Prudence Lawrence dedicates her time to the sustainable development goals (SDG), responsible business practices, geospatial insights and advancements and data-driven decision making and digital transformation.

‍Currently working as a Geospatial Manager at Australian Spatial Analytics, Ms Lawrence is an active participant in both Smart Cities committees (IT-268 and IT-269) as well as the Working Group for Digital Twin under IT-042.

Ms Lawrence is involved with standards on an international level and has been commended multiple times for her work in City Information Modelling with the International Electrotechnical Commission’s (IEC) SyC Smart Cities.

“At the start of my professional career, I worked in business operations. This saw me gain knowledge in tech innovation and business processes. I eventually came across the geospatial field and found that these skills were extremely transferable. I believe the geospatial industry is a large enabler of scale and efficiency within business. And I found myself really dedicated to this area of work and the transformative technology,” explained Ms Lawrence.

“I joined the initial Smart Cities reference group in 2019 after being nominated by my organisation, and quickly became immersed in the world of standards. It really was a completely new experience, and I was a total novice. However, I quickly learnt the benefit of standards, the important role they played and really enjoyed the many opinions and experiences that group offered. Since then, I’ve seen many industry experts disperse into multiple technical committees, sharing their knowledge and expertise to help promote the adoption of international best practice in smart city developments in Australian,” she continued.

During Standards Australia’s 2021 Critical and Emerging Technology Digital Summit and Masterclass Sessions, Ms Lawrence provided a snapshot of the Australian experience for Smart Cities and how Australia has increased its involvement in international standard setting. She shared her views on the benefits of becoming involved in international standards work and the necessary interaction between policymakers, industry and academics to create standards supporting best practice for Smart Cities.

Ms Lawrence believes you need to be passionate to work with standards:

“My advice for anyone looking to get into standards would be to follow your passions and interests. Standards development offers great opportunity, but it also needs you to commit time and effort to the process. You must be willing to put in the ‘hard yards’, and really want to lend your voice to the experience,” she explained.

“Ms Lawrence’s contribution to standards thus far has been exceptional. Her knowledge and work in the geospatial field greatly benefits Australian communities and we look forward to seeing how this field progresses,” said Adrian O’Connell, Chief Executive Officer at Standards Australia.