School of ICT Showcase Expo 2026 (Semester 2)
The School of ICT's fourth and largest showcase, with 300+ registrations, 17 graduating project teams, research lightning talks and the InVent and Data#3 industry awards.
About this event
The University of Tasmania (UTAS) School of ICT hosted its Semester 2 Showcase Expo, also known as ICT Showcase v4.0, on 6 October 2026 at the University Centre, Sandy Bay Campus, Hobart, from 11:00 AM to 2:00 PM. As the School's fourth and largest showcase, the event attracted more than 300 registrations and brought together students, academic staff, industry representatives, and members of Tasmania's technology community.
The showcase featured 17 graduating ICT project teams, including 12 Bachelor's teams and five Master's teams, who presented projects developed over 12 weeks in collaboration with industry and external clients. Their work addressed real-world challenges across artificial intelligence, data analytics, cybersecurity, application development, and other emerging technologies, demonstrating how students applied their academic knowledge and technical skills to practical problems.
Featured projects included Island Intelligence Platform, a data and AI solution developed for SportsTech Tasmania that brings together information from sport, health, and environmental sources; Olinda AI, an AI-powered course advisory chatbot designed to help Hobart College students and families access course and enrolment information; and CyberQuiz Pro, an adaptive learning platform supporting preparation for ISC2 cybersecurity certifications. Other student demonstrations included interactive dashboards, mobile applications, intelligent chatbots, and an ICT escape room.
Alongside the student project displays, the event featured research lightning talks presented by ICT academic staff, PhD candidates, and recent PhD graduates at the Stanley Burbury Theatre, with additional research displays in the lobby. These activities provided visitors with opportunities to explore current ICT research, discover emerging technologies, and engage with the University's research community.
The showcase also celebrated student achievements through industry-supported awards. Rose Flynn from UTAS InVent presented the Prizes for Business Acumen to the Island Intelligence Platform team in the Bachelor's category and the CyberQuiz Pro team in the Master's category. Data#3 supported the event as an industry sponsor, with its Best Capstone Project Award scheduled to be presented at the ICT Awards Night on 9 November 2026.
For UTAS students, the showcase provided opportunities to demonstrate their technical achievements, present solutions to real-world problems, and receive feedback from industry professionals. Through project demonstrations, presentations, and networking, students could strengthen their teamwork, communication, and pitching skills while building connections with potential employers and collaborators. The event highlighted the value of industry-aligned capstone projects in developing professional portfolios and preparing students for future careers in Tasmania's ICT industry.
References
- UTAS School of ICT Expo – Event Listing (Eventbrite) www.eventbrite.com.au
- UTAS – Industry-Aligned Projects and Showcase Information www.utas.edu.au
What students built
Island Intelligence Platform
UTAS InVent Prize for Business Acumen (KIT300)
A shared data and AI layer for SportsTech Tasmania, bringing public sport, health and environment data together.
Team of 6 · KIT300 ICT Project
Olinda AI
An AI-powered course advisory chatbot for Hobart College, helping students and families ask course and enrolment questions in plain English.
Team of 6 · Hobart College
CyberQuiz Pro
UTAS InVent Prize for Business Acumen (KIT700)
An adaptive practice platform for the ISC2 certification pathway (CC, SSCP and CISSP), where every answer helps decide the next question.
Team of 6 · KIT700 ICT Systems Project
What students said on LinkedIn
Student reflections and posts from the event.
Lindsay Wells wraps up ICT Showcase v4.0, the biggest yet with more than 300 registrations, and says attendees were impressed by the projects and especially the teams' pitching. UTAS InVent Business Acumen awards went to CyberQuiz Pro and the Island Intelligence Platform, with the Data#3 best capstone award still to come at the ICT Awards Night.
MD Rifat Bin Yusuf's team built a custom WordPress plugin for Tasmanian Leaders that turns ten years of programme evaluation data into charts, visualisations and summaries, with admin and public dashboards. As Technical Lead, Rifat chose the stack, set up a Docker-based development environment, designed the architecture and built the Gravity Forms API integration and automated reporting.
Hosna Ara Begum's team of six won the Prize for Business Acumen (KIT700) for CyberQuiz Pro after twelve weeks on their capstone project, which paired the technical build with real user needs and a clear path for future development. The post thanks the client, judge Rose Flynn and Ming Wong, and promises a series of posts on leading the team and lessons learned.
Chris Jackson from Data#3, an event sponsor, calls the Showcase a glimpse of Tasmania's tech future, with 15 projects on show. The post congratulates the six students behind the Island Intelligence Platform pilot for SportsTech Tasmania, recognised with the Commercial Ready Award for a shared data and AI layer that joins up sport, health, environment and public data that usually sits in silos.
John Streat's team of six won the Commercial Acumen Award for the Island Intelligence Platform, built over 12 weeks for SportsTech Tasmania. It brings sport, health, community, economic and environmental data from more than a dozen government sources into one regularly refreshed, traceable place; as Lead Architect, John designed the database and REST API and led the project's technical decisions.
MD Ashik Mahmud's team won the UTAS InVent Prize for Business Acumen for CyberQuiz Pro, an adaptive practice platform for ISC² certifications (CC, SSCP and CISSP). Instead of giving everyone the same questions, each answer shapes what comes next; the finished product includes mock exams, a pathway map across certifications, learner dashboards, admin analytics and a cloud deployment.
Pial Hossain's team showcased Olinda AI, a course advisory chatbot built for Hobart College. It answers common student and parent questions about subjects, enrolment, the TCE, ATAR, VET and university pathways in plain English, using only approved College sources such as the 2027 Course Guide, to cut repetitive enquiries for staff.
Rose Flynn judged the InVent Prizes for Commercial Acumen at the ICT Showcase, awarding the Bachelor prize to the Island Intelligence Platform (out of 12 teams) and the Masters prize to CyberQuiz Pro (out of 5). The post praises the School of ICT staff behind the program and notes this fourth Showcase was the largest yet, with over 300 attendees and sponsorship from Data#3.
ICT Showcase Stories
MD Ashik Mahmud
Master of IT student at UTAS
“Our project was CyberQuiz Pro, an adaptive practice platform for the ISC2 certification pathway (CC, SSCP and CISSP).”
Hosna Ara Begum
Power BI & Data Analytics Consultant · Master of IT, UTAS
“Long tiring hardworking of 6 persons for 12 weeks finally paid off with winning.”
MD Rifat Bin Yusuf
Master of IT student at UTAS
“Over the past few months, our team developed a custom WordPress plugin for Tasmanian Leaders…”
Pial Hossain
Student at University of Tasmania
“Olinda is an AI-powered course advisory chatbot we developed for Hobart College.”
John Streat
Final-year Bachelor of ICT (Data Science and AI) student
“Proud to share that our Island Intelligence Platform team won the Commercial Acumen Award at the University of Tasmania ICT Showcase Expo.”
Chris Jackson
State Sales Manager at Data#3
“What an inspiring day at the University of Tasmania ICT Showcase Expo!”
Yu Wang
Master of IT and Systems student · now ICT Graduate at TasWater
“When I started, I knew very little about programming.”
Photo Booth
"This was my third time at the UTAS ICT Showcase. Every year I meet someone new who changes how I think about my career."
— Luoyan Wei · ICT Graduate