Robyn Anne Owens is an Australian applied mathematician and computer scientist known for her research in

computer vision Computer vision tasks include methods for image sensor, acquiring, Image processing, processing, Image analysis, analyzing, and understanding digital images, and extraction of high-dimensional data from the real world in order to produce numerical ...

and

face recognition A facial recognition system is a technology potentially capable of matching a human face from a digital image or a Film frame, video frame against a database of faces. Such a system is typically employed to authenticate users through ID verif ...

, and on the non-invasive imaging of

lactation Lactation describes the secretion of milk from the mammary glands and the period of time that a mother lactates to feed her young. The process naturally occurs with all sexually mature female mammals, although it may predate mammals. The process ...

. Formerly a professor at the

University of Western Australia University of Western Australia (UWA) is a public research university in the Australian state of Western Australia. The university's main campus is in Crawley, Western Australia, Crawley, a suburb in the City of Perth local government area. UW ...

(UWA) and the deputy vice-chancellor for research at UWA, she retired in 2019, and remains affiliated with UWA as a professorial fellow.

Education and career

Owens earned a bachelor's degree in mathematics (with honours) at the University of Western Australia and a doctorate in mathematics at the

Somerville College, Oxford Somerville College is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. It was founded in 1879 as Somerville Hall, one of its first two women's colleges. It began admitting men in 1994. The colle ...

. Her 1980 dissertation, ''Almost Periodic Hardy Spaces'', was supervised by David Albert Edwards. She returned to the University of Western Australia after postdoctoral study at

Paris-Sud University Paris-Sud University (), also known as the University of Paris — XI (or as the Orsay Faculty of Sciences, University of Paris before 1971), was a French research university distributed among several campuses in the southern suburbs of Paris, ...

. Before becoming vice-chancellor for research, she headed the UWA School of Computer Science & Software Engineering.

Recognition

With her co-author Peter E. Hartmann, she was a winner of the 2010 Rank Prize in Nutrition, given at the

Royal College of Physicians The Royal College of Physicians of London, commonly referred to simply as the Royal College of Physicians (RCP), is a British professional membership body dedicated to improving the practice of medicine, chiefly through the accreditation of ph ...

in London, for their work on the imaging of lactation. Owens is a Fellow of the

Australian Computer Society The Australian Computer Society (ACS) is an association for information and communications technology professionals with 40,000+ members Australia-wide. According to its Constitution, its objectives are "to advance professional excellence in ...

, a Fellow of the

Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering The Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering (ATSE) is an independent Learned society, learned academy that helps Australians understand and use technology to solve complex problems. History The Australian Academy of Technological S ...

(elected 2012),a Fellow of the

Australian Academy of Science The Australian Academy of Science was founded in 1954 by a group of distinguished Australians, including Australian Fellows of the Royal Society of London. The first president was Sir Mark Oliphant. The academy is modelled after the Royal Soci ...

(elected 2020), and a Fellow of the International Core Academy of Sciences and Humanities. In the 2023 King's Birthday Honours Owens was appointed a

Member of the Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an Australian honours and awards system, Australian honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Monarch ...

for "significant service to science in the fields of computer vision and mathematics".

References

External links

*
Audio interview with Owens
Women in Research {{DEFAULTSORT:Owens, Robyn Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Australian computer scientists Australian women computer scientists Australian mathematicians Australian women mathematicians University of Western Australia alumni Academic staff of the University of Western Australia Members of the Order of Australia Fellows of the Australian Academy of Science Fellows of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering Alumni of Somerville College, Oxford