Born out of research collaboration on accelerating digital forensics and countering online child exploitation, AiLECS brings together Australia’s largest university and Australia’s national police agency to research the next generation of AI for law enforcement and community safety applications.
Since its inception, AiLECS continues to broaden its portfolio. The lab continues its work in countering child exploitation but is also undertaking research in areas ranging from ethical dataset curation through to detection of illegal firearms. We invite you to explore our website to find out more about AiLECS and our mission of advancing ethical and transparent AI for keeping communities safe.
The AiLECS Lab was launched in July 2019, by AFP Deputy Commissioner (Transnational, Serious and Organised Crime) Karl Kent OAM and Monash University Vice-Chancellor, Professor Margaret Gardner AC.
Our People
A/Prof Campbell Wilson Associate Professor Wilson is the Monash University Co-director of the AiLECS Lab. He undertakes research in AI and machine learning, with a particular emphasis on community safety applications. He has also undertaken research work in digital forensics, information retrieval and bioinformatics. He has held a range of senior leadership positions in the Faculty of Information Technology at Monash University including Associate Head of School and Associate Dean (International). |
Dr Janis Dalins Federal Agent Dalins is the AFP Co-Director of the AiLECS lab. Since joining the AFP as an investigator in 2002, Federal Agent Dalins has worked in a variety of areas including Counter Terrorism, General Duties (Uniform) policing, airport investigations and Digital Forensics. Dr Dalins’ research work focuses upon intelligent automation within Digital Forensics, both for efficiency and examiner welfare. |
Ai-Lin Soo Ai-Lin brings her extensive experience in managing projects to produce research empowering outcomes to provide AiLECS with operational, governance and strategic leadership. She combines her research infrastructure experience with her Bachelor of Commerce (Sustainability) and Bachelor of BioMedical Science to manage research endeavours throughout the project lifecycle. |
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Professor Jon Rouse Professor Rouse brings nearly 40 years of operational service in the Queensland Police Service, Australia to AiLECS. His extensive career has seen him recognised globally for his work in countering child exploitation at Task Force Argos and the Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation (ACCCE). His work for AiLECS will focus on ensuring the alignment between AiLECS projects and operational needs to counter child exploitation. |
A/Prof Thanh Thi Nguyen A/Prof. Nguyen has 20 years of experience researching and teaching AI. He was a visiting scholar with the Computer Science Department at Stanford, and the John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences at Harvard. He has expertise in different domains, including computer vision, NLP, cybersecurity, defence technologies, robotics, IoT, fintech, neurosciences, bioinformatics, and geoinformatics. A/Prof. Nguyen is leading several projects at AiLECS on digital forensics, responsible AI, and community safety applications. |
Dr Gregory Rolan Research FellowDr Rolan brings a wealth of research experience in societal informatics – particularly around the theory and design of interoperable and person-centred systems that provide for authoritative information capture and organisation in support of legal, moral, and practical rights and needs of stakeholders in data and records. |
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Dr Antonina Lewis Research FellowDr Lewis is undertaking research and engagement on the ethical provenance and use of image datasets for machine learning. Nina has a strong track record with applied research initiatives that bring multidisciplinary lenses to social challenges, and which connect lived experience and practice-based knowledge to research and policy. She collaborates on projects that pay attention to downstream effects of data-driven technology in ameliorating or entrenching power and vulnerability, and which explore the potential for inclusive, sustainable and consentful technology. |
Kelly Humphries Kelly joins us as an expert in child protection and trauma informed approaches. An Author, speaker, coach and passionate child protection advocate, Kelly also has a lived experience as a Child Sexual Abuse survivor and law enforcement professional with over 16 years of policing experience. Kelly brings a multi-disciplinary focus to provide perspective, rigour and objectivity for the AiLECS project, “Survivor perspectives on Institutional Use of Child Sexual Abuse Material,” funded by the National Centre for Action Of Child Sexual Abuse. |
Alex Pearson Alex joined the AiLECS Lab after completing an internship with the lab as part of the Monash Industry Team Initiative (MITI) program. He is a current Monash student studying a double degree in mechanical engineering and economics. Alex brings his knowledge of computer programming and 3D modelling gained through his internship, studies, and personal projects to support the development of several AiLECS projects, including work extending on Metior Telum. |
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Ayda Akbal Ayda Akbal is a final year Music Composition and Psychology student at Monash University. She joined the lab after completing the 2023/24 Monash Industry Team Initiative (MITI) internship with AiLECS. Ayda brings her prior expertise in audio analysis and statistics – developed through her internship, work experience and studies – to support data collection, audio enrichment, and software development at the lab. |
Derek Villaceran Derek is a current public health student at Monash University. Following a 2023/24 Monash Industry Team Initiative (MITI) internship with the AiLECS Lab, he now joins the AiLECS Lab. Derek brings his prior project management and research experiences from his internship, studies, and volunteering to support data collection, administration, and events. |
Steve Huynh Steve, a dedicated Monash University student majoring in computer science with a specialisation in data science, harbors a keen aspiration to transition into software development. His journey led him to the AiLECS lab following a successful Monash Industry Team Initiative (MITI) internship in 2023/24. Throughout his internship, Steve diligently immersed himself in both AI and development/deployment facets of each project, meticulously ensuring their readiness for seamless deployment. |
Sarayu Nousind Sarayu, presently enrolled as an Applied Data Science student at Monash University, has transitioned to the AiLECS Lab after completing a Monash Industry Team Initiative (MITI) internship during 2023/24. Her internship experience has equipped her with valuable skills in data analysis and model development, which she now utilises to undertake data entry and research tasks. |
AiLECS Alumni
Dr Rubina Sarki Research Fellow Dr Rubina Sarki has joined the AiLECS lab to work on detection and prevention of deepfakes, as part of an interdisciplinary team with the Faculties of Arts, Law and Information Technology. Rubina holds a bachelor’s degree in technology (B. Tech), a master’s degree in human-computer interaction and robotics, and a Ph.D. in health data informatics. |
Dr Fariha Tasmin Jaigirdar Dr. Jaigirdar is undertaking multidisciplinary research across cybersecurity, Internet-of-Things, system engineering and recordkeeping. She has a strong track record of research across data provenance and applied cybersecurity for different domains. She completed her PhD from the Department of Software Systems and Cybersecurity, Faculty of Information Technology, Monash University in December, 2021. In AiLECS Lab, she collaborates on projects that pay attention to biases in AI and data ontologies and works on how provenance-based formal evidence can help mitigate any relevant challenges. |
Dr Imad Khan Dr Khan has a long term interest in AI, Robotics (Autonomous Vehicles), Quantum Technologies and Cricket. His doctoral research focuses on transparent and explainable neural networks, without sacrificing accuracy. Dr Khan brings to AiLECS Lab a mix of industry and academic experience to look at the explainability of AI models and consider applications of AI in judicial and cyber security domains. |
Dr Hanxian He Dr He is experienced in 2D and 3D classification with limited training samples. To overcome the shortage of training samples caused by copyright protection, legal and security issues, Hanxian exploits open-source datasets from the source domain to improve the classification in the target domain by transfer learning/domain adaptation methods. Now Hanxian works on initiatives to fight against online child exploitation in the AiLECS lab |