Architecture Groups Melbourne

Welcome to the next 2026 AWS Melbourne Well-Architected User Group Meetup!

Hi Architects, Welcome to our next AWS Melbourne Well-Architected User Group Meetup for 2026, including more exceptional speakers and topics! :-D At each meetup we covered off various pillars in detail, best-practices and insights from industry leaders that specialise in the Well-Architected Framework. And giving away drones, of course. Lots of drones. **Please also note that AWS Security now requests a company name and company email where it is available. If you are a student, please list your institution and your student email address at that institution 👍** We'll be announcing more speakers on [https://well-architected.me](https://well-architected.me/) and previewing presentations during the coming weeks - our speakers and details this month include: * **Shilin Wu, Principal Solution Architect — VeloDB / Apache Doris** **Cost-Efficient Real-Time Analytics on AWS: Storage-Compute Separation with Apache Doris** Real-time analytics have a reputation for being expensive — you pay for fast storage you barely use, and for compute that sits idle overnight. This session walks through VeloDB / Apache Doris's storage-compute separation architecture on AWS, showing how to push warm data down to S3 while keeping sub-second query latency on the data that matters. We'll round off with a **live demo** querying billions of rows against S3-backed storage, soattendees can see the latency-vs-cost trade-off in action rather than on a slide. * **Pankaj Reddy, Head of Engineering - Simplicity KiwiSaver** **The next thing that matters (orientation theory continued..)** The talk explores mental models for how an agent decides what matters next, and how that shapes its orientation before it acts. It connects this idea to the Well-Architected pillars of Operational Excellence, Reliability, Security, and Performance Efficiency, showing how better orientation can lead to more deliberate and effective agent behaviour. * **Mystery Speaker** **Generative AI Cost Optimisation** Cost Optimisation is essential but with all the anecdotal stories of massive token budget blowouts, staying on top of Generative AI best-practices is essential to avoiding these scenarios. This month's menu will include: * Pizzas * Beer: Nastro Azzurro * Wine: Big and red 🤤 NB: Please check in up the stairs from the ground floor to the Mezzanine Level. So come join us at 5:30 for a 6pm **SHARP** start, followed by beer, wine, pizza and friendly networking after our talks :-) Tired of Linkedin’s "thought leadership”, spam and advertising? Join https://well-architected.me/ , the AWS community built for architects, developers and cloud professionals. * Connect with experienced AWS practitioners * Preview upcoming AWS Meetups and relive past content * Create and review beautiful AWS case studies in minutes * Prepare for AWS certifications with curated quizzes * Show your manager and reports you’re well-architected (Please note that by registering to attend you agree to your details being shared as and where required with Amazon Web Services and AWS Well-Architected User Group partners) in

Melbourne AWS User Group #163 - September 2026

🎉 **Melbourne AWS User Group – September Meetup** 🎉 📅 Wednesday, 30 September 📍 NAB Events Hub – 395 Bourke Street, Melbourne ⏰ Food at 6:00 pm, talks from 6:30 pm (with live stream) Join us for our September meetup as we explore robotics in the cloud, compliance in AI-driven security workflows, and how generative AI can come to life with both a voice and a face. This month’s lineup features: • **Louis** with a lightning talk on the cloud architectures robotics companies use to scale and deploy their robot products. • **Hazra** exploring how business analytics can turn AWS Security Agent findings into structured, auditable compliance intelligence. • **Vanitha** showing how to build voice-interactive AI with a synchronised animated avatar using Amazon Bedrock and Amazon Nova models. A huge thank you to our sponsors: 🥇 **Mantel Group** – Gold Sponsor, 🥈 **Cevo** – Silver Sponsor, 🏛 **NAB** – Venue Sponsor The event will be live-streamed on YouTube as always: 📺 [https://melb.awsug.org.au/live](https://melb.awsug.org.au/live) *** 🗓️ **Agenda** 6:00 pm – Food & Socialising 6:30 pm – Introductions 6:40 pm – What’s New in AWS 6:55 pm – Cloud Computer for Robotics (Level 100); Speaker: Louis Dinh 7:10 pm – Using Business Analytics to Drive Compliance in AWS Security Agent Workflows (Level 200); Speaker: Hazra Ali 7:25 pm – AI with a Voice and Face (Level 300); Speaker: Vanitha Kaliyaperumal 7:55 pm – Marketplace (Who’s Hiring) 8:00 pm – Networking + Close *** 🎤 **Talk Details** **Cloud Computer for Robotics** Speaker: Louis Dinh Level: 100 Lightning Talk Louis will discuss some of the cloud architectures robotics companies use to scale and deploy their robot products, along with a short demo currently in development. *** **Using Business Analytics to Drive Compliance in AWS Security Agent Workflows** Speaker: Hazra Ali Level: 200 Lightning Talk As AI-driven tools like AWS Security Agent generate continuous streams of code review, penetration testing, and threat modelling findings, security teams face a new challenge: turning raw technical output into governable, auditable compliance intelligence. In this session, Hazra will explore how business analytics platforms can transform AWS Security Agent findings into structured dashboards that map directly to compliance frameworks and organisational risk policies. *** **AI with a Voice and Face** Speaker: Vanitha Kaliyaperumal Level: 300 Discover how to build voice-interactive AI with a synchronised animated avatar using Amazon Bedrock and Amazon Nova models — creating assistants that feel genuinely present and engaging. *** 🙌 **Want to Speak at a Future Meetup?** We’re always looking for new speakers and believe everyone has an interesting talk waiting to be shared. If you’d like to present at a future event, reach out at the meetup or via our website: 👉 [https://melb.awsug.org.au/speak/](https://melb.awsug.org.au/speak/)

Sunday Coffee & Making Modern Melbourne Free Exhibition

Please register here for FREE entry: [Events & Workshops — Melbourne International Network](https://melbourneinternational.network/events) This free exhibition at Old Treasury Building examines the tumultuous century that was to come, with two world wars and a Depression. But also, a ‘long boom’, multiculturalism, rights for all citizens, increased public transport and heritage laws which would protect the historic buildings we still have today. In the exhibition highlight, compare historical photographs of Melbourne with recent images captured by local photographer Sarah Pannell. Discover a city with building heights limited to the length of the fire brigade’s ladder (12 storeys) grow so that skyscrapers dominate the skyline. This is a must see exhibition for all Melburnians. \*Please meet at the front of Old Treasury Building. We can all grab a coffee from across the road after the exhibition.\* For full access to our events and programs including gala nights, please sign up as a paid member on our portal: [Membership Plans — Melbourne International Network](https://melbourneinternational.network/membership)

Sept Meetup - Azure Comms Service and A Starship AI in .NET

**Ethan Zeccola - Azure Communication Services: The Comms Stack You Already Own** Every application eventually needs to talk to someone. An SMS to confirm a booking, an email receipt, a video call with a support agent. The usual answer is to bolt on a third-party service, which means another vendor, another bill, another set of credentials, and customer data taking a trip outside your tenant. Azure Communication Services is Microsoft's first-party answer to that problem: SMS, email, chat, voice, and video, exposed as SDKs and REST APIs and living inside the same subscription, identity model, and compliance boundary as everything else you run. It also behaves like a normal Azure resource: deployable with Bicep, governed with RBAC, and observable through Azure Monitor. I'll walk through what the service actually covers, then demo it live, standing one up and getting a message out the door, so you can see how much work it really takes. **Stuart Dobson - My Ship's AI Told Me It Was Cooling the Reactor: A Starship AI in .NET** You are the captain of the ISV Kestrel. AURORA, the ship's intelligence, is a HarnessAgent wrapped around an IChatClient. Order it to seal a hull breach and it confidently reports the breach sealed, while the compartment keeps venting six turns later. This talk builds a starship AI on the new Microsoft Agent Framework harness in .NET, and uses it to show where an agent framework helps and where it fabricates its own reality: \- why there is deliberately no GetShipStatus tool\, and what ambient state belongs in the context window instead \- why forbidding invented readings does nothing to forbid invented actions \- driving the whole thing from a deterministic simulation\, so agent behaviour is a controlled comparison You'll leave knowing how to wire a harness agent in C#, which defaults to turn off first, and how to spot when a built-in harness provider, not your prompt, is putting words in your agent's mouth.

Street Photography Ethics and Fitzroy Photowalk

We will start our Photowalk in Fitzroy with a coffee and selection of sweet and savoury treats at Smiths Cakes, and the opportunity for an informal and respectful discussion on street photography and ethics. The discussion part is optional, members are welcome to arrive for the beginning of Photowalk at 11.45am if preferred. Melbourne Walk and Shoot has run street photography specific events for a number of years, but never had the opportunity to talk about the moral and ethical decisions we all need to make when practising this art form that is street photography. So it's an opportunity to discuss street photography beyond what is legally permitted, to open it up to how we try to work with respect and accountability while dealing with issues such as privacy, power dynamics, exploitation and cultural sensitivities. This will be a discussion that is general in nature, but it would be great if people wish to outline how they developed their own sense of personal ethics and artistic boundaries! We expect widely differing experiences and opinions in the discussion, but hope it will be a learning experience for all. Please keep in mind that this is purely a discussion and **not** a set of rules on Street Photography by the Melbourne Walk and Shoot Group. **Schedule** **10.00am - Part 1** - Meet at Smiths Cakes for an informal discussion on Street Photography and ethics (optional). Order downstairs and we will have group table upstairs. **11.45am - Part 2** - Start of the Photowalk - meet outside Smiths Cakes. 11.45- 12.30 Walk along Smith Street towards Gertrude Street. **12.30pm Pitstop** at Fatto a Mano Bakery, 228 Gertrude Street. Chance to grab a coffee or savoury takeaway snack such as pastries, sausage roll, small pizza to refuel for walk ahead! 12.30 - 1.15 pm Bakery and walk along Gertrude Street towards Brunswick Street. **1.15 pm- 2.00pm** Walk along Brunswick Street to finish up at Rose Street. **2.00 pm** Event concludes We look forward to having you join us for this event. Cathrin and Ananda ' I love street photography but it's probably evil'. Ben Luu, 2024 **Discussion Resources** In regards to our street photography ethics discussion, it will be useful for members to do a little light reading prior! Here are a few resources that are helpful. **Arts Law Centre of Australia- Street Photographers Rights Info Sheet** Whilst we are focusing on ethics in discussion, it's helpful to have grounding on the legal aspects first. **Peta Pixel** **Six Ethical Considerations When Doing Street Photography by Polly Ryan** **The Michigan Daily** **The Questionable Ethics of Street Photography by Ben Luu** **[www.michigandaily.com](www.michigandaily.com)**

Elevating Your Research Through Software Development

**Elevating Your Research Through Software Development** **Date:** 22nd September, 2026 **Time:** 5:30 PM (networking and refreshments from 5:30 PM; talk begins at 6:00 PM) **Where:** DiUS, Level 3/31 Queen St, Melbourne Research projects often begin with a collection of scripts and files that become increasingly difficult to manage, reproduce, and share. Adopting software development practices and structuring research projects like software packages can help address these challenges while improving the quality, reproducibility, and impact of research. In this meetup, we’ll explore how package-based project structures can transform analytical workflows, using real-world examples from COVID-19 vaccination policy analysis and scabies transmission modelling in the Netherlands. The talk will demonstrate how treating research code as software enables more efficient collaboration, easier reuse, and faster translation of analyses into real-world decision-making. We’ll also discuss how emerging AI tools, such as Claude Code, can help researchers build resources that extend the reach of their work beyond its original scope. Come along if you’re interested in reproducible research, scientific programming, data analysis, or research software engineering, or if you’d like practical guidance on creating more structured, reusable, and collaborative research projects!

XR Open Lab Melbourne

**XR Open Lab** is a technology focussed community event bringing together people working with Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, immersive learning, spatial computing and interactive technology. **Co-hosted by Immerse Australia, SIGGRAPH Melbourne Chapter and RMIT University,** **For more information and to register your attendance use this link - [https://events.humanitix.com/melbourne-xr-open-lab-september]** XR Open Lab is designed to be more than another industry presentation. It’s a place to see what people are building, try emerging XR experiences, share ideas and get constructive feedback from the community. Whether you have a finished product, an early prototype, a research project, an immersive learning experience or simply an idea you want to explore, XR Open Lab is an opportunity to bring it along and join the conversation. ## **What to Expect** The XR Open Lab will feature a guest developers, creators or technology practitioners sharing their expertise and what they are working on, followed by an open, hands-on session where participants can demonstrate projects, test experiences and discuss ideas with others working across the XR ecosystem. Members of the Melbourne ACM SIGGRAPH Chapter will also be attending, bringing together the XR community with people working across computer graphics, interactive technologies, digital creation and related fields. With support from RMIT, the event also creates an opportunity to strengthen connections between industry, education, researchers, developers and emerging XR talent. You don't need to be exhibiting or presenting to attend. Come along to: * See new XR projects and demonstrations * Try emerging immersive experiences * Show something you're currently building * Get feedback on an idea or prototype * Meet developers, educators, researchers and XR practitioners * Make connections across Australia's immersive technology community **For developers** who would like to demo their XR App, register your interest at the ticket checkout. Demos numbers are limited. Demos will run one on one with other developers interested in your app after the main presentations, bring your own headset and mobile Screen share. **XR Open Lab is about participation, experimentation and conversation — not polished presentations.** If you're building, researching, teaching or simply interested in what's happening in XR, we'd like you to be part of it. **For more information and register attendance use this link.** **[https://events.humanitix.com/melbourne-xr-open-lab-september]** ### XR Open Lab **See it. Try it. Shape it.**

Meditarrean.

Tour of our Makerspace

Have you been interested in woodworking, 3D printing, CNC, cosplay or Electronics? Come visit Maker Community to get a tour of our space, learn about our memberships, have a chat with our members and discuss your dream projects.

Kenangan - Indonesian dinner

Join us for dinner at Kenangan, an Indonesian restaurant that started out at the Queen Vic Market and recently opened bigger premises in the CBD. They bring dishes from three different parts of Indonesia reflecting the owners’ family origins, focused on shared plates. I had lunch there recently and it was delicious! Here’s an article about them when they were starting out at QVM: https://www.cbdnews.com.au/kenangan-a-love-letter-to-home/ And here’s one about the new location https://www.theage.com.au/goodfood/melbourne-eating-out/more-than-satay-three-new-restaurants-that-show-indonesian-food-s-true-colours-20260625-p60a5r.html Please pay $10 deposit to secure your place. Details when you RSVP

MSA Melbourne Meet-up at Melbourne Office [In-Person]

We're thrilled to invite you to our next Microsoft Student Accelerator event on Thursday, October 1 at 3:00 PM Melbourne time at the Microsoft Melbourne Office! 🎉 Microsoft Student Accelerator (MSA) helps university students build industry-ready skills, connect with Microsoft, and learn from people working across different areas of tech. Join us for an engaging afternoon with practical career advice, a short beginner-friendly hackathon activity, role spotlights from Microsoft professionals, and time to connect with other students and Microsoft employees over food and networking. What’s on the agenda: 💼 Hiring Manager Panel - Hear practical guidance on preparing for interviews, improving your resume, and standing out when applying for tech roles. 💻 Mini Hackathon - Take part in a short, beginner-friendly hackathon-style activity. 🔦 Role Spotlights - Discover different tech career pathways through short talks from professionals across multiple disciplines in Microsoft. 🤝 Networking & Food - Connect with peers, Microsoft professionals, and other students to wrap up the afternoon. 📍 Microsoft Melbourne Office - Level 5, 4 Freshwater Place, Southbank VIC 3006 📅 Thursday, October 1 🕒 3:00 PM – 6:00 PM AEST (Please note: Meetup event shows time in AWST, this event is at 3PM Melbourne time) We can’t wait to see you there! 🤩 Best regards, The MSA Melbourne Team

Our teams have the best AI tools but nothing changed

[Josh Centner](https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshcentner/), Principal PM, Seek: will be taking us through this topic building on some discussions from ProductCamp. **Our teams have the best AI tools but nothing changed** Most organisations now have AI tooling across their product and engineering teams. Most of them are moving just a little faster then they were two years ago. The tools aren’t the problem. The operating model underneath them is. Build is no longer the bottleneck. The new constraint is coordination: how teams align on what to build, how functions like legal, security, and design stay genuinely involved without becoming the gate everything stalls behind, and how leaders shift from approving decisions to setting the conditions that let good decisions happen without them. This session draws on a live transformation across a large technology organisation, redesigning not just how teams build, but the entire system from idea to customer impact. We’ll cover the three things that actually have to change for AI tooling to translate into speed: – how work gets defined before it’s built – how specialist functions engage without creating queues – and how the PM role changes when coordination overhead drops and intent has to survive further and faster than ever before. This isn’t a talk about tools. It’s about what your organisation needs to look like for the tools to matter. Our fabulous sponsors: **Netwealth** Netwealth is one of Australia's leading wealth management platforms, providing technology and investment solutions for financial advisers and their clients. Since 1999, we’ve focused on innovation and challenging the status quo, building digital products that help Australians see wealth differently and achieve better financial outcomes. At the heart of Netwealth is a culture of curious, collaborative, courageous, optimistic, agile and genuine people who are passionate about solving meaningful problems and creating better experiences for customers. For more [about careers](https://www.netwealth.com.au/web/about-netwealth/careers/) at Netwealth.