Cara MacNish

Cara MacNish serves as an Associate Professor in the Department of Computer Science and Software Engineering at The University of Western Australia's School of Physics, Maths and Computing. Her academic role spans computational intelligence research and teaching with interdisciplinary applications in biomedical engineering and materials science.

Her research expertise encompasses adaptive systems, artificial intelligence, neural networks, bioinformatics, cognitive science, evolutionary algorithms, machine learning, optimisation, and robotics. These converge in medical image processing (OCT denoising via GANs) and materials analysis (digital image correlation for displacement fields), reflecting her dual focus on algorithmic innovation and real-world engineering solutions.

Recent publications demonstrate consistent advancement in two domains: deep learning applications for Optical Coherence Tomography enhancement (using GANs and deep feature loss) and novel digital image correlation techniques for materials science (handling discontinuities and nonlinear behavior). These areas show growing citation impact in medical imaging and fracture mechanics.

MacNish has supervised 3 research students and secured 4 competitive grants, including Office for Learning & Teaching projects on engineering education (student experiences and gender inclusivity) and Defence Science and Technology Group funding for red teaming computational tools, alongside university research on evolutionary programming for code analysis.

She maintains active collaborations across biomedical optics and materials engineering disciplines, evidenced by co-authorship with clinicians, computer scientists, and mechanical engineers on interdisciplinary projects addressing complex imaging and material behavior challenges.