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Syed Afroz Keramat is a Research Fellow (Health Economist) at the Centre for Health Services Research (CHSR) at the University of Queensland, Australia. Dr. Afroz received his PhD in health economics from the University of Southern Queensland (Australia) in 2021. He possesses multiple Master's degrees earned from distinguished European universities, including Warwick (UK), Lund (Sweden), and Pavia (Italy). Since joining the CHSR (UQ) in 2021, he has been a core teaching member of the “Cost-Effectiveness in Health and Medicine” course.

His key expertise includes health technology assessment using TreeAge software and analytical skills in utilising longitudinal data to provide an evidence base for research and inform health policy. He continues developing research interests related to health economics, health services research, health policy, valuing and measuring health-related quality of life, and economic evaluation of healthcare technologies. He has over 60 peer-reviewed publications (H-index=18), with a majority appearing in top-tier (Quartile 1) journals, where he is the first or senior author. His work has been published in leading medical and health policy journals, including the European Journal of Health Economics, PharmacoEconomics, Social Science & Medicine, Value in Health, Applied Health Economics and Health Policy, Quality of Life Research, JAMDA, and Cost Effectiveness and Resource Allocation. His ability to produce high-quality, impactful research has been acknowledged through multiple awards and recognitions, including the UniSQ HDR Publication Excellence Awards in 2022 and 2021. The findings of his research have been cited in 23 policy documents. Additionally, his research has received international media attention. For example, his research findings were featured in “The Chronicle” and “PharmacoEconomics & Outcome News”.

He is currently an associate editor for the journal ‘BMC Public Health’. He has also been a member of the scientific committee for national and international conferences, including the International Health Economics Association (i-HEA) Congress (2021, 2023, and 2025), the Annual Conference of the International Society for Quality of Life Research (2022, 2023, 2024, and 2025), the ISPOR Europe Conference in 2024, the Society for Medical Decision Making conference (2023, 2024), the Herston Health Precinct Symposium (2022, 2023, 2024), and the University of Queensland HDR conference (2023). Dr. Afroz is a member of several professional associations, including the International Health Economics Association (iHEA), the Australian Health Economics Society (AHES), and the Health Services Research Association Australia New Zealand (HSRAANZ).

Dr Afroz is currently available to supervise master's thesis or PhD students seeking to undertake research in the domains of health economics, public health, health services research, and economic evaluation.

Dr Julius Kotir is a Senior Scientist with the Queensland Government Department of Agriculture and Fisheries and also an Adjunct Senior Fellow in the School of Agriculture and Food Sustainability. His academic and research interest is focused on understanding and managing the complex and long-term sustainability of coupled socio-economic-environmental systems. A particular interest is how to use this understanding to design decision support tools in the form of models to evaluate the impact of different options under an uncertain global future. His work takes an interdisciplinary approach, combining participatory co-design and field-based methods with systems thinking tools and system dynamics modelling to develop qualitative and quantitative simulation models that can support decision making. Julius has is currently using these tools and methods to address a wide range of complex agri-environmental problems including international and rural development issues, food security, economics of farming systems, agrifood and digital twin supply chains, climate-smart agriculture, water resources management, farmer adoption of new practices, and agribusiness policy design and analysis.

Dr. Lieske’s overarching research theme is spatial decision support. Topics include city analytics, the costs of sprawl, planning support system theory and implementation as well as regional environmental change. Additional areas of expertise include the effective use of geographic visualisation as a communication and decision support tool.

Rand Low is Honorary Associate Professor at the University of Queensland and an Associate Professor of Quantitative Finance at Bond Business School.

Assoc. Professor Rand Low’s research areas are in asset and investments management, specifically correlation/dependence modelling, portfolio optimization, risk management, systematic trading strategies and commodities investing strategies. His work has been published in leading academic and industry journals such as Journal of Banking & Finance, Quantitative Finance, Journal of Empirical Finance, Journal of Investing, Journal of Commodities Markets, Resource Policy, and Journal of Risk. Rand is an avid supporter of Open Access Journals and multi-disciplinary research. He is an Editor of the Special Issue of Mathematics: Mathematical Models and Applications in Finance (Impact Factor: 2.6; Q1 Journal Ranking)

Prior to his PhD studies, Assoc Prof. Professor Low worked in control systems engineering and management roles for Honeywell for landmark engineering projects such as GOMA, SLQ, Brisbane Square, Mater Mothers' Hospital, St Andrews Hospital, and more where he achieved the Chartered Engineer designation from Engineers Australia. During his PhD studies, he won the GSITA Award and 3MT competitions. Upon completing his PhD, he received the Dean's Award for Research Higher Degree Excellence, a research fellowship on portfolio optimization & risk management techniques for financial crises and an Australia Awards - Endeavour fellow. He has been a visiting research fellow at the New York University - Stern School of Business, and an Australian Institute of Business and Economis (AIBE) Scholar He has also had Visiting Research Fellow appointments at the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, UK and Sunway University, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Assoc. Prof Low research expertise has allowed him to successfully transition into industry as he has worked at the global headquarters of Bank of America Merrill Lynch and BlackRock in New York City. He led teams of quantitative researchers in building mathematical models for market/credit/operational risk, securities lending, structured products, asset-backed securities, and portfolio management. He has also defended quantitative model development practices on behalf of these institutions to US regulators such as the Federal Reserve (FED) and the Office of the Comptroller of Currency (OCC). He is worked on quantiative model stress-testing, model risk management practices, and model risk governance for major global financial institutions.

Assoc. Professor Low’s is interested in applying statistical and machine learning techniques in automating business processes and investments management in areas such as corporate credit ratings, robo-advisors, digital assets (i.e., cryptocurrencies, blockchain), commodities, and systematic active investment strategies.

Renuka is an applied economist and Asia-Pacific expert who specialises in a broad range of topics from trade wars (specifically the US-China trade war) to the sharing economy (AirBnb, Uber DiDi etc). Her areas of interest and expertise also extend to empirical and policy analysis in development and agricultural economics, tourism economics, international trade, and productivity growth analysis, using econometrics and macroeconomic models

Professor Sarah Medland (OAM, FASSA, FAHMS, PhD) is a Psychiatric and Statistical Geneticist working in Neuroimaging and Mental health genetics. Her work bridges Genetics, Psychology, Neuro-Imaging, Health Economics and applied Statistics with a focus on understanding the genetic and environmental contributions to human behaviour and disease. She chairs the genetics working group of the ENIGMA neuroimaging consortium and is an active member of the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium.

Primary Appointment: Coordinator of the Mental Health Research Program and Group Leader (Psychiatric Genetics) QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute.

ORCID: 0000-0003-1382-380X

ResearcherID: C-7630-2013

Scopus Author ID: 34571085600

Email: sarah.medland@qimrberghofer.edu.au

Qualifications

2006 PhD (Psychology), University of Queensland

Dean's Award for Outstanding Research Higher Degree Thesis

2000 BA Hons (Psychology), University of Queensland, 2000 (Psychology Double Major, English Minor)

I am a Lecturer (Assistant Professor) in Economics at the University of Queensland and a Research Affiliate at the Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) since 2016.

I received my Ph.D in Economics from the University of Warwick (UK) in 2016.

My research interests lie in Applied Microeconomics with a particular focus on the areas of Economics of Education and Labor Economics. As a secondary field I am interested in Applied Econometrics.

Flavio Menezes is a Professor of Economics and Director of the Australian Institute for Business and Economics at the University of Queensland (UQ). Flavio is also the Chair of the Queensland Competition Authority and a part-time member of the Australian Competition Tribunal. He has been engaged by the Australian Treasury to provide independent strategic advice to the Australian and New Zealand governments for a review into regulatory barriers to the net zero transformation.

Professor Menezes was a member of the NDIA’s Pricing Arrangement Reference Group from 2023 to 2024, and a member of the Expert Panel for the Special Disability Accommodation (NDIS) 2022-2023 price review. He was the president of the Economic Society of Australia (Queensland) from 2016 – 2018 and a member of the advisory board of the Federal government’s 2019 – 2020 Deregulation Taskforce.

He was the Head of the School of Economics at UQ from 2009 to 2015, the chair of the Research Evaluation Committee for Economics and Commerce, Excellence of Research in Australia (ERA) 2018, and a member of the same committee for ERA 2015. Professor Menezes was an elected member of UQ’s Academic Board and of its Standing Committee from 2018 to 2021. Prior to joining UQ in 2006, he was a Professor of Economics and a Professor of Regulatory Economics at the Australian National University and the foundation director of the Australian Centre of Regulatory Economics. He was a (part-time) Vice-President at Charles Rivers Associates International in Canberra from 2005 to 2006.

Professor Menezes is a fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia and a Distinguished Public Policy Fellow of the Economic Society of Australia. He is an associate editor of Journal of Public Economic Theory and was the co-editor of the Economic Record from 2016 to 2022. He has published extensively on the economics of auctions, competition and regulatory economics, industrial organisation, and market design. He is a sought after UQ Expert on Australian economic policy. Professor Menezes’ engagement with industry and government is significant.

His experience includes advising the federal government, the AEMC, the ACCC, IPART, the QCA, and the ACT and Victorian governments on market design issues in regulatory environments. He has also provided economic advice to many private and public organisations on competition and regulatory issues in telecommunications, defence, fisheries, water, gambling, natural resources, electricity markets, dairy, smart cities, banking, aged care, the NDIS, early childhood education and childcare, health, and transport.

Dr Lin Mi is a Senior Lecturer in Finance at the UQ Business School. Lin's research interests include corporate finance and real estate finance. Her work has been published in well-regarded international journals including Journal of Banking and Finance, British Accounting Review, Economic Modelling, International Review of Finance, Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, and Accounting and Finance.

Julie joined the University of Queensland as an Associate Professor in May 2023. Julie participated in designing the Journeys Home Survey, a longitudinal study of Australians who are homeless or at-risk of homelessness. Her current research revolves around a number of issues related to disadvantage in education, housing, health and labour economics. Specifically, she works on homelessness & precarious housing, substance use, incarceration, gender gaps in education, peer effects and female's labour market participation. Julie is developing a research agenda aiming to support the development of better opportunities for Indigenous Australians. This includes a project to evaluate the impact of Indigenous preferential procurement programs and a project on “Historical frontier violence: drivers, legacy and the role of truth-telling”, both supported by ARC funding.

Dr Kim-Huong Nguyen is a Senior Lecturer in Health Economics at the University of Queensland. Her research centres on the efficient and equitable allocation of resources to support brain health in disadvantaged populations. She applies economic methods and theories to evaluate interventions, programmes and public policies for neurodegenerative diseases, brain injuries, and mental disorders. As a Global Atlantic Fellow for Equity in Brain Health with the Global Brain Health Institute (Trinity College Dublin and University of California, San Francisco), she collaborates closely with multidisciplinary teams—including artists, medical professionals, engineers, industry partners, advocates, and health and social care consumers—to advance knowledge and transform practices for brain health.

Chris O’Donnell obtained his PhD from the University of Sydney. He is an Associate Editor of the Journal of Productivity Analysis, an Associate Editor of Empirical Economics, and a Distinguished Fellow of the Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society. His current research is focused on economic and statistical methods for measuring and explaining productivity and efficiency change. He has authored or co-authored three books on this topic. His work has been published in leading economics and econometrics journals, including the American Journal of Agricultural Economics, the Journal of Econometrics, the Journal of Applied Econometrics, Econometric Reviews and the European Journal of Operational Research. He has provided in-house training and/or been a consultant for organisations including the World Bank, the Asian Productivity Organisation, the International Rice Research Institute, the Australian Energy Regulator, the New South Wales Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal, and the Australian Independent Hospital Pricing Authority.

Dr Anton Pak is a Senior Research Fellow in the Centre for the Business and Economics of Health, The University of Queensland. Anton is an applied economist by training and his research interests focus on the behaviour of patients and their choices, utilisation of emergency department services, waiting time modelling, and the economics of digital health. Anton examines empirical questions by utilising health economics theory and concepts and by analysing large panel and cross-sectional datasets (including linked data) using classical econometrics techniques, as well as machine learning methods.

Anton is currently co-leading an Emergency Medicine Foundation funded project “ED waiting time predictions in real-time: development of data acquisition system and performance evaluation of advanced statistical models.”, which is being undertaken in partnership with Princess Alexandra Hospital. Anton has worked extensively on interdisciplinary research with statisticians, mathematical modellers, clinicians, epidemiologists, and public health experts.

Prior to joining the Centre, Anton worked as a Research Fellow in Applied Economics and Data Scientist at James Cook University. His previous experience also includes working as a management consultant and university lecturer.

Anton has a PhD (Economics) from The University of Queensland.

Ravi Pappu is an Associate Professor of Marketing at the UQ Business School, University of Queensland, Australia. He teaches topics related to applying quantitative research methods in business to honours and PhD students and market and consumer research to postgraduate students.

Over the years, he has received the UQ Business School Teaching Excellence Award and the UQ Business School Research Excellence Award. Twice he was a Finalist for a UQ Teaching Excellence award.

Ravi received a PhD in marketing from the University of New England, Australia, and an MBA and a Postgraduate Diploma in Marketing, both awarded with Distinction from the University of Waikato, New Zealand. Earlier, he received a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical engineering from JNTU, Anantapur in India, awarded with First Class and Distinction.

Ravi's research interests include the areas of advertising, branding, international marketing, new products and innovation. His research has been published in several internationally recognised journals, including the Journal of International Business Studies and the Journal of the Academy of the Marketing Science. His research has been funded through several competitive grants, including ARC.

Ravi serves on the editorial review boards of premier international journals, including the Journal of International Marketing, the Journal of Business Research and the European Journal of Marketing. He is a member of the American Marketing Association (AMA) and Society for Consumer Psychology (SCP), a Fellow of the Academy of the Marketing Science (AMS) and a Fellow CPM of the Australian Marketing Institute (AMI).

Further information about Ravi is available at the following links.

|Facebook | LinkedIn | ResearchGate | Google Scholar | UQ Researchers | Publons |

RESEARCH

Ravi's current research focuses on modelling consumer decision-making concerning different types of brands (e.g. manufacturers, retailers, nonprofits and countries). He is also interested in understanding how marketing communications (e.g. advertising, celebrity endorsement, sponsorship) can shape consumer attitudes and brand perceptions.

Ravi's research on sponsorship, brand equity, brand innovativeness, country-of-origin effects, celebrity endorsement, country branding and retailer branding has been published in scholarly international journals, including. His research papers have been read or downloaded over 370,000 times.

|Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science | Journal of Business Research | International Business Review | Journal of International Business Studies | European Journal of Marketing | Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services | Journal of Marketing Education | Journal of Public Policy and Marketing | Journal of Product and Brand Management | Journal of Travel Research |

Research Grants

Ravi was the lead Chief Investigator of an Australian Research Council Linkage project (with Bettina Cornwell) supported by the Australian Red Cross Blood Service. Major outcomes of this research include a model for explaining communication portfolio effects on the image and equity of non-profit brands. Ravi's research has also attracted several internal competitive grants from the University of New England and the University of Queensland.

Awards & Distinctions

• 2018 - Inaugural JPBM Award for most impactful article, Emerald Literati Network (with P.G. Quester & R.W. Cooksey)
• 2016 - Outstanding Reviewer of the Year Award, Emerald Literati Network
• 2015 - UQ Business School Teaching Excellence Award
• 2009 - Outstanding Reviewer of the Year Award, Emerald Literati Network
• 2006 - UQ Business School Research Excellence Award
• 2000 - Best Marketing Research Paper Award, American Marketing Association (with A. Sinha & P. Leszeczyc)
• 1998 - Highly Commended Paper, Doctoral Colloquium, Australian and New Zealand Marketing Academy Conference

TEACHING

As of 2024, Ravi teaches courses in quantitative research methods and applied statistics.

• RBUS6902 Quantitative Business Research Methods I

Distinctions (Teaching)

• 2015 - UQ Business School Teaching Excellence Award
• 2015 - Finalist - University of Queensland Teaching Excellence Award
• 2014 - Finalist - University of Queensland Teaching Excellence Award

Teaching Evaluations (Click on the following links to view student evaluations in pdf)

Honours/PhD

• RBUS6903 Quantitative Business Research Methods II (SEM) |2020 | 2019 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 |
• RBUS6902 Quantitative Business Research Methods I (Multivariate Analysis) | 2024 (s2) | 2024 (s1) | 2023 (S2) | 2023 (s1) | 2022 (s2) |2022 (s1) |2021 |2020 | 2019 | 2018 |2017| | 2016 |
• RBUS6931 Scientific Method in Management II | 2018 |2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012 |
• RBUS6931 Scientific Method in Management I | 2018 |2017|

Postgraduate

• MKTG7510 Market and Consumer Research |2019 | 2018 |2017| | 2016 | 2015 |

PhD Supervision

Ravi is available for research supervision. His previous research students have achieved publications in internationally recognised journals (e.g., European Journal of Marketing, Journal of Business Research and Journal of Travel Research) and conferences (e.g., AMA, AMS, WMC). Following are some of the areas of his research interest.

| Brand equity | Brand innovativeness | Celebrity endorsement | Corporate sponsorship | Country-of-origin effects |

PhD

• W. Sun (2023) - Tourist misbehaviour (Associate)
• S. Saha (2022) - Corporate giving
• M. Hassan (2022) - New product preannouncement
• M. Chien (2009) - Corporate sponsorship

Honours

| Maddy Nugent (2022) - Sponsorship authenticity | B.D.C. Tang (2021) - Sponsorship engagement | M.G. Guerra Calvo (2020) - Celebrity endorsement | S. Caulton (2019) - Brand crises | I. Goh (2018) - Sponsorship portfolios | I. C. Y. Lim (2016) - Brand innovativeness | S.C. Yu (2013) - Celebrity portfolios | A. Spry (2007) - Celebrity endorsement | M. Chong (2006) - Consumer innovativeness | P. Stower (2006) - Multiple celebrity endorsement |

SERVICE

Associate Editor

• International Journal of Consumer Studies (2020 - 2024)

Co-Guest-Editor

• Journal of Strategic Marketing - Special issue on Research in Strategic Marketing
• Journal of Product & Brand Management - Special issue on Brand Equity

Editorial Board Membership

| Journal of International Marketing | Journal of Business Research | European Journal of Marketing | International Marketing Review | Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics | Australasian Marketing Journal |

Assessor

• Australian Research Council

Invited Seminars

| Australian National University | IIM-Calcutta | IIM-Ahmedabad | Indian Institute of Science | IIM - Bangalore | University of Melbourne | University of New South Wales | University of Adelaide | University of New England |

Visiting Positions

| Indian Institute of Management - Bangalore 2016 | University of Oregon 2013 | University of Adelaide 2009 | University of Michigan 2009 | Indian School of Business 2003 |