/519148

The end of the year is near!
We welcome all IEEE University of Melbourne Student Branch Members and prospective executive committee members to our AGM.
Hear about the events that we ran this year, say goodbye to our outgoing executive committee, and help us in voting for new executive members!
🗓️ : Tuesday 2nd December
⏰: 5 – 6 PM
📍: E311 Seminar Room, Level 3, Mechanical Engineering Building (Building 170)
💵: Free!
🥪: Catering will be provided
Register for the event here: https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=z_NbDvQft0aRdlLFOMIqTdNeVfFCc8BIhVX0XEiJROlUOEwzNDVDUzU5UkFKVk1YQU9GTU84QVBTSS4u&origin=QRCode
If you are interested in becoming an executive committee member for IEEE University of Melbourne Student Branch, please sign up here: https://forms.gle/hc15EsvF7zqCQkvk6
We hope to see you there!
[] Signing off,
University of Melbourne IEEE Student Branch Executive Committee
Jae Min, Junyi, Xinliang, Yeely, Jia Li, Sachira, Sachitha, Weixuan
Co-sponsored by: IEEE University of Melbourne 2025 AGM
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Talk Topic:
Physical and computational modeling of smart homes
Abstract:
Novel “smart” technologies such as smart homes, smart grids, variable pricing, and local energy markets promise both better overall efficiency for the providers, a greener home, and lower prices. However, they also create unexpected problems. During the February 2021 North-American Ice Storm, the deregulated energy market in Texas came dangerously close to collapse, leading to rolling brownouts and loss of service in many homes that relied on electric power for heating. As a response, the variable pricing system shot up to $5000 per kilowatt hour, generating very high bills for customers who did not lose service. This behavior penalized customers but did nothing to help in the ongoing crisis. Although it did not happen on this occasion, a controller that would sell the home’s energy reserves to take advantage of the high pricing would be even more dangerous for customers facing freezing temperatures. The lesson we can learn from these events is that “smart” systems must be extensively tested, including for black swan events for which no previous data is available. In this talk, we discuss the need for extensive modeling and simulation for all the components of such homes, including the physical environment, the smart controllers, the behavior of the humans, and the external environment, including the smart grids and local energy market to which the systems connect.
Speaker(s): Professor Damla Turgut
Virtual: https://events.vtools.ieee.org/m/517639

The Australian Council organised this online event to have three objectives:
(1) First-ever networking event for WIE Affinity groups' chairs, and WIE student branch chairs across Australia
(2) Technical skill development on VTool and an educational session on event, planning, organising, financing and promotional guidelines
(3) A planning day for 2026.
Agenda:
The following items were covered in the online Teams meeting
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Introduction
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Technical skills on VTool
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Event publicising Multi-channel promotion strategy
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Planning 2026
Virtual: https://events.vtools.ieee.org/m/514973

Hydrogen Electrolysis Technologies Supporting the Operation and Stability of Renewables-based Power systems
Engineering Design Centre, Room 302 Sandy Bay, Hobart Sandy-Bay, Tasmania, Australia, 7005

The newly formed Victorian Chapter of the IEEE Aerospace and Electronics Systems Society (AESS), in collaboration with RMIT University, is pleased invite you to our chapter launch, and inaugural talk by Distinguished Lecturer Dr Luke Rosenburg (FIEEE). This will provide an excellent opportunity to meet and greet other chapter members, in addition to faculty members from RMIT University's Space Communications Group.
Lecture Topic:
Detection in the maritime domain requires the radar return from targets to be distinguishable from the background interference. These radars traditionally use non-coherent processing due to the time-varying and range-varying nature of the Doppler spectra. However, as radar platforms fly higher and look down at steeper angles, the sea clutter power will increase and traditional methods will not be as effective. This talk covers several new approaches for target detection in the maritime domain. These include the use of sparse signal separation algorithms, including dictionary learning, two machine learning algorithms and the application of the single snapshot coherent detector. Each of these techniques is demonstrated using either real or realistic simulated sea clutter and shows good potential when compared to traditional processing methods.
Co-sponsored by: RMIT University – Space Communications Group
Speaker(s): , Luke
Room: 12, Bldg: Building 80 Level 5, RMIT Melbourne City Campus, Swanston Street, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 3000, Virtual: https://events.vtools.ieee.org/m/512505

The IEEE Student Branch at Deakin University proudly presents an expert talk on
“Australia’s Next-Generation Modelling Tool for Sustainable Food and Land Systems.”
Join Dr. Jinzhu Wang (Associate Research Fellow, Planet-A Group, Deakin University) as he explores how advanced spatial modelling, remote sensing, and deep learning are shaping Australia’s agricultural and environmental future.
Discover how the Land Use Trade-Offs Model v2 (LUTO2) integrates climate targets, biodiversity protection, and economic growth to achieve sustainable outcomes at a national scale.
Don’t miss this opportunity to learn how data-driven modelling is powering Australia’s transition toward Net Zero, food security, and long-term land sustainability.
Speaker(s): Dr. Wang
Room: NS1.010, Bldg: NS, Deakin University, 75 Pigdons Road, Waurn Ponds, Geelong, Victoria, Australia, 3216, Virtual: https://events.vtools.ieee.org/m/512023

The IEEE Student Branch at Deakin University proudly presents an expert talk on
“Australia’s Next-Generation Modelling Tool for Sustainable Food and Land Systems.”
Join Dr. Jinzhu Wang (Associate Research Fellow, Planet-A Group, Deakin University) as he explores how advanced spatial modelling, remote sensing, and deep learning are shaping Australia’s agricultural and environmental future.
Discover how the Land Use Trade-Offs Model v2 (LUTO2) integrates climate targets, biodiversity protection, and economic growth to achieve sustainable outcomes at a national scale.
Don’t miss this opportunity to learn how data-driven modelling is powering Australia’s transition toward Net Zero, food security, and long-term land sustainability.
Speaker(s): Dr. Wang
Room: NS1.010, Bldg: NS, Deakin University, 75 Pigdons Road, Waurn Ponds, Geelong, Victoria, Australia, 3216, Virtual: https://events.vtools.ieee.org/m/512023