Data science will be increasingly relevant to the world of elite sport says a QUT researcher who today joined an event highlighting the links between art, sport and science to mark the opening of the 2024 Paris Olympics and Paralympics.
Associate Professor Paul Wu, from the QUT School of Mathematical Sciences, was on a panel discussion during celebrations that also commemorated the one-year anniversary of the Micro-Folie program at The Cube, a partnership with Alliance Française de Brisbane, supported by La Villette, the French Ministry of Culture, and the French Embassy in Australia.
The Ambassador of France to Australia, Pierre-André Imbert, was a guest for a series of events including an e-cycling competition with participants racing up the Champs-Elysees and through the streets of Paris, a demonstration of the new Olympic sport of breaking by the Elements Collective, and a lecture on sports in the arts by University of Sydney PhD candidate Helen Gramotnev, a Brisbane-based artist, curator and art historian specialising in French Modernism.
QUT Vice-Chancellor Margaret Sheil welcomed the Ambassador and other guests including Karine Mauris, Cultural Attache at the French Embassy, and French-Australian film director Laurence Billiet who took part in a Q&A session following the screening of his 2020 documentary Freeman about Australia’s Olympic gold medallist Cathy Freeman.
For the Science in Sport panel discussion, Dr Wu joined Emily Rosemond, QUT Director of Sport who represented Australia in short track speed skating at the 2006 Winter Olympics and won a bronze medal in track cycling at the 2010 Commonwealth Games, Professor Divya Mehta from the School of Biomedical Sciences, former Wallaby Henry Speight, and Dr Rian Crowther, Sport Performance Lead, QUT Sport.
Staged by the Australian-French Association for Research and Innovation (AFRAN), the exploration of the role of science in sports performance was chaired by Associate Professor Dimitri Perrin who lectures in data science and the AFRAN Queensland Hub leader.
“We are seeing leaps and bounds in sensor technology, video technology, and AI,” Dr Wu said.
“Explainable AI and Bayesian statistics will play a key role in transforming that jumble of data into understandable insight.”
“I think we will see more data analytics used to improve predictions of what it takes to win, as well as to support training and progression, talent identification, and injury prevention.
“For athletes, data analytics helps them find that competitive edge. For the community, it helps us to go faster, higher, stronger.”
Great performances from past Olympics and Paralympics, along with Olympic sports memorabilia and artworks, were on display throughout the afternoon in a new Micro-Folie exhibit that will be shown during the competition on the screens of The Cube.
Since the launch of the free digital museum Micro-Folie program in July 2023, which features a collection of more than 2000 works of art, exhibits have been regularly updated and shown on a weekly display roster at The Cube.
The Micro-Folie program has also been used by QUT Associate Professor Laurianne Sitborn for her research projects which include how to support people with intellectual disability in the selection of visuals for communicating, and how systems can use visuals to better communicate with people with intellectual disability.
The QUT Micro-Folie partnership aligns with the real-world approach that drives the QUT Connections Strategy 2023-2027, helping to make QUT a lively, welcoming, culturally diverse community with a global outlook and international connectivity.
Visit The Cube at the QUT Garden’s Point campus to see details on the latest Micro-Folie exhibitions.
Main image (left to right): Xavier Amouroux, Executive Director, Marketing and Student Recruitment; Kelly Tomlinson, Executive Officer, International and Business Development; Pierre-André Imbert, Ambassador of France to Australia; Jerome Carujo, Alliance Francaise; and QUT VC Professor Margaret Sheil, at the Micro Folie Olympic event at QUT.
Media contact:
Amanda Weaver, QUT Media, 07 3138 3151, amanda.weaver@qut.edu.au
After hours: 0407 585 901, media@qut.edu.au
