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Associate Professor Jakob Begun is the IBD Group leader in the Immunity, Infection, and Inflammation Program at Mater Research University of Queensalnd, and has a basic and translational laboratory at the Translational Research Institute in Brisbane. He is an Associate Professor in the University of Queensland Faculty of Medicine. After completing his Bachelor of Science at Cornell University Jakob attended Cambridge University where he completed an MPhil in Biochemistry. He then moved on to Harvard Medical School where he completed his MD and PhD in genetics studying the host pathogen interaction using C. elegans as a model system. He completed his clinical training in internal medicine at Brigham and Women’s hospital and went on to complete general gastroenterology training at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) as well as advanced training in the treatment of Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD).

Dr Begun first joined Mater Research - University of Queensland in 2014, and at the same time received a clinical staff appointment in Gastroenterology at the Mater Hospital Brisbane. His clinical activities are focussed on the treatment and mangement of patients with IBD. He is the director of the IBD unit at the Mater Hospital Brisbane and at the Mater Young Adult Health Centre Brisbane .In January 2015 he was awarded the University of Queensland Reginald Ferguson Fellowship in Gastroenterology to support his research activity. He leads a basic and translational laboratory at the Translational Research Institute investigating the interaction between the innate immune system and the gut microbiome, as well as genetic contributions to disease. He also performs clinical research examining predictors of response to therapy, minimising barriers of care for adolescents and young adults with IBD, improving outcomes in pregnancy and IBD, and the use of intestinal ultrasound in IBD. He is the chair of the Gastroenterology Society of Australia-IBD Faculty and of the president of the Gastroenterology Network of Intestinal Ultrasound (GENIUS).

A/Prof Stephen Bell is a senior social scientist, advisor and international development research consultant with 23 years’ experience tackling global health challenges in settings across South-East Asia, Africa, Western Pacific and Europe. He works respectfully with not-for-profits, public institutions, businesses and community organisations, using innovative, inclusive, people-centred approaches to identify sustainable solutions to critical health challenges and accelerate health equity.

As Principal Research Fellow and ‘Theme Lead - Social Science and Global Health’ at the Burnet Institute, Steve’s role includes:

• Research on young people's sexual, reproductive and maternal health, including adolescent-responsive health services and systems, contraceptive innovation, safe abortion, enabling socio-structural environments, and the intersections of health and climate change;
• Providing methodological expertise, technical support and mentoring in social science, co-design and community-based, community-led research practice across the Institute’s global health programs and business development across working groups and programs;
• Supporting a growing regional network of youth research, advocacy and thought leadership hubs across Asia and the Pacific;
• Managing and delivering consultancy, advisory and research work for institutional partners.

Steve’s work brings together lived experience, socio-ecological systems thinking and social theory to understand what works (or not) in global health and social development. He has researched and published widely on HIV, sexual and reproductive health, maternal health, neglected tropical diseases, TB and Indigenous health. He is particularly interested in understanding the socio-structural determinants of health and social inequities, and injustices associated with marginalisation due to gender, sexuality, age and geography. He has published two edited collections on interpretive and community-led approaches in research, design, monitoring and evaluation: ‘Peer research in health and social development: international perspectives on participatory research’ (2021), and ‘Monitoring and evaluation in health and social development: interpretive and ethnographic perspectives’ (2016). With international colleagues, he is working on a third edited collection called, ‘Lived Experience: Critical Perspectives in a Changing World’. Steve is currently taking on new PhD students who are interested in undertaking research in any of these areas, so please do reach out to him for a chat!

Steve is Commissioner on The Lancet Global Health Commission on People-Centered Care for Universal Health Coverage, Technical Consultant (Strategy and Insights) with PSI, and Member of the International Editorial Board at Culture, Health & Sexuality. Steve has served as a Senior Advisor to the Boston Consulting Group, and has worked in senior research and consultancy roles with international governments, NGOs, UNAIDS, UNFPA and WHO.

Dr Kath Benfer is a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow with the Queensland Cerebral Palsy and Rehabilitation Research Centre, The University of Queensland. Her Post-Doctoral work focuses on community-based early detection and intervention for infants at high risk of cerebral palsy in low-resource countries (India and Bangladesh). She was awarded the prestigious Endeavour Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Scholarship through the Australian Commonwealth Government to conduct the study. Kath’s PhD explored oropharyngeal dysphagia, gross motor function, growth and nutrition in preschool children with cerebral palsy, in both Australia and Bangladesh. Her work arising from her doctoral studies has been published in 10 peer-reviewed publications and presented widely at international conferences. Dr Benfer has over 12 years of experience as a speech pathologist within paediatric disability, with community-based child and family support services. Kath also has an interest in cross-cultural issues in child health, having worked in Bangladesh for over 2 years both as an AusAid volunteer teaching on the country’s first Bachelor of Speech Therapy degree, as well as conducting research in this context. She has completed her Master of Public Health at La Trobe University in Melbourne within the research and international health streams.

Dr. Manuela Besomi is a Research Fellow within the Centre for Innovation in Pain and Health Research (CIPHeR) in the School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences at The University of Queensland. She also holds an honorary position in the Physiotherapy Department at Universidad del Desarrollo (Chile), where she leads a clinical team focused on running injury management and prevention research. Manuela obtained her master's degree in Clinical Epidemiology from Universidad de La Frontera, Chile, in 2016, followed by a Ph.D. in Rehabilitation Sciences at The University of Queensland in 2021. As a passionate physiotherapist and early career researcher, she brings expertise in epidemiology, musculoskeletal rehabilitation, and sports science, particularly in the context of running. Her research spans fundamental and applied areas, from leveraging innovative technologies to investigate tissue mechanics to enhancing care management through implementation research.

Manuela is currently the Project Coordinator of an NIH-funded research project, the largest human project at UQ across 8 universities and 5 hospitals in 3 countries, examining the bio-psycho-social mechanisms underlying low back pain flares. She is also the Research Coordinator for the Consensus for Experimental Design in Electromyography (CEDE) project, supported and endorsed by the International Society of Electrophysiology and Kinesiology (ISEK). In recognition of her contributions, she was honoured with the prestigious 2022 Carlo J. DeLuca Award.

Beyond her research endeavours, Manuela is dedicated to translating knowledge into practice and actively engages with the community. She is a speaker and collaborator at The Running Clinic and a co-founder of the SeRUN® project (@serun.chile), both initiatives aimed at bridging the gap between research and clinical practice. She is passionate about promoting STEM for young girls—having collaborated in the evaluation of a nationwide program to boost girls' engagement in STEM, BRInC. Currently, she is part of the research team and mentor for the 2024 BRInC version. More information about BRInC can be found at https://www.canberra.edu.au/about-uc/faculties/health/brinc.

Dr. Besomi remains committed to advancing knowledge and making a positive impact in the fields of physiotherapy, rehabilitation and sports science.

Dr. Bialasiewicz worked at the Royal Children's Hospital and the Children's Health Queensland HHS for over 18 years conducting translational research and clinical support centering on infectious disease (primarily viral and bacterial) molecular diagnostics, general microbiology and molecular epidemiology. In 2019, he became a group leader at The University of Queensland's Australian Centre for Ecogenomics, expanding on a growing interest in the microbial ecology of the human body, it's role in health and disease, and ways to manipulated to achieve desirable outcomes. One Health microbial ecology, where human health is interconnected with the health of animals (both livestock and wildlife), and the broader environment is also an area of active interest. His background in virology has influenced the work he does, meaning a key focus of his microbial ecology works centres around the interactions between all types of microorgansims (bacteria, archaea, viruses, fungi, and micro-eukaryotes).

Ongoing work includes:

- Leveraging of emerging technologies to explore the hidden microbial diversity and their interactions in the human body.

- Using the technology to develop microbial (e.g. phage)-based treatments or preventatives to complex diseases (e.g. Otitis Media, Chronic Rhinosinusitis, GvHD).

- Understanding the genetics of antibiotic resistance spread.

Tamara is a trained respiratory scientist and has 7 years' experience in measuring the lung function of children aged 3-18 years. She has recently completed her PhD whereby she validated the use of normal healthy reference values for two lung function tests (spirometry and fractional exhaled nitric oxide) for children who identify as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander. She has a particular interest in childhood respiratory illnesses such as cystic fibrosis and asthma, emerging clinical measurement techniques, as well as Australian First Nations respiratory health. Her current research aims to better understand the mechanisms of early CF lung disease and to improve current clinical outcome measures to aid in appropriate CF management.

Fiona Bogossian is currently Professor of Practice Education in Health at the University of the Sunshine Coast.

Fiona is a Registered Nurse and Midwife with clinical, policy, education and research experience in midwifery and neonatal nursing. She has professional qualifications in education, public health and epidemiology, and a strong track record in teaching and research academic mentorship. Fiona is a Churchill Fellow, a Fellow of the Australian College of Midwives and a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

As a foundation academic in the UQ School of Nursing & Midwifery (2005-2018), Fiona held leadership roles including Program Director, Director of Research and Director of Research Higher Degrees. Teaching highlights include implementation of the ground-breaking UQ Bachelor of Nursing curriculum, pioneering the first Bachelor of Midwifery program in Queensland and design and implementation of UQ's first practice based electronic portfolio system. Fiona held strategic responsibility for the School research direction, training and performance contributing to Above World Class Ranking of 5 for the field of research ‘nursing’ in 2012 and 2015.

Fiona’s research addresses better perinatal health outcomes and workforce education & development. She has expertise in clinical, health services and education research in particular epidemiology, longitudinal cohort studies, randomised trials, qualitative approaches and mixed methods. She has been Chief and Associate Investigator on $2.9 million of Cat 1 and Cat 4 grants since 2009, and has over 90 peer reviewed publications.

Fiona’s disciplinary research and education leadership is demonstrated at local, state, national and international levels through a long history of ministerial appointments, membership of research foundation grants committees, chairing program accreditation panels, as Sub-Editor for Women & Birth, and more recently as a panel member for the ERA Impact and Engagement Pilot (2107), and the discipline representative on the Universitas 21 Health Sciences Group Executive (2013-2016).

Dr. Borg is a translational scientist with a career spanning both Germany and Australia. She has amassed extensive expertise in cellular biology in regenerative therapies, as well as molecular biology, biochemical, and preclinical methodology in diabetes research. Her leadership in coordinating the newest Queensland longitudinal birth cohort has honed her skills in multidisciplinary teamwork, scientific communication, databank governance and epidemiological study design.

Passionate about innovation, Dr. Borg excels in leveraging communication, engagement, and partnerships to address persistent challenges in clinical research. As a Principal Research Fellow in the Women-Newborn-Children's Services at Gold Coast Hospital and Health Service, she is dedicated to workforce capacity building and integrating clinical expertise with academic knowledge. Her efforts are focused on enhancing research implementation and improving health service evaluation within cross-disciplinary teams, to prioritise healthcare improvement.

Dr Matthew Bourke is a Research Fellow working on the Health Research Accelerator 360-Kids Community Network program. His research uses several contemporary techniques including Ecological Momentary Assessment and compositional data analysis to better understand the antecedents and outcomes of 24-hour movement behaviours in children and youth, and especially how engaging in different combinations of movement behaviours can help support optimal development in young people. Matthew's research also aims to develop and evaluate interventions that target multiple levels of influence to improve the composition of young people's 24-hour movement behaviours and support healthy development.

Assoc Prof Fran Boyle is a social scientist and health services researcher at the Institute for Social Sciences Research. Fran's background is in psychology and public health and her research focuses on people’s lived experiences of health, health services and the health system. Fran's research expertise is in the application of social sciences methods (including the integration quantitative and qualitative approaches) and health systems thinking to guide policy and practice.

Fran is a Principal Investigator with the Australian Centre of Research Excellence in Stillbirth where she co-leads the Care after Stillbirth program. Her research addresses the psychosocial impacts of perinatal loss and is committed to improving outcomes for women and families through the implementation and evaluation of best practice parent-centred perinatal bereavement care in hospital and community settings.

Dr Clare Bradley is a Senior Research Fellow with the UQ Poche Centre and the Program Manager for the ATLAS Indigenous Primary Care Surveillance Network. She has a PhD in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from the University of Adelaide and has been working in the health surveillance and health services research sectors for nearly two decades.

Before joining Professor Ward’s team in 2017 as the Study Coordinator for the NHMRC Centre for Research Excellence in Aboriginal Sexual Health and Blood-Borne Viruses (which established the ATLAS network), Clare spent 14 years at Flinders University; first with the Research Centre for Injury Studies (2003–2014) where she led the AIHW National Injury Surveillance Unit’s falls and older people’s injury research program, and then with the NHMRC Cognitive Decline Partnership Centre as the Senior Research Fellow for the Understanding long-term care services for older people with cognitive decline in Australia project. Clare has extensive project coordination, health surveillance and data linkage skills and wide-ranging research interests, now focused on Indigenous health.

Clare is the Chief Investigator for the recently awarded Improving surveillance infrastructure for Indigenous primary health care project, receiving $1.99m through the Medical Research Future Fund (PHRDI000054). She is also a CI on two current NHMRC Ideas grants: Leaving no-one behind: Informing Indigenous aged care policy with big data (GNT2004089, CI-C), and Implementing a precision public health approach to eliminate STIs and control HIV in regional Australia (GNT1185073, CI-D). Through these and her ongoing involvement in the maintenance and development of the ATLAS network and research infrastructure, Clare is committed to excellence and innovation in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health services research and passionate about strengthening research capacity and supporting Indigenous Data Sovereignty in all aspects her research activity.

Clare has successfully co-supervised one PhD and two honours students to completion and is available for collaboration or supervision across a range of topics, including Indigenous primary care and infectious disease surveillance; health services research; dementia and aged care services research; falls injury; suicide and self-harm; use of linked administrative datasets; development of disease classification structures; and descriptive epidemiology for public health purposes.

Research to improve balance and gait in older adults and those with Neurological Disorders.

Impaired postural control, or poor balance, can have devastating effects on the lives of individuals, resulting in falls, dependence, and reduced quality of life. Prof Brauer leads a number of studies to better understand the underlying motor control mechanisms contributing to altered postural control, particularly in populations with neurological disorders or advanced age, and use this information to better develop physiotherapy assessment techniques and rehabilitation strategies. This research has subsequently developed to encompass prevention strategies and the investigation of the cost-effectiveness of intervention, to better facilitate the translation of research evidence into clinical practice.

Current research themes include:

Improving physical activity after stroke

Training dual tasking when walking in people with Parkinson’s Disease.

Community mobility in older adults, particularly in people with Parkinson’s Disease and stroke.

Retraining reaching following stroke, using the SMART Arm device.

The prevention of falls, particularly in hospitals.

Katie is a health and disability researcher. She did an undergraduate degree in health sciences. Though this, she gained the language and understanding of the social determinants of health, providing the framework to contextualise the health disparities she had witnessed growing up. Her passion for research was fostered when she did a research project in intellectual disability during her last semester. After learning about the significant health gap experienced by people with intellectual disability, she was motivated to make a change. Seeing that researchers were the people making the most difference, she went on to do her PhD. Her postdoctoral research focuses on working with people with intellectual disability and autistic people to improve the way healthcare is delivered to them.

Katie is woking on the EASY-Health project which aims to improve access to mainstream hospital services for people with intellectual and developmental disability. This position is with the Mater Intellectual Disability and Autism Service (MIDAS) at Mater Research.

Katie also holds a UQ Research Stimulus Fellowship and is continuing herprimary care research to improve healthcare experiences for Autistic adults. This position is with the Queensland Centre for Intellectual and Developmental Disability (QCIDD) at Mater Research Institute-UQ.

Dr Claudia Bull is a Research Fellow in psychiatric epidemiology at the Queensland Centre for Mental Health Research (QCMHR), University of Queensland. She holds a Bachelor of Nutrition with First Class Honours (2017) and a PhD in Health Services Research from the Griffith University School of Nursing and Midwifery (2022). Claudia's research largely focusses on undertaking complex data analysis using large, linked, population-based administrative datasets to understand equity, patterns of health service use, and outcomes in vulnerable Australian populations. She is particularly interested in the intergenerational and lifetime effects of child abuse and neglect in Australia, as well as understanding how health services can better support Child Protection efforts. Claudia is also well-versed in the development, psychometric evaluation and implementation of PROMs and PREMs for health systems performance measurement. She is internationally recognised for her research related to PROMs and PREMs, having published several seminal and highly cited papers, as well as pioneering methods for consumer engagement in deciding what questions are relevant and important in PROMs and PREMs. Claudia is an inaugural member of the South Australian Commission on Excellence and Innovation in Health's Generic PROM Selection Subcommittee, and is currently collaborating internationally with researchers in The Netherlands, Iran, France and Spain to cross-culturally validate an Emergency Department PREM. Claudia's expertise in population-based linked administrative health data analysis, as well as PROMs and PREMs, positions her as a well-rounded and capable researcher. Claudia's international collaborations underscore her ability to work across cultural and geographical boundaries, enriching her research with a global perspective. Moreover, her track record of published research, practical involvement in healthcare initiatives, and ongoing projects reflect a proactive and influential presence in the field.

Professor Philip Burgess is a researcher in the field of mental health services research and evaluation. He is a Professor with the School of Public Health at the University of Queensland, based at the Queensland Centre for Mental Health Research.

Philip holds qualifications in clinical psychology and has over 30 years of experience in the design, analysis and reporting of research projects, including systematic literature reviews, cross-sectional and longitudinal studies, studies based on routinely collected administrative health and mental health data, epidemiological survey data, and evaluations of health programs and interventions using observational and quasi-experimental research designs.

Philip’s current role is with the Analysis and Reporting Component of the Australian Mental Health Outcomes and Classification Network (AMHOCN), which leads the design, analysis and reporting of the National Outcomes and Casemix Collection (http://www.amhocn.org/). In this role, he is leading a range of projects designed to improve the measurement of patient- and service-level outcomes in Australia's specialised public sector mental health services.

Experienced human factors and ergonomics researcher and consultant across a range of industries particularly mining. Currently seconded to the BHP Think and Act Differently team with support from the Resources Technology and Critical Minerals Trailblazer and the Commonwealth Government through the Trailblazer Universities Program to undertake a Human Systems Integration project.

Robin Burgess-Limerick is Professorial Research Fellow in the Human Factors within the Minerals Industry Safety and Health Centre. He has been a member of academic staff since 1995, and prior to that has held research positions in a number of organisations including the Division of Workplace Health & Safety, and the Medical Research Council Applied Psychology Unit (UK). Prof Burgess-Limerick completed his Bachelor of Human Movement Studies, and Hons degrees at The University of Queensland, and returned to the University to undertake his PhD in the area of manual lifting coordination. He is a Certified Professional member, past-president, and elected Fellow, of the Ergonomics Society of Australia Inc.

Research Interests

Prof Burgess-Limerick has eclectic research interests ranging across the broad scope of human factors and ergonomics from visual perception and movement control, through workplace interventions to prevent injuries due to manual tasks, and the design of mining equipment to reduce injury risks. His research has been funded by grants from the National Occupational Health and Safety Commission, ARC, NHMRC, Workcover Queensland (QComp), the Coal Services Health and Safety Trust (NSW), and the Australian Coal Association Research Program.

Dr Tamara Butler is an Aboriginal woman of the Undumbi people from the Sunshine Coast region of Queensland, Australia and a NHMRC Emerging Research Fellow at the University of Queensland. She works withing the First Nations Cancer and Wellbeing Research Program. Her work is focused on women’s cancers with the goal of improving cancer outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, families, and communities. Broadly Dr Butler’s research interests also include First Nations research methods and process, co-design, wellbeing, and psychosocial aspects of cancer care.

Gerard Byrne is the Mayne Professor and Head of the Academy of Psychiatry within the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Queensland and Director of the Older Persons' Mental Health Service at the Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital. His primary research interests include Alzheimer's disease (particularly the neuropsychiatric symptoms associated with AD), and personality, anxiety and depression in older people. Recent published work has included papers on generalised anxiety disorder in older people, dementia and delirium in the general hospital setting, and the role of lifestyle factors in predicting cognitive trajectory in middle age and later life.

Biography:

Gerard completed his medical degree and an intercalated science degree in Sydney at the University of New South Wales and the Prince of Wales and Prince Henry Hospitals. Following an internship at the Royal Newcastle Hospital, he undertook two further years of general medical training at The Prince Charles Hospital in Brisbane. He subsequently completed his five years of psychiatry training at The Prince Charles and Wolston Park Hospitals. His PhD in psychiatric epidemiology was undertaken at the University of Queensland under the supervision of Beverley Raphael AM. He has been Head of the UQ Discipline (now Academy) of Psychiatry since 2001 and Director of Geriatric Psychiatry (now the Older Persons' Mental Health Service) at the Royal Brisbane & Women’s Hospital since 1995.

He a member of the Repatriation Medical Authority and chairs the Research Advisory Committee of the Royal Brisbane & Women's Hospital. He is a member of the advisory board of the Clem Jones Centre for Ageing Dementia Research at the Queensland Brain Institute. He is a former member of the board of directors of the International Psychogeriatric Association.

He is a past chairman of the Faculty of Psychiatry of Old Age (FPOA) of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists (RANZCP) and a former member of the RANZCP General Council. He is a former chair of the RANZCP Sub-committee for Advanced Training in Psychiatry of Old Age and member of the RANZCP Committee for Training. He is a member of the RANZCP Foundation Committee and a member of the Queensland Brain Bank Scientific Advisory Committee.

Gerard also serves as a member of NHMRC GRPs and reviews research grant applications for NHMRC, ARC, Hong Kong MRC, New Zealand RC, Netherlands Organisation for Health Research & Development (ZonMw), U.S. Alzheimer's Association, Alzheimer's Australia Research Fund, and Pfizer Neuroscience Research Grants, amongst others.

He is a member of the editorial board of the journal, Clinical Gerontologist.

He reviews manuscripts for Molecular Psychiatry, British Journal of Psychiatry, Biological Psychiatry, Brain and Cognition, Journal of Affective Disorders, Journal of the American Geriatrics Association (JAGS), Journal of Psychiatric Research, Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, Age and Ageing, Aging and Mental Health, American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, Australasian Journal on Ageing, Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health, BMC Psychiatry, Depression and Anxiety, International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry and International Psychogeriatrics, amongst others.

In 2012 he won the Senior Research Award of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists.

In 2013 he delivered the Bostock Oration of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists.

In 2016 he was awarded a Meritorious Service Award by the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists.