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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

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.

After receiving a PhD on immune regulation from La Sorbonne Universitas in France, Anne-Sophie joined Prof. Ian Frazer’s lab in Australia where she led a highly successful and independent research program on the mechanisms of immune tolerance in human papillomavirus (HPV)-associated lesions in mice. She then joined the field of autoimmune diseases with Prof. Ranjeny Thomas. In Type 1 Diabetes, her pre-clinical data showed the feasibility of an antigen-specific liposome targeted immunotherapy in pre-diabetic mice and led to the first-in-human clinical trial using liposome nanoparticles. In Spondyloarthropathy, her interest is focused on deciphering the link between the gut microbiome, the immune system and the development of arthritic inflammation.

Aude is a demographer/population geographer at the Queensland Centre for Population Research at the University of Queensland. Her research focuses on understanding internal migration processes and their consequences for individuals, regions and nations. Her contributions to formal demography include the development of measurement and estimation techniques that facilitate large-scale international comparisons of migration levels, patterns and selectivity. Building on the life-course perspective, her theoretical contributions include the concept of migration capital and the intergenerational transmission of migration.

She leads a group of PhD students and post-doctoral fellows who work on internal migration in partnership with international organisations, federal and state government departments on a range of the methodological and applied issues. Aude's current projects include:

- The internal migration and regional retention of immigrants

- Forecasting internal migration

- The long-term consequences of childhood migration

- The impact of climate change on internal migration

She is currently Chief Investigator on two Australian Research Council’s Discovery Projects and a Linkage Project in partnership with the University of Melbourne, the University of New England, Shanghai University, the Australian Bureau of Statistics and Treasury’s Centre for Population.

She co-edits of the Journal of Population Research, co-chairs the IUSSP Scientific Panel on Lifetime Migration and sits on the Commonwealth's Treasury experts panel on population.

After completing my undergraduate and postgraduate studies at the University of Newcastle, I held a Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of Basel (Switzerland) from 1990-2. I returned to Australia in 1993 to take up an Australian Research Council Postdoctoral Fellowship at the Australian National University (Canberra) from 1993-4. I joined The University of Queensland in 1994.

Professor Debra Bernhardt is internationally recognised for her contributions to the development of nonequilibrium statistical mechanics and thermodynamics including far-from-equilibrium fluids and confined fluids. She is a Fellow of Australian Academy of Science and the Royal Australian Chemical Institute and an ARC Australian Laureate Fellow. Professor Bernhardt has held appointments at the University of Basel, Switzerland; the Australian National University; and Griffith University, where she was founding director of the Queensland Micro- and Nanotechnology Centre. Professor Bernhardt's research interests focus on the use of a range of theoretical and computational approaches to develop a fundamental understanding of the behaviour of matter, and application of these approaches to a wide range of problems including transport in nanopores, fluctuation phenomena, design of materials, gas separation, energy storage and conversion.

Dr François-René Bertin (DVM, MS, PhD, dipl.ACVIM (LAIM)) is an equine internist with expertise in clinical endocrinology.

François-René completed a Doctorate of Veterinary Medicine (University of Nantes, France), an American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine (ACVIM) residency in equine internal medicine (Purdue University, USA) and a PhD in physiology (McGill University, Canada). He moved to the School of Veterinary Science at UQ in 2016.

François-René’s research interests lie in the pathophysiology of hyperinsulinaemia-associated laminitis and the disorders of the equine hypothalamo-pituitary adrenocortical axis. Some of his current projects examine the regulators of pancreatic b-cell activity and the mechanisms of pituitary gland senescence. François-René has received awards from the School of Veterinary Science and the Faculty of Science for his contribution to Research and HDR student supervision.

François-René teaches equine internal medicine into the veterinary science and veterinary technology programs and coordinates the Equine Clinical Studies course. He has received Teaching and Learning Faculty Awards.

Dr. Karl Bertling has made significant contributions to pioneering imaging and sensing via laser feedback interferometry, spanning diverse laser technologies including sensors based on visible lasers, infrared surface-emitting lasers, mid-infrared inter-band cascade lasers, and terahertz quantum cascade lasers. His current research focus includes leveraging terahertz quantum cascade laser feedback interferometry for early melanoma detection and agri-photonics, as well as near-field terahertz and mid-infrared imaging of nanomaterials and nanostructures.

Dr. Manuela Besomi is a Research Fellow within the Centre for Innovation in Pain and Health Research (CIPHeR) in the School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences at The University of Queensland. She also holds an honorary position in the Physiotherapy Department at Universidad del Desarrollo (Chile), where she leads a clinical team focused on running injury management and prevention research. Manuela obtained her master's degree in Clinical Epidemiology from Universidad de La Frontera, Chile, in 2016, followed by a Ph.D. in Rehabilitation Sciences at The University of Queensland in 2021. As a passionate physiotherapist and early career researcher, she brings expertise in epidemiology, musculoskeletal rehabilitation, and sports science, particularly in the context of running. Her research spans fundamental and applied areas, from leveraging innovative technologies to investigate tissue mechanics to enhancing care management through implementation research.

Manuela is currently the Project Coordinator of an NIH-funded research project, the largest human project at UQ across 8 universities and 5 hospitals in 3 countries, examining the bio-psycho-social mechanisms underlying low back pain flares. She is also the Research Coordinator for the Consensus for Experimental Design in Electromyography (CEDE) project, supported and endorsed by the International Society of Electrophysiology and Kinesiology (ISEK). In recognition of her contributions, she was honoured with the prestigious 2022 Carlo J. DeLuca Award.

Beyond her research endeavours, Manuela is dedicated to translating knowledge into practice and actively engages with the community. She is a speaker and collaborator at The Running Clinic and a co-founder of the SeRUN® project (@serun.chile), both initiatives aimed at bridging the gap between research and clinical practice. She is passionate about promoting STEM for young girls—having collaborated in the evaluation of a nationwide program to boost girls' engagement in STEM, BRInC. Currently, she is part of the research team and mentor for the 2024 BRInC version. More information about BRInC can be found at https://www.canberra.edu.au/about-uc/faculties/health/brinc.

Dr. Besomi remains committed to advancing knowledge and making a positive impact in the fields of physiotherapy, rehabilitation and sports science.

Dr Christine Beuermann is a senior lecturer at Newcastle Law School. She researches in private law, particularly tort theory. Her research has been cited by the highest courts in both Australia and England and Wales. In 2019, she published Reconceptualising Strict Liability for the Tort of Another with Hart. She is currently working on a book on tort theory and will be a co-author on the new edition of The Law of Torts in Australia by OUP with Professors Kit Barker (UK) and Mark Lunney (UNE). Christine was a Herbert Smith Freehills Visitor to the Faculty of Law in the University of Cambridge in 2018.

Professor Christine Beveridge's research focuses on understanding the role of plant hormones in the regulation and coordination of plant development, particularly shoot architecture. Major highlights have involved discovery of strigolactone as a plant hormone and that sugar signalling is a driver of shoot branching. Christine’s research has recently expanded toward identifying how different genetic and physiological networks work together to control plant productivity. In the role of Director, Christine has established funding for the ARC Centre of Excellence for Plant Success in Nature and Agriculture (Plant Success - Plant Success) to achieve this aim.

Christine is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science, an ARC Georgina Sweet Laureate Fellow, a Highly Cited Researcher (Researcher Recognition - Web of Science Group (clarivate.com)), and past President of the International Plant Growth Substances Association. Christine is a life member of the Australian Society of Plant Scientists (asps.org.au).

Please contact Christine directly for information on projects. We like to build projects around the student and their experience, opportunity and career aspirations. Projects are occassionally advertised at www.plantsuccess.org or by twitter #cabeveridge29.

Prof. Bhandari is associated with the University of Queensland since 1993. He obtained his PhD from ENSIA (France) in Food Process Engineering in 1992. Professor Bhandari is Academy Fellow of The International Academy of Food Science and Technology (IAFoST), Academy Fellow of Queensland Academy of Arts and Sciences (QAAS), Fellow of Australian Institute of Food Science and Technology (AIFST) and Honorary Fellow of Nepal Food Scientists and Technologists Association (NEFOSTA).

Prof Bhandari has a major research focus on food materials science and engineering, including microencapsulation of food ingredients, glass transition-related issues in food processing and product systems and 3D printing of food materials. Professor Bhandari’s current research area also includes relating the nanostructure of the food system to its bulk properties. Presently, he is also exploring the application of nanobubbles in food processing. His past and current researches involve dairy, meat, rice, honey, probiotics, oils, fat, etc. Professor Bhandari’s research is not commodity-focused only. His primary approach to research is applying fundamental science and engineering principles to developing a relationship between process, structure, property and performance of food materials systems. Professor Bhandari has extensively investigated various micro- and nano-encapsulation processes such as spray drying, molecular encapsulation, co-crystallisation, precipitation and gel entrapment. Prof. Bhandari has developed a patented continuous method to produce microgel particles that can be used to encapsulate various functional ingredients and pharmaceutical drugs. The process has been commercialised to encapsulate probiotics. The probiotic enriched drinks (named Perkii) are available in the Australian market (https://www.perkii.com/). Bhandari has also developed a process to encapsulate lactoferrin, which has been commercialised (https://begabio.com/product-finder/inferrintm/). Prof Bhandari has done a number of pioneering works on stickiness issues of food powders encountered during drying and handling. Recently, Professor Bhandari has developed a patented technique to produce ethylene powder, which can be used for fruit ripening and other plant physiological control. Professor Bhandari has also developed a stickiness testing device that enables the measurement of the stickiness and glass transition temperature of food material by just using texture measuring instruments.

International collaborations:

Professor Bhandari has developed strong national and international research collaborations. Professor Bhandari successfully completed a collaborative research project with Nong Lam University, in Vietnam on control of rice cracking in Mekong Delta. Professor Bhandari also completed a joint research project with the National University of Singapore on glass transition mechanisms in starch. In addition, Professor Bhandari has also been collaborating his research activities in USA, Ireland, Vietnam, India, China and France. Prof Bhandari was awarded the Australia-India Council Research grant by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (Australia) to develop research collaboration with National Dairy Research Institute, Karnal, India. Professor Bhandari was also a Visiting Professor of UCSI University, Malaysia and UPM, Malaysia.

Professor Bhesh Bhandari is originally from Nepal. He has maintained strong ties to his home country throughout his career. Notably, he is an Honorary Fellow of the Nepal Food Scientists and Technologists Association (NEFOSTA) and has been actively involved in initiatives to support young scientists in Nepal. In 2019, he established the NEFOSTA Young Scientist Award to motivate researchers in the field of food science and technology within Nepal (https://nefosta.org.np/articles/2/).

Grants:

Professor Bhandari has been awarded several ARC-Discovery, ARC-Linkage over the years and ARC-Industrial Transformation Research Hub grant recently. He also won grants from Horticulture Australia, Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation, Dairy Australia, Cooperation for Agriculture and Research Development (CARD funded by AusAID) Program, National Meat Industry Training Advisory Council Limited (MINTRAC), Meat and Livestock Australia (MLA), Commercialisation Australia and UNIQUEST. He has received more than $10M grant over the years.

Awards:

2024, 2023 2022, 2021, 2020 Lead Researcher in Australia in Engineering category- Food Science and Technology discipline (listed by The Australian)

2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2015 Highly Cited Researcher (top 1% globally) in the field of Agricultural Science by Web of Science

2023 Lifetime Achievement Award, International Association for Engineering and Food (IAEF)

2023 Minxin Award for Outstanding Contribution in Industrial Application and International Collaboration, International Conference on Food Processing and Preservation, Luoyang, China

2022 Envoy of People’s Friendship of Wuxi, Wuxi Municipal People’s Association, China

2021 Jiangsu Province Award for International Cooperation in Food Science and Technology with Jiangnan University

2019 Distinguished Alumnus Award, Anand Agricultural University, India

2017 Outstanding Drying Research Award (Asia Pacific Drying Conference, 2017)

2015 Ho Chi Minh City Award for contributing to the promotion of friendship, collaborative relations with Nong Lam University, Vietnam

2015 Bruce Chandler Book Prize for 2015, for “Food Materials Science and Engineering”. Australian Institute of Food Science and Technology (AIFST)

2013 Vice Chancellor’s Commendation Award for internationalisation, The University of Queensland

2012 Excellence in Drying Award (AFSIA award for transfer fundamentals into practice) (International Drying Symposium 2012)

2011 Q-index Award- Top 25. The University of Queensland

2005-2010 Excellence in Research – School of Land, Crop, and Food Sciences, The University of Queensland

Academy Fellow – The International Academy of Food Science and Technology (IAFoST)

Academy Fellow- Queensland Academy of Arts and Sciences (QAAS)

Fellow – Australian Institute of Food Science and Technology (AIFST)

Honorary Fellow – Nepal Food Scientists and Technologists Association (NEFOSTA)

Publications:

Prof Bhandari has authored more than 500 papers including 9 co-edited books and 40 book chapters. His co-edited book “Food Materials Science and Engineering” was published in 2012 and another co-edited book on “Handbook of Food Powders: Processes and Properties” was published in 2013. Another co-edited book "Non-Equilibrium States and Glass Transitions in Foods: Processing Effects and Product-Specific Implications" was published in Nov 2016. The new co-edited book "Handbook of Drying of Vegetables and Vegetable Products" has been published in 2017. In 2018 "Fundamentals of 3D Food Printing and Application" was published.

His publications are cited more than 50,000 times (Google Scholar H-index 114).

Editorial responsibility:

Prof. Bhandari is an Editor-in-Chief of Future Foods and Editor of Journal of Food Engineering, reputed international journals in the food science and engineering field. Professor Bhandari has also been in the editorial board of the International Journal of Food Engineering, International Journal of Food Properties, Food Biophysics, Nature-Scientific Reports, Food Science and Human Wellness, Drying Technology and Sustainable Food Technology.