The Science of Performance: What I learned from the NBA and Silicon Valley

9.00am Wednesday 22nd October

Professor David T. Martin returns to Australia after a transformative international journey, a modern professional walkabout taking on unique roles within elite sport and human performance. During his 21 years at the Australian Institute of Sport, David contributed to Olympic success across five Summer and four Winter Olympic Games including the following roles - Sport Science Coordinator for Cycling Australia, Program Lead AIS Skeleton Project, and Performance Director AIS Combat Centre. In 2015 David and his family moved back to the USA where he worked as the Director of Performance Research & Development for the Philadelphia 76ers focusing on integration of sports science into the NBA. From there, his journey took him to Silicon Valley, where he served as the Chief Scientist and Director of Performance at APEIRON Life, an exclusive concierge health and wellness startup supporting high net worth individuals with personalized health, wellness and fitness strategies grounded in science. Now back in Australia, David has taken on a joint role with the Queensland Academy of Sport and the University of Queensland focusing on Sport Technology, Research and Innovation. In this STARS presentation, David reflects on the lessons gathered from his global walkabout and how they now fuel his commitment to Australia’s Olympic success, a future shaped by innovation, tradition, and the collective pursuit of excellence on the road to Brisbane 2032.

The Speed of Innovation – Reflections on the Innovation Process

11.00am Wednesday 22nd October 2025

Dr Stuart Morgan worked in the national high-performance system from 2005 until 2024, firstly with the VIS, then the AIS. In that time, Stuart was responsible for developing various coach driven performance analysis technologies including ‘Pattern Plotter’ an application enabling Hockey Coaches to see how opposition teams entered the ball into scoring zones, ‘VisionKit’, one of the world’s first uses of computer vision in performance analysis, and ‘SPARTA 2’, Swimming Australia’s AI driven competition analysis system. In his time at the AIS, Stuart also progressed the deployment of AI technologies across the national system, and initiated world first work in generative AI in collaboration with the Australian Institute of Machine Learning (AIML) and CSIRO. The work Stuart delivered required rapid innovation cycles, and this presentation will have Stuart reflecting his key lessons regarding innovation activities. Now with Champion Data, Stu will highlight the differences between innovating within a government organisation and in private enterprise.

Could Quantum Science offer a Concussion Diagnostic Tool in Sport – Part of the innovation sprint to 2032, or more time required?

1.00pm Wednesday 22nd October

Dr Benjamin Carey is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Queensland. His research focuses on quantum-enabled sensing and hybrid optomechanical systems for precision measurement. He works across sensor physics, magnetometry, and micro/nanofabrication, developing high-sensitivity platforms for applications ranging from fundamental physics to bioimaging. He earned his PhD from RMIT University and held a postdoctoral position at the University of Münster, where he was awarded an Alexander von Humboldt Fellowship. His work combines materials engineering, photonics, and precision measurement to advance the next generation of chip-scale sensing technologies.

In June 2024, the Queensland Government announced more than $50 million towards advancing quantum technologies, including $5 million to catalyse the development of quantum-based innovation in sports tech and related areas for the Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games. In this STARS presentation, we check in with Dr Benjamin Carey on a project that seeks to utilise quantum-enabled magnetic field sensors to facilitate a low-cost portable MEG device for immediate concussion monitoring of athletes at the field of competition.

Sports Technology Evaluation Framework – How the ASC evaluates technology

2.30pm Wednesday 22nd October

Nicole is the Quality Assurance Lead at the Australian Institute of Sport and has over 15 years’ experience supporting high performance sport practitioners to drive quality practice and continuous improvement initiatives.  She brings experience in establishing robust quality assurance processes, that give confidence to performance support staff, athletes, and coaches that measurement data collected and used to inform decisions is valid, accurate and reliable.  Nicole’s passion lies in elevating the quality of practice across high performance sport, embedding evidence informed practices and supporting a culture of trust and transparency. The AIS’s Sport Technology Evaluation Framework: a standardised, evidence-based decision-making framework for evaluating the value, usability, and quality of sports technology. Creating a structure to effectively and efficiently evaluate technologies is an area of increasing need for many sports internal and external stakeholders. This robust process to evaluate technology has been produced to help to promote well-considered and transparent decision-making around technology choices and reduce negative effects such as low return on investment or technology misuse.

The Paul Perkins DigiTwin Project – A conversation with Querlo Founder, Francesco Rulli

9.00am Thursday 23rd October

"There is nothing greater in life than empowering others to succeed. Artificial Intelligence is my tool of choice to help people achieve their personal aspirations." Francesco Rulli, Founder, and CEO has leveraged a life-long interest in entrepreneurship, media, fashion, and technology. Previous enterprises include the John Malkovich fashion line, and Film Annex, an online film distribution company. The company promoted independent films with revenues generated through a custom ad server and player. The site hosted 300k independent films that reached up to 40 million viewers per month. Other business ventures soon followed. BitLanders, a social media platform with 1 million registered users. An industry leader in gamification, BitLanders has several pending patents, including the content ranking system Buzz Score, and BitMiles, a rewarding system inspired by the Medici family’s double ledger accounting system.

Francesco is a board member of the GMRF, an organization which aids children who have lost the use of limbs or eyes or have been severely burned, injured due to war, natural disaster or illness. Francesco’s philanthropic efforts extend to Afghanistan, where he sponsored the construction of 13 classrooms, providing young women with the tools and opportunities of digital citizenship. This project led to the introduction of Bitcoin payments in 2013. Francesco has since cast his eye on Dubai, a city committed to becoming a leader in artificial intelligence. Francesco is the recipient of the 2022 European Award Lorenzo il Magnifico.

In 2015, Francesco launched Querlo providing a robust environment for “conversational AI” and data performance analytics. Applying proprietary software, Francesco and his team developed tools to improve interactions between customers, employees, and brands. Today, the chatbots employ algorithms that mimic the neural connections of the human brain. An example is the Michelangelo AI, designed in collaboration with the Duomo of Florence, to bring back to life the artist who died over 400 years ago. In 2021, Francesco launched the Patronage NFT platform, a fundraising service and solution for museums and institutions. Patronage NFT, a 28C Partners Company, advise and guide on various fundraising options leveraging the latest technologies associated with NFTs, Immersive Reality and Metaverse. A revolutionary development that promises to unify the arts and sciences with technology, long the dream of an Italian-American born and raised in Florence.

In a convergence of visionary ideas, the concept of creating a digital twin - or ‘DigiTwin’ - of Dr Paul Perkins was born. The goal? To preserve and share the wisdom Paul had accumulated over years of working alongside Australia’s elite coaches at the AIS Coach Development Unit. This innovative initiative prototyped a ‘Paul DigiTwin’ to enable future coaches to interact with Paul’s insights in a more dynamic, accessible, and engaging way. The search for the right technology partner led to Francesco Rulli, the founder of Querlo. Francesco’s own journey is a story of creativity, innovation and a commitment to solving problems. He is an Italian businessman, philanthropist and black belt judo instructor, and competitive sailor. His path has been anything but ordinary: from launching the Bitcoin platform bitLanders, to empowering Afghan women to launch careers in filmmaking, to partnering in John Malkovich’s fashion label – Francesco’s work is driven by a passion for innovation and social impact.

In this STARS Q&A, we will take a deep dive into the potential of DigiTwins through the lens of the fascinating Francesco Rulli.

Q&A with Grace Brown: The evolving nature of technology on performance

11.00am Thursday 23rd October

Originally a cross-country and middle-to-long distance runner, Grace began her cycling career as a method of rehabilitation from injuries.  In 2019 she won her first Australian National TT championship and in 2020 her first European victory at Brabantse Pijl in Belgium.  In 2021 she competed at Tokyo Olympics in both the road race and time trial. In the time trial she came 4^th, a mere 7 seconds off the podium. Fast forward to 2024 after numerous TT victories in Commonwealth Games, National Championships and European pro-tour she lined up for the time trial on the wet and raining streets of Paris Olympics for day 1 of competition – where she won gold by over 60 seconds. A couple of months later she then repeated her time trial dominance by taking the world championships TT gold as well.

In this Q+A we’ll explore how Grace interacted and adapted with technology over her eight-year cycling career, what changed and what didn’t – and where to next.

Little Red, Big Leap: Performance-centred Practice the Tipping Point

1.00pm Thursday 23rd October

In this third instalment of the Little Red Riding Hood project, Dr Jamie Stanley and Dr Katie Slattery present the latest developments in the Performance Centred Practice (PCP) framework – a new approach to athlete preparation grounded in the realities of high performance sport. Building on earlier conceptual work, this presentation will explore how the PCP framework is now being practically applied within elite sport environments to better support athlete performance, learning, and wellbeing. Through real-world examples and emerging insights, this STARS session will highlight how PCP is reshaping coaching and performance support practices in collaboration with leading HP programs. Dr Slattery is a lecturer at the School of Sport, Exercise and Rehabilitation, UTS. A UTS alumni who began her sports science career as a physiologist at the NSW Institute of Sport (NSWIS) and then supported the women's track endurance cycling squad to the 2016 Rio Olympics as a performance scientist. Her job as a performance scientist with an Olympic team took her to the highest levels of sport. “We were going for gold in the team pursuit. Using a performance-centred approach, I worked closely with the coaches to forecast the performance required to win and then developed strategies that were in line with the team ethos and philosophy to best prepare the athletes.”

“To do this, we leveraged the existing scientific literature and my own research to translate and apply these findings to our high-performance setting.” It was also her job to quantify training and provide in-competition support to the team. This included race analysis and scouting of competitors’ performances to inform the coaches and athletes on how to best optimise our race strategy. “The satisfaction is when all the pieces come together for the athletes. Looking back to when the team won the 2015 World Championships in a world record time, it was magic. Seeing the athletes in a state of flow. Knowing that they’ve done all the hard work, and were in the best possible state of readiness to perform.” Katie said. Returning to the NSWIS as the coach of the endurance squad, she discovered the importance of holistic athlete development and the relational side of coaching. "If you look at the physical, technical, tactical and mental constructs in isolation you’re not getting a full picture on how well the athlete will perform,” she said. Katie has now shifted her focus to concentrate on conducting research at UTS and teaching the next gen of sport and exercise practitioners. Taking her learnings as a sports scientist and a coach to explore how to optimise performance using both quantitative and qualitative research methods

Dr Stanley is a sports physiologist, researcher and coach specialising in performance and recovery optimisation working with current world record holding, Olympic, Paralympic, Commonwealth, and World champion athletes. He is passionate about developing next practice in the daily training and competition environments and influencing transformational change at a system level that will have a lasting performance impact over time. Jamie is in a unique position holding roles with three different organisations. He is currently the Lead Physiologist for the Australian Cycling Team, Training Insight Lead for the Swimming Australia High Performance Unit and Senior Physiologist at the South Australian Sports Institute. Jamie also holds an adjunct research position at the University of South Australia and was the 2020 Exercise and Sport Science Australia Accredited Sport Scientist of the year.

The CSIRO Next Generation Graduates Program is a cohort-based, industry driven, multi-disciplinary graduate training program that aims to equip students with entrepreneurial thinking and skill sets that are key to boost breakthrough innovation in the exciting fields of AI and other emerging technologies. The Australian Sports Commission along with a host of partners are supporting a branch of the NGGP. In this session you will hear from PhD Candidates, their research topics and the potential impacts on sport.

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Methods for Efficient and Effective Analysis of Athlete Data - Tara Lind

Tara completed her Honours in Data Science in 2023 from Curtin University, and is now completing her PhD at La Trobe University in Sports Analytics. The project is in collaboration with the Victorian Institute of Sport and is a part of CSIRO’s NGGP Sports Data Science and AI program.  

Presentation Summary:

Currently, athlete data collection in high performance sport environments is often inconsistent, and data analysis in sport science research is frequently poorly executed. This PhD project will focus on developing new, more efficient and effective methods to analyse athlete data is used in high-performance sport environments. The work aims to provide robust, generalisable analytical tools to enhance the application of athlete data to offer benefits to sport science researchers, practitioners, and sporting organisations.

Discovery of Novel Strategies with Reinforcement Learning - Mengmeng Wu

Mengmeng was born in the capital of China Beijing. She completed her Master's degree with distinction in Signal Processing and Communications at University of Edinburgh. She has worked in the financial sector in both China and Australia after graduation in the past decade.

Presentation Summary:

Deep Reinforcement Learning (DRL) offers a transformative approach to sports strategy by replacing traditional, intuition-based methods with adaptive, data-driven decision-making. This research explores DRL in track cycling, focusing on the flying 200m qualification in individual sprint events. By modelling cyclists as learning agents, DRL can optimise pacing strategies, equipment choices, and track navigation, tailoring race plans to each athlete’s unique physical profile.

Swimming Race Pace Profiling using Multivariate Data - Mackenzie Parker

Mackenzie is a Brisbane based PhD student at the Queensland University of Technology, where he researches the racing strategies in elite swimming. He completing a double Bachelor's Degree in Mathematics and Information Technology at QUT in 2023, and draws on over a decade of experience and passion as a competitive swimmer.

Presentation Summary:

Swimming data collection technologies innovated in Australia have produced data sets of a scale and level of detail unprecedented in the sport's scientific literature. Using these insights, it's time to look beyond split times and get a high-resolution understanding of how elite swimmers are pacing their races. Using functional data analysis and unsupervised methods, this research is learning what pacing profiles are present in elite competition, how to construct a race from those profiles, and which profiles are more successful than others.

Statistical learning and simulation tools for pace profiling and strategy in middle-distance running - Will Sutton

Will initially graduated with a double Bachelor’s degree in secondary education (mathematics and physical education) and exercise and movement science, and taught for five years, before returning to university to complete a Master of electronic and sport engineering. During this Master, he developed a keen interest in the data and statistical analysis element of sports and human movement. The NGGP program is a natural progression into the data and statistics side of sports that Will finds particularly interesting.

Presentation Summary

In major athletics events, middle-distance running competitors often run times below their capability due to conservative tactics, making good race strategy critical to winning. Currently, the nuances of race strategy – from an individual’s pace profile through to interactions with competitors – are often not recorded in detail with pace profiles described in broad terms. This research will explore pace profiles in middle-distance running events using statistical models and simulation to develop a deeper understanding of how races unfold, allowing athletes and coaches to develop optimised race strategies and coaching plans.

Applications of Functional Data Analysis In Sports Biomechanics - Arlo Hook

Arlo grew up in northern NSW and fell in love with sport through playing futsal and soccer. He began his studies in exercise physiology at Griffith University on the Gold Coast before moving to Canberra where he completed his undergraduate and Honours studies with the University of Canberra. Arlo has worked as an applied sports scientist at the ACT Academy of Sport for the past 4 years.

Presentation Summary

Functional data analysis (FDA) is a powerful statistical framework for modeling time series and spatial data which is commonly collected within the biomechanics setting. FDA offers a branch of techniques for modelling relationships between time dependent variables known as functional regression. Functional regression may provide novel insights to coordination and movement variability related questions within sports biomechanics.  

Profiling athlete’s throwing mechanics from video using high precision computer vision - Ryan Uchino-Hansen

Ryan grew up in Brisbane, Queensland, and completed a double degree in Engineering (Mechatronics) and Information Technology (Computer Science) at QUT in 2024. During his time at university, he developed a strong interest in deep learning and computer vision and its practical applications. Markerless human pose estimation and object detection offers a non-intrusive methods to capturing joint locations of athletes and locations of objects. This research explores the use of markerless human pose estimation and object detection in javelin, shot put and discus and its ability to provide nearly immediate feedback to coaches on performance metrics, such as release velocity, release angle and contributing metrics such as trunk tilt, shot path length or hip-shoulder separation. This will enable coaches and athletes to make several data-driven technique adjustments during a training session, enabling improved athlete performance.

Ignite the Future: Harnessing Innovation to Empower Team USA during the Golden Decade of Sport

9.00am Friday 24th October

Mike Levine is the Senior Director of Performance Pathways and Innovation at the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC). In this role, he is responsible for shaping departmental strategy, driving team operations, and raising and effectively allocating resources across the USOPC’s Performance Innovation, High Performance Pathways, and Coaching teams to help Team USA gain competitive advantages and elevate the performance and well-being of U.S. athletes and coaches.

Previously, Mike served as Director of Performance Innovation Business Operations, where he led initiatives that leveraged technology and data analytics to improve athlete performance and operational efficiency across Team USA and the USOPC. Prior to that, he worked within the USOPC’s High-Performance department, partnering with Olympic programs in track and field, swimming, golf, equestrian, shooting, weightlifting, and sport climbing to deliver performance-impacting services in preparation for the Olympic, Pan American, and Youth Olympic Games.

Mike holds an MBA from the McColl School of Business at Queens University of Charlotte, a Juris Doctor from the Charlotte School of Law, and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of South Florida.

This session explores how the USOPC is harnessing innovation to empower Team USA throughout the "Golden Decade of Sport," leading up to the 2028 Los Angeles and 2034 Salt Lake City Games.  Attendees will gain insights into the USOPC’s Performance Innovation program, which drives advancements in performance analytics, technology, athlete support, and data-informed decision-making to equip Team USA with tools and resources to excel on the world stage.

“The Park” - ASC’s Virtual Innovation Hub

11.00am Friday 24th October

The Park is a virtual innovation hub led by the ASC to bring companies with unique technology offerings to help solve five of the sector’s biggest challenges and create value for stakeholders:

• Harnessing Data, AI and Machine Learning
• Next-Generation Wearables
• Digital Twin Technologies
• Brain Performance Innovation
• Environmental Sustainability in Sport

The Park will bring a selection of firms together, along with NSO/Ds and the ASC to work through a six-month co-designed programme of work to accelerate solutions from technology readiness level (TRL) 3/4+ to a level of TRL 8 or higher.  At the conclusion of the co-designed project the ASC and/or NSO/D can choose to develop further projects with the company, procure services and/or deploy wider. A core tenant of The Park is that it only interacts and develops solutions that have appeal across multiple NSO/Ds.

Expected outcomes range from multi- sport solutions put into the field of play, increased productivity and leadership in the sports technology sector, potential revenue growth and enhanced athletic performance at major events.

Dr. Paul Collins is the Research and Innovation Officer at the Australian Sports Commission.  In this role he is responsible for translating research into products, processes and innovations that enhance Australian Sport – high performance, community and the wider sector.  Paul has a history of leading and translating research, leading and co-designing products that have impacted people, companies and won medals. He was the lead on the Factor Hanzo Track a bike that helped win Gold for the Team Pursuit and claimed the world record. He has worked with Quiksilver, Speedo, and Lululemon amongst others driving technical performance apparel for both elite athletes and consumers. Paul holds qualifications in Mechanical Engineering, Business Management, Teaching and a PhD.

Exploring opportunities to accelerate the benefits and value of AI in sports

1.00pm Friday 24th October

Dr Alexandra Bratanova is a Senior Research Scientist within CSIRO’s Data61 Humans and Machines team. She holds a PhD in Economics (University of Queensland, 2015) and a PhD in Finance (Moscow City Government University of Management, 2013). Her research interests span economics and decision sciences in technology development and adoption.

Since joining CSIRO in 2015, Alexandra has co-authored over 30 research reports for public and private sector organisations, covering the future of digital technologies, workforce and skills, international trade, and technology adoption across industries including sport, health, construction, education, transport, and energy. She co-authored CSIRO’s widely read reports Our Future World and Tomorrow’s Digitally Enabled Workforce. More recently, her projects have examined the geography of digital technology adoption in Australia, the Australian AI ecosystem, and the socio-economic aspects of transport automation, climate change vulnerability of Australian population, and AI adoption in insurance.

In 2022, Alexandra contributed to the development of The Future of Australian Sport report, and she is currently part of the CSIRO team developing the AI for Australian Sports report. She also coordinates the AI in Sports stream of the Next Gen Graduate Program, run by Data61 in collaboration with Australian universities and industry partners. Alexandra regularly presents her research at national and international forums for academia, government and industry audiences.

The Australian Sports Commission (ASC) has partnered with CSIRO, Australia’s national science agency, and the employer of the largest cohort of computer scientists in the country to explore opportunities for Australian sport. In this STARS presentation, Dr Alexandra Bratanova from CSIRO’s Data 61 will draw on information gathered during Data 61’s project to develop an AI Roadmap for Australian Sport. This presentation examines current artificial intelligence applications across elite and community sporting contexts, identifies strategic opportunities, and discusses how benefits might be accelerated leading to Brisbane 2032.

Powering Up Sport – Sport England’s Digital Transformation Journey

2.30pm Friday 24th October

Allison has worked in the sector for over 15 years, and has accumulated expertise in the fields of innovation, data, digital, insight, behaviour change and finance. Allison is currently leading Sport England's work on digital and innovation, with a mission to support others to apply these areas to improve the experience of getting active. She is particularly passionate about applying these topics to reduce the systemic inequalities and barriers that are preventing certain groups of people from benefiting from being physically active. The current work of her team includes ground-breaking sector change initiatives, such as guiding the strategic direction of OpenActive (which uses open data to help people get active), evaluating the sectors digital maturity & effectiveness via the Digital Futures programme with UKactive, and most recently publishing new research on digital inclusion and its connection with inequalities. Her team are also exploring critical topics such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), youth voice, testing how to measure the impact of innovation for the sector and exploring intersectionality and how this can help partners be even more user centred in their work.

As the role of digital technology in society accelerates, Sport England is at the forefront of reimagining how sport is delivered, accessed, and experienced across the country. In this session, Allison Savich, Sport England’s Strategic lead for innovation and digital, explores Sport England’s strategic approach to digital transformation – one that places people at the heart of innovation, while leveraging data, technology, and partnerships to modernise the sector.