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Wei Qi Koh is a Lecturer in Occupational Therapy in the School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences. Since graduating as an occupational therapist, she has worked in acute and community health and social care settings primarily with older adults. She was awarded with a Marie-Sklodowska Curie Fellowship from 2019-2022 as part of the EU funded DISTINCT (Dementia: Intersectorial Strategy for Training and Innovation Network for Current Technology), where she worked with an international consortium of multidisciplinary dementia researchers and industry partners conducting research on various technology for (and with) people living with dementia. She was awarded her PhD in 2023, which was focused on evaluating the impacts of low-cost pet robots and developing strategies to support the implementation of pet robots in aged care for people living with dementia. Her research interests are in the care of people with dementia, older adults, implementation science, health promotion and evidence synthesis. She is also passionate about open science practices.

Professor Anna Koltunow has a formidable record of accomplishment in plant reproduction research and translating that research into gains in agricultural sectors.

Her research focus is on the molecular and genetic mechanisms that regulate development of plant reproductive cell types and, therefore, seed and fruit formation. Accomplishments include developing seedless fruit, a sought-after commodity in the horticultural sector.

She was selected by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to head an international collaborative research venture between six research organisations and a multinational seed company to develop technologies so smallholder African farmers could economically save seed from cowpea and sorghum hybrids. Professor Koltunow led the first five-year phase of this project, called Capturing Heterosis, while at CSIRO. This project finished in July 2019. The second phase, also funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation – Hy-Gain for smallholders – commenced in March 2020, at The University of Queensland.

The Hy-Gain project is a multi-party international research project comprising seven world leading teams aiming to develop a novel technology to increase seed yield and productivity in sorghum and cowpea crops for smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa. This exciting 5-year project, is led by Professor Koltunow in QAAFI’s Centre for Crop Science. Hy-Gain aims to ensure the technology is compatible with plant breeding to support the future, rapid delivery of new high yielding sorghum and cowpea hybrids and improved varieties. The project has some fundamental discovery work, however its key aim is building and testing the utility of the technology in plants. The research objectives span molecular work in the laboratory to field work involving genetic, genomic and transgenic technologies and testing reproductive productivity of sorghum and cowpea plants in glasshouse and in the field.

Together, the Hy-Gain project team is developing new ways to breed sorghum and cowpea varieties that make it possible to achieve large gains in yields, while increasing resilience to diseases and environmental stress.

Professor Koltunow’s collaborations have had an international focus and she has consistently obtained external research funding from several sources (ARC, Australian rural development corporations, and bilateral funding involving CSIRO and India, China, Japan and Brazil and philanthropic funds). She has participated in EU consortia, trained international researchers and national and international students in plant reproduction research in partnership with national and international University collaborators. She has Professorial Affiliations with the University of Adelaide, La Trobe University and works with Huazhong Agricultural University in China.

Whilst maintaining an international profile in plant reproduction research, Professor Koltunow has also held senior leadership roles at CSIRO (including Program leader and Deputy Chief). She served on the Premier’s science council in South Australia, ARC College of Experts, as President and Past President of the International Association of Plant Reproduction Research and on various scientific boards including a CRC and two New Zealand Crown Research Institutes. She has been involved in the organization of 9 international conferences, works on advisory panels, editorial boards. She is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science and the Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering.

Biography: Dr Muxina Konarova is an Associate Professor in the UQ School of Chemical Engineering. She gained her PhD in Chemical Engineering at Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan. Dr Konarova has led multiple academia/industry projects, securing >$15M as lead CI and her team partnered with five large organisations under her Advance Qld Research (Early) and Mid-Career Fellowships, ARENA-UQ, ARC-Linkage, ARC-Hubs and Innovation Connections.

Research: Dr Konarova’s research team focuses on the development of sustainable chemical processes and is directed to address climate change, waste utilisation and provide technical solutions for a circular economy. Current chemical industries are heavily reliant on fossil-fuel feedstock and significant advances in process engineering will be required to enable a carbon-neutral chemical industry. To accelerate the transition to circularity, fossil-fuel based industries are now seeking to introduce waste products and renewables as their feedstock. However, selective catalysts and suitable reactor designs are largely unknown for these new types of feedstock (biomass, plastic waste and CO2). This lack of knowledge has prevented both commercialisation of new chemical processes and the utilisation of sustainable resources. Dr Konarova’s research program focuses on the (1) design of selective, stable and active solid catalysts; (2) integration of solid catalysts into a reactor environment where an optimum mass and heat transfer can occur. Her team uses a range of advanced spectroscopic tools to analyse reaction products, elucidate underlying reaction mechanisms and control product selectivity. The overall research aim is to identify new generations of catalysts and reactors designs and address fundamental challenges associated with catalytic conversion and contribute to the development of sustainable chemical industry.

Teaching and Learning Contributions:

Dr. Konarova is a dedicated educator at the School of Chemical Engineering, where she plays a key role in the Master of Sustainable Energy (MSE) program. She coordinates and lectures the course Energy Transitions in Industrial Processes (ENGY7003), imparting critical knowledge on sustainable practices within industrial settings. Since 2021, Dr. Konarova has also been actively involved in coordinating and teaching Process Modelling and Control (CHEE3007), a core course in the undergraduate chemical engineering curriculum at UQ. Through these roles, she integrates her expertise in energy and process engineering to provide students with a robust understanding of modern industrial processes and control systems.

Associate Professor Srinivas Kondalsamy Chennakesavan is the Head of Research at the University of Queensland’s Rural Clinical School. With a background in medicine and public health, his research expertise is in the areas of public health, translational research, rural health and medical epidemiology. He has received competitive grants, $8.1m+ including seven major grants from the NHMRC/MRFF and other agencies and actively contributes to NHMRC/MRFF and other international peer review panels for major funding schemes. His expertise in the areas of community-based screening and surveillance programs for chronic diseases in rural and remote Indigenous communities is well known. On invitation, those models of screening and management have been replicated in South Africa and some parts of India (resource-poor and challenging environments). He has unique skills in utilising information technology, clinical medicine and statistics to improve clinical outcomes.

I am a researcher specializing in plant biotechnology and plant physiology. My work focuses on advancing the clonal propagation of coconuts and other high-value species through innovative in vitro methods, aimed at enhancing sustainability and productivity in agriculture. My current focus is to understand industry focused research question on blueberry root wrapping and associated crown disorder.

Current Focus:

• Clonal propagation of four high-value plant species (turmeric, saffron, lemon myrtle, gladiolus)
• Determine the bioactivity of two Australian native plants
• Investigating blueberry root wrapping and associated crown disorders

Areas of Expertise:

• Plant biotechnology
• In vitro culture methods
• Coconut biology and in vitro propagation
• Crop phenotyping and physiology

My research plays a vital role in improving agricultural practices, contributing to food security and sustainability. My work is particularly relevant to those interested in plant science, sustainable agriculture, and the physiology of high-value crops.

Dr. Kontogiorgos has received his B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees in Food Science from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (Greece). A full scholarship was then awarded from the Greek State Scholarships Foundation (I.K.Y) for Ph.D. studies in Food Science at the University of Guelph (Canada). After his Ph.D. degree, he worked as an NSERC research fellow at the Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (Canada). Following that post, he worked as academic at the Department of Biological Sciences of the University of Huddersfield (UK) before joining the School of Agriculture and Food Sciences at the University of Queensland. Dr. Kontogiorgos research interests are focused in the area of polysaccharide characterisation and physical chemistry of food macromolecules, gels, and colloidal systems. Currently, he is working on the physical, chemical and technological properties of soluble and insoluble fibres extracted from agricultural wastes. Dr Kontogiorgos is Associate Editor of Food Hydrocolloids and Associate Editor of Food Biophysics.

Dr Kevin M. Koo is currently a National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Investigator Fellow and Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia (PCFA) Future Leader Fellow at The University of Queensland (UQ). Dr Koo was awarded his PhD (Dean’s Award for Outstanding Thesis & Springer Thesis Prize) from the Australian Institute for Bioengineering & Nanotechnology (AIBN), UQ in 2018.

Post-PhD, he begun a productive postdoctoral career with dual industry/academia appointments: as the Head of Assay Development/Lab Director in XING Technologies Pty Ltd (a Brisbane-based biotech start-up) to undertake product development projects for commercialization of disease in vitro diagnostics, and as an Honorary Fellow/Principal Research Scientist at UQ Centre for Clinical Research (UQCCR) to continue his academic research in precision cancer nanodiagnostics. His research skills and experiences are honed through dedicated career time spent in both academic research and regulated industry environments.

Dr Koo's research encompasses multi-disciplinary fields of molecular biomarker and nanobiosensor development, translation, and commercialization for precision disease management applications. Presently, he is working on the design and development of integrated multi-bioanalyte sensing technologies to resolve the various challenges around holistic disease pathway understanding and clinical biomarker profiling.

Dr Koo's research endeavours have been recognized by a Metrohm Australia-New Zealand Young Chemist Award (2018), Australian Institute of Policy & Science (AIPS) Queensland Young Tall Poppy Science Award (2023) and UQ Faculty of Medicine "Rising Star of the Year" Excellence Award (2024).

Teaching

UQ School of School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences (SCMB)

BIOT7018 Biologics: Course Coordinator 2025-2026

BIOC7001 Advanced Molecular Biology Laboratory: Guest Lecturer 2024-2025

BIOC6001 Introduction to Molecular Biology Laboratory: Guest Lecturer 2024

Isaac koomson is a Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for the Business and Economics of Health (CBEH). He also serves in an adjunct role as a Faculty Director with the Center for Social Development at the Brown School in the Washington University in St. Louis, United States. He is a guest lecturer in Quantitative Research Methods in the University of North Carolina and University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in the United States.

He holds a PhD degree in Economics (Applied Econometrics) from the University of New England, Australia; Master of Philosophy degree in Economics from the University of Cape Coast, Ghana; and a BSc (Hons) degree in Economics (Social Sciences) from the University of Cape Coast, Ghana. Apart from research, he has more than 10 years of teaching experience at the University of New England, Australia, the University of Cape Coast, Ghana, and the University of Professional Studies, Accra, Ghana.

Dr Koomson’s current research is in the areas of health and development economics and cuts across topics such as child health (i.e., malnutrition), healthcare utilisation, out-of-pocket health expenditure, mental health, disease outbreak resilience, poverty, vulnerability, food insecurity, and energy poverty. He has worked on projects as a consultant to organisations such as the World Bank, the United Nations, and other policy-oriented research institutes.

His experience in producing translational research outputs. He was part of a three-member research team on the UNE/BUPA Health System Project which assessed students' access to the Australian Health System. He also led a team of researchers from the United States to introduce a novel multidimensional disease outbreak resilience index (DORI).

Not only do soils provide humans with 98.8% of our food, they also provide humanity with a broad range of other services such as carbon storage and greenhouse gas regulation. However, soils are also the most complex ecosystem in the world – it is this complexity that forms the basis of Peter's research at The University of Queensland (UQ). As a Soil Scientist, Peter is actively involved in the management and conservation of soil; one of the basic elements which sustain life. Whilst soil takes hundreds or thousands of years to form, it can be destroyed in a matter of years if not managed correctly. The management and conservation of the soil-environment is arguably the biggest challenge we face as we move into the future. We need new ideas to solve the world’s problems.

The aim of Peter's research is to increase plant growth in soils that are degraded and infertile, both in Australia and developing countries. He has a demonstrated ability to lead outstanding research programs across a range of inter-connected themes, spanning in scale from fundamental research to landscape-scale projects, with this demonstrating a unique ability to link industry partners with high quality research. Peter's research spans the areas of agricultural production, water chemistry, and waste disposal, currently focusing on (i) the global development of advanced and novel methodologies for investigation of plants and soils, (ii) behaviour of nutrients, fertilizers, and carbon in soils, and (iii) plant growth in degraded soils.

Peter is Past President of Soil Science Australia (QLD), a former ARC Future Fellow, recipient of the JK Taylor Gold Medal in Soil Science (2018), and recipient of the CG Stephens Award in Soil Science (2005).

A/Prof Jennifer Koplin is Group Leader of Childhood Allergy & Epidemiology at the University of Queensland Child Health Research Centre and Principal Research Fellow with the HERA 360-Kids Community Network. She leads the Evidence and Translation Hub of the National Allergy Centre of Excellence (www.nace.org.au) and the Food Allergy Prevention stream of the NHMRC-funded Centre of Research Excellence in Food Allergy (CFAR; www.foodallergyresearch.org.au). From 2019-2022 she was the Director of CFAR and Group Leader of the Population Allergy Research Group at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute in Melbourne, Australia.

A/Prof Koplin has over 15 years of research experience in epidemiology and allergy, and has developed an internationally recognised program of research in the epidemiology of childhood food allergy. Her research has explored the prevalence, natural history, causes and consequences of childhood allergic disease. She has led a series of large NHMRC-funded population-based allergy cohort studies including the EarlyNuts study and age 10 follow up of the HealthNuts cohort, collectively involving over 7,000 participants. She is also a co-investigator on the SchoolNuts and MACS studies as well as several food allergy prevention RCTs (VITALITY, PrEggNuts, TrEAT and Pebbles), an RCT of food allergy treatment (LMNOP) and collaborates on research exploring immunological mechanisms underlying childhood food allergy and improving food allergy diagnosis.

Her recent research focused on using population-based studies to inform the design and implementation of prevention interventions and determine their effectiveness in reducing allergy prevalence at the population level. She also has a strong research interest in the role of infant feeding in allergy prevention and contributed to the development of new Australian and international guidelines on infant feeding for preventing food allergy. In 2018, she received a National Health and Medical Research Council project grant to conduct the first study internationally to measure the impact of these guidelines on infant feeding practices and the population prevalence of peanut allergy.

A/Prof Koplin has been awarded over $20 million in competitive research funding as chief investigator, including 6 NHMRC project grants, 2 consecutive NHMRC fellowships and a Centre of Research Excellence. She has authored more than 150 peer reviewed journal articles with >4,500 citations and is on the editorial board of the international Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology: In Practice.

Dr Jessica Korte is passionate about the ways good technology can improve lives. To ensure technology is “good”, she advocates involving end users in the design process; especially when those people belong to “difficult” user groups - which usually translates to “minority” user groups. Her philosophy for technology design (and life in general) is that the needs of people who are disempowered or disabled by society should be considered first; everyone else will then benefit from technology that maximises usability. Her research areas include Human-Computer Interaction, Machine Learning, and Participatory & Collaborative Design.

Jessica was drawn to research by a desire to explore some of the ways technology and design can empower and support people from marginalised groups. She has worked with Deaf children and members of the Deaf community to create a technology design approach, and successfully organised and run international workshops on Pushing the Boundaries of Participatory Design, leading to the World’s Most Inclusive Distributed Participatory Design Project.

Jessica has recently been awarded a TAS DCRC Fellowship to create an Auslan Communication Technologies Pipeline, a modular, AI-based Auslan-in, Auslan-out system capable of recognising, processing and producing Auslan signing.

Jessica is currently looking to recruit research students with an interest in exploring topics in an Auslan context, including machine learning, natural language processing, chatbots, video GAN, or procedural animation.

Associate Professor Alka Kothari is a Senior Staff Specialist in Obstetrics and Gynaecology and the Conjoint Site-Coordinator of the Northside Clinical Unit, Faculty of Medicine, University of Queensland, at Redcliffe Hospital. She encourages multi-disciplinary research in perinatal mental health, women’s imaging, and medical education. She is completing a PhD on ‘Forgotten Fathers in pregnancy and childbirth’ and has presented her research at numerous national and international conferences. Associate Professor Kothari won the prestigious best oral presentation in perinatal mental health at the World Congress in Obstetrics and Gynaecology in London in 2019. She has also received various research excellence, leadership and teaching awards in Metro North Hospital and Health Service.

Associate Professor Alka Kothari is currently undertaking a Metro-North Clinician Research Fellowship on 'Supporting fathers during a traumatic pregnancy: Towards holistic care', implementing the findings of her PhD research into improving care for fathers. She is a passionate advocate for fathers and provides expert guidance and support to several non-government fatherhood organisations nationally.

Qualifications

MBBS, MD, FRANZCOG, GRAD CERT EBP (MONASH), DDU (O&G)

Current HDR Supervision

1. A formative evaluation of a peer-facilitated, online, perinatal education and support program for first-time Australian fathers referred through primary health care providers. Doctor Philosophy. Associate supervisor for Richard Pascal- Curtin University, WA, Australia.
2. Attitudes and current practices of Indonesian men and women transitioning to parenthood with regard to gender equality and co-parenting: the need and acceptability of a supportive, informative messaging mobile phone application. Doctor Philosophy. Associate supervisor for Dona Tamburan- Curtin University, WA, Australia.

Dr Julius Kotir is a.Senior Research Fellow in Agribusiness, Rural Development and Economics 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.

Andrew Kotze is an Adjunct Professor in the School of Veterinary Science at The University of Queensland. His area of expertise is Parasitology. He has led research projects focusing on the control of nematode parasites of sheep, cattle, humans and companion animals. He has also led research projects on the control of the sheep blowfly. Research areas include drug resistance mechanisms, assays for detecting anthelmintic resistance, identifying new drug targets for the control of worms and blowflies, and exploring biochemical and molecular aspects of host-parasite interactions. He is on the Editorial Board of several Parasitology journals.