From great apes to space snaps – the first steps of an image computing career

In 2023, a young computer enthusiast looks to start a university degree. Settling into the Bachelor of Computer Science (Advanced) at the University of Adelaide, Georgia Mason’s career is beginning.

With a lifelong interest in tech, and now, three years later, planning a master’s degree in computer vision – how computers interpret and understand images and videos – using machine learning, Georgia’s view of her possible future paths has drastically expanded.

Supported by a lifechanging Elevate scholarship from the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering (ATSE), Georgia’s time as an undergraduate has given her the freedom, guidance and opportunities to create a space for herself in the tech revolution that’s taking place around her.

She’s contributed to projects as varied as cow identification, orangutan facial expression recognition and defence software development. Along the way, her skills and her interests have gradually come together in the area of computer vision.

Leveraging machine learning (ML), image recognition algorithms and specialised computational processing, Georgia has become an expert in using computers to efficiently recognise and categorise images.

It’s a field that has wide-ranging benefits – from helping self-driving cars identify obstacles to helping diagnose or monitor illnesses through medical images.

And with research institutes and major businesses across the world actively developing the technology, this is the space to be for a young computer scientist like Georgia who’s keen on discovery and new tech.

Some of Georgia's university notes from her computer science studies.

The academic world has proved alluring for Georgia. At a time when AI and ML expertise is in huge demand across many industries, Georgia is choosing to stay with research on computer vision – this time, focused on analysing satellite imagery. Not content with just pictures of animals, she is now looking at pictures of the Earth taken from space.

But university hasn’t just been an academic experience for Georgia. Through the Elevate scholarship, she’s accessed mentoring, skills development, communication training and networking opportunities that have supercharged her abilities and her confidence.

In the final weeks of her bachelor’s degree, a nerve-wracking highlight was her role as co-MC of the ATSE Awards Gala Dinner in Adelaide – a prestigious night of celebration featuring more than 300 of Australia’s leading scientists, business leaders, engineers and technologists. Not to mention an appearance from (and photo with!) environmentalist and musician Peter Garrett following his election as ATSE Honorary Fellow for 2025.

Alongside Professor Mark Hutchinson from Adelaide University, himself a celebrated innovator and research leader in health and optical technology, Georgia helped guide the event with her energetic and passionate perspective.

	An online workshop with dozens of other Elevate scholars.

“I’m proud of myself for accepting the offer, and grateful for the opportunity to take part,” she says.

“Meeting role models like incoming ATSE President Dr Cathy Foley was incredible, as was spending time with other Elevate scholars and getting to interact with so many fascinating Fellows and scientists.”

The look into the world of Australian science and technology that Elevate provided over the three years of Georgia’s degree was unique. And the career development that grew over the course of dozens of workshops, meetups and events have well and truly set her on the path to a productive and impactful computer science career – a career with impact, leadership and creativity, driven forward by her clear passion for the potential of the tech she plays with every day.

Working in a space as rapidly evolving as ML and computer vision, and being involved with such varied projects as those she has experienced, has given Georgia a taste for everything that’s still out there to learn.

On the value of her scholarship, she’s clear that while it was transformative for her university experience, the full benefits are yet to be felt.

“The impact of these programs on students is so much bigger than it looks from the outside. Beyond the financial support, building skills and connections early in our careers will help us all so much in the long run.”