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My research focuses on developing innovative nanotechnology-enabled platforms for the detection and characterisation of extracellular vesicles (EVs), with an emphasis on advancing minimally invasive approaches for disease monitoring and precision diagnostics.

I specialise in extracellular vesicle, microglia-derived EVs, single-vesicle analysis, and biosensing technologies. My research integrates nanomaterials, surface engineering, molecular recognition and advanced optical detection techniques, including surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) and fluorescence microscopy, to develop sensitive and specific platforms for EV profiling.

A major focus of my work is investigating brain-derived EVs as potential blood-based biomarkers for neurological conditions, including traumatic brain injury (TBI) and brain tumours. By characterising disease-associated EV populations and their molecular signatures, my research aims to improve our understanding of neuroinflammation and the dynamic changes occurring within the brain during disease progression.

My broader research interests include liquid biopsy, nanoscale biosensors, biomarker discovery, cancer diagnostics and the development of translational technologies for precision medicine.

Dr Samantha Nixon is a toxin biologist and Research Fellow at the University of Queensland’s Institute for Molecular Bioscience. Her research investigates how toxins and natural resistance mechanisms evolve and how these discoveries can be harnessed to develop new medicines, antidotes, biosensors and biotechnologies.

Dr Nixon’s work combines toxinology, evolutionary biology, multiomics, protein engineering and drug discovery. Her work explores natural molecules from venoms and other biological sources as leads for new treatments for pain, epilepsy and parasitic diseases, as well as sustainable insecticides. Her recent work demonstrated that naturally occurring toxin-binding proteins can function as antidotes against harmful algal bloom toxins, establishing a new platform for therapeutic and environmental applications. Current projects include synthetic antivenom development, AI-assisted biosensor design, harmful algal bloom toxin resilience and the integrated multiomic characterisation of Australia's venomous species.

Michael Noad graduated with a Bachelor of Veterinary Science from UQ in 1990. After working primarily as a small animal vet in Queensland and the UK, Mike returned to Australia to undertake a PhD in humpback whale acoustic behaviour at the University of Sydney in 1995. In 2002, after finishing his PhD, Mike became a postdoctoral fellow in the School of Integraitve Biology at UQ. In 2003 he was employed as a lecturer in the School of Veterinary Science. He is currently a professor at UQ, dividing his time between veterinary science, where he teaches anatomy, and marine science, the focus of his research. In 2019 he became the Academic Director of the Moreton Bay Research Station, and in 2022 the Director of the Centre for Marine Science while still retaining a substantive apointment in the School of Veterinary Science.

Research:

The key areas of Mike's research are the effects of anthopogenic underwater noise on whales, the evolution and function of humpback whale song, social learning and culture in animals, and marine mammal population ecology. With regards to the effects of anthropogenic underwater noise on whales, there is currently a great deal of concern about how anthropogenic noise such as military sonar, oil and gas exploration activity and commercial shipping traffic, may adversely affect marine mammals. Mike has been involved in several large collaborative projects in this area, the largest being BRAHSS where the team studied the behavioural changes of humpback whales in response to powerful seismic airguns. His work on the evolution and function of humpback whale song is focused on how the animals themselves use sound to communicate. The songs of these whales is one of the most complex acoustic displays of any animal known. The songs are not static, but constantly change, and although the songs are almost certainly used as a sexual signal, the changing nature of the song makes understanding how this works challenging. His work on social learning and culture in animals also involves humpback whale songs, but focuses on how the whales learn the songs from each other, both within and between populations. As the patterns are usually unique to a population but can be transmitted over time to other populations, humpback song is the most extreme example of a vocal cultural trait in any species as well as an excellent model for studying social learning, the process whereby the whales perceive and learn new songs. Mike's last research area is marine mammal population ecology, and the primary project is the population ecology of the east Australian humpback whales. This population was almost completely extirpated in the early 1960s through hunting, but has since undergone a rapid recovery. Its long term trajectory, however, is uncertain due to a number of factors including possibly overshooting the natural carrying capacity of the population, and climate change.

Christy is registered pharmacist with more than 17 years’ experience as a clinical educator and educational researcher, in both academic and clinical settings. Her clinical education experiences have been underpinned by my formal postgraduate qualifications, Master of Education (Clinical Education) and Doctor of Philosophy (Pharmacy Education). Her Doctor of Philosophy (University of Queensland, 2014) examined pharmacy curriculum and its influence on professional identity formation. This research has served as a platform for an ongoing research program in workplace learning in medical and health professional education, which has been recognised internationally.

I study the risks from advanced AI and the policies that could reduce them. As an Associate Professor of Psychology at UQ and an Affiliate Researcher at MIT FutureTech, I run large, transparent studies that help governments and the public understand where AI is heading. My team built the Survey of AI Risk (SARA), the largest study of how Australians perceive AI, and co-authored the MIT AI Risk Repository, a public catalogue of AI hazards cited in the International AI Safety Report (2024) and Australia's proposal for mandatory AI guardrails.

I make this analysis rigorous, but translate it in ways people can understand. For over a decade I have built systematic reviews, meta-analyses, and structured expert elicitations, including a Delphi study of 272 experts mapping AI risk across 24 subdomains. My current work grades frontier labs' safety frameworks against emerging law, tracks dangerous-capability progress, and benchmarks AI risk against the safety standards other industries already accept. I also chair Effective Altruism Australia, which directs over AU$7.5 million a year to cost-effective global programs.

Research interests

Reducing catastrophic risks from AI. Four priority risks drive the work: sudden loss of control, gradual disempowerment as decisions are delegated to AI, concentration of power, and misuse by rogue actors. I focus on which mitigations experts agree on and what would tell us a risk is rising.

Mapping and measuring AI risk. Through SARA and the AI Risk Repository, I identify hazards, track public attitudes, and build evidence policymakers can use.

Evidence synthesis and expert elicitation. Systematic reviews, meta-analysis, and Delphi methods: how to produce trustworthy evidence at the speed frontier AI demands.

Prof Kazuhiro Nogita’s research interests are in: working on Pb-free solder alloys and intermetallics, hydrogen storage alloys, Li-ion battery anode materials, Zn-Al coating alloys and structural Al-Si and Mg alloys. The unifying theme throughout his research career has been the development of environmentally sustainable materials solutions for conventional and alternative electronic, transport and power industries.

Prof Nogita graduated as an Engineer in Japan in 1990 and worked in the nuclear power industry with Hitachi Ltd. for several years. He was awarded a PhD from Kyushu University in 1997 and has subsequently worked on a variety of research projects, including the development of materials for alternative power industries and environmentally friendly applications. He migrated to Australia in 1999 after accepting a position at the University of Queensland, where he currently holds the title of Professor and Director of the Nihon Superior Centre for the Manufacture of Electronic Materials (NS CMEM) within the School of Mechanical & Mining Engineering, and a founding manager of The University of Queensland - Kyushu University Oceania Project (“UQ-KU Project”). He is also an invited Professor at Kyushu University and at the University of Malaysia Perlis.

Currently, the majority of Prof Nogita’s research is in two major areas, namely lead-free solders for electronic applications and metal based hydrogen-storage alloys. He holds 15 international patents and has authored over 200 refereed scientific papers. His research has been acknowledged with several awards/fellowships, including Queensland Government Smart Futures Fellowship and he has been instrumental in the establishment of a spin-off company, Hydrexia Pty. Ltd.

I am an Associate Lecturer and manager of the University of Queensland Dietetic Clinic, where I also coordinate Work Integrated Learning placements and several Medical Nutrition Therapy and Professional Practice courses within the Master of Dietetic Studies program. I am deeply passionate about empowering future dietitians through evidence-based practice, clinical reasoning and reflective learning.

I have been an Accredited Practising Dietitian (APD) for more than 27 years, delivering evidence-based nutrition care across clinical and private practice settings. For a decade, I successfully operated my own private practice, providing tailored nutrition consultations for chronic disease management, bariatric nutrition, and gastrointestinal health.

Throughout my career, I have held senior clinical roles at the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital and the Mater Hospital, managing diverse inpatient and outpatient caseloads and collaborating within multidisciplinary teams to optimise patient outcomes.

Before stepping into my current role, I initially joined the UQ Dietetic Clinic as a Clinical Educator.

If you're interested in collaborating or want to support the learning and development of the next generation of dietitians through student placements or other opportunities, please be in touch.

Maggie Nolan is an Associate Professor in Digital Cultural Heritage in the School of Communication and Arts and the recently appointed Director of AustLit. AustLit is a comprehensive information resource and research environment for Australian literary, print, and narrative culture and it supports and promotes research into Australian story-telling.

Maggie values interdisciplinary and collaborative approaches to humanities research.

Maggie's research is in the broad field of Australian Literary Cultures. Her most recent project, "Close Relations: Irishness in Australian Literature", with Professor Ronan McDonald (UoM) and Professor Kath Bode (ANU) was awarded an ARC Discovery Grant in 2022.

Her research interests include:

• Contemporary Indigenous Literatures
• Hoaxes, Imposture and Mistaken Identity in Australian Literary Culture
• Reading, reception and the civic role of book clubs
• Digital literary studies
• Value in literary studies and the impact of ranking systems on the discipline.

Maggie is an experienced postgraduate supervisor and is available to supervise topics on Australian literary cultures. She also welcomes students and researcher who would like to work on projects linked to AustLit.

Dr Nones research program is focused in using genomics to better understand the molecular aspects of cancer development and response to treatment. Her work encompassed a series of cancer types including oesophageal, pancreatic, breast and lung cancers. Cancer genomics is impacting patient care through precision medicine. Her work is contributing to two areas: i) our understanding of tumour development and progression by identifying new genes and/or mechanisms that drive cancer progression or response to treatment; and ii) investigating steps to improve the translation of genomics into patient care to improve outcomes for cancer patients.

Dr Northwood is a clinical academic psychiatrist, with combined clinical, research and teaching experience.

She graduated with an MBBS and PhD from the University of Queensland and has completed specialist training in psychiatry at Metro South Health, while continuing to engage in research with a goal to improve the physical and mental health outcomes in consumers with serious mental illness. Dr Northwood received the binational Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists (RANZCP) Early Career Psychiatrist award in 2024.

She has a particular interest in treatment-refractory schizophrenia and psychopharmacology. Dr Northwood’s research skills include advanced bioinformatics with experience in complex analysis of large data sets. She has authored a number of papers, with a h-index of 14 (as of 2024), and has been Chief Investigator on several grants, funded through Metro South Health, UQ and NHMRC.

Nutritional Biochemistry, grazing and intensive production of cattle, sheep, goats.

My passion for agriculture and animal science comes from growing up amongst relatives in country Victoria, from Yea in the north, Korumburra in Gippsland and Heywood in the Western District. My career in agricultural science began at Melbourne University in 1960, with a defining year (1961) at Dookie Agricultural College, and subsequently with studies at The University of Sydney (1964-1969), University of New England (1970-72) and since 1973 at The University of Queensland. Promoted to Associate Professor in 1984, appointed Head of School of Agriculture in 1993 and the Head of School of Land and Food (1998-1999). Promotion to Professor was denied in 1997 and again in 2000. Retired from the University in 2006, but have maintained academic and research activity by managing ACIAR and other grants in Papua New Guinea and Vietnam. Publications since retirement have included books on family history, goat production in Vietnam and other biographies. Latest publications were on goat nutrition in 2022, in collaboration with Dr Simon Quigley's team at UQ, This year, 2023, celebrates 50 years of service to the University of Queensland.

Professor Clare Nourse AM is a paediatric infection specialist at the Queensland Children’s Hospital in Brisbane and clinical professor of paediatrics at the University of Queensland. She qualified in medicine in from Trinity College Dublin and trained at Our Lady’s Hospital for Sick Children in Dublin, Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne and Mater Children’s Hospital in Brisbane. Her particular interests are in tropical medicine, HIV, TB and syphilis infection in children, health in resource limited countries and staph aureus infection. She travels regularly to Timor Leste and is a board director of Maluk Timor, a not for profit organisation in Dili, of which she chairs the Medical Advisory Committee.Clare established the Paediatric Infection Management Service at Mater Children’s Hospital in 2001 and currently leads the Children’s Health Queeensland (CHQ) Paediatric services for HIV, Tuberculosis and Syphilis. Clare regularly contributes to/leads national multicentre trials in Australia and New Zealand. She is the author of 70+ peer reviewed publications. Clare is the recipient of many external grants for service provision (Indo-Pacific Centre for Health Security, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Australian Government for the Pacific Infectious Diseases Prevention (PIDP) Program) and research (Queensland Sexual Health Research Fund and others).