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Professor Bronwyn Laycock has a diverse background in translational research, working not only in academia but also in industry and as a consulting chemist as well as at CSIRO. Her research activities have ranged from bio/degradable polymers, composites, organic and organometallic synthesis, waste conversion technologies, and pulp and paper chemistry, to general polymer chemistry. She is currently working across a range of projects with a focus on materials for circular economy applications and management of the transition to the new plastics economy. The application areas in her research program include biopolymers (particularly polyhydroxyalkanoates), polymer lifetime estimation and end-of-life management/conversion technologies, biocomposites, controlled release matrixes for pesticide and fertiliser applications, polyurethane chemistry, and biodegradable packaging.

She has a strong history of successful commercialisation and impact, being a co-inventor on CSIRO's extended wear contact lens program (recognised as its fourth most significant invention) - for which she was awarded a joint CSIRO Medal for Research Achievement 2009. As a Project Leader and Deputy Program Leader within the CRC for Polymers, she also managed a project that delivered an oxodegradable thin film polyethylene that was commercially licenced by Integrated Packaging. This work earned the team a Joint Chairman’s Award for research/commercialization (CRC for Polymers) and an Excellence in Innovation Award (CRC Association).

I supervise postgraduate research (MPhil/PhD) at the intersection of AI/ML, security and networking. Projects are typically hands-on and data-driven, with an emphasis on building deployable methods and producing publishable outcomes. Current directions include: (i) applied machine learning for security and networked systems; (ii) large language and foundation models for security analytics and automation; and (iii) adversarially robust and continual learning for resilient detection in dynamic environments.

Students in my group typically contribute to open research artefacts alongside publications. Applicants who do well usually have strong programming skills (e.g., Python/C++), a solid foundation in either ML or networking, and a willingness to engage deeply with sound experimental methodology and reproducible research.

About Me

I am a researcher at The University of Queensland working on practical AI/ML for security and networked systems. My research focuses on robust, scalable techniques for detecting and understanding malicious behaviour in modern networks and computing environments, and on methods that remain reliable under evolving threats and shifting data distributions. Current themes in my work include large language and foundation models for security analytics and automation, adversarially robust and continual learning, and explainable machine learning to support trustworthy operational use.

Professor Layton is a national leader in innovative ophthalmology, with expertise in macular disease, lens surgery and minimally invasive glaucoma interventions. He completed ophthalmology training in Queensland, Oxford and London, subspecialty training in retinal disease at the Royal Brisbane Hospital and holds a PhD in diabetic retinopathy from Oxford University. Professor Layton is a Rhodes Scholar and founding director of the LVF Ophthalmology Research Centre in Brisbane, Australia. He is also CEO of Ocugene, a Queensland based biotech start-up which is commercialising his gene therapy technology targeting macular degeneration, uveitis and choroidal melanoma. Professor Layton is the listed inventor of multiple ophthalmic patent applications currently under review in the USA, the EU, Japan, Israel, Australia and Singapore. He has published extensively in the international literature and his work has been recognised by awards from international eye research organisations.

Ben is Assistant Director of Haemodialysis at the Princess Alexandra Hospital, clinical trialist at the Australasian Kidney Trials Network, senior lecturer at The University of Queensland, junior associate editor at the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology, and methodology fellow at KDIGO. He has expertise in chronic kidney disease, haemodialysis, quality improvement, and clinical trials and has received over $5.5 million in competitive research funding and numerous awards, including the Australia and New Zealand Society of Nephrology (ANZSN) Young Investigator Award in 2023. His research has substantially informed the use of common medications in people with chronic kidney disease and the launch of a nationwide surveillance program for haemodialysis access-related bloodstream infections.

Professor Bronwyn Lea teaches and researches in contemporary literature, poetics, creative writing, research-led practice, and gender studies.

A/Prof Paola Leardini leads the Technology and Sustainability stream at the University of Queensland’s School of Architecture, Design and Planning. She is also a key researcher within the Centre for Future Building Structure and a former member of the Cooperative Research Centre for Water Sensitive Cities. With a diverse educational background in Architecture that spans Milan, Berlin, Leicester, and Copenhagen, she holds a PhD in building energy efficiency and environmental quality from Politecnico di Milano (Italy); her doctorate work was undertaken under the guidance of Prof. P. Ole Fanger, a global authority in the field of thermal comfort.

Before joining UQ in 2015, A/Prof Leardini worked extensively as an ESD (Environmentally Sustainable Design) designer, consultant, and educator in Italy, Switzerland, Germany, and New Zealand. Her professional and academic work strives to bridge the gap between design and performance, advocating for smart, healthy, and resilient built environments. Her research focuses on developing innovative solutions for achieving net-zero targets through building decarbonisation, enhancing urban resilience, and fostering a circular economy in the construction sector.

A/Prof Leardini’s research explores the intersection of building diagnostics, retrofitting, urban regeneration, and resource optimisation. Her applied research tackles environmental challenges with a focus on global and local impacts. Early in her career, she contributed to major urban regeneration projects, including the retrofitting of the "Quartiere Mazzini" historical district in Milan (2003), New Zealand's state housing eco-retrofitting (2010-2015), and more recently, a monitoring campaign of state housing in Brisbane, focusing on the relationship between energy consumption, thermal comfort, and public health.

Her extensive collaborations span international networks of academics, public agencies, and industry partners. Notably, she has served on the Queensland Government's Design Excellence Panel for social and affordable housing, established by the Department of Communities, Housing, and Digital Economy in partnership with the Office of the Queensland Government Architect.

As a certified Passivhaus designer, A/Prof Leardini co-founded the Passive House Institute New Zealand (PHINZ) in 2012 and later joined the Australian Passive House Association (APHA) in 2018. Her research has since expanded to explore how the Passive House standard can be adapted for hot and humid climates, especially in Queensland.

In 2015, A/Prof Leardini coordinated UQ Architecture’s contribution to the Cooperative Research Centre for Water Sensitive Cities, a government-funded initiative involving over 80 research, industry, and government partners. The project sought to deliver urban water management solutions to make Australian cities more resilient to climate change. Since 2016, she has been an active member of UQ's Centre for Future Timber Structures, working on innovative timber construction methods. She leads research in circular timber design and heads an ARC Linkage project on adaptable housing. As a Chief Investigator in the ARC Advance Timber Hub, she coordinates the Design for Extended Building Life Node, fostering the use of sustainable materials in construction.

A/Prof Leardini’s research has garnered international recognition, including publications through initiatives such as COST Action CA 20139, funded by the European Union. Her work has been featured at over 20 conferences since 2015 and regularly appears in leading Q1 journals. In addition to serving as a board member and peer reviewer for several scientific journals, she has been invited to participate in prestigious sustainable architecture competitions, including the MIT Climate CoLab hosted by the Centre for Collective Intelligence.

Memberships

• Design Excellence Panel: Queensland social and affordable housing (since 2020)
• Centre for Future Timber Structures (since 2016)
• Scientific Committee of New Zealand Academy of Applied Research (since 2016)
• Australian Passive House Association (since 2018)
• Cooperative Research Centre for Water Sensitive Cities (2015-2021)

Eleonore is a Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for Social Responsibility in Mining (CSRM), part of the Sustainable Minerals Institute at UQ.

Initially trained as an engineer, Eleonore is a multi-disciplinary researcher with expertise in the mining industry and passionate about bridging qualitative and quantitative disciplines. She leads both academic research and industry-commissioned projects.

Her current interests include:

• Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) data and their use in decision making
• Responsible investment practices and outcomes in the mining industry
• The organisational drivers of ESG performance

As part of her role at CSRM, Eleonore delivers guest lectures and professional development offerings on ESG and particularly the social aspects of mining, including on the topics of:

• Establishing a social knowledge base
• Social risk
• Social incident investigation
• Mining-induced displacement and resettlement

She has also published on the topics of energy transition minerals, tailings dam failures, and circular economy and mine waste management. Her research on energy transition minerals earned her a Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (DECRA) from the Australian Research Council.

Eleonore advises several PhD students on topics such as multi-criteria decision making, post-mining land use, and spatial ESG data analysis.

Tania is interested in researching, developing and applying advanced control solutions, computational analysis, and process simulation to optimise processes in the mining industry. She joined the JKMRC as a member of the Advanced Process Prediction and Control (APPCo) group in 2023 and has since worked mainly on projects to develop soft sensors for mineral processing operations. Highlights include JK MillFIT to estimate mill content and charge trajectory, CycloPS to estimate cyclone performance and DMC soft sensor to estimate dense medium cyclone performance in coal operations.

Tania completed her undergraduate study in Chemical Engineering and a Master's degree in Chemical Engineering with a major in Process Control in 2015. For her master's thesis, she worked on the study and evaluation of mill power draw models; these studies contributed to the development of a vibration sensor and software to measure filling in tumbling mills.

Tania has over nine years of experience in the Chilean mining industry, where she has held several key roles as a Project Engineer, Process Engineer, Data Processing Specialist and Advanced Process Control Engineer. Throughout her career, she has maintained strong ties with academia, collaborating on publications and promoting collaborative research between the mining industry and Chilean universities.

Dr Lee joined The University of Queensland in 2012 after four year service as Assistant Professor at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Dr Lee has his research interest in information technology, especially information search, dissemination, and process in the hospitality and tourism context. He has participated in various projects including Prototype hotel guest room project at Hotel ICON, Hong Kong. With Bachelor's degree in Tourism, he took a F&B coordinator position at a five-star hotel about three years. Dr Lee received a Master degree from Michigan State and PhD from the Pennsylvania State University

Amanda Lee is Emeritus Professor in the School of Public Health (SPH) within the Faculty of Medicine. Amanda has expertise in preventative health, public health nutrition, health policy, food systems and Indigenous nutrition and health. Her major area of research is the development, implementation and evaluation of public health policy actions to prevent and help manage non-communicable disease (NCD), with a focus on regulatory policy responses targeting obesity, poor diet and food insecurity, in both developed and low- and middle-income countries. Most recently her work has focussed on improving economic access to healthy food. Amanda was previously Head of the Division of Health Promotion and Equity at SPH and co-ordinated the SPH mentoring program. Her work takes a strong systems focus, underscored by the three pillars of health and wellbeing; equity; and environmental sustainability.

Amanda’s leadership skills are exemplified by appointments such as: Chair of the National Health and Medical Research Council’s (NHMRC) Dietary Guidelines Working Committee and Infant Feeding Guidelines Sub-Committee (2008-2013); Senior Advisor for The Australian Prevention Partnership Centre at The Sax Institute; Member of the NHMRC's Nutrient Reference Values Steering Group Advisory Committee (2012-21); Member of the Australian Academy of Science's Nutrition Committee (2014-21); Chair of Food Standards Australia and New Zealand’s Consumer and Public Health Dialogue (2014-19); Member of the interim Board of Health and Wellbeing Queensland (2019-20); and member of advisory groups for the National Nutrition and Physical Activity Surveys (2009-11; 2020-22) and the two most recent Australian Burden of Disease studies. At the invitation of the CSIRO and two Australian Government Departments, she presented on health aspects at three national dialogues for the UN Food Security Summit in 2021.

Amanda has worked in government, not-for profit, Aboriginal community-controlled and consultancy, as well as academic, sectors. She worked for the people of Minjilang who, in the 1980s, demonstrated using objective biomedical indicators that rapid and sustained improvements in diet, nutrition and health are possible. Among more recent projects Amanda: led scoping of a new National Nutrition Policy; conducted two systematic reviews of discretionary foods and another on fats and oils for the NHMRC; finalised the national Healthy Weight Website; conducted a rapid review of portion sizes for the Healthy Food Partnership; and assessed evidence to help prioritize obesity and nutrition policy actions in two state jurisdictions. On invitation, she consults to several Indigenous health organisations, with relationships on the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yunkuntjatjara Lands (APY) Lands spanning four decades. She developed the Healthy Diets ASAP (Australian Standardised Affordability and Pricing) methods which are providing insights into ecomomic assess to healthy diets, and, globally, led the food price and affordability domain of the International Network for Food and Obesity/Non-communicable Diseases Research, Monitoring and Action Support (INFORMAS). Globally, she has conducted several nutrition and health policy workshops, contributed to three scoping reviews on dietary patterns and health for the World Health Oranization, is a member of the Scientific and Technical Advisory Network of World Obesity, Policy and Prevention, and an expert advisor to Canada, PR China and other countries on dietary guidance and health.

Since joining UQ in 2018, Amanda has been a Chief Investigator (CI) on research programs totaling over $A22 Million, including as CIA on two MRFF funded project to improve food security on the APY Lands, and as CI on the NHMRC Centre of Research Excellence in Food Retail Environments for Health (RE-FRESH); the NHMRC Special call: Giving Aboriginal and Torres STRait Islander children the best start in life: improving healthy food availability and food security in remote Australia; and the NHMRC Partnership Centres for Better Health-The Partnership Centre on Systems Perspectives on Preventing Lifestyle-Related Chronic Health Problems, also known as The Australian Prevention Partnership Centre (TAPPC). She has recently completed two other MRFF funded projects as CIA- one on Diet and chronic disease prevention: supporting implementation of priority actions in the food and nutrition system, and another on Improving Aboriginal Food Security with remote and urban communities.

Amanda has published over 100 scholarly articles in quality, high profile peer reviewed journals and has written numerous reports and blogs and been interviewed for several podcasts and television programs. She maintains active social media accounts followed by several key decision makers.