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Associate Professor Mike Beckmann MBBS, PhD, CHIA, AFAIDH, AFRACMA, FRANZCOG is Head of Mothers Babies and Women’s Health at Mater, and oversees Australia’s largest women’s health service, with more than 12,000 births annually across 5 facilities. He is also Mater’s first Chief Digital Health Officer. Mike is an obstetrician and gynaecologist, health informatician, and health services researcher with more than 90 research publications, and is currently supervising PhD students in the areas of minimising clinical variation, using PROMS to redesign care, and consumer information-sharing. As a clinician, researcher and healthcare leader, Mike has led many digitally-enabled innovations in healthcare delivery to improve safety and the quality of care, improve efficiency, enhance patient experience as well as improve the work-life of staff.

As a teaching and research academic within the School of the Environment at the University of Queensland, I research the biology and genetics of mosquitoes in our region of the Indo-Pacific that delivers fundamental knowledge into the role mosquitoes play in mosquito-borne disease. This work moves across basic and applied research and has advanced our understanding of mosquitoes, their evolution, species’ distributions, permitting better focused mosquito control to be imagined. More recent research involves exploring new environmentally friendly biological control tools such as using the Wolbachia bacterium and genetic modification to combat mosquito-borne disease.

For more detail on my research please see below and at this link http://www.nigelbeebe.com

Dr Andrew Beencke is a Teaching Associate in the School of Education at the University of Queensland, specialising in mathematics and critical thinking education. His research focuses on how education can most effectively develop students into critical thinkers, with a particular interest in intellectual character and the application of critical thinking in mathematics education.

As a researcher with the UQ Critical Thinking Project, Dr. Beencke designs and delivers innovative, action research driven, professional learning programs for schools, collaborating with teachers across disciplines to strengthen critical thinking pedagogy. His recent research examines how teachers’ beliefs about critical thinking and education shape their classroom practice and how those beliefs evolve through ongoing, reflective professional development.

Bob Beeton Graduated from the University of New England (UNE) in 1969. From 1970 to 1973 he worked as an ecologist on bird and other pest problems on the Ord River Development W.A. In 1974 he returned to UNE and was on the staff of the Zoology Department where he taught Biology, Animal Behaviour, Ecology and Experimental Methods. His research was in wildlife management. In 1978 Bob was recruited to the Queensland Agricultural College (QAC) to establish the Wilderness Reserves and Wildlife program. By 1990 the program had diversified into several other programs and the Natural Systems and Wildlife Management degree. QAC amalgamated with UQ in 1990 and following amalgamation Bob was involved in establishing the Bachelor of Environmental Management and Master of Environmental Management programs. Since 1991 Bob was has been Head of Department and Head of School for 11 years and served on many University Committees. Bob has also been involved in extensive Community and Government service both at the State and Commonwealth level. Awards include 1988 Australian Bi-Centennial Award Rainforest Canopy Walk Project. 1994 Excellence in Teaching Award, University of Queensland; 2000 Affirmative Action Commendation, University of Queensland; 2000 Fellow Environmental Institute of Australia and New Zealand (FEIANZ); 2009 Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for contribution to Environment and Resource Management and 2009 Lockyer Legend for service to the community.

Susan is a research academic within the Human Centred Computing group in the School of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering (ITEE). She has a B.InfoTech, Data Comms and Info Systems (Honours) awarded 1st Class. She has just submitted her thesis, and when conferred will complete her PhD degree in Information Systems Theory at QUT. Her thesis explores the dyadic phenomenon of nodes in culturally different social media networks, with implications in the design of information systems. Her research centres on Aboriginal peoples' design methods in human computer interaction; specifically within cultural learning contexts, including languages.

Susan's thesis, which explores the dyadic phenomenon of culturally different network nodes, extends social media network theories. The impact of Susan's Indigenist research extends Eurocentric designed virtual, interactive and immersive spaces and process incl. AI, XR and emerging technologies. As Ngemba Wiradjuri and grown up on Country her lived experience of social, institutional and political dimensions that impact Aboriginal peoples lives in Australia enables Susan to critically analyse and reflect on all aspects, reflexively throughout her research.

Along with esteemed national and international Indigenous academics, Susan is a Chief Investigator on the $35,000,000 ARC Centre of Excellence for Indigenous Futures and won a highly competitve Science & Technology Australia's #SuperstarsOfStem program. Susan is also a guest Academic Editor for Information Systems Journal (ISJ) and Journal of Australian Indigenous Issues (JAIIS).

Current research collaborations with Aboriginal peoples:

• explores technology as a networking tool for Ballardong/Whadjuk (urban WA) and Ngemba (very remote NSW) community members on Country and in the diaspora, including the design, build and embedding of community cultural hubs. These are Knowledge (Data) Centres that have a holistic view of ancestral and contemporary Knowledges. Cultural hubs contribute to continuing, developing, consolidating and teaching the protection rehabilitation and restoration of cultural Knowledges and artefacts. This relates to languages, environmental and ecological communities across our waters, lands and skies. Elders and Knowledge rangers connected through Drone, AI, XR technologies, identify and connect Cultural Knowledges with local, national and global initiatives, innovation and solutions. Critical to the design and development is the specific Kinship lore of each community to ensure Kinship Intellectual Property remains with the individual, family and/or community. Outcomes facilitate individual and community digital entrepreneurship centred on Aboriginal Knowledge sovereignty and economic independence for Aboriginal communities in Australia.

Dr. Anjuman Begum is a research and academic pharmacist. She graduated with a PhD from the University of Queensland. She has expertise in drug/gene delivery, peptide chemistry, formulation development, and nanotechnology. She is highly motivated to acquire knowledge and to develop new skills.

Associate Professor Jakob Begun is the IBD Group leader in the Immunity, Infection, and Inflammation Program at Mater Research University of Queensalnd, and has a basic and translational laboratory at the Translational Research Institute in Brisbane. He is an Associate Professor in the University of Queensland Faculty of Medicine. After completing his Bachelor of Science at Cornell University Jakob attended Cambridge University where he completed an MPhil in Biochemistry. He then moved on to Harvard Medical School where he completed his MD and PhD in genetics studying the host pathogen interaction using C. elegans as a model system. He completed his clinical training in internal medicine at Brigham and Women’s hospital and went on to complete general gastroenterology training at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) as well as advanced training in the treatment of Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD).

Dr Begun first joined Mater Research - University of Queensland in 2014, and at the same time received a clinical staff appointment in Gastroenterology at the Mater Hospital Brisbane. His clinical activities are focussed on the treatment and mangement of patients with IBD. He is the director of the IBD unit at the Mater Hospital Brisbane and at the Mater Young Adult Health Centre Brisbane .In January 2015 he was awarded the University of Queensland Reginald Ferguson Fellowship in Gastroenterology to support his research activity. He leads a basic and translational laboratory at the Translational Research Institute investigating the interaction between the innate immune system and the gut microbiome, as well as genetic contributions to disease. He also performs clinical research examining predictors of response to therapy, minimising barriers of care for adolescents and young adults with IBD, improving outcomes in pregnancy and IBD, and the use of intestinal ultrasound in IBD. He is the chair of the Gastroenterology Society of Australia-IBD Faculty and of the president of the Gastroenterology Network of Intestinal Ultrasound (GENIUS).

Dr Marlize Bekker is a Senior Lecturer in Food Chemistry at The University of Queensland’s School of Agriculture and Food Sustainability. She has a PhD in Chemistry and has over 15 years of experience in flavour and aroma chemistry in food and beverage products. Her research interests include fermented food and beverages. Specifically, evaluating the formation, fate, and function of key aroma and flavour compounds in these food and beverage products and examining the impacts of processing on flavour. Marlize is also interested in the isolation and identification of important flavour and aroma compounds from natural Australian bush foods and the development of new products. Her expertise lies heavily in the application of chromatographic techniques.

Honours and Masters research projects are available on wine flavour development and are suited for students interested in wine chemistry. Honours and Masters research projects are also available in the "A Deadly Solution: Combining Traditional Knowledge and Western Science for an Indigenous-led Bushfood Industry (ARC Discovery-Indigenous)" project. Please register your interest by emailing m.bekker@uq.edu.au

Active projects:

• A Deadly Solution: Combining Traditional Knowledge and Western Science for an Indigenous-led Bushfood Industry (ARC Discovery-Indigenous)
• Maximising flavour throughout the vanilla production process (Faculty of Science BIRRST Partner 2024 funding scheme)
• Exploring the Flavour Potential of Australian Cocoa (Faculty of Science BIRRST Partner 2024 funding scheme)
• Unlocking Nature's Signals: Discovering the Semiochemicals for Effective Management of Australian Native Sugarcane Soldier Fly(Sugar Research Australia’s 2024 Sugar Industry Research Award Round)
• Optimising Cold Brew Tea Extraction and Concentration Processes (FaBA Industry Kickstarter)

Recently completed projects:

• Identifying heirloom sugarcane varieties with high sugar and unique flavour profiles (UQ’s Agri-Food Innovation Alliance (AFIA) Industry Kickstarter Grant program)
• Identifying the desirable flavour, aroma, and sensory profiles of novel Australian native lime hybrids (UQ’s Agri-Food Innovation Alliance (AFIA) Industry Kickstarter Grant program)

Dr. Sewunet Admasu Belachew (PhD, MSc, BPharm) is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the FNCWR Program at the University of Queensland. He is involved in big, linked data analysis surrounding cancer, also being participated in the investigation of the risk of cardiovascular events and outcomes among Australians with a cancer diagnosis. He takes the lead and collaborates in undertaking various research projects (quantitative, qualitative and mixed-methods research), especially related to cancer and antimicrobial use and resistance surveillance as well as control.

Before pursuing his PhD, Dr. Belachew served as a lecturer, clinical preceptor, and mentor/supervisor at the University of Gondar in Ethiopia, where he taught courses such as pharmacotherapy, pharmacoepidemiology, and clinical pharmacy practice. In 2023, he completed his PhD at the University of Queensland. Since 2015, he has published over 43 peer-reviewed articles, with citation so far: 1325, H-index:22, i10-Index:28. His research has garnered attention from esteemed institutions and media outlets including the World Health Organization, the Centre for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP), Health Reporter, Medscape, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the Conversation and Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) Insights. underscoring the significance of his contributions to shaping policy and practice. In addition, one of his articles has been referred in two policy documents by World Health Organization. During his PhD study, he worked as causal acadmice at the University of Queensland and a research assistant at Menzies Health Institute-Centre for Applied Health Economics, Griffith University.

Dr. Belachew is an experienced medical and public health researcher (especially in antimicrobial resistance control and cancer research), academic and chief pharmacist, with over six years of experience. He has been recently nominated for the Faculty of Medicine Graduate of the Year Award at the University of Queensland due to his outstanding research output/track record. He has demonstrated ability in writing research grant, effective team work, research project management and supervising research students. Dr. Belachew has been invited to speak in numerous scientific research meetings, including the Annual Symposium on Global Cancer Research organised by the National Cancer Institute of the USA (after winning prestigious travel grant), the International Congress of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy in Perth, Australia and the Australasian Epidemiological Association Annual and Early Career Researchers conference. He is a director for membership of the Pharmaco-economics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR) Ethiopian regional chapter and a board member of the Ethiopian Organisation for Cancer Prevention and Research. Moreover, he is also one of the few Ethiopian Young African Leadership Initiative (YALI) alumni.

Graduated with a B Agric Science (Hons() degree from UQ in 1978, after which I worked as a research agronomist for the West Australian Dept of Agriculture at Kununurra, in the Ord River Irrigation Area, until 1983. During that period I worked primarily with grain legumes (chickpeas and cowpeas) and peanuts, focussing on agronomic management practices (fertilisers, soil amendments, crop protection strategies, irrigation), and enrolled part time in a research Masters on growth physiology of peanuts through UQ. IThe M AgrSc was conferred in 1985.

I took up a position with the Qld Dept Primary Industries at Kingaroy in mid 1983, working on soil fertility management/restoration and continuing to research the physiology of the peanut crop. We ran long term farming systems experiments, and also participated in and ultimately led two successive phases of ACIAR funded research on peanut production in Indonesia.

In 1990 I was granted study leave from DPI to undertake a sponsored PhD program at the University of Guelph, Ontario, Canada. This was completed in 1993 and I returned to Kingaroy with DPI, where I remained based at the Kingaroy Research Station until 2014. During that time our research focussed on soil fertility management (especially P and K), soil physical restoration using ley pastures, soil water dynamics and legume N fixation in rainfed cropping systems, and also in researching the Yield Decline phenomenon in the sugar industry. The latter was a major collaborative, multidisciplinary research project over 15 years, that led to the design and testing of a new sugarcane cropping system. Most research was externally funded, through the Grains, Cotton and Sugar Research and Development Corporations.

In 2010 I was invited to join UQ on secondment at the establishment of the Qld Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation (QAAFI), and accepted that role while being based in Kingaroy. In 2014 I was appointed to the Chair in Tropical Agronomy in the School of Agriculture and Food Science (SAFS) at Gatton Campus, relocating to Gatton in 2015, but remain a QAAFI Affiliate. Since that time, I have increasingly focussed on soil fertility management and the development and testing of management strategies to optimize the efficiency of nutrients and water in grains, cotton and sugarcane cropping systems.

I have led an ACIAR project developing more sustainable management systems for sloping lands in NW Vietnam and NE Laos, and have also been involved in advisory bodies associated with the Reef Water Quality Management Plan, and with overseeing research activity in grains and sugarcane industries. Currently I lead national and regional research projects on improving fertiliser N management and reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the grains cropping systems in Australia, funded by GRDC and the Federal Goverment Soil Science Challenge initiative.

Chris Bell is a lecturer in the finance discipline to undergraduate and postgraduate students within the UQ Business School. Chris has over 20 years industry experience as a banking and finance risk professional. His experience includes management roles in bank treasury departments for Australian banks and structured derivatives for global investment banks. He also has experience in risk consulting at an accounting Big Four. Chris is a Senior Fellow of the Financial Services Institute of Australasia and a Chartered Fellow of the Chartered Banker Institute in the United Kingdom.

Chris has a research interest in bank capital market decisions and financial stability. He completed his PhD on the topic "Systemically Important Bank bond funding and implications for financial stability."

Dr Craig Bell is an Industry Fellow with the Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology, and the Centre for Advanced Imaging. Since obtaining his PhD in 2011, he has been the recipient of two international fellowships, a prestigious Newton International Fellowship (2013-2014) funded by the Royal Society, and the NHMRC CJ Martin Early Career Fellowship (2014-2018). He has contributed scientific articles to various leading journals in his field, and is the co-inventor on two patents. His current research focus is on the development of degradable polymer devices for imaging and tracking of disease and cellular processes by using a tool-kit of controlled polymerisation techniques along with polymer and molecular coupling methodologies. The incorporation of degradable moieties into these constructs not only allows for enzymatic and hydrolytic degradation for complete body clearance of these constructs but also allows for tracking of these devices in vivo upon degradation to help elucidate cellular processes. Dr Bell currently engages with Aegros, a membrane fabrication and human serum fractionation company based in Sydney.

A/Prof Stephen Bell is a senior social scientist, advisor and international development research consultant with 23 years’ experience tackling global health challenges in settings across South-East Asia, Africa, Western Pacific and Europe. He works respectfully with not-for-profits, public institutions, businesses and community organisations, using innovative, inclusive, people-centred approaches to identify sustainable solutions to critical health challenges and accelerate health equity.

As Principal Research Fellow and ‘Theme Lead - Social Science and Global Health’ at the Burnet Institute, Steve’s role includes:

• Research on young people's sexual, reproductive and maternal health, including adolescent-responsive health services and systems, contraceptive innovation, safe abortion, enabling socio-structural environments, and the intersections of health and climate change;
• Providing methodological expertise, technical support and mentoring in social science, co-design and community-based, community-led research practice across the Institute’s global health programs and business development across working groups and programs;
• Supporting a growing regional network of youth research, advocacy and thought leadership hubs across Asia and the Pacific;
• Managing and delivering consultancy, advisory and research work for institutional partners.

Steve’s work brings together lived experience, socio-ecological systems thinking and social theory to understand what works (or not) in global health and social development. He has researched and published widely on HIV, sexual and reproductive health, maternal health, neglected tropical diseases, TB and Indigenous health. He is particularly interested in understanding the socio-structural determinants of health and social inequities, and injustices associated with marginalisation due to gender, sexuality, age and geography. He has published two edited collections on interpretive and community-led approaches in research, design, monitoring and evaluation: ‘Peer research in health and social development: international perspectives on participatory research’ (2021), and ‘Monitoring and evaluation in health and social development: interpretive and ethnographic perspectives’ (2016). With international colleagues, he is working on a third edited collection called, ‘Lived Experience: Critical Perspectives in a Changing World’. Steve is currently taking on new PhD students who are interested in undertaking research in any of these areas, so please do reach out to him for a chat!

Steve is Commissioner on The Lancet Global Health Commission on People-Centered Care for Universal Health Coverage, Technical Consultant (Strategy and Insights) with PSI, and Member of the International Editorial Board at Culture, Health & Sexuality. Steve has served as a Senior Advisor to the Boston Consulting Group, and has worked in senior research and consultancy roles with international governments, NGOs, UNAIDS, UNFPA and WHO.