Our People

Nicholas worked for a decade in informatics research at Australian universities and government research organisations - CSIRO. His PhD focussed on decision modelling using Semantic Web ontologies for irrigation.

He has worked in international Semantic Web standards development in the areas of data profiling and spatial data.

Since 2018, Nicholas has worked in the private sector supplying commercial and free open source Knowledge Graph-based products and services.

In 2022, Nicholas founded KurrawongAI to focus on product-independent consulting.

Edmond is a software engineer, information modeller and knowledge graph and Semantic Web senior developer.

Edmond started his journey in the area of data integration and interoperability during his time at CSIRO where he worked on web services and reference datasets that underpinned the Location Index project.

He later had the privilege to work as a senior software engineer at TERN, a national research infrastructure funded by NCRIS, where he was given the opportunity to hone his information modelling, data governance, data integration, data exchange and data interoperability skills. Edmond started multiple initiatives at TERN and led a number of projects where he successfully used knowledge graph technologies to integrate disparate ecological field survey data collected from multiple state and federal government and research organisations. Edmond also used knowledge graph technologies to improve data interoperability between services within TERN's data infrastructure.

Edmond enjoys applying his knowledge and skillset to help organisations improve their data infrastructure and management. He also enjoys developing novel software solutions and services to manage data and knowledge graphs.

Sophie is interested in the conjunction of organisational and technological change that allows for organisations to more effectively make use of their resources and information; developing solutions that allow the connections that are key to new insights and effective Information Management.

While working in varied sectors over the last decade, Sophie has primarily focused in Records and Information Management roles.

She has experience in Software as a Service (SaaS) Project Management & Business Analysis, as well as SLA Support Coordination across the biodiversity information and the Galleries, Libraries, Archives & Museums (GLAM) sectors.

Jamie is a software engineer with several years experience in full-stack web application development, focusing on user interfaces and APIs for knowledge graph systems.

Jamie also has experience provisioning and managing cloud infrastructure, and is passionate about process automation of both infrastructure and application deployment. With a background of theoretical physics and machine learning, Jamie enjoys designing and developing pleasing and intuitive user experiences, and creating efficient and elegant solutions to challenging problems.

David is an experienced KG systems developer who configures RDF databases and applications and then uses them to answer difficult questions.

He has considerable Machine Learning experience, including text document processing, and cutting-edge spatial data systems experience, including Discrete Global Grid System implementation.

Monique uses her wealth of experience in administration, business support and project coordination roles to keep everything running smoothly here at KurrawongAI. She works closely with both the KurrawongAI team and our clients providing project support, managing client relations, handling day-to-day business administration and generally keeping things organised and on track.

Monique also has a background and qualifications in project management and training design & delivery.

Howard has worked as a solutions architect at Services Australia where he contributed to many high profile projects that delivered essential services to the Australian public. This included the Digital Identity Exchange, myGov and Centrelink.

Howard maintained a close collaborative approach with business, technical, and architecture teams, steering the design, validation, and advancement of solutions through the formal governance approval process. This often involved the facilitation of workshops, engaging both business and technical stakeholders to ensure a holistic understanding.

Additionally, Howard has a strong background in online development, encompassing modern technology stacks, reactive technologies, and diverse database technologies. He now works as KurrawongAI’s Solutions Architect implementing the overall systems needed to integrate Knowledge Graph tools into organisations’ computing environments.

With 20 years experience in metadata projects, Les has worked across government, research and social service sectors. He's helped developed important linked data vocabularies, including the Schools Online Thesaurus (ScOT), Public Policy Taxonomy, and Biosecurity Thesaurus. Les has also built grey literature databases for government- and industry-led research, including the Analysis & Policy Observatory (APO) and Biosecurity Portal.

At KurrawongAI, Les provides expert advice to clients on using and creating vocabularies. He also leads our vocabulary training efforts, ensuring clients understand how to get the most out of the tools and resources we offer.

Lawson is a seasoned IT professional specializing in software development and IT consultancy. With expertise in Python and a strong foundation in teaching, he brings a unique blend of skills to the IT sector.

He holds a Graduate Diploma in Data Science from the University of New England and a Bachelor of Science and Computer Science from Queensland University of Technology. His certifications encompass Power Platform Solution Architect, BI Reporting, ITIL, and CompTIA CTT+.

Lawson's experience spans roles as a Software Developer, Business Owner, System Technician, Technical Trainer and Solution Consultant.

Margie is a data and metadata policy and governance consultant with around 20 years experience in Federal government, mostly in the Departments of Prime Minister & Cabinet, Communications, Human Services, Geoscience Australia and various statutory authorities.

In 2005 - 2015 Margie was instrumental in the establishment and multi-agency adoption of the various ANZLIC spatial data standards.

Tom is an experienced full-stack developer who has managed the delivery of operational Semantic Web / Knowledge Graph applications for many years.

He holds a PhD in Computer Science Engineering from Ghent University and his research involvement includes working on the Semantic Web, Linked Data and provenance. He participated in the W3C's Provenance Working Group, contributing to the PROV standard and has built many PROV-based applications.

In addition to his stellar technical skills, Tom brings international government Linked Data experience to KurrawongAI.

Byron has a BA/BS Geography 1990 Eastern Oregon University and has 32 years experience in spatial data. He has been contributing to metadata standards and working on catalogue project since 1994 in the US, NZ and Australia across multiple sectors, government, military, research and the private sector.

Byron contributes critical expertise on geospatial interoperability, metadata systems, and linked data architecture in the open data standards within the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC), the ISO's Technical Committee 211 (geospatial), Standards New Zealand and the Australia/New Zealand Intergovernmental Committee on Surveying & Mapping (ICSM).

Byron was a co-author of the W3C/OGC "Best practices for publishing, retrieving, and using spatial data on the web". As Co-Chair of the OGC MetaCat Domain Working Group, Byron Cochrane drove the development of metadata cataloguing standards, including securing formal endorsement for the OGC GeoDCAT Standards Working Group. Through OpenWork Ltd, Byron operates GeoData.nz, a GeoNetwork-based federated metadata catalogue for New Zealand geospatial data.

Byron has delivered standards-based spatial data solutions to organisations across Australia and New Zealand, building practical capability for harvesting, cataloguing, and linking geospatial data across organisational boundaries. He has also authored numerous studies and reports, including the "ICSM ISO 19115-1 Metadata Best Practice Guide", the "Location Standards for Utilities in New Zealand" report, and "A Digital Standards Governance Framework to Underpin New Zealand’s Infrastructure Data" which includes best practices for standards governance.

Adrian has a BSc Computer Science and is a passionate and knowledgeable senior software developer. It’s not enough for Adrian to create something that works - he must know why it works!

Adrian graduated from Victoria University of Wellington in 2017, interning at Catalyst IT during his studies, though his education in computing began long before that at age 10. After graduating he successfully completed several contracts including visualizing shared vocabularies with SKOS, a privacy-conscious blogging site and for New Zealand's National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA), helped harvest multiple and different standardised spatial data web service endpoints into a spatial data catalogue running on GeoNetwork.

Adrian currently works with KurrawongAI as part of their New Zealand-based OpenWork Ltd team where, among other things, he works deploying, customising and maintaining of several cataloging systems. He is also a dedicated volunteer for the Nelson/Tasman Climate Forum where he helps his community live less wasteful lives.

Heidi is a committed and fast-learning graduate with an honours degree in Advanced Computer Science (AI).

Detail-oriented and looking to learn as much as possible, she can adapt in fast-paced environments while delivering high-quality results. She is passionate about taking on unique and complex programming puzzles.

Since graduating in 2025, she has worked as a Knowledge Graph Engineer for several organisations including the University of Western Australia where she developed the Carapace, a web-based, text-first RDF graph visualiser tool due to a lack of simple-to-use equivalents out there. It's already in use by other KurrawongAI staff!