Future Careers Forum: Human-Computer Interactions
Tuesday 28 April 2026
Broadcast live on set at the University of Melbourne’s Science Gallery, the Future Careers Forum provides an opportunity for students in years 7-12 to hear about non-traditional career journeys in transdisciplinary spaces.
Our next Future Careers Forum, in response to our current exhibition DISTRACTION, will explore diverse and ever-changing careers in Human-Computer Interactions. Focusing on connection, this forum explores how technologies (and the people who develop them) help us to connect with other humans, nature, and technology itself.
Watch the live event at the following Australian and International Time zones:
Melbourne / Sydney / Canberra / Hobart: 1:00 – 2:00 pm
Brisbane (UTC+10): 12:00 – 1:00 pm
Perth (UTC+8): 10:00 – 11:00 am
Auckland (UTC+13): 3:00 – 4:00 pm
Seoul (UTC+9): 11:00 am – 12:00 pm
Shanghai / Beijing (UTC+8): 10:00 – 11:00 am
Tokyo (UTC+9): 11:00 am – 12:00 pm
Jakarta (UTC+7): 9:00 – 10:00 am
New Delhi (UTC+5:30): 7:30 – 8:30 am
Register now for your students to stream live or watch the recording later in class, and stay tuned for more information about our speakers.
Panellists
Fetle Wondimu is an Ethiopian–Australian facilitator, sound artist, and live coding musician. As an artist, Fetle explores sound, technology, and identity through live coding and performance. She has performed across Australia and internationally, touring her debut EP TECHNIFRO-185. While not travelling the world, Fetle works as a Learning Experience Facilitator at Science Gallery Melbourne, where she also served on the curatorial panel for the exhibition DISTRACTION. Fetle holds a Bachelor of Science (Mathematics and Statistics) from the University of Melbourne and an Advanced Diploma in Music Performance from Melbourne Polytechnic.
MC
Xavier Chalkley grew up in Shepparton before moving to Melbourne to study a Bachelor of Science at the University of Melbourne. In 2023, Xavier co-founded Ctrl Your Scroll, an organisation helping young people build motivation, awareness and strategies to improve digital wellbeing and reduce screen time. Since then, Ctrl Your Scroll has worked in over 60 organisations and with 10,000+ students, parents, employees and athletes across Victoria.
Jess Rowlings is a qualified speech pathologist and Honorary Enterprise Fellow at the University of Melbourne. Jess is also the co-founder and CEO of Next Level Collaboration, a social enterprise that uses cooperative video games to build collaborative skills and social connections for neurodivergent children. Jess’ work is informed by her lived experiences of autism and ADHD, along with her personal lifelong love of gaming. She is also completing her PhD investigating the experiences of neurodivergent women in gaming communities.
Janine Randerson is a media artist, writer, curator and educator. She creates digital creative artworks in collaboration with community groups and environmental scientists from urban meteorologists to glaciologists. She has curated screening programs with CIRCUIT: Artist Film and Video Aotearoa New Zealand and the World Weather Network. She is a host of LASER talks (Leonardo Art-Science Evening Rendezvous). She is an Associate Professor at AUT University, Aotearoa New Zealand.
Lex Li is the founder and CEO of Deckle, an interactive event platform used by universities and organizations to create engaging real-world games, orientation challenges, and team experiences. Based in Melbourne, Lex combines product design, engineering, and entrepreneurship to build technology that brings people together through play. He works closely with 1000+ universities and companies globally to design innovative onboarding, learning, and community-building experiences.