Professor Svetha Venkatesh

Svetha is an internationally-renowned researcher and industry leader in large scale data pattern recognition. Her commitment to innovation has enabled her to translate machine learning and pattern recognition research into highly practical and impactful outcomes for health, security and aged care.

Svetha is an ARC Australian Laureate Fellow, Alfred Deakin Professor and Director of Centre for Pattern Recognition and Data Analytics at Deakin University. She was elected a Fellow of the International Association of Pattern Recognition in 2004 for contributions to formulation and extraction of semantics in multimedia data, and a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering in 2006.

Svetha’s research has evolved into publications, patents, tools and spin-off companies, including: iCetana, a start-up company which uses video analytics to detect potential security threats; Virtual Observer, a mobile surveillance system that can recognise unusual behaviour in crowds in real time and alert security; and TOBY playpad, an early intervention program that provides intensive therapy and personalised teaching to children with autism.

Svetha approaches complex pattern recognition tasks by drawing inspiration and models from diverse disciplines, integrating them into rigorous computational models and innovative algorithms. She has made a significant contribution to the development of theoretical frameworks and new applications for analysing large scale, multimedia data.