Cara Stitzlein

Dr Cara Stitzlein is a Senior Research Scientist within the CSIRO’s Data61 Humans & Machines group. Cara holds a PhD in cognitive engineering from the University of Queensland (2014) where she was awarded an IPRS scholarship and supported an ARC grant looking at the role of new technologies and their impact on healthcare processes and workflows.

After completing an internship with the CSIRO ICT Centre (2005), Cara re-joined the science agency as part of a postdoc cohort supporting the Digiscape Future Science Platform. Bringing a strong human centred design capability to this portfolio of science commercialisation for the land sector, she helped bring user friendly digital tools to market including LOOC-C (carbon farming discovery tool) and LOOC-B (rapid biodiversity assessment tool). Through this, Cara has developed a passion for science translation helping to influence a diverse set of stakeholders seeking to make more sustainable land management decisions.

In 2020, Cara’s became an Australian permanent resident under the Global Talent Independent (GTI) programme. Continuing to build a portfolio around future focused research, her interests and publications span design science, responsible innovation, and interdisciplinary collaborations. Within CSIRO, Cara advocates for strong cross-BU partnerships while also dedicating time to moderating externally facing events, including the Brisbane-based innovation festival Something Digital.

Cara’s current research interests focus on supporting organisations undergoing sustainability transitions that require significant science translation, responsible innovation and design-led facilitation practices.