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Although starting off as an historian of the Pacific Islands, I now think of myself more as a biographer with an emphasis on 'telling academic lives'. My experience includes fieldwork in Tuvalu in the late 1970s, being Project Historian at the Port Arthur Historic Site in Tasmania in the early 1980s, and then teaching successively at the Darling Downs Institute of Advanced Education, Bond University and the University of the South Pacific, where I was Associate Professor and Head of Department. As well as being awarded a Fulbright Fellowship to Yale University and a Harold White Fellowship at the National Library of Australia, I’ve been an Associate of the Stout Research Centre at Victoria University of Wellington and a Scholar at the Macmillan Brown Centre for Pacific Studies, University of Canterbury. Between 2001 and 2005, I was the regular interviewer for History Now and then the review editor of the Journal of Pacific History (2005-12). As an undergraduate I founded the Flinders Journal of History and Politics, have twice been Guest Editor of the Journal of Pacific Studies, and most co-editor of a special issue (on ‘Telling Academic Lives’) of the Journal of Historical Biography. I am currently co-editing with Jon Fraenkel (Victoria University of Wellington) a special issue of Round Table in honour of Brij V. Lal.

I am a cultural anthropologist with expertise in medical anthropology and critical global health. I have conducted extensive ethnographic research in Indonesia on health care, gendered violence, education, and racial stigma. My work in Papua/West Papua has tried to document and understand evolving forms of racism and violence, including how people resist and create change. Over the past 15 years I have worked with local Papuan and international research teams on studies of maternity care and hospital experiences, older women's life stories, and HIV/AIDS. I recently completed a study with Els Tieneke Rieke and Meki Wetipo on how urban Papuans understand and experience hospital childbirth, as part of an effort to understand dire maternal health in this location (2023, The Asia Pacific Journal of Anthropology), published in a special issue on 'Reproducing Life in Conditions of Abandonment in Oceania', edited with Alexandra Widmer (York University, Canada). Another recent study funded by the Australian Research Council looked at vulnerabilities in Indonesia with Professor Lyn Parker (University of Western Australia) and others from the UK and Indonesia. The study used ethnography and surveys to develop a deeper, contextual understanding of who is vulnerable, how and why, and thus shed light on the concept of vulnerability and what it means. Recent publications look at education in gender inequality in Indonesia's frontier economy, older women’s narratives of economic agency and survivance (co-authored with Yohana Baransano), and the challenges faced by newlyweds.My article in Asian Studies Review, "West Papuan ‘Housewives’ with HIV: Gender, Marriage, and Inequality in Indonesia," was awarded the 2025 Wang Gungwu Prize by the Asian Studies Association of Australia (ASAA).

Funded by the Australian Research Council, I am currently expanding my research on obstetrics and c-sections to understand the cultures and inequalities of maternity care in Indonesia, both in terms of local cultural needs and preferences, and in relation to the cultures of medicine and obstetrics that exist in hospitals and birth centres. This project is conducted with Dr Els Rieke (Universitas Papua), Associate Professor Najmah (Universitas Sriwijaya), and Dr Elan Lazuardi (Universitas Gadjah Mada). I also maintain ongoing collaborations with researchers at the National University of Singapore and Fiji National University, focused on maternity care. In 2026 I will begin ethnographic research on maternity care in the Fiji Islands, supported by an ARC Future Fellowship.

I am an experienced PhD supervisor in medical anthropology. I am interested in working with research students who wish to conduct anthropological research in Indonesia or the Pacific Islands. I teach undergraduate and postgraduate courses in medical anthropology (ANTH2250/7250), Pacific anthropology (ANTH2020) and gender (SOCY2050).

Beatrice is a Postdoctoral Researcher with a special interest in behaviour change and digital health promotion. She has extensive experience in clinical trial management and evaluation. Following on from a Master’s Degree in Medical Science, her PhD was dedicated to the development of a mobile app that targeted adults’ physical activity and sleep health. The body of work she has contributed to has incorporated a wide range of research methods and study designs and her research outputs have added important knowledge to the field of multiple behaviour change and non-clinical sleep interventions. In more recent roles, Beatrice has worked on wide-scale implementation projects targeting the health and wellbeing of young children. Beatrice’s work is about maximising impact, both in the scientific field and out in the community by way of generating high quality data and improving equity of access to evidence-based resources.

I am a marine ecologist research fellow at UQ, specialising in global and regional marine ecosystem modelling, particulalry focused on the Southern Ocean. My research uses mathematical models to understand and predict how climate change and fishing impact marine ecosystems.

Current research focus:

• Leading development of the Zooplankton Model of Size Spectra (ZooMSS) for an ARC Discovery Project on zooplankton and the ocean carbon cycle
• Enhancing models of fish population dynamics, fishing impacts, and temperature-dependent physiology
• Improving representation of mesopelagic ecosystems in climate projections

I co-coordinate the Southern Ocean Working Group of FishMIP (Fisheries and Marine Ecosystem Model Intercomparison Project), facilitating international collaboration on marine ecosystem projections under global change. My expertise in size-structured food web modelling has advanced understanding of cephalopod ecology and improved biological realism in marine ecosystem models.

Dr Richard Murray researches journalism in a time of rapid change. His research specialties include the role law and lawyers play in contemporary journalism, rural, regional and remote journalism, and international journalism with a focus on how South Korea and North Korea are covered and reported on.

Dr Nida Murtaza is a Postdoctoral Research Officer in the Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) Research Group at Mater Research Institute – The University of Queensland.Her current research focuses on harnessing the immunomodulatory functions of gut microbes to develop microbiome-based therapeutics aimed at improving treatment outcomes for patients with IBD.

Dr Murtaza received her PhD from The University of Queensland, where she investigated the influence of dietary components on human gut microbial communities in both healthy subjects and elite athletes. Her work contributed to a better understanding of how diet shapes microbial ecosystems and their health-related functions.

Following her PhD, Dr Murtaza gained research experience in the biotechnology industry, where she contributed to the development of recombinant dairy proteins using precision fermentation. She also worked and led projects focused on creating microbial-derived functional ingredients designed to support health and wellbeing across human and animal applications.

Her current research investigates the anti-inflammatory potential of commensal gut microbes and their derived compounds, with the goal of identifying novel microbial therapeutics for IBD. Dr Murtaza is committed to translational microbiome research, with a focus on microbiota-based solutions for chronic inflammatory diseases.

I am a linguist whose research interests include: interactions between discourse, cognition and grammar, pragmatics, perspective-taking in discourse, Conversation Analysis, typology, narrative structure, language shift and language maintenance, Australian First Nations Languages.

I am currently a Chief Investigator on the ARC Discovery Project 'Conversational interaction in Aboriginal and Remote Australia' (CIARA - https://www.ciaraproject.com).

Author of:

• Articles on interactions between discourse and grammar in Garrwa and other Australian First Nations Languages, including A Grammar of (Western) Garrwa. Mouton De Gruyter. 2012
• Publications on epistemics and evidential pragmatics, including Evidentiality and Epistemological Stance: Narrative Retelling. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. 2001
• Publications on Aboriginal English in Queensland Aboriginal Communities
• Publications on classroom interaction in Early Years and First Nations schooling.

Editor of:

• Interactional Linguistics (Journal co-edited with Prof. Simona Pekarek Doehler, https://benjamins.com/catalog/il)
• Discourse and Grammar in Australian Languages (With Brett Baker, Amsterdam: John Benjamins 2008)
• Indigenous Language and Social Identity (With Brett Baker, Mark Harvey and Rod Gardner, Canberra:Pacific Linguistics, 2011)

Dr Cecil Mustafiz is a junior doctor working in Queensland Health with a strong clinical and academic interest in cardiology. He holds Associate Lecturer appointments at both The University of Queensland and Griffith University. He shares a passion for teaching and supervising medical students, as well as conducting clinical and translational research in the field of cardiovascular medicine. His work has resulted in peer-reviewed publications in recognised cardiovascular medicine journals, and he has contributed to abstracts and presentations at national and international cardiology conferences. Dr Mustafiz also contributes to the academic community as an invited peer reviewer for BMC Cardiovascular Disorders and Scientific Reports (Nature Portfolio).

Herston Campus

Allyson Mutch is an Associate Professor in Health Systems in the School of Public Health, University of Queensland and a Senior Fellow in the Higher Education Academy. Her research uses qualitative methods to investigate the social determinants of health and the health and wellbeing of people who are socially excluded and experiencing disadvantage. Allyson's research is firmly embedded in community, with strong links to community organisations that ensure their needs are represented.

Associate Professor Muttenthaler is a medicinal chemist working at the interface of chemistry and biology with a strong passion for translational research. His research focuses on bioactive peptides and exploring Nature's biodiversity to develop advanced molecular tools, diagnostics, and therapeutics. His background in drug discovery and development, as well as his interdisciplinary training in the fields of chemistry, molecular biology and pharmacology, assist him in characterising these often highly potent and selective compounds to study their interactions with human physiology for medical innovations in pain, cancer, gut disorders and neurological diseases.

Dr Greta Nabbs-Keller, Research Fellow Southeast Asia and the Indo-Pacific

Greta’s research program builds on the Centre for Policy Futures' Trade, Foreign and Security policy alignment. It focusses on how Southeast Asian states are managing major power contest in the Indo-Pacific and what this means for Australia’s policy choices.

As ASEAN’s leading state in economic, demographic and diplomatic terms, how Indonesia responds unilaterally and through ASEAN-centred multilateral mechanisms to systemic forces catalysed by major power tensions will shape the Indo-Pacific region’s future prosperity and stability. Looking through the prism of Indonesia, Greta’s research examines Southeast Asia’s policy options with regard to increasing competition over regional infrastructure development and the use of grey zone operations employed by authoritarian states in the maritime and cyber domains. It will examine the nexus between domestic political imperatives and foreign policy decision-making in Southeast Asia’s relations with major powers China, India, Japan and the US. The research project builds on an extant body of research examining ideational and institutional shifts in Indonesia’s foreign policy and the impact of domestic political change on Jakarta’s relations with China, ASEAN and Australia.

Greta has served in previous analytical and policy roles at both federal and state government levels. She is experienced in strategic policy formulation, intelligence reporting and assessment, intergovernmental relations and defence diplomacy. Greta has extensive experience working on the bilateral defence relationship with Indonesia and received a Secretary's Commendation for support to Defence Operation Sumatra Assist I & II in response to the 2004-2005 Aceh tsunami crisis. She finished her Australian Public Service career with the Defence Intelligence Organisation as a Senior Indonesia Analyst and continues to utilise her Indonesia country expertise in consulting, research, and international development roles. Greta contributes regularly to media and think-tank analysis on regional strategic, political and foreign policy issues, and engages with policy communities through submissions, dialogues, conferences and executive educations programs.

Her broader research interests include Indonesian civil-military relations, Indonesia-China relations, politico-security developments in Southeast Asia, and Australian regional foreign policy.

Dr Cresha Gracy Nadar is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Centre for Crop Science, Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation (QAAFI), The University of Queensland. Her work sits at the interface of biotechnology, bioprocess engineering, and sustainability assessment, advancing solutions for a more resilient and low-carbon agri-food future.

Cresha’s research focuses on emerging biotechnologies; ongoing projects include precision fermentation for alternative food proteins, plant tissue culture for sustainable propagation, and seaweed valorisation for functional ingredients. She combines process modelling, life-cycle assessment (LCA) and techno-economic analysis (TEA) to evaluate the environmental and economic performance of innovative biomanufacturing systems.

Her PhD, jointly awarded by IIT Bombay (India) and Monash University (Australia), developed an integrated fruit waste biorefinery and assessed its sustainability through LCA and TEA. At UQ, she continues to bridge engineering realism with sustainability metrics, collaborating with academic and industry partners to translate laboratory innovations into scalable, commercially viable, and environmentally responsible technologies.

Prof. Mithulan has a Ph.D. from the University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. His B.Sc. (Eng.) and M. Eng. degrees are from the University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka, and the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT), Bangkok, Thailand, in May 1993 and August 1997, respectively. Prior to joining the University of Queensland from 2009, Mithulan was at the Energy Field of Study, AIT. His previous professional positions include Planning Engineer at Generation Planning division at Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB), Sri Lanka and Project Leader, at the Centre of Excellence in Electric Power Technology (CEEPT) at Chulalongkorn University, Thailand.

His main research interest is on Grid Integration of Renewable Energy (GIRE). In this research topic, he has been leading the research in two themes: Planning and Operational Planning of grid integration of renewable energy. He conducted significant amount of research relating to Large Scale PV plants - better known as LSPV. His research has been used by industries and received high citations. Based on his research, he published over 375 articles, including one book, eight book chapters, technical reports, refereed journal and conference papers.

He had supervised 33 Ph.D. students (UQ, CQU, UNSW, UNITEN and AIT), 50 research Masters (at AIT) and over 200 thesis project students at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels to successful completion. He had been involved in over 30 projects (research, teaching and learning) with a total budget of over 4 million AU$, as a principal or co-principal investigator. His recent grants are from Australian Research Council (ARC), Government of India, Indonesia and Malaysisa and Sterling Wilson Company. Previous projects were funded by European Union (EU) and other international donor agencies such as Swedish International Development Agency (Sida), NORAD, ARC, CSIRO and Australian Power Institute (API). His research network includes most of the member nations in ASEAN, other Asian countries such as India, China, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and a number of European countries (France, Germany, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark, The Netherlands). He also served as the Coordinator of Energy Field of Study and Director of Regional Energy Resource Information Centre (RERIC), at AIT, from September 2005 to December 2007.

He had been the Director of Higher Degree Research (HDR) studies and Post Graduate Coordinator at the school of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, since July 2019, until January 2025, looking after the welfare of over 300 higher degree research scholars.

He was invited to join the editorial board of the American Institute of Mathematical Sciences Electronic Engineering Journal - an international open access journal. He is a senior member of IEEE.