Group Commander Marija Jovanovich AM CSM

Guest Speaker

Group Captain Marija “Maz” Jovanovich is a test pilot and senior officer in the Royal Australian Air Force. Born in the former Yugoslavia, she joined the RAAF in 2001 and graduated from the Australian Defence Force Academy with a BSc and University Medal in physics. On completion of pilot training, she flew the P3 Orion on operations and exercises all over the world, including the Middle East, southwest Pacific and southeast Asia. In 2014, she was the first Australian in 25 years to graduate from the United States Air Force Test Pilot School. In addition to operational aviation and flight test roles, Marija has held a number of leadership and command positions, both domestically and deployed overseas. She holds multiple degrees in science, engineering and the humanities and has over 3400 hours flying experience, on over 30 different aircraft types.

Professor Anjum Naweed is an applied researcher and current Australian Research Council Future Fellow. He is internationally regarded for his applied and theoretical advancements in transport human factors, though his work crosses into many domains. Anjum’s research interests include complex decision-making and knowledge representation in skilled work, job design, creative and cultural applications of simulation, safety science, and systems thinking. His expertise is in understanding the relationship between people, technologies, tools, environments, and systems, and practically translating this across the complex domains.

Anjum has co-edited books, written over 150 peer reviewed articles and secured over $6 million in research funding. At the Appleton Institute—CQUniversity Adelaide, Anjum leads the Human Factors and Operational Readiness research cluster. He currently serves as a Scientific Editor for Applied Ergonomics, an international journal aimed at all those interested in applying ergonomics and human factors in the design, planning and management of technical and social systems. Anjum has been a Scientific Convenor for the Australasian Simulation Congress on five consecutive occasions, and for the Annual Conference of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society of Australia twice.

Anjum’s research has received numerous accolades. In 2012, he was awarded the Body of Knowledge prize from Simulation Australasia and the John Lane Award from the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society of Australia (HFESA). He has twice been a recipient of Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Outstanding Researcher of the Year (2013; 2018), recognising his excellence in research activity, publication, and engagement. In 2022, he received the Simulation Achievement Award for clear and unambiguous, outstanding contributions to science, technology, and education, and Simulation Australia’s Lifetime Membership Award.