Dr Francis Gacenga
| Name | Dr Francis Gacenga |
|---|---|
| Email Address | francis.gacenga@unisq.edu.au |
| Job Title | Senior Digital Research Advisor |
| Qualifications | BA(Hons) Kenyatta, GDipMIS Greenwich, MBA Nairobi, PhD USQ |
| Department | Research Infrastructure Admin |
| Affiliations | Centre for Sustainable Agricultural Systems |
| Institute for Advanced Engineering and Space Sciences | |
| ORCID | https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3021-1012 |
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Biography
Dr. Francis Gacenga is a seasoned Information Systems researcher and digital research infrastructure leader with over 20 years of national and international experience driving innovation in IT and academia. Currently serving as Senior Digital Research Advisor at the University of Southern Queensland (UniSQ), he specializes in research data management, digital infrastructure strategy, and service delivery.
Dr. Gacenga has held diverse academic and industry roles, including Senior Lecturer, Principal Investigator, IT Service Manager, Systems Analyst, and Trainer. His cross-sector expertise spans the design, implementation, and management of complex digital ecosystems supporting research excellence.
At UniSQ, he has successfully led research infrastructure and service renewal projects valued at over $2 million, delivering advanced capabilities for data collection, processing, storage, and management. His research portfolio includes funded projects in Information Systems and applied domains across the physical and social sciences.
In 2021, Dr. Gacenga was one of six editors of the ARDC-funded Institutional Underpinnings project, which produced Australia’s first National Research Data Management Framework—a landmark contribution to national research policy and practice.
He is widely published in journals, conferences, and practitioner outlets, with work covering IT Service Management, Design Science, FAIR data principles, reproducible research, and data governance. A Senior Member of the Australian Computer Society, he previously chaired the ACS Toowoomba Chapter and remains an active contributor to the research data management community.
Dr. Gacenga regularly presents at key eResearch and digital research infrastructure national and international forums. He serves on UniSQ’s Cybersecurity Committee.
Employment
| Position | Organisation | From | To |
|---|---|---|---|
| Senior Digital Research Advisor | University of Southern Queensland | 2014 |
Expertise
Digital Research Infrastructure, Information Systems Design, IT Service Management, Research Data Management, Design Science
Fields of Research
- 460104. Applications in physical sciences
- 460105. Applications in social sciences and education
- 460905. Information systems development methodologies and practice
- 460908. Information systems organisation and management
Professional Membership
| Professional Membership | Year |
|---|---|
| Australian Computer Society |
BA(Hons)
Kenyatta
1997
GDipMIS
Greenwich
2003
MBA
Nairobi
2000
PhD
USQ
2013
Current Supervisions
| Research Title | Supervisor Type | Level of Study | Commenced |
|---|---|---|---|
| Resilience to seasonal variation and drought of grain farms by AgTwin Technology | Associate Supervisor | Doctoral | 2025 |
| Project title | Details | Year |
|---|---|---|
| Investing in quantum computing information systems | Early Career Researcher Grant ($10,000). Role: Principal Investigator. Investigated strategies for successful investment in Noisy Intermediate-Scale Quantum Information Systems to deliver evidence-based, risk-adjusted returns. | 2024 |
| Knowledge-guided ML optimisation of soil constraint management | Soils CRC Grant ($40,000). Role: Co-Investigator. Led FAIR-aligned research data management for machine learning optimisation in soil constraint management. | 2023 |
| AgReFed Platform Project | ARDC-funded ($431,137); UniSQ granted $153,000. Role: UniSQ Project Lead. Developed infrastructure to enable discovery and reuse of agriculture-related datasets, workflows, and models for cross-disciplinary research and decision-making. | 2023 |
| Enablers of implementation of FAIR principles | Grant ($44,000). Role: Principal Investigator. Explored institutional and researcher-level challenges and opportunities in adopting FAIR data principles. | 2021 |
| Achieving Reproducible Science for EMCRs | Australian Academy of Science (AAS) 2019 Theo Murphy Initiative. Grant ($12,000). Role: Organising Committee Member and Presenter. Delivered a national workshop on reproducible research to build EMCR capacity in research data management. | 2019 |