As an evolutionary quantitative geneticist, I conduct research that aims to extend our understanding of how genetic variation determines the capacity of populations to adapt. Over the 20+ years of my research career, I have designed experiments in species ranging from freshwater fish to Drosophila fruit flies. My research group uses a combination of statistics and machine learning to answer questions about the nature of genetic variation in complex traits, like swimming speed, wing shape and sex pheromones. This fundamental knowledge underpins predictions of the rate at which individual traits within the complex, multi-trait phenotype of organisms can evolve. We are particularly interested in understanding how historical adaptation might affect the ability of populations to adapt to changing conditions now and into the future. I’m interested in bringing evolutionary quantitative genetic tools to answer questions about natural and manipulated evolution in non-model species, in complex natural environments. I am passionate about training researchers in genetics and statistics, foundational skills for a range of careers addressing both applied and fundamental questions. I teach these skills to undergraduate and coursework Masters students, as well as research students ranging from undergraduate projects, through Honours and PhD.
Faculty of Health, Medicine and Behavioural Sciences
Availability:
Available for supervision
Media expert
Treasure McGuire graduated with a Bachelor of Pharmacy and a Bachelor of Science (Pharmacology) from the University of Queensland UQ). She also completed a Postgraduate Diploma in Clinical Pharmacy and Graduate Certificate in Higher Education at UQ. In 2005, she completed her PhD in the School of Population Health, UQ, entitled Consumer medicines call centres: a medication liaison model of pharmaceutical care.
She has held a sennior conjoint appointment between the School of Pharmacy, UQ and Mater Pharmacy, Mater Health, Brisbane since 1996, and was appointed as a Senior Lecturer in 2006. In her Mater role, she has been Assistant Director of Pharmacy (Practice and Development) over this same time period. At UQ, she coordinates a graduate clinical pharmacy course within the Master of Clinical Pharmacy program. In 2016, this program received a UQ Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences Team Award for Programs that Enhance Learning and in 2017 a citation in the University of Queensland Award for Excellence in Teaching and Learning.
Treasure’s research is translational, focussing on patient centred-care and quality use of medicines in the domains of medicines information, evidence-based practice, medication safety, reproductive health, complementary medicines, communicable diseases and interprofessional education. She is a Fellow of the Australian College of Pharmacy and a Fellow of the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia.In recognition of her services to medicines information, she received the Lilly International Fellowship in Hospital Pharmacy and the Bowl of Hygeia of the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia. In 2015, she was the recipient of the Sr Eileen Pollard Medal (Mater Research-UQ) for excellence in incorporating research into clinical care provision.
Faculty of Health, Medicine and Behavioural Sciences
Availability:
Available for supervision
Media expert
Dr Lisa McHugh is a perinatal and infectious diseases epidemiologist at the UQ School of Public Health. She is an Emerging Leader (EL1) NHMRC post-doctoral research Fellow and lead investigator on a 5-year Investigator Grant called 'VaxiMums'. The 'VaxiMums' program is evaluating maternal vaccination programs, pregnancy loss, and respiratory infections. Before her PhD she completed a Master of Philosophy in Applied Epidemiology (MAE prgram) at the ANU.
Lisa was an early career research Fellow in the NHMRC funded APPRISE Centre for Research Excellence, that investigated the impact of influenza and whooping cough (pertussis) vaccinations recommended in pregnant First Nations women, and identifyed key factors affecting their uptake in pregnancy. Lisa was also chief-investigator on a multi-jurisdictional NHMRC funded project called 'Links2HealthierBubs' which created the largest linked cohort of individual mother-infant pairs to investigate the uptake, safety and effectiveness of influenza and pertussis vaccines, and the geographical, ethnic and socio-economic influences of vaccine uptake. Lisa was a co-investigator on a NHMRC funded COVID-19 Real-time Information System for Preparedness and Epidemic Response (CRISPER) project, which developed an interactive dashboard that mapped COVID-19 cases, widely utilised by multiple state and terrirory public health users.
Lisa's research experience and interests include clinical midwifery, First Nations health, infectious diseases, pregnancy and birth outcomes, and maternal vaccination. She has been a member of the Public Health Association of Australia (PHAA) since 2014 and is currently an editor for the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health.
Post-doctoral Research Fellow at the Critical Care Research Group, The Prince Charles Hospital, Institute of Molecular Bioscience, The University of Queensland. Main research focus is heart transplantation, cardiac critical care, molecular biology and mitochondria.
Faculty of Health, Medicine and Behavioural Sciences
Principal Research Fellow
Frazer Institute
Faculty of Health, Medicine and Behavioural Sciences
Availability:
Available for supervision
I am a clinician-academic whose interactions with patients have shaped my research questions and fuelled my enthusiasm for the importance of clinical research. I trained as a genetic counsellor and my research now focuses on the integration of genomics into clinical care. My research program has had three primary themes: evaluating the psychosocial impact of genetic conditions and/or genetic testing; evaluating genetics education preferences for patients and healthcare providers; and using next-generation sequencing to increase diagnostic yield for rare disorders.
Current research projects include:
Exploring whether genetic fatalism affects sun-related health behaviours in high-risk individuals following genetic testing.
Exploring the referral journey to genetic services for individuals with rare diseases
Assessing Human Research Ethics Committee (HREC) members’ confidence in reviewing genomic research applications.
Mainstreaming Genetic Testing for Melanoma into Dermatology Practice.
Using Exome sequencing to identify new genes in families with inherited melanoma, negative for mutations in known genes.
Faculty of Health, Medicine and Behavioural Sciences
Availability:
Available for supervision
Media expert
Professor David McIntyre trained in Endocrinology in Australia and Belgium. He works clinically as Director of Obstetric Medicine at Mater Health Services and is an Emeritus Professor in the Faculty of Medicine (Mater Research). David has published over 250 papers (>25000 citations), primarily in the field of medical complications of pregnancy, with a particular focus on diabetes and obesity. Recent research has examined the effects of diabetes, obesity and hypertension during pregnancy on the health of Mothers and Babies, during pregnancy and with long term follow up. David is a Past Chair of the Australasian Diabetes in Pregnancy Society and the International Association of Diabetes in Pregnancy Study Groups (IADPSG). In 2016, David became the first Australian trained clinician to receive the Norbert Freinkel Award for contributions to diabetes in pregnancy from the American Diabetes Association. In 2019 he was awarded the Jørgen Pedersen Lecture for diabetes in pregnancy by DPSG Europe and the Stream Lead Award Lecture for “Diabetes and Women” by the International Diabetes Federation.
Professor McIntyre develops and applies advanced imaging techniques to study flow environments. He conducts research within the Centre for Hypersonics where he implements a range of interferometric, spectroscopic and imaging techniques to probe the harsh environment generated in ground-based hypersonic facilities. He also has interests in the development of laser-based imaging methods in the field of Biophotonics including differential interference contrast microscopy and super-resolution coherent anti-Stokes Raman spectroscopy.
Faculty of Engineering, Architecture and Information Technology
Availability:
Available for supervision
Neil is civil engineer with expertise in hydrology and water resources. He splits his time between the Centre for Water in the Minerals Industry and the School of Civil Engineering. His current research interests include water resource systems modelling, understanding impacts of mining on water resources, remote sensing applications in hydrology and stochastic hydrology. Neil graduated with a BEng in Civil Engineering from Edinburgh University in 1990 and then worked for seven years in the Scottish pubic sector on wastewater treatment and disposal scheme design and construction. He obtained an MSc in Environmental Engineering in 1998 then a PhD in water quality modeling at Imperial College. Neil worked at Imperial as a Lecturer and Reader in Surface Water Hydrology between 2001 and 2013. This included teaching water quality, hydrometry, hydraulics, and water resources engineering; and a 5-year spell as Director of the Hydrology MSc program. His research there focused on surface water quality, uncertainty in modelling, land use management impacts, and hydrological up-scaling and regionalisation. While most of Neil’s research has been UK and Australia-based, international activity has included projects in Thailand, Uganda, Botswana, Peru, Chile, Colombia, Mongolia and China. He has been a member of the British Hydrological Society national committee, the ICE’s Water Expert Panel, and the NERC Peer Review College. He was won several awards, including the Institution of Civil Engineer’s Baker Medal and RA Carr Award for water resources research. He held an ARC Future Fellowship from 2014-2019.
Simon McKenzie is a Research Fellow at the University of Queensland School of Law. Simon's current research focuses on the legal challenges connected with the defence and security applications of science and technology, with a particular focus on the impact of autonomous systems. His broader research and teaching interests include the law of armed conflict, international criminal law, and domestic criminal law.
Prior to joining the University of Queensland, Simon was a policy officer in the Victorian Department of Justice and Community Safety, working in a team responsible for reforming the criminal justice system to better respond to family violence. He has held teaching roles at the Melbourne Law School and as a researcher at the Supreme Court of Victoria where he completed a major research project on the management of expert evidence in the Kilmore East Bushfire Proceedings, the largest class action in Victoria's history. He has also worked as a researcher at the International Criminal Court assisting the Special Advisor to the Prosecutor on international humanitarian law. He began his career in 2011 at a large commercial law firm in Melbourne.
Simon graduated in 2011 from the University of Tasmania with a combined Arts and Law Degree with First Class Honours in Law and was admitted to practice in Victoria later that year. He received his PhD in international criminal law from the University of Melbourne in 2018.
Faculty of Health, Medicine and Behavioural Sciences
Affiliate of Centre for Research in Social Psychology (CRiSP)
Centre for Research in Social Psychology
Faculty of Health, Medicine and Behavioural Sciences
Availability:
Available for supervision
Media expert
Blake joined the School of Psychology at UQ in 2007 having previously been a lecturer at Queensland University of Technology. Blake won a Faculty Teaching Excellence Award in 2010 and a University of Queensland Teaching Excellence Award in 2016. He led a team that won the AAUT Higher Education Teacher of the Year award in 2019, and received the edX Prize in 2018. He currently teaches a second year elective about psychology and law. His research focuses on jury decision-making including the influence of gender-based stereotypes and the influence of different modes of evidence presentation. He is also interested in group membership and attitude-behaviour relations and how group membership influences thinking about the self. He is a leading instructor of the award-winning course: CRIME101x and the PSYC1030x Introduction to Developmental, Social & Clinical Psychology XSeries Program of four courses on edX.org.
I am a basic science researcher with training in cell biology, genetics and research translation. My research investigates the female reproductive system by focusing on the contribution of individual cells. I aim to understand the influence of genetic architecture, differentiation and maturation on these individual cells and how this contributes to changes in the microenvironment that can contribute to disease initiation and progression.
After the completion of my PhD in 2008 at the University of Queensland, I undertook post-doctoral studies at the University of Bern, Department of Biomedical Research (DBMR), focusing on endometriosis, ovarian and endometrial cancer. I curated patient samples from clinical research trials to investigate inflammatory and metabolic components of reproductive tissue and disease and began developing patient-derived models of the endometrium. I established a relationship between endometriosis lesions, nerves and pain and how this interaction was mediated by inflammation. I further developed patient-derived in vitro models to understand the interaction between inflammation and hormonal response of endometriotic lesions and how this could be utilized to target current and novel treatments. On returning to Australia in 2016 I joined the Genomics of Reproductive Disorders laboratory to integrate genetic background into patient-derived in vitro models. I established the Endometriosis Research Queensland Study (ERQS) in collaboration with the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital (RBWH) and extended in vitro models into complex multi-cellular assembloids (combinations of organoids and surrounding stromal cells).
School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Faculty of Engineering, Architecture and Information Technology
Availability:
Available for supervision
My work focuses on Indigenous sovereignty, digital infrastructure, and education reform, with a particular emphasis on how Māori assert self-determination in systems traditionally shaped by settler-colonial and neoliberal logics. I collaborate closely with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities to reimagine education, data, and governance on Indigenous terms.
I currently lead or co-lead projects that explore:
How Indigenous communities conceive of and enact success in schools
The development of digital infrastructures that uphold Indigenous Knowledge and data sovereignty
Participatory and community-led approaches to prototyping ethical systems design
My research draws on mixed-methods, critical policy analysis, Indigenous research methodologies, and affect theory. I’m especially interested in how Indigenous governance, kinship systems, and epistemologies can reshape public institutions and challenge inherited colonial frameworks. I welcome HDR students committed to Indigenous-led research, critical infrastructure studies, education justice, and digital design for sovereignty.
Professor Geoffrey McLachlan's research interests are in: data mining, statistical analysis of microarray, gene expression data, finite mixture models and medical statistics.
Professor McLachlan received his PhD from the University of Queensland in 1974 and his DSc from there in 1994. His current research projects in statistics are in the related fields of classification, cluster and discriminant analyses, image analysis, machine learning, neural networks, and pattern recognition, and in the field of statistical inference. The focus in the latter field has been on the theory and applications of finite mixture models and on estimation via the EM algorithm.
A common theme of his research in these fields has been statistical computation, with particular attention being given to the computational aspects of the statistical methodology. This computational theme extends to Professor McLachlan's more recent interests in the field of data mining.
He is also actively involved in research in the field of medical statistics and, more recently, in the statistical analysis of microarray gene expression data.
Dr McLaren graduated in 2009 with a Bachelor of Rural Science (Honours) from the University of New England, Armidale (NSW), Australia. He then completed a doctorate in soil science and cropping systems in 2013 (main supervisor, A/Prof. Chris Guppy) at the University of New England, followed by a three year postdoctoral research fellowship in soil science and grazing systems (main supervisor, A/Prof. Ron Smernik) at the University of Adelaide. From 2015 to 2021, Dr McLaren was a Senior Scientist and Lecturer in the Group of Plant Nutrition under Prof. Emmanuel Frossard, at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) Zurich, Switzerland. In 2021, Dr McLaren returned to Australia and was appointed as a Senior Lecturer in Soil Science at the University of Queensland.
The overall goal of Dr McLaren's work is to provide new insight on the biogeochemistry of nutrients that will lead to improved outcomes for agricultural and environmental contexts. In particular, he is interested in identifying the diversity of inorganic and organic forms of nutrients, and understanding the processes governing their flux in soil-plant systems. An important part of Dr McLaren's work has been the characterisation of organic matter, and understanding the processes governing the accumulation and depletion of nutrients within soil organic matter. In addition, Dr McLaren has gained much experience on understanding the fate of fertiliser in agroecosystems, and assessing different agronomic strategies to improve plant growth and fertiliser use efficiency, and decrease nutrient transfer to aquatic/marine ecosystems.
Dr McLaren's work has primarily focused on phosphorus, but also included sulfur, nitrogen, and carbon. It has involved a wide variety of analytical approaches, including radiotracers (P-33, S-35), stable isotopes (N-15), spectroscopy (NMR, PXRF, XANES), chromatography (size-exclusion), and 'wet' chemistry (e.g. sequential chemical fractionation and hypobromite oxidation). Research has involved laboratory, glasshouse, and field based experiments, a diversity of soil types, and various ecosystem contexts (e.g. cropping, pasture, and forests). Lastly, Dr McLaren has often worked in colloboration with a variety of stakeholders (e.g. primary producers, agronomists, and industry), and formed international colloborations with applied and fundamental scientists.
My research explores the interconnections among education, technology, societal dynamics, and policy. It delves into critical inquiries that expand understandings of teaching and learning as not merely intellectual pursuits but also entailing social nuances, emotional depth, relational intricacies, and ideological identities. My research places a spotlight on diverse learning ecosystems ranging from traditional classrooms in secondary schools and universities, to digital learning environments. I draw on a family of sociocultural theories, including Vygotsky and Bakhtin, to illuminate the experience of being both a teacher and a student as complex, relational and deeply human.