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Dr Cresha Gracy Nadar is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Centre for Crop Science, Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation (QAAFI), The University of Queensland. Her work sits at the interface of biotechnology, bioprocess engineering, and sustainability assessment, advancing solutions for a more resilient and low-carbon agri-food future.

Cresha’s research focuses on emerging biotechnologies; ongoing projects include precision fermentation for alternative food proteins, plant tissue culture for sustainable propagation, and seaweed valorisation for functional ingredients. She combines process modelling, life-cycle assessment (LCA) and techno-economic analysis (TEA) to evaluate the environmental and economic performance of innovative biomanufacturing systems.

Her PhD, jointly awarded by IIT Bombay (India) and Monash University (Australia), developed an integrated fruit waste biorefinery and assessed its sustainability through LCA and TEA. At UQ, she continues to bridge engineering realism with sustainability metrics, collaborating with academic and industry partners to translate laboratory innovations into scalable, commercially viable, and environmentally responsible technologies.

Nutritional Biochemistry, grazing and intensive production of cattle, sheep, goats.

My passion for agriculture and animal science comes from growing up amongst relatives in country Victoria, from Yea in the north, Korumburra in Gippsland and Heywood in the Western District. My career in agricultural science began at Melbourne University in 1960, with a defining year (1961) at Dookie Agricultural College, and subsequently with studies at The University of Sydney (1964-1969), University of New England (1970-72) and since 1973 at The University of Queensland. Promoted to Associate Professor in 1984, appointed Head of School of Agriculture in 1993 and the Head of School of Land and Food (1998-1999). Promotion to Professor was denied in 1997 and again in 2000. Retired from the University in 2006, but have maintained academic and research activity by managing ACIAR and other grants in Papua New Guinea and Vietnam. Publications since retirement have included books on family history, goat production in Vietnam and other biographies. Latest publications were on goat nutrition in 2022, in collaboration with Dr Simon Quigley's team at UQ, This year, 2023, celebrates 50 years of service to the University of Queensland.

Marguerite Renouf BSc(Hons)/BA, PhD (Env Man) UQ is a Research Fellow at the School of Chemical Engineering's Water-Energy-Carbon Research Group (www.chemeng.uq.edu.au/water-energy-carbon).

She has worked in environmental research at UQ for 20 years, with a particular interest in the environmental evaluation of production systems and urban systems using environmental life cycle assessment (LCA), urban metabolism evaluation and eco-efficiency analysis. She is interested how we can produce and consume with less drain on the environment.

Since completing a PhD in 2011, she has driven a stream of research that evaluates the environmental performance of agri-based product supply chains and products (bio-fuels, bio-materials, food, beverages) using LCA. She has collaborated with industries and researchers in Australia and overseas to develop LCA tools for industry to support the identification of more environmentally-friendly production practices and processes.

Prior to this, her research was concerned with eco-efficiency in manufacturing industries (food processing, metal industries, retail and tourism sectors) and was a long-term contributor to UQ’s Working Group for Cleaner Production (now operating as the Eco-Efficienc Group), and its Director for three years (2009-2012).

Currently, Marguerite is a lead researcher with the CRC for Water Sensitive Cities, develop methods and metrics for quantifiying the water water-sensitive performance of Australian cities, using urban metabolism approaches. In this work she collaborates cloesely with urban planners, water manager and architects.

Heather attained her Bachelor of Technology degree in food engineering from Massey University. She then spent 10 years in gelatine manufacture in various roles including quality assurance, production management and process improvement engineering. In 2015 she completed her PhD study into the rheology of biopolymer soft particle suspensions, supervised by Professor Jason Stokes at the University of Queensland. She has since continued at UQ in postdoctoral roles investigating the relationship between rheological properties, food structure and sensory perception of real food products and model soft particle suspensions with a focus on dairy protein systems. The key outcomes from the project have allowed our industry partner to move towards the rational design of food products.

With a strong foundation in food science, fermentation, analytical chemistry, and sustainable food systems, Jiahua’s work focuses on microbial transformation of natural food into high-value functional food products using advanced fermentation technologies, including food grade fermentation and solid-state fermentation. Her research helps address critical industry challenges such as food waste reduction, upcycling of processing residues, development of novel food ingredients, and improvement of nutritional profiles in food and beverage products. Another key focus of Jiahua’s role is developing innovative food products and conducting shelf life testing. She transforms novel ideas into market-ready products by carefully balancing functionality, nutrition, sensory quality, and commercial feasibility.

Jiahua has led and contributed to numerous nationally and internationally funded research projects, collaborating with food industry partners, government agencies, and research institutions across Australia, China, Singapore, and Denmark. Her translational research supports industry needs in product innovation, ingredient development, and sustainable processing. Since 2015, Jiahua has attracted 6 research grants (>1.2 million) as chief investigator (lead CI and/or co-CI).

Jiahua recently secured a $5.6 million research project in May 2025 as the Lead Chief Investigator for “Premium Oat Innovations: Developing High-Value Oat-Based Food Products for Emerging Markets.” This project aims to create innovative, oat-based solutions tailored to evolving global consumer needs, with a strong focus on nutrition, sensory quality, and market differentiation.

Professor Heather Smyth is a flavour chemist and sensory scientist who has been working with premium food and beverage products for more than twenty years. With a background in wine flavour chemistry, her expertise is in understanding consumer enjoyment of foods and beverages in terms of both sensory properties and composition.

Smyth has a special interest in describing and articulating food quality, understanding regional flavours of locally grown Australian produce, and modelling food flavour and textural properties using instrumental measurements. Smyth also specialises in researching how human physiology and psychology can impact sensory perception and therefore food choice.

Professor Jason Stokes is a Professor in the School of Chemical Engineering at The University of Queensland and Program Lead for Premium Food and Beverages within Australia’s Food and Beverage Accelerator (FaBA), providing leadership across a nationally coordinated, industry‑focused research program.. His work sits at the interface of chemical engineering, soft matter science and food systems, combining fundamental research with strong industry engagement.

Jason is internationally recognised for his expertise in rheology, tribology and interfacial phenomena, with particular emphasis on how structure, flow and deformation govern the behaviour of complex fluids and soft materials. He is known for pioneering experimental approaches in soft‑contact tribology and aqueous lubrication, providing new physical insight into oral processing, mouthfeel, texture and material performance across multiple length scales.

With more than 25 years’ experience working in and with industry, Jason has led long‑term research partnerships spanning food and beverage manufacturing, materials processing and sustainability‑driven innovation. Prior to joining UQ in 2008, he worked as a Research Scientist at Unilever R&D in the United Kingdom. His current research supports the rational design of next‑generation food and beverage products, including plant‑based and value‑added formulations, by integrating processing, structure and performance.

Jason was named among Australia’s Top 250Researchers by Research Magazine (The Australian, 2026), ranking first nationally in Dispersion Chemistry within Chemical and Materials Sciences. He has an h‑index of 60 (Google Scholar), reflecting sustained international impact across rheology, tribology and food engineering.

Teaching and research training

Jason’s teaching and supervision are strongly research‑led and industry‑engaged, with a focus on developing deep physical intuition, independent thinking and problem‑solving capability in chemical engineering graduates. He has extensive experience in HDR supervision and research training, mentoring PhD, Masters, Honours students and postdoctoral researchers across interdisciplinary projects in food engineering, soft matter and materials processing.

His teaching is grounded in fluid mechanics and transport phenomena, with long‑standing involvement in undergraduate fluid‑flow and particle‑based courses, as well as undergraduate research‑thesis supervision. He places strong emphasis on scientific rigour, career development and an inclusive, supportive research culture, and has contributed to researcher development and wellbeing through leadership roles within the School and Faculty.

Jason currently coordinates and teaches Transport Phenomena (CHEE4009) and Engineering Placement (ENGG7292).

Mark is a Professor of food microbiology and serves as the current Discipline Head of Food Science & Technology in the School of Agriculture and Food Sustainability. Between 2019 and 2025 he held the position of Deputy Head of School where he played (and continues to play) a significant role in staff mentoring and the preparation of academic staff for probation and promotion. Mark is also currently a Deputy Lead of the Innovative Ingredients program at the Food and Beverage Accelerator (FaBA), funded by the Australian Trailblazer university program scheme. He leads a research team focused on food safety, quality, and fermentation. After completing his PhD at Queensland University of Technology (QUT) he underwent postdoctoral training at Cornell University, USA (1999-2000), and at the CRC for Diagnostic Technologies, QUT (2000-01). He subsequently supported his position through a Dairy Australia Fellowship (2001-03) and an NHMRC New Investigator Grant (2004-06). In 2007, he joined UQ as an academic specialising in food microbiology.

Mark's research is currently funded by Hort Innovation, and he has received past funding from ARC Discovery, ARC Linkage, ARC Industrial Transformation Research Hub and ARC Industry Transformation Training Centre schemes. He has also been supported by Agrifutures Australia, Dairy Innovation Australia Ltd (DIAL), and the Geoffrey Gardiner Dairy Foundation (GGDF). His research primarily focuses on foodborne pathogen source tracking using WGS, lactic acid bacteria applications, plant-based dairy alternative fermentations, beer fermentation microbiology, precision fermentation and biocontrol food applications targeting pathogens like Campylobacter and Listeria monocytogenes. He has successfully supervised 25 PhD and MPhil students to completion.

Mark was the Director of the Master of Food Science & Technology program from 2008-2018. He contributes to teaching in food microbiology, food safety, and food biotechnology subjects at UQ. He is a Fellow of both the Australian Society for Microbiology (FASM) and the Australian Institute of Food Science and Technology (FAIFST), and serves on the editorial boards the Journal of Food Protection and Fermented Foods. He was the recipient of the 2017 Keith Farrer Award of Merit and the 2023 President's Award from the Australian Institute of Food Science and Technology (AIFST) for service to the food industry and the Institute. Additionally, Mark currently holds the position of President of the Australian Association for Food Protection (AAFP), an affiliate of the International Association for Food Protection (IAFP).