Event Partner

ADC Global Blockchain Summit

Mark Staples

Senior principal researcher, Data61

I have been with Data61 since its merger with NICTA in late 2015. I am a Senior Principal Researcher in the Software and Computational Systemsprogram, and lead a Challenge pilot across Data61 on visible and connected supply chains. I coordinate most of the blockchain research at Data61, and lead various blockchain projects including work towards the Australian National Blockchain. I am the Data61 representative on Standards Australia's blockchain and distributed ledger technology standardisation committee as part of ISO's technical committee TC307.

In 2017 I led a NISA-funded project with The Treasury on technical risks and opportunities for blockchain-based systems.

I joined NICTA as a researcher in 2004. During the 2008-2011 period, I led the Managing Complexity research group (was "Empirical Software Engineering") at the ATP lab. During 2010-2011, I was also the founding leader of the international research collaboration Fraunhofer Project Center on Transport and Logistics at NICTA. As an activity of the Project Center and in collaboration with SAP Research and Fraunhofer IESE, I led the creation of the Future Logistics Living Lab. The living lab is both an industry innovation network and a physical demonstration space. In addition to hosting regular logistics industry innovation network meetings, it has hosted many high-profile visitors, including a 2014 visit by the German Chancellor Angela Merkel. The living lab continues now as the Transport and Logistics Living Lab. Earlier at NICTA I led a project on Understanding the Impact of CMMI on SMEs, and conducted research in projects on Business Adaptation and Interoperation, and on Trustworthy Embedded Systems. I also led the definition of the strategy for the earlier Software Infrastructure business area.

In 2014, I had a sabbatical year working as Systems Engineering Team Leader for Saluda Medical, a NICTA spinout company developing implantable medical devices for neuromodulation (spinal cord stimulation, for chronic neuropathic pain).

Prior to joining NICTA, I spent four years with two software development companies in Brisbane, Australia, working in verification, configuration management, and process management roles. I worked on the development of safety-critical embedded systems for industrial automation in the transportation industry, and also on enterprise infrastructure for electronic payments over the Internet. Before this, I held a one-year post-doc position at the University of Cambridge Computer Laboratory.

I hold a conjoint appointment at UNSW with the School of Computer Science and Engineering, and supervise a number of PhD students in software engineering.