Non-Resident Fellow
Joanne Nicholson is a non-resident fellow at RAND Australia. She is an experienced strategic analyst, operations researcher, and futures specialist with over 20 years in government, industry, and academia, particularly in defence, national security, and intelligence. Her strong analytical, research, and communication skills have been applied to many complex areas, inspiring informed, strategic decision-making and positively influencing groups she has worked with.
Nicholson's wide research interests stem from her experience with foresighting, where she used morphological analysis to identify future scenarios based on shifts in social, technological, political, economic, and environmental factors. Nicholson also applied creative thinking, program theory, and operations analysis to explore emerging science, technology, and warfighting requirements. Together these assist in understanding the strategic implications of developments in fields like artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, autonomous systems, and cybersecurity.
Nicholson's extensive work analysing the implications of disruptive technologies was deepened by a study in which she investigated different models of national security, including resilience across several different domains. Conversely, Nicholson has explored how threats enacted through cyberspace such as foreign interference, misinformation and attacks on critical infrastructure challenge stability and resilience at the national level.
Nicholson's current research in collaboration with a leading-edge Australian start-up focuses on the creation and application of organising factors which automatically bring out patterns across vast quantities of source material. This involves using situation theory and the design of complex query structures with AI. Using these new patterns, in tandem with traditional analysis, new perspectives will be brought to understanding the grey zone.
Ph.D. in physical chemistry, Flinders University of South Australia; B.Sc. (HONS) First Class in chemistry, Flinders University of South Australia
