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Deakin to lead new $5 million ARC Training Centre for AI governance
Media release
20 October 2026
A new Deakin University helmed training centre will help position Australia as a leader in responsible, sovereign AI technologies.
The Australian Research Council (ARC) has awarded funding to Deakin to lead the ARC Training Centre for AI Governance, Oversight and Assurance, as part of its Industrial Transformation Research Program.
The Program supports long-term partnerships between universities, industry and other research end users to address practical challenges, translate research into new products and processes, and develop an industry-ready research workforce.
Deakin Distinguished Professor Matthew Clarke, Deputy Vice-Chancellor Research and Innovation, said the Centre would build on Deakin’s extensive AI expertise, and more than 10 years of specially focused research in AI assurance.
At Deakin we are dedicated to exploring the new frontiers of artificial intelligence. Our researchers are hard at work on pioneering technologies that solve real-world industry challenges and benefit society; and it’s critical those two considerations operate in tandem. This new centre addresses Australia’s need for trustworthy AI and expertise in governance, assurance, certification and human-AI teaming.
Deakin Distinguished Professor and Deputy Vice-Chancellor Research and Innovation
The ARC Training Centre for AI Governance, Oversight and Assurance will be led by Professor Sunil Gupta from Deakin’s Applied Artificial Intelligence Initiative.
It will bring together 18 industry collaborators, as well as 12 Australian and international research partners, including University of Wollongong, Swinburne University and University of Queensland. Work will focus on three priority sectors – healthcare, fintech and defence – to support safer deployment of AI solutions.
'AI is transforming these critical sectors offering substantial improvements in efficiency, prediction, and decision-making. Yet recent failures expose the risks of inadequate oversight,' Professor Gupta said.
'An OpenAI agent autonomously breached an Australian Government Medicare statistics portal, the Robodebt scheme demonstrated how flawed automated decision-making can generate unlawful debts and cause widespread social harm, and studies have identified racial and skin-tone biases in healthcare AI systems.
'These incidents raise serious concerns about the safety, fairness and accountability of increasingly automated technologies. There’s a growing mismatch between AI’s technical potential and society’s ability to assure that these systems act lawfully and ethically.'
The Centre’s goal is to train a specialised workforce to advance safe, secure and privacy-preserving AI in critical sectors. Expected outcomes include practical frameworks, tools and testbeds for transparent, compliant and resilient AI.
Only 7% of AI professionals nationally have formal training in risk, ethics, or regulatory compliance. This deficit constrains Australia’s ability to design, audit, and certify AI systems domestically.
Professor, Deakin’s Applied Artificial Intelligence Initiative
'Australia needs sovereign capability in this space, in part to ensure compliance with Australian laws, as well as alignment with Australia’s social priorities, such as Indigenous data governance and public sector accountability.
'Through the ARC Training Centre for AI Governance, Oversight and Assurance we can build a future workforce equipped with the training and tools to ensure AI is developed in Australia in a safe, ethical and effective way.'