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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.

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.

Justine Bell-James is a Professor at the TC Beirne School of Law with expertise in environmental and climate change law. She holds a PhD from QUT (2010) and was a postdoctoral research fellow at UQ's Global Change Institute from 2011-2013.

Justine’s main research interest is legal mechanisms for the protection, management and restoration of coastal and marine ecosystems. She has led projects funded by the Australian Research Council, CSIRO, and the National Environmental Science Program. Currently she is leading the legal component of two National Environmental Science Program projects related to upscaling coastal wetland restoration.

Justine's work on legal mechanisms to facilitate blue carbon projects in Australia and internationally informed the development of the first 'blue carbon' methodology under Australia's Emissions Reduction Fund. This methodology has allowed for the carbon abatement generated by particular coastal restoration activities to receive Australian Carbon Credit Units. Much of her research now focuses on remaining legal barriers to upscaling coastal and marine restoration, including legal permitting processes and land tenure. She is also working on the second blue carbon methodology for abatement generated by feral ungulate control.

Justine's work cuts across disciplines, and she is an affiliated researcher with UQ's Centre for Biodiversity and Conservation Science. Her recent collaborations and consultancies have involved colleagues from science, industry, NGOs, government and legal practice. Justine is a Director of the National Environmental Law Association, a Member of the Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists, a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, and an editor for Conservation Letters.

Alex Bellamy is Director of the Asia Pacific Centre for the Responsibility to Protect and Professor of Peace and Conflict Studies at The University of Queensland, Australia. His recent books include "Syria Betrayed: War, Atrocities and the Failure of International Diplomacy" (Columbia 2022) and "World Peace (And How We Can Achieve It)" (Oxford 2020)

Electrophysiology of synaptic transmission, ion currents and central pattern generation in CNS neurones.

Current research focuses on the electrophysiology of central nervous system neurones using various in vitro slice and in vivo preparations, patch clamp techniques, imaging, molecular biology and computer modelling.

Projects include :

• Neurobiology of motor control
• Motor neuron disease
• Synaptic transmission in the cochlear nucleus
• Potassium currents in the brainstem and cerebellum
• Rhythmic control of breathing movements

Dr Emma Belton is an Early Career Researcher, with a strong track record of research in radicalisation and Countering Violent Extremism (CVE) demonstrated by a number of academic achievements and collaborations with industry partners. She acted as lead project manager on an ARC funded project responsible for the development of the Profiles of Individual Radicalisation in Australia (PIRA) dataset, which collects data on terrorist offenders and individuals who have radicalised to extremism. She has received training in the use and application of the Violent Extremist Risk Assessment (VERA-2R) tool by the Dept of Home Affairs and undertaken a validation study of the VERA-2R instrument. She has also worked with various government and law enforcement agencies to conduct evaluations of custody and community-based CVE programs that target convicted terrorists and vulnerable populations at risk of radicalisation. She holds a PhD in Criminology from the University of Queensland. Her research focuses on characteristics of individual radicalisation and violent extremism in Australia and aims to improve understanding of risk factors associated with violent compared to non-violent extremists.

Gabrielle Belz originally trained in veterinary medicine and surgery and received her PhD in understanding the organisation of lymphatics and lymphoid tissues at The University of Queensland. After a short stint in Canada to work on B cells, she moved to St Jude Children’s Research Hospital to work with Peter Doherty supported by an NHMRC CJ Martin Fellowship. Here she established a number of systems that now allow tracking of virus-specific T cells and established the paradigm changing notion that CD4 T cell help was required for generating antiviral responses. She returned to The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research and uncovered the identity of the key dendritic cells necessary for initiating antiviral infections. Subsequently she was awarded the Burnet Prize and NHMRC Elizabeth Blackburn Fellowship. Her research contributions have been recognized by a number of awards including a Wellcome Trust Overseas Fellowship, HHMI international fellowship, ARC Future fellowship, Doctor of Veterinary Science, the Gottschalk Medal (Australian Academy of Science) and in 2024 an ARC Laureate Fellowship. Her laboratory focuses on deciphering the key cellular and transcriptional signals of protective immunity particularly by T cells and in understanding how innate immune cells develop and make novel contributions to mucosal immune defence.

Professor Pierre Benckendorff is an award-winning researcher specialising in visitor behaviour, technology enhanced learning and tourism. He has held several teaching and learning leadership positions at The University of Queensland and James Cook University in Australia. His experience includes coordinating a team of teaching and learning staff, program quality assurance and accreditation, and curriculum reviews of undergraduate and postgraduate coursework programs in business, tourism, hospitality and event management. He has developed and taught undergraduate and postgraduate courses in introductory tourism management, international tourism, tourist behaviour, tourism and leisure futures, tourism transportation, tourism operations, tourism technologies, tourism analysis, business skills and marketing communications.

Pierre has been actively involved in a number of national teaching and learning projects totalling close to AUD 1 million in grant funding. In 2007, he received a national Carrick citation for outstanding contributions to student learning. Pierre was part of the national team that developed the Learning and Teaching Academic Standards for Tourism, Hospitality and Events and has continued to co-lead efforts to embed and measure these standards under the auspices of CAUTHE. He is currently the co-chair of knowledge creation for the BEST Education Network and in this capacity, has worked with the World Travel and Tourism Council to edit a book of international cases based on Tourism for Tomorrow award finalists and winners. He is the co-editor of the Handbook of Teaching and Learning in Tourism. Pierre serves regularly as an external reviewer of tourism programs in Australia and overseas institutions.

His research interests include visitor behaviour, tourism information technologies, and tourism education and training. He has authored over 80 publications in these areas in leading international journals and is a regular speaker at tourism research conferences. He is on the editorial board of several leading tourism journals and is a regular reviewer of papers. He has also co-authored one of the leading textbooks on tourism and information technology. He has served as a judge for the Queensland Tourism Awards as well as the Australian Tourism Awards. His passion for travel and tourism has taken him to some of the world’s leading theme parks and airports, the major cities of Europe and North America, the African Savannah and the bustling streets of Asia. He has also travelled extensively throughout Australia and New Zealand.

Online Profiles

• LinkedIn: http://au.linkedin.com/pub/pierre-benckendorff/5/8b7/766/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/PBenckendorff
• ResearchGate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Pierre_Benckendorff
• Academia.edu: https://uq.academia.edu/PierreBenckendorff
• Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=LjNJJXIAAAAJ
• UQ Researchers: http://researchers.uq.edu.au/researcher/2336

Dr Kath Benfer is a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow with the Queensland Cerebral Palsy and Rehabilitation Research Centre, The University of Queensland. Her Post-Doctoral work focuses on community-based early detection and intervention for infants at high risk of cerebral palsy in low-resource countries (India and Bangladesh). She was awarded the prestigious Endeavour Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Scholarship through the Australian Commonwealth Government to conduct the study. Kath’s PhD explored oropharyngeal dysphagia, gross motor function, growth and nutrition in preschool children with cerebral palsy, in both Australia and Bangladesh. Her work arising from her doctoral studies has been published in 10 peer-reviewed publications and presented widely at international conferences. Dr Benfer has over 12 years of experience as a speech pathologist within paediatric disability, with community-based child and family support services. Kath also has an interest in cross-cultural issues in child health, having worked in Bangladesh for over 2 years both as an AusAid volunteer teaching on the country’s first Bachelor of Speech Therapy degree, as well as conducting research in this context. She has completed her Master of Public Health at La Trobe University in Melbourne within the research and international health streams.

Dr Claudia Benham is an environmental social scientist working on coastal and marine ecosystems. Her research examines the intersections between environmental change, resource development, human wellbeing and governance in coastal regions of northern Australia and the Pacific. As part of this, her work examines the processes and outcomes of environmental governance in these settings, including deliberative and community-based approaches. Claudia has an interdisciplinary background in the social and ecological sciences, and brings this perspective to bear on her work. She previously worked for the UQ Global Change Institute and the Australian Department of Environment.

Keywords: Public policy; Seagrasses; Gender; Unconventional gas; Great Barrier Reef

Sally Bennett is a Professor in Occupational Therapy and implementation scientist in the School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences. Her research interests are in knowledge translation, implementation, evidence-based practice, care of people with dementia, and use of standardised patients for teaching. Sally is a Fellow of the Occupational Therapy Australia Research Academy (FOTARA) that recognises sustained exemplary and impactful contribution to occupational therapy research. She has been Associate Editor of the Canadian Journal of Occupational Therapy and the Australian Occupational Therapy Journal and on the committee of the OTA Research Foundation, and earlier roles in the World Federation of Occupational Therapists. She is an editor and author of a widely used inter-disciplinary evidence-based practice book (Evidence-Based Practice across the Health Professions) that is now in its 4th edition.

Sally's interest in knowledge translation and evidence based practice extends to research, teaching and service roles both nationally and internationally. She led a large NHMRC Grant together with colleagues from Australia and the USA investigating the implementation of an evidence-based occupational therapy program for peoople with dementia, Australia-wide. Sally co-led an an industry funded research project to evaluate the impact of a knowledge translation capacity building inititiative for a large number of therapists in Queensland Health designed to support their application of knowledge translation methods within their clinical specialty areas, which has had direct clinical impact.

Associate Professor Sarah Bennett is the Program Director, Bachelor of Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of Queensland. Her research interests include evidence-based policing and practice, procedural justice and legitimacy, experimental criminology, and organisational practice. These interests are interwoven within three research aims to 1) advance the role of police and police training in improving outcomes for survivors, offenders and communities, 2) innovate and apply rigorous research methods in real world settings to inform policy and practice and 3) advance organisational facilitators and theories for effective practice. Sarah has significant and internationally unique expertise in delivering complex research projects with translational benefits to improve policing practice in the UK and Australia. Sarah is a Fellow of the Academy of Experimental Criminology (AEC). Sarah is invested in strong partnerships to facilitate measurable and meaningful research outcomes.

Dr Laura Bentley is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Child Health Research Centre at The University of Queensland. Laura has a background in developmental psychology and her PhD explored the impact of music on early cognition and self-regulation skills. Laura is currently working on a MRFF funded project (AusCP MSK) which aims to identify the early biomarkers of musculoskeletal complications in children with moderate-severe cerebral palsy (GMCS III-V).

Lily is a movement ecologist and Postdoctoral Research Fellow. She is interested in how and where highly mobile predators travel, what their journeys can teach us about their evolutionary histories, and how to translate research findings into effective conservation policies. At UQ, in affiliation with the Centre for Biodiversity and Conservation Science, she is currently working on using animal tracking data and network models to understand migratory connectivity in the oceans. She received her BSc (Hons) from the University of Queensland, studying the thermal physiology and behaviour of wild saltwater crocodiles. In her PhD, at the University of Cambridge, she investigated the foraging ecology of albatrosses and petrels across the Southern Ocean.

Violeta is a Multilingual Evidence Synthesis Postdoctoral Research Fellow. Her current research addresses the underutilisation of non-English biodiversity conservation evidence in policy and decision-making processes.

While evidence synthesis is a cornerstone of evidence-based conservation at both local and global scales, gaps remain in incorporating the diverse knowledge available in non-English scientific literature. To bridge this gap, she integrates multilingual international collaboration and artificial intelligence (AI), including machine learning and natural language processing techniques (e.g., text classification, thematic analysis). This integrated approach allows for the systematic aggregation of multilingual scientific evidence and the development of tools to automate the retrieval of non-English literature on biodiversity conservation. By leveraging human co-production and AI, she aims to create a multilingual synthesis tool that not only accelerates evidence synthesis but also ensures the inclusion of the diverse and valuable knowledge found in non-English evidence.

This work is part of the broader "Transcending Language Barriers to Environmental Sciences" project (https://translatesciences.com/). Please reach out if you are interested in collaborating v.berdejoespinola@uq.net.au

Violeta has a wide range of interests and also explores human-nature interactions in the urban Global South. Her interdisciplinary research intersects modelling nature’s contributions to people living in formal and informal settlements, biodiversity, climate change, perceptions of safety and poverty.