ACS Celebrating World Refugee Day: Connecting refugee talent across Australia
ACS Celebrating World Refugee Day: Connecting refugee talent across Australia
Contact Event Organiser
About this event
Finding a job in the tech sector in Australia can be challenging, especially for refugees who are new to the country. They face various obstacles such as limited access to education, language barriers, and a lack of local professional networks, which can make it difficult to compete in a highly competitive job market.
On World Refugee Day, ACS is taking the step to make a difference. In collaboration with Settlement Services International (SSI), Talent Beyond Boundaries (TBB), and TechFugees, ACS will examine skills recognition and pathways for connecting refugee talent across Australia in this event.
The event will include a fireside chat with four exceptional panelists who will share their experiences and insights.
Long time friend and ally of Techfugees, Qualgro Capital’s Peter Huynh, will be talking about his journey from Refugee to venture capital and a panel discussion with Jacqui Gilligan from Settlement Services International and Sathya Dharmini Gnanakaran from Talent Beyond Boundaries will cover employment pathways for refugee talent.
Michael Ascharsobi, who taught himself computer skills in a South Australian detention center, will share his story of how he became a successful IT professional. Jacqui Gilligan, Head of Commercial & Strategic Ventures at SSI, will deliver an advocacy report that provides a roadmap for unleashing the economic potential of refugees and migrants by 2025. Sathya Gnanakaran, Australian and New Zealand Director, will showcase pathways to employment offered by TBB.
By seamlessly integrating skilled refugees and migrants into the workforce, Australia can harness their unique perspectives, experiences, and capabilities, thereby fostering a vibrant and dynamic economy that thrives on diversity and inclusivity.
Join us and be a part of a global conversation supporting UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, about how to ensure hope for refugees.
Speakers
Sathya is the Australia and New Zealand Director at Talent Beyond Boundaries.
As an immigration lawyer of 14 years, I’ve watched refugee clients grapple with traditional humanitarian programs; feeling like they’re constantly on trial about whether their circumstances are really ‘bad enough’ to justify seeking a life of safety and dignity - something that everyone on this planet wants and deserves.
When I first connected with TBB in my capacity as Manager at EY, it blew my mind. Here is an organisation empowering refugees and other displaced people to lift themselves out of displacement by harnessing their own talents! I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to be a part of such an impactful mission, and focus the conversation on how refugees can help address global skill shortages as key contributors to global economies.
Social enterprise strategy and operations | Executive leadership | Community led innovation and development | Portfolio and Program Management (certified) | Empowering Teams | Innovative solutions to complex and wicked problems | From micro to macro enterprise strategy and development | Economic, Social and Environmental balance/trade-offs
Peter is a Venture Partner at Qualgro, actively contributing to our firm since 2015, and has led investments in SaaS, data, AI, marketplaces and B2C tech.
He is a Board Director at Brighte, Curious Thing and Hevo Data, and helps Qualgro portfolio companies with international expansion and product/business/talent development.
After spending the past ~10 years in venture capital, Peter joined harrison.ai and it’s group of companies, who are using AI to help scale global healthcare capacity.
Peter is the Chief Strategy Officer & Board Advisor of harrison.ai, and Board Director of franklin.ai. It’s a privilege for me to work with Aengus & Dimitry Tran, our incredible founders, and the very special team across harrison.ai, franklin.ai & annalise.ai.
After escaping persecution in his home country, IT graduate Michael Ascharsobi has forged a successful tech career at Google.
Michael Ascharsobi clearly remembers his first encounter with a computer. It was 2001; he was 16 and detained at the Woomera Detention Centre in South Australia with his extended family, who were seeking asylum seekers after escaping from Iran. A computer room at the facility provided detainees with access to four PCs.
“What is this box and what is it capable of?” was his immediate reaction. Ascharsobi was fascinated and taught himself computing through trial and error during confinement. He had always liked to tinker. “I pulled apart any toy that moved,” he laughs. “As I grew older I got into opening up TVs and VCR players, trying to figure out what’s going on in there—even fixing them at times. I was just very curious how anything electronic worked.”
A UTS Bachelor of Science in Information Technology and Master of Science in Internetworking graduate, Ascharsobi now balances work at Google, where he’s currently reimagining the entire customer support experience, with teaching a Network Fundamentals course at UTS.
Master of Science in Internet working, 2009; Bachelor of Science in Information Technology Senior Technical Program Manager, Google
Event Location
Event Terms & Conditions
Registration
- Payment in full is required the time of booking in order for the registration to be valid.
- To avoid disappointment, ensure you pay for your booking(s) before the registration closing date. Anyone that has not received a confirmation email will not be on the event attendance list and therefore will not be admitted to the event.
- Online registration ends at the time stated on the event details page.
Cancellation and Refund
All cancellations must be processed through the website, a refund will only be considered if it is at least 3 working days prior to the event.
Disclaimer
- ACS reserves the right to change the program at any time. Every effort will be made to ensure a program of equivalent standard and members are updated with changes.
- All dietary requirements are considered, however we cannot guarantee a 100% allergen free environment.
- ACS reserves the right to prohibit entry or eject any person from an ACS event based on behaviour deemed inappropriate by ACS staff, its agents and/or others working under its authority.
- Filming or streaming by attendees is not permitted. If an attendee is found to be doing so they will be asked to leave the event immediately and further action may be taken.
- Photography and/or filming may take place during this event, by accepting these terms you consent to this. Please let a member of ACS know if you do not want your picture taken.
COVID-19 Event Attendance Compliance
By registering to attend an ACS in person event you are agreeing to the below terms and conditions
- If an attendee is displaying flu or cold like symptoms in the days leading up to the event and therefore is not able to attend, ACS will refund the registration fee.
- If an attendee comes to an event and is displaying flu or cold like symptoms they will be asked to leave
- We ask all ACS members to respect the social distancing guidelines, if an attendee repeatedly disregards these guidelines, they may be asked to leave
- ACS reserves the right to cancel the event within 24 hours' notice if either the speaker or the event host has advised us that they are exhibiting flu or cold like symptoms
- All attendees must provide a valid phone number and email address to be contacted on if there is reason to notify about a possible COVID-19 exposure
Personal information collection notice
By registering for this event, you are providing personal information to the Australian Computer Society. In accordance with the ACS Privacy Policy, ACS collects personal information through registrations and attendances at its events for the purposes of:
- organising and providing the various professional development events held by the ACS (including for example, courses, conferences, seminars, workshops, launches);
- processing and managing event registrations (including catering for dietary requirements);
- maintaining event attendance records;
- contacting registered event guests with information in regard to the event and seeking post-event feedback;
- communicating with you to in relation to future events or ACS products, courses, services, promotions or other products or services that ACS reasonably thinks may be of interest to attendees;
- processing and responding to attendee inquiries; and
- conducting research to improve its events and better understanding needs.
If the required information is not provided, we or any involved third parties, may not be able to respond to you, update you, or provide appropriate services or events to you.
We may obtain personal information directly from you or from someone who registers for the event on your behalf. If you provide us with personal information about another person, you must do so only with their consent and agree to make them aware of this privacy notice.
ACS may share your personal information with third parties for the collection purposes noted above or as set out in our Privacy Policy, where it is reasonably necessary for, or directly related to, one or more of our activities, or required by law.
When you register to participate in an overseas event, we may send personal information we collect overseas.
See our Privacy Policy at https://www.acs.org.au/privacy-policy.html for more information about our privacy practices.