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Dr. Liam Lachs is a marine scientist specialising in heatwaves impacts and eco-evolutionary dynamics on coral reef ecosystems. He is working on uncovering the natural capacity for corals to adapt to climate change and how this could support reefs, drawing from the past and present to then project future trajectories under warming and inform the design of effective climate-smart reef management strategies.

Dr. Lachs received his PhD from Newcastle University and was awarded by Science and SciLifeLab for research excellence in combining demography, ecology, evolutionary biology, and climate modelling, to explore marine heatwave impacts at numerous spatial and temporal scales. His works have included fine-tuning global predictions of mass bleaching, testing for historic shifts in coral thermal tolerance, and quantifying the evolutionary potential of corals to answer the long-standing question: can coral adaptation keep pace with ocean warming?

Now, Dr. Lachs is working at The University of Queensland as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the CORALADAPT project, generating some of the fundamental science insights needed to design climate-smart evolution-informed reef management and restoration interventions. He also contributes to the coral heat stress task team of the Group for High Resolution Sea Surface Temperature (GHRSST), the AIMS-led group on Quantitative Genetics for Operationalising Assisted Evolution, the European Marine Board group for Coastal Resilience, and as a scientific advisor to the PICRC project developing a climate-smart framework for coral reef restoration in Palau.

Ramiro grew up in Argentina and found an early passion for mathematics as a high school student by participating in the Maths and Programming Olympiads. He obtained an undergraduate degree from La Plata University in 2009, and a PhD in mathematics from Cordoba University under the supervision of Prof. Jorge Lauret in 2013. After that, he was a postdoc in the Differential Geometry group at the University of Münster in Germany (first as a Humboldt fellow, and then as Prof. Wilking's assistant). He also spent three months at MSRI in Berkeley, California, in 2016. Since mid-2018, he has been working at the School of Maths and Physics at UQ.

Dr Melissa Lai is a Neonatologist at the Grantley Stable Neonatal Unit, Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital, and serves as co-chair of the RBWH Neonatal Research Group. She is the site lead for a dynamic set of clinical trials and quality improvement projects, and helps to build research capacity and collaboration across institutions. Awarded in 2021, Dr Lai's PhD investigated the neurodevelopmental effects of infant massage in premature infants with a primary outcome measuring neonatal EEG power. Other clinical areas of interest include data management, clinician performed ultrasound and retrieval coordination. She is currently building an innovative body of work related to improving and supporting the provision of mother's own milk, and introducing new technologies into the neonatal intensive care environment.

Dr. Andrew Lai is a leading biotechnologist and translational researcher, specialising in the role of extracellular vesicles (EVs) in gynaecological cancers and reproductive diseases. His research focuses on developing innovative EV isolation methods and characterising EV cargo to discover biomarkers with potential clinical applications.

His work has directly influenced the development of an early-detection test for ovarian cancer, OCRF-7, which is currently being validated for clinical use. His expertise in mass spectrometry-based proteomics has been instrumental in advancing the understanding of EV roles in cancer progression and treatment resistance.

Sunil Lakhani is Executive Director Research and Senior Staff Specialist, Pathology Queensland, and Head of the Molecular Breast Group at the University of Queensland Centre for Clinical Research (UQCCR) at the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital.

Prior to his move to Australia in 2004, he was Professor of Breast Pathology at The Institute of Cancer Research and The Royal Marsden Hospital, London, UK

His current research interests include lobular carcinoma and its variants, normal and stem cells, tumours with a basal phenotype, familial breast cancer and biology and therapeutic development for brain and distant metastases.

He was series editor for the 4th Edition WHO Tumour Classification Books and volume editor for the 4th Ed WHO Classification of Tumours of the Breast (2012). He is currently Standing member of the Board for the 5th Ed WHO Tumour Classification Books. He is also on the editorial board of a number of pathology and experimental research journals.

Ratilal Lalloo is an Associate Professor, Teaching and Research, in the School of Dentistry, University of Queensland (2016 - ); and was the Teaching & Learning Director (2020 - 2024) and Higher Degree Research Director (2016 - 2019). He was an Adjunct Professor in the Australian Research Centre for Population Oral Health (ARCPOH), University of Adelaide. He held an academic title of Professor in the School of Dentistry and Oral Health, Griffith University from 2014-2019. He is a dental public specialist, with an undergraduate degree in dentistry (1986), honours degree in Epidemiology (1992), Masters degree in Community Dentistry (1994) and PhD in Dental Public Health from the University College London (2002). After almost 20 years as a dental academic in South Africa he took up the position of Colgate Chair & Professor: Rural, Remote and Indigenous Oral Health, in the School of Dentistry & Oral Health, Griffith University, for 5-years from January 2009. He was then a Senior Research Fellow at ARCPOH for a year (2014-2015). He was an Associate Professor, on a short contract position, in the Faculty of Dentistry, University of Sydney (2015). He has been involved in the training of under- and post-graduate dental students, dental public health related research and various management roles. He has published widely and his main research interests vary across many dental public health issues including evidence-based dentistry, oral health-related quality of life and health inequalities.

Yasmine Lam is a researcher within the Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation at the University of Queensland. Her main areas of interest are using biotehnological tools like gene editing to dissect key traits of interest in cereals to further understand the molecular mechanisms that underpin phenotypes. Currently she is focusses on integrative approaches for leveraging breeding data for biotechnological research and disseminating the influences of genes on various aspects of root system architecture in winter cereals. Overall, she endeavours to form more integrative approaches for crop improvement by looking at ways to harness biotechnlogical tools in a manner that can be utilised not only in crop research, but in crop breeding.

Dr Julian Lamont’s research interests include Political philosophy and economics, metaphysics, applied ethics, business and professional ethics, and bioethics.

He teaches in the areas of the Introduction to Social, Political and Legal Philosophy; Crime and Punishment: Issues in Legal Philosophy; Social and Economic Justice; Business and Professional Ethics; Political Philosophy.

Robyn Lamont is a post doctoral research fellow and physiotherapist researching the assessment and physiotherapy management of people with neurological conditions including people with Parkinson's disease. Robyn's current research focuses on the assessment of community ambulation and participation in people with Parkinson's disease and the factors associated with community ambulation ability and disability in this population.

Dr James A. T. Lancaster is an intellectual historian who received his PhD from the Warburg Institute, University of London. He is presently Lecturer in Studies in Western Religious Traditions in the School of Historical and Philosophical Inquiry, as well as the Editor (special issues) of Intellectual History Review. Previously, he was a UQ Research Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities at the University of Queensland. As a member of the Editorial Board of the Oxford Francis Bacon edition, he has published widely on the philosophical and religious thought of Francis Bacon. His research and teaching interests and experience include the history of science and religion, the history of atheism and irreligion in the early modern period, and the history of the psychology of religion.

Dr Dillon Landi is a Lecturer in Health and Education in the School of Human Movement and Nutrition Sciences. His research and teaching focuses on equity, diversity and inclusion within sport, health and physical education. He is internationally recognised for his contributions to these areas and has published extensively in leading journals and edited volumes across health, wellbeing, sport and education. His research has been cited in and informed policy documents, government reports and national position statements in Aotearoa New Zealand, Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States.

Dillon's research has been recognised and won major awards from prestigious organisations such as the American Educational Research Association (AERA), the British Educational Research Association (BERA), the Association Internationale des Écoles Supérieures d'Éducation Physique (AIESEP) and SHAPE America. He has also co-edited three Special Issues in high-impact journals on topics that reflect his commitment to inclusive scholarship: (a) Equity and Diversity in Health, Physical Activity and Education; (b) LGBTQIA+ Research in Physical Education; and (c) LGBTQIA+ Research in Sport, Human Movement and Education.

At the University of Queensland, Dillon teaches courses related to health, research methods, and education. He is also actively engaged in mentoring students and early-career researchers in research on equity, diversity and inclusion in health, sport and education. He holds a PhD from the University of Auckland (Aotearoa New Zealand) and two postgraduate degrees from Columbia University (New York, USA). Prior to joining UQ, he held academic appointments at the University of Auckland, Towson University (Maryland, USA), and the University of Strathclyde (Glasgow, UK). He currently serves as Managing Editor of Physical Education and Sport Pedagogy (Q1, Taylor & Francis) and sits on the editorial board of Sport, Education and Society (Q1, Taylor & Francis).

A/Prof Landsberg's undergraudate and Honours studies, majoring in Chemistry, were completed at Central Queensland University and the CSIRO (JM Rendel laboratories) before he moved to the University of Queensland to study a PhD in Biochemistry (awarded 2003). He then moved to a postdoctoral position at the Institute for Molecular Bioscience, spending time as a Visiting Scientist at Harvard Medical School (2008) and securing promotion to Senior Research Officer upon his return to IMB in 2009. He additioanlly spent time as a Visiting Scientist at the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute in 2010 and 2011.

In 2016, he joined UQ's School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences as a Group Leader in Cryo-EM and Macromolecular Structure and Senior Lecturer in Biochemistry and Biophysics, where he was promoted to Associate Professor in 2019. He has secured >$13.5M in competitive research funding since 2012, including major grants from the Australian Research Council and National Health and Medical Research Council. He his research has been presented at over 70 national and international conferences and research institutions.