Overview

The 2024 Northern Regional Forum is an annual event uniting our regional groups from the Cairns, Townsville, and Mackay areas. 

This years theme is energising engineering industry in North Queensland’ with topics discussed carefully curated to address the evolving landscape of North Queensland.  

We invite engineers, business executives, public servants, and engineering students to join us for a full day of immersive learning, where the intersection of innovation, AI, and other key subjects will be explored. Attendees can earn up to 6 Continuing Professional Development (CPD) hours, with catering provided throughout the day.  

To cap off the event, a post-conference networking session is scheduled from 4:30 pm to 5:30 pm. This presents an excellent opportunity to connect with fellow delegates and speakers in a relaxed atmosphere, featuring delectable canapés and beverages. Let's come together to explore and embrace the North Queensland Region.

Dress code: Smart, casual.

Event program 

• 8:00 am: Registrations open
• 8:30 am: Event begins 
• 10:30 am: Morning tea and networking 
• 11:00 am: Mid morning session 
• 1:00 pm: Lunch and networking 
• 2:00 pm: Afternoon session begins 
• 4:30 pm: Afternoon networking and Refreshments 
• 5:30 pm: Event concludes

About the speaker

Melanie Olsen

Team Leader, Australian Institute of Marine Science.

Biography

Melanie Olsen leads ReefWorks – Australia’s Tropical Marine Technology Test Range at the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS). Melanie has 15 years experience in delivering new capability systems with AIMS and the Department of Defence. With a Masters in Electronic Warfare Systems Engineering from UNSW and Computer Systems Engineering degree from JCU, Melanie has a strong background in autonomous systems, electronics and cyber-security.  She has led the Australian engineering effort and represented multi-national teams during cutting edge product design & development.  Melanie’s interest is to integrate new technologies to deliver sovereign capability outcomes efficiently.