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Dr Kumar is a registered General Dentist with a PhD in Behavioural Dentistry from University of Amsterdam. He currrently has an appointment with Queensland Health and has a special interest and skills in Paediatric, Preventive and Behavioural Dentistry. Dr. Kumar Raghav obtained his Bachelor’s in Dentistry (B.D.S) in 2002 and Master’s in Paediatric Dentistry (Children’s Dentistry) in 2006. He was awarded the prestigious Australian Endeavour Executive Fellowship at UQ School of Dentistry in 2018. Dr Kumar is an accomplished educator and researcher and has Ph.D. in Social and Behavioural dentistry, from ACTA School of Dentistry, Amsterdam, Netherlands. ACTA is one of the top dental schools in the world, ranked at number 2 worldwide by the QS World University ranking. His Ph.D. involved cutting edge research on virtual reality technology to treat dental anxiety and dental phobia.He has extensive clinical experience in carrying out all clinical procedures included in adult and children’s dentistry.

Dr. Kumar is an experienced clinician active in clinical dentistry since 2002. With his strong communication and behaviour management skills, he believes in practicing holistic dentistry. With more than 20 years of experience in clinical dental practice, he is passionate about providing pain free and fear free dental experience to his patients. He is a firm believer of practicing minimal invasive dentistry wherein maximum benefits are obtained from minimal intervention on the teeth.

Teaching

Dr Kumar Raghav is an award winning dental educator with more than 17 years of experience in teaching paediatric and preventive dentistry and general dentistry across four countries namely Australia, India, Libya and Malaysia. He worked as a subject coordinator for Orthodontics and Paediatric Dentistry at Charles Sturt University (CSU) from 2019-2021. He has contributed to teaching the subjects of paediatric Dentistry, orthodontics, behavioural dentistry, restorative dentistry, periodontics, fixed and removable prosthodontics, endodontics and anatomy across Year 1 to Year 4 of Bachelor of Dental Science at CSU School of Dentistry.

Having worked across 3 continents, he strongly believes in practicing student centred teaching and learning methods and has supervised bachelors, masters and research students in dentistry. Learning dentistry is challenging and hence he aims to provide his students with all the means to perform at their fullest potential by practicing empathy and behaviour management along with achieving excellence in dental care of the patients. He believes in challenging students’ knowledge, involvement and presence of mind by using a case based and problem based teaching style, both in clinics and in classroom.

Research Interests

Dr Kumar has been an active researcher since 2003 and has published extensively in the field of Clinical Dentistry.

Kumar’s award winning PhD research involved using virtual reality in the treatment of dental anxiety and phobia, making it a pioneering study with a scope of multiple applications in future, including treatment of children with special needs and psychologically compromised adults. His Ph.D. study has found that virtual reality exposure therapy (VRET) could significantly reduce dental phobia and behavioural avoidance of adult patients, which may lead to better dental attendance and consequently better oral health. His future research plans include (but are not limited to) exploring VRET for the treatment of dental anxiety in children and in individuals with special needs.

Other research interests: Health services research, evidence based dentistry, implementation science.

Other information

Dr Kumar Raghav is a member of Australian Dental Association (ADA), International Association of Dental research (IADR), and International Association of Dental Traumatology (IADT).

Publications

View Dr Kumar Raghav’s Publications here: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=alYFUBYAAAAJ&hl=en

Prof. Amin Abbosh specializes in Medical Microwave Imaging and Microwave and Millimeter-wave Engineering. His work focuses on designing and developing advanced imaging and sensing systems using electromagnetic techniques at radio-wave frequencies.

Prof. Abbosh’s significant contributions include the creation of innovative imaging systems that leverage his expertise in applied electromagnetics and microwave engineering. He has developed comprehensive analytical and computational frameworks, incorporating signal-processing techniques for detection and AI for classification. This approach has led to a new modality for detection and imaging, combining physics-guided and data-driven methods. His work is protected by over 16 patents.

In Communication Technologies, Prof. Abbosh's work focuses on designing flat-panel, low-cost reconfigurable antennas. These antennas form ground satellite terminals that communicate with low-earth-orbit (LEO) satellites, providing reliable broadband access to remote and regional communities. This technology supports e-health services, distance education, and business productivity, and can be used in various on-the-move environments.

Dr Suraiya Hameed is an interdisciplinary leader, educator and researcher specialising in Educational Leadership at University of Queensland. She researchers within the areas of Educational Leadership, Global Policy and Education & Equity, Inclusion, Diversity and Culture. Dr Hameed’s research projects aims to make that major breakthrough in the development of leaders supporting the schools of the 21st century. Her research study focuses on a comparative analysis of global citizenship education (GCE) in two schools, one international school in Singapore and an independent school in Australia and how these two schools have engaged in the process of internationalization of their education through the adoption of international education models utilising the International Primary Curriculum (IPC) or the International Baccalaureate Programme (IB) and other local curricula to generate hybrid internationally minded education programs. This study was awarded the N.V. Varghese Prize for Comparative Education 2020 (Best thesis award).

She is currently leading multiple international research which aims at engagement with international counterparts to improve educational outcomes and to generate networking opportunities with international educators and school leaders. One of her notable works is with National Institute of Education Singapore in the ongoing UQ/NIE research excellence partnership. Dr Hameed's extensive experiences in varied leadership roles have translated into positive student engagement, positive student’s trajectories as well as ground-breaking research in the leadership front. It has also allowed her to contribute invaluably to the leadership field and assist in bridging the gap between theory and practice, thus assisting students and her other colleagues to make meaningful connections between theoretical constructs and real-life applications in leadership. She is a recipient of the Australian Council for Educational Leaders (ACEL) Commendation award (2021) and the Australian Council for Educational Leaders (ACEL) National Award (2023) recognising her work within the leadership space.

Dr. Mohd Hafiz Abdul-Aziz is an Early Career Research Fellow and Clinical Research Pharmacist at the University of Queensland Centre for Clinical Research (UQCCR), Australia. He currently leads the Clinical Dosing Studies and Knowledge Translation Workstream within the Antimicrobial Optimisation Group and the Centre for Research Excellence for Personalising Antimicrobial Dosing to Reduce Resistance (CRE RESPOND) at UQCCR. Dr. Abdul-Aziz holds a Bachelor of Pharmacy (IIUM) and a Master of Clinical Pharmacy (UKM) from Malaysia and completed his PhD at the University of Queensland in 2016. His doctoral thesis focused on pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic-optimised beta-lactam dosing in critically ill patients.

As a clinical pharmacist with a strong interest in clinical research, Dr. Abdul-Aziz is particularly focused on multi-centre and multi-national collaborations. His current research program aims to develop innovative methods for optimising antimicrobial dosing and delivery to improve patient outcomes in the ICU. He has extensive experience in designing and conducting multi-national clinical pharmacokinetic studies in the ICU. Over the past five years, he has led or coordinated eight multi-national antimicrobial pharmacokinetic studies, including the ASAP ECMO, BLING 3, BLING 3 PK/PD, and PNEUDOS studies.

Dr. Abdul-Aziz is a Fellow of the International Society of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy (ISAC) and serves as the Chair of the Infections in the ICU and Sepsis Working Group of ISAC. He has maintained active collaborations with over 100 collaborators from 36 countries.

Vector-borne diseases (VBDs) are known for a long time to contribute significantly to the global burden of disease. These lead to epidemics, which upset health security and affect the socio-economy of a nation. Vectors and VBDs are all sensitive to climate, and the ongoing trend of climate change and variable weather conditions may lead to a change in the global scenario of these diseases. With changes in global climate, VBDs may shift to new regions, suitable for the pathogens and their vectors, and as such may switch to new host species. Being a parasitologist, I study parasites of veterinary importance and related diseases. My special research interest lies in understanding how vectors interact with pathogens, the effect of climate change on their ecology and epidemiology, and related sustainable control strategies.

To predict future changes in the ecology and epidemiology of the vectors and VBDs, first, we need to work on and understand the three primary entities within this disease transmission system, i.e. the pathogen, vector and the host. Secondly, we need to identify the climatic and environmental requirements of the vectors and vector-borne pathogens and the underlying cycle of events which run between them to help sustain the disease in a particular region. The global distribution of various VBDs and possibilities of spill over of these diseases between various regions and animal and vector species interests me the most. In the UK, my research was focussed on molecular and spatial epidemiology of ticks and flea-borne diseases. Further, I worked on a climate-based predictive model for the global distribution and risk of Haemonchus contortus (round worm of sheep). This model predicts the survival of worm larvae on pasture, based on the temperature and precipitation data and can help to predict the future spatial and temporal distribution and spread of H. contortus. Further, this model, along with targeted selective treatment (TST) of sheep, could help in reducing the pace at which anthelmintic resistance is developing in H. contortus and may help in sustainable sheep farming.

Currently, my lab is investigating the temporal and spatial distribution of zoonotic parasites among pet dogs in various regions of Southeast Queensland. In this project, we are collecting data from dog owners through an online survey pertaining to their knowledge of risk associated with dog parasites and their transmission into humans. Also, we are collecting dog faecal samples for microscopic and PCR analysis for various parasite eggs and oocysts. The data obtained from this survey will be analysed for determining the risk of spread of parasites among dogs as well as to humans in shared spaces and the relative risk of infection between parks.

Another study being conducted in my lab is about identifying drug resistance mechanisms in canine hookworms in Australia. The study will provide a baseline data on the frequencies of SNPs, known to confer benzimidazole resistance in animal helminths.

We have recently received an NHMRC 2021 grant looking into Targeted surveillance of major zoonotic arboviral and other vector-borne diseases in Australia using spectroscopy technology. Infectious diseases transmitted by vectors represent a significant health threat to the Australian biosecurity. Detection methods used in current surveillance of these pathogens are expensive, time consuming and require highly trained personnel. We propose to conduct a set of experiments to test the best spectroscopy technique to identify infected vectors and demonstrate its capacity as surveillance tool for vector control programs against these pathogens.

I always look forward to collaborating with fellow researchers within Australia and from different parts of the world to gain different perspectives of research of my interest.

Professor Abernethy is a first class Honours graduate and university medallist from the University of Queensland, a PhD graduate from the University of Otago, an International Fellow of the American Academy of Kinesiology and Physical Education, a Fellow of the Australian Sports Medicine Federation and a Fellow of Exercise and Sport Science Australia. He was the Executive Dean of the Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences from 2014-2023 and is now Executive Director of UQ's Engagement with the 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Professor Abernethy is a previous Deputy Executive Dean and Associate Dean (Research) within the Faculty of Health Sciences (2011 - 2013), Head of the School of Human Movement Studies (from 1991-2003) and from 2004 to mid-2011 was the Director and inaugural Chair Professor of the Institute of Human Performance at the University of Hong Kong.

His research interest is in the control and acquisition of skilled movement, with a particular focus upon understanding the processes underpinning the expert perception and production of patterns of human movement. The work is interdisciplinary and spans human movement and sport science, experimental psychology, neuroscience and medical and health sciences. Prof. Abernethy's research work has been supported by a range of agencies including those funding basic science, such as the Australian Research Council and the Research Grants Council of Hong Kong, as well as those supporting more applied research, such as the Australian Sports Commission, the Australian Football League, the Australian Cricket Board, Worksafe Australia and the Motor Accident Insurance Commission.

Recent News

August, 2019: Post Doctoral Researchers/Resercah Associates/PhD Candidates

A/Prof Abeyratne is accepting (2021) post-doctoral researchers/covering the areas of: pattern recognition, machine learning, respiratory sound analysis, digital signal processing and smart phone programming. Qualified students are invited to apply for PhD scholarships on a competitve basis.

June 2021:

Snore sound based Sleep Apnea diagnostics intellectual property developed by Dr. Udantha Abeyratne and his team are available for commercialisation. The technology is the culmination of 20 years of ground breaking work leading to four patent applications including two granted ones in the USA (the rest are under examination at various stages) and a large portfolio of peer reviewed publications in international scholarly journals. A Matlab implementation of re-trainable technology and performance comparions against American Academy of Sleep Medicine scoring critera of 2007 (AASM 2007) are available. Prior comparisons on Chicago Criteria ("AASM 1999") are also available via peer-reviewed literature. Our software models indicate that the technology can diagnose sleep apnea at a sensitivity and specificity approching that of a standard facility-based polysomnography (sensitivity, specificity around 90%, 90%-- cross validation studies). Note that the model development data sets available to us (n=100 approx) had been scored per AASM 2007 clinical criteria. Thus, the resulting models require a straight-forward re-training (re-calibration) process on AASM 2012 data before they can be used on subjects diagnosed under AASM 2012 criteria (which is the clinical scoring standard in effect since 2012).

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Assoc./Prof. Udantha Abeyratne is the inventor of the cough-sound based respiratory diagnosis technology (ResApp Health Ltd. (ASX: RAP)) and snore sound based sleep apnea diagnosis technology SnoreSounds.

He earned a PhD (Biomedical Engineering) from Drexel University, USA, and MEng and BScEE degrees in Electrical & Electronic Engineering from Tokushima U, Japan and U Peradeniya, (video here) Sri Lanka respectively. He also received formal post-graduate training in Higher Education (Grad Cert , U of Queensland, Australia) and Paediatric Sleep Science (Grad Cert., U of Western Australia, Australia). He is a Senior Member of the Institute of Electrical & Electronic Engineers (IEEE, USA), and a full Member of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM).

​Dr. Abeyratne started his research career with a paper on coding techniques for low-bandwidth communication channels. His master's thesis was on a machine learning approach to the human brain activity analysis using electroencephalography (EEG, Brain Waves) and evoked potentials. This approach won the best paper award in ISBET Brain Topography Conference (Osaka, Japan, 1990) and also placed Dr. Abeyratne as a finalist at the Young Investigators' Competition in IFMBE World Congress on Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering, 1991 (Kyoto, Japan). He completed his PhD (1996) with Prof. Athina Petropulu as the advisor, working on Higher-Order-Spectra and medical ultrasound imaging. The thesis developed slice-based low-complexity algorithms for blind signal identification, tumor detection in ultarsound images, and image deconvolution.

Teaching Activities:

Assoc/Prof. Abeyratne has designed and taught university level courses on digital signal processing, electronic circuits, medical and general instrumentation, medical signal processing, medical imaging, control systems, project management and electromagnetic waves. He has supervised both undergraduate and postgraduate dissertation thesis projects in these areas. Within the last decade five students supervised by him won competitive awards at the UQ Innovation Expo.

Current Research Profile:

Assoc./Prof. Abeyratne's research interests encompass digital signal processing, machine learning, medical instrumentation, medical imaging, electrophysiology, bio-signal analysis and electronics. Over the last two decades A/Prof. Abeyratne has conceptualized, initiated and led the development of a number of innovative technologies funded by prestigious granting agencies such as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Australian Research Council and the A*-Star Singapore. His research programmes are characteristic of unorthodox approaches resulting in pioneering outcomes that produced spin-off companies, patents and scholarly publications. His research has recieved multiple peer accolades at the international level.

1. Electronic Instrument Design: hand-held ultrasound devices for medical, agricultural and industrial use; stethoscopes for the 21st century (The "Magithescope(c)", winner of two UQ Expo awards in 2013, 2014); biomimetic sensing devices (e.g. electronic nose, e-tongue), low-cost, portable electronic devices ("Tricoders") for diagnosing diseases such as apnea, asthma, pneumonia; wearable electrophysiological devices; real-time fatigue measurement and warning systems; hand-held instruments for the condition monitoring of machinery such as power transformers. Development of diagnostic and treatment devices for sleep apnea. Dr. Abeyratne is especially interested in developing accurate, multi-purpose and low-cost in-situ decision devices for applications in resource-poor regions of the world.

2. Diagnostic and Treatment Technology for Sleep Disorders: speech-like analysis of snore and breathing sounds; sleep diagnostic instrument design; sleep polysomnography, brain wave (EEG) analysis in sleep, quantification of fatigue and sleepiness; sleep apnea; design of apnea treatment devices (CPAP, dental devices); interaction of apnea and chronic diseases. mHealth approaches in sleep diagnostics. A/Prof. Abeyratne pioneered speech-like processing of respiratory sounds, leading to patents, papers and a spin-off company. He conceptualized and led the development of EEG based technology to quantifiy sleepiness in real-time in actual work environments. Outcomes of this program have recieved wide coverage in international media outlets due to its groundbreaking nature and the potential impact.

3. Respiratory Diagnostic Technology: diagnostic instrumentation and algorithm design for respiratory illnesses such as pneumonia, bronchiolitis, asthma, bronchiectasis and COPD; cough sound analysis in respiratory medicine; imaging technology for respiratory diagnosis; Portable diagnostic technologies and mHealth approaches for remote resource-poor areas of the world. About 1 million children below the age of 5 yrs die every year of pneumonia alone, mainly in remote resource-poor areas of the world. Poor access to diagnostics and medical treatment are the major reasons for pneumonia fatalities. A/Prof. Abeyratne proposed a ground-breaking new technology to diagnose pneumonia centred about cough sound analysis. For this research Dr. Abeyratne received funding from UQ, UniQuest and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which lauded the project (Page 4) as an exmaple for an innovative idea with high impact. Outcomes led to scholarly publications and contributed to patents as well as a spinoff company by UQ.

4. Signal Processing and Machine Intelligence: the analysis of bio-signals such as electroencephalography (EEG), electromyography (EMG); speech and industrial sound analysis, bowel sound analysis and the characterisation of inflammatory bowel disease; cardiovascular signal processing, source localization and blind source separation, higher order spectra, wavelets, pattern recognition, classifier design. Developing technology for monitoring the condition of Left Ventricular Assist Devices (LVAD).

5. mHealth: research on smart phone and other consumer devices as a platform for healthcare delivery. A/Prof Abeyratne is actively engaged in developing mHealth diagnostic solutions, including translating and customising sleep and respiratory technologies. He is also in the process of expanding the work to include meaningful deployment of the technology in both the developed and developing worlds, in collaboration with international NGOs, experts in community medicine, and the UQ spin-off companies resulting from the research program. New national and international collaborations are currently being negotiated to fund and facilitate this work.

The Research Team, Past & Present:

Associate professor Udantha Abeyratne, Dr. Keegan Kosasih (Past PhD graduate); Dr Duleep Herath (past PhD gradute, )Dr. Shahin Akhter (Past PhD graduate), Dr. Vinayak Swarnkar (Past PhD graduate ); Dr. Yusuf Amrulloh (Past PhD graduate); Dr. Shaminda de Silva (Past PhD graduate); Dr. Samantha Karunajeewa (Past PhD graduate); Dr. Suren Rathnayake (Past PhD graduate), Dr. Xiao Di (Past PhD graduate), Dr. T. Emoto (Past PhD work in UQ while at UT), ; Mrunal Markendeya (Current PhD Student); Karen McCloy (current PhD student), Ajith Wakwella (Past MPhil graduate); Lee Teck Hock (Past MPhil Graduate), Tang Xiaoyan (Past MPhil Graduate), Dr. Zhang Guanglan (Past MPhil Graduate), Dr. Syed Adnan (Past MPhil Graduate) and many past and present dissertation thesis students.

Research Collaborators:

Dr. Craig Hukins & Brett Duce (Princess Alexandra Hospital), Prof. Y. Kinouchi & Dr. T. Emoto (U of Tokushima, Japan), Dr. Sarah Biggs (Monash), Dr.Simon Smith (QUT), Dr. Chandima Ekanayake (Griffith U), Dr. Paul Porter (PMH Hospital), Prof. Anne Chang (Menzies School of Health Reserach, CDU), Dr. Scott Mckenzie (Princess Charles Hospital), Dr. Nirmal Weeresekera (JKMRC, UQ), Dr. Rina Triasih (Gadjah Mada U, Indonesia), Dr. K. Puvanendran (1998-2002: Singapore General Hospital, Singapore), Prof.Stanislaw Gubanski (Chalmers U, Sweden).

Professor Jason Acworth is a Paediatric Emergency Physician at the Queensland Children’s Hospital, is the Medical Lead for the hospital’s Rapid Response System and is Director of the STORK Statewide Simulation Service. Jason has a long-held passion for paediatric resuscitation and simulation education and research. His current research work is focussing on paediatric rapid response systems in Australia and New Zealand and components of high quality paediatric CPR. He is the current President of Advanced Paediatric Life Support Australia, is the paediatric representative on the Australian Resuscitation Council and is a member of the ILCOR Paediatric Life Support Task Force. ILCOR is the international peak body in resuscitation and sets the international standards for Resuscitation Councils around the world. Jason was a part of the group that established the PREDICT (Paediatric Research in Emergency Departments International Collaborative) paediatric emergency research network, serving as its inaugural Vice Chair (2004-2008) and later as Chair (2008-2009). He was also Chair of the international Paediatric Emergency Research Network (PERN) in 2010. Jason has co-authored over 60 publications in peer reviewed journals and in the last 10 years and has shared in research funding support of over $5 million.

Dr. Robert James Adam MA(Cantab) MBBS (London) PhD(UCL) FRACP FRCP (London)

Behavioural neurologist with interests in cognition and movement disorders. Clinical lead for deep brain stimulation at The Royal Brisbane & Women's Hospital, Senior Lecturer and Clinical Trials Specialist at UQCCR.

Movement disorders and advanced Parkinson's clinics in addition to Statewide Huntington's Disease, Friedreich's Ataxia and Metro North Deep Brain Stimulation services https://metronorth.health.qld.gov.au/news/deep-brain-stimulation-parkinsons. Young onset dementia clinic at STARS https://metronorth.health.qld.gov.au/stars/.

Principal investigator in 2 Phase 1b/2a clinical trials of novel antisense oligonucleotides for Huntington's Disease, PRECISION-HD1 & 2 and their open label extensions. I am part of a nationwide and statewide effort to investigate drug repurposing - particularly in Parkinson's Disease. I collaborate widely in investigator led research with both clinical scientists, basic scientists and allied health practioners both at UQ and beyond. Former research officer in PISA (Prospective Imaging Study of Aging) https://www.qimrberghofer.edu.au/pisa/ and the clinical lead for ADNet in QLD. ADNet is an NHMRC funded project to screen and register patients with cognitive impairment https://www.australiandementianetwork.org.au/.

I was trained in the US (NYU Medical Centre), UK (National Hospital for Neurology & Neurosurgery in Queen Square, UCLH, Cambridge University Hospitals) and Australia (Royal North Shore and Westmead Hospitals, Sydney). My PhD (UCL 2014) Thesis, "Dopamine and Oculomotor Decisions In Health & Disease", investigated the use of eye movement recordings during behavioral tasks to monitor decision making in patients with focal lesions, Parkinson's disease, impulse control disorders and healthy volunteers both under the influence and without the effects of dopaminergic modulators. I teach both medical undergraduates and graduates, supervise higher degree candidates and have written chapters in medical textbooks.

Research officer, Medical Genomics

QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute

Tolulope's expertise lies in intellectual property law and innovation policy, public health law, and law and technology. More broadly, his work has come to focus on three sectors now recognized as the so-called grand challenges: pharmaceuticals and health, climate change, and food security. He is a recipient of several awards including the Australian Legal Research Award (ECR) 2024(shortlisted) and the BEL Award of Excellence in Research(ECR) 2024 (winner).He completed his PhD at the City University of Hong Kong, funded by the University Grants Committee of Hong Kong and the Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition in Germany. After completing his doctoral research, he worked as a postdoctoral research fellow at the Faculty of Law, Chinese University of Hong Kong, and the Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition, Germany. He holds a German and European Law Certificate from Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Germany, and is qualified as a Barrister and Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Nigeria. He is currently a consultant to the South African Research Chair in Industrial Development at the University of Johannesburg and the United Nations Office of the Special Adviser on Africa. He is also an affiliate fellow at the Information Society Law Center of the University of Milan, Italy, and the Centre for Policy Futures at the University of Queensland. Among his past experiences, he has held teaching positions at the City University of Hong Kong and Landmark University, Nigeria.

Dr Rajendra Adhikari is a Senior Lecturer in Agribusiness, and a value chain researcher at The University of Queensland (UQ), Gatton. He has more than 22 years of experience in agribusiness value chain research, agricultural project planning, management and evaluation, agribusiness teaching and agrifood policy. Rajendra currently leads an ACIAR project which aims to develop competitive and inclusive value chains of pulses in Pakistan. His research is directed towards agribusiness value chain analysis, modelling and development, co-innovation and entrepreneurship, agricultural policy/strategy and behavioural research. Current research activities are based in Vietnam, Pakistan and Australia. Rajendra holds a PhD and Master’s degree in Agribusiness from UQ.

Dr Dia Adhikari Smith is the Tritium E-Mobility Research Fellow at The University of Queensland’s Dow Centre for Sustainable Engineering Innovation (School of Chemical Engineering) and the Transport Engineering Group (School of Civil Engineering). Her current research focusses on advancing the performance, economics, and uptake of E-Mobility globally, with a particular focus on the decarbonisation of both on-road and non-road heavy vehicles used in transport, construction, and mining sectors in Australia. Dia’s research expertise in low and zero emission heavy vehicles, powered by electric, hydrogen and advanced biofuels, has been demonstrated through several industry and government engagements to deliver decarbonisation feasibility studies, emissions modelling, cost benefit analyses, total cost of ownership scenarios and developing strategic roadmaps and recommended policy packages to achieve net zero emissions. Dia has a PhD in Power and Energy Systems Engineering from Glasgow Caledonian University, UK and worked as a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Centre for Integrated Renewable Energy Generation and Supply, Cardiff University, UK and as a Lecturer at the Grand Canyon University, Phoenix, USA.

Dia's postdoctoral research experience, at Cardiff University, involved in-depth research to investigate Smart Grid network assessment and planning methodologies that would consider type, extent, and pathway of various smart, innovative, and sustainable technology interventions (renewable energy sources, distributed generation, battery storage, electric vehicles, and hydrogen). Dia has worked on different quantitative and qualitative research methods to analyse the factors affecting the diffusion of low and zero emission technologies in the UK and conducted feasibility studies to evaluate the inhibiting factors for Smart Grid transition within the building industry (smart sustainable houses) and the mining sector (electric heavy vehicles, renewable energy sources, and energy storage) in the perspective of users, energy experts, energy providers, respective industries, policymakers, regulators, and the government. Dia's research projects involved close collaboration with Academia, Government and Industry to propose strategic guidelines, evaluate policies, and publish joint work-stream reports, for the successful diffusion of zero-emission technologies and renewable energy systems.