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I am an Associate Professor at the University of Queensland with over a decade of experience in research focused on food processing and complex food systems' oral and gastrointestinal dynamics. My experimental approaches include using advanced processing devices such as 3D food printers, ultra-high-temperature processing plants, and homogenisers; mechanical measurements like tribology and rheology; imaging techniques such as confocal laser scanning microscopy and electron microscopy; and electrophoresis. I also employ an in vitro oral-gastrointestinal model, extending to in vivo human trials (sensory), to understand changes during food processing from the nano-scale to the human scale.

Carlo Prato is Professor in Transport Engineering at the School of Civil Engineering of The University of Queensland. He has a PhD from the Politecnico di Torino in Italy where he approached the study of travel behaviour by focusing on route choices of car drivers. It is his natural curiosity and passion for behavioural modelling that drives his research into understanding what makes people behave the way they do as pedestrians, cyclists, public transport users, and car drivers.

His research also looks at how people value congestion and reliability of transport systems, react to legislation trying to make their journeys safer, and accept and/or adapt (or not) to novel technologies and mobility solutions. Carlo contributes to the advancement of science in a cross-disciplinary environment by presenting his work in international conferences and publishing his contributions in prestigious journals as well as serving as a reviewer and editorial board member of journals spanning from engineering to psychology and medicine. Recently, Carlo has been named Associate Editor of Transportation Research Part F: Traffic Psychology and Behaviour, the journal of the International Association of Applied Psychology.

Prior to joining UQ’s School of Civil Engineering at the beginning of 2016, Carlo worked at the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology – and the Technical University of Denmark (DTU) where he became Professor in 2013. During his time at DTU, he received the 2014 Pyke Johnson Award from the Transportation Research Board of the U.S. National Academies for the best paper in planning and environment at the 93rd Annual Meeting of the Transportation Research Board: “Estimating value of congestion and value of reliability from the observation of route choice behavior of car drivers” with Thomas K. Rasmussen and Otto A. Nielsen.

Most recently, Carlo was the recipient of the 2017 Partners in Research Excellence Award from The University of Queensland for his work in the partnership with the Port of Brisbane that aims at developing port growth. Awardees for the partnership were also Dr. Alistair Grinham from the School of Civil Engineering, Dr. Peggy Schrobback from the School of Economics, and Mr Rob Nave, General Manager of Infrastructure and Environment of the Port of Brisbane Pty Ltd. The project is to futureproof Brisbane’s largest multi-cargo port in terms of sustainability, transport and economy, regionally and globally.

In 2016, Carlo was invited to join the UQ Self-Assessment Team for the SAGE pilot of the Athena SWAN program, which The University of Queensland is part of in order to address and improve gender equity in the science, technology, engineering, mathematics and medicine (STEMM) disciplines. He is also a member of the equity and diversity group at the Faculty of Engineering, Architecture and Information Technology (EAIT).

Carlo has about 90 peer-reviewed journal papers and over 130 reviewed conference contributions and a coming book with publisher Taylor & Francis Group that will bring him back to his initial interests in traffic: “Route Choice Behaviour and Traffic Assignment Models”.

Biography:

Associate Professor Steven Pratt is known internationally for his work on the development of polyhdroxyalkanoate (PHA) bioplastics, and their associated wood-fibre composites, and nationally for his delivery of training courses to environmental professionals.

He has authored over 150 scientific publications, with his major contribution to the field of environmental biotechnology being the invention of the TOGA® Sensor for examination and control of biotech/bioprocess systems.

He leads the ARC Industrial Transformation Training Centre for Bioplastics and Biocomposites at UQ, and has won awards for his outstanding contribution to supervision and enhancing the research supervision culture.

Research:

Assocaite Professor Pratt is a research and education leader in environmental engineering, known internationally for his work on the development of polyhdroxyalkanoate (PHA) bioplastics, and their associated wood-fibre composites, and nationally for his delivery of training courses to environmental professionals. His research is industrially relevant; he has published on models for effective industry-education partnerships.

He is now Director of the new ARC Industrial Transformation Training Centre in Bioplastics and Biocomposites. ARC Centre for Bioplastics and Biocomposites

Plastics are now ubiquitous in our lives, and the systems within our modern society could not function without these light weight, easily formable, strong, cheap, durable, and readily available materials. However, our success at engineering such useful materials has created a systemic problem, with more than 10 million tonnes of plastic leaking into the global environment annually. Urgent change is needed to address this ‘plastic crisis’, and biodegradable bioplastics, along with their natural fibre composites, will play a pivotal role in this transition to a more sustainable plastics economy. Already, we are witnessing unprecedented growth in the global bioplastics industry – the projected annual growth to 2030 is 16-30%, leading to an estimated global market value of US$40B. As the world transitions towards the integration of bioplastics into a more sustainable plastics economy, there is a real opportunity for Australia to transform our existing plastics industry. Australia is uniquely positioned to become a global leader in the emerging bioplastic and biocomposite industry this decade, supported by our abundance of the raw natural materials needed for their manufacture. The ARC Training Centre for Bioplastics and Biocomposites will capitalise on Australia’s abundant natural bioresources to drive advances in technology for the development of bioplastic and biocomposite products for the new bioeconomy.

Teaching and Learning:

Dr Pratt has taught a variety of courses in process engineering, including Environmental Systems Engineering, Wastewater Treatment, Clean Technology and Environmental Biotechnology.

Additionally, he has run the IWES Principles of Wastewater Treatment course, which has an intake of about 100 professionals each year.

Projects:

ARC ITTC for Bioplastics and Biocomposties.

Sarah is an occupational therapist with over 20 years clinical experience delivering specialised brain injury and complex neurological intervention across the continuum of care in Australia and the UK. Sarah is passionate about conducting research which enables improved rehabilitation outcomes and quality of life for people with brain injury. Her PhD, completed in 2018, investigated client-centred goal setting in the rehabilitation of community dwelling clients with acquired brain injury. The PhD provides insight into how clinicians may implement the client-centred goal setting process in practice to ensure that the meaningful and personally relevant goals of people with brain injury can be formulated, despite known barriers such as memory and self-awareness impairment.

Sarah is a Post-doctoral Research Fellow in Brain Injury Rehabilitation, Surgical Treatment and Rehabilitation Service (STARS) Education and Research Alliance, the University of Queensland. She also works in her private practice, to provide specialised brain injury rehabilitation services in Queensland, Australia.

Dr Josephine Previte’s research focuses on issues related to the use of qualitative and digital methodologies in marketing and health service research, gender and embodiment issues in social marketing practice and social technology influences on consumer behaviour.

She has worked on a broad range of social marketing projects including alcohol consumption, breastfeeding, breastscreening, blood donation and new technology use to deliver social marketing services. Her research interests in social marketing, technology and consumption contexts has led to publications in academic journals, book chapters and conference papers, and delivered findings to invited speaking engagements.

Gilbert Price is a Senior Lecturer in Palaeontology at The University of Queensland. He is a vertebrate palaeoecologist and geochronologist, particularly interested in the evolution and emergence of our planet’s unique ecosystems and fauna, and their response to prehistoric climatic changes. His major research focus has been on the development of palaeoecological models for Australia’s Cenozoic, especially the Quaternary megafauna. Critically, this also involves the production of reliably-dated records for the fossils that he studies. You can follow Gilbert on Twitter (@TheFatWombat) and read his reserach blog at www.diprotodon.com.

David M. Pritchard is Associate Professor of Greek History at the University of Queensland (Australia), where he has chaired the Discipline of Classics and Ancient History. He has obtained 15 research fellowships in Australia, Denmark, France, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and the United States of America. In 2022-3, he was a research fellow in the Nantes Institute for Advanced Study (France). Associate Professor Pritchard is currently the lead chief investigator on a large project that is funded by the Australian Research Council. He is the author of Athenian Democracy at War (Cambridge University Press 2019), Sport, Democracy and War in Classical Athens (Cambridge University Press 2013) and Public Spending and Democracy in Classical Athens (University of Texas Press 2015). Associate Professor Pritchard has edited The Athenian Funeral Oration: After Nicole Loraux (Cambridge University Press 2024) and War, Democracy and Culture in Classical Athens (Cambridge University Press 2010), and co-edited Sport and Festival in the Ancient Greek World (Classical Press of Wales 2003). He has also published 65 journal articles and book chapters. Associate Professor Pritchard has an h-index of 21 and more than 1600 known citations. He has obtained the equivalent of 2 million Australian dollars in research funding. Associate Professor Pritchard speaks on the radio and regularly writes for newspapers around the world. His 50 op.-eds have appeared in, among other outlets, Die Süddeutsche Zeitung (Germany), Le Monde (France), Le Figaro (France), Ouest-France, The Conversation (France), Kathimerini (Greece), Scroll.in (India), The Age (Australia), The Australian and Politike (Brazil). He obtained his PhD in Ancient History from Macquarie University (Australia).

I am a Research Fellow at the Institute for Molecular Bioscience at the University of Queensland, specialising in systems immunology, data mining, and artificial intelligence. I have made significant contributions to vaccine and biomarker discovery and to defining the molecular basis of host-pathogen immunity.

My academic background includes a Diploma in Physics from La Sapienza University in Italy (2005) and a Ph.D. in Molecular Pathogenesis and Immunology from the University of Perugia, Italy (2011). I have received training from several leading institutions, including Imperial College, LSHTM, the University of Oxford, the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, and QIMR Berghofer, where I developed a solid foundation in the analysis of multi-omics data. My work has led to the identification of several malaria vaccine candidates currently under evaluation in pre-clinical trials in a project funded by the National Foundation for Medical Research and Innovation. I recently received an NIH RO1 grant alongside PI Doolan to develop the first T cell-exclusive malaria vaccine.

My current research interests can be divided into five general themes:

1)System-based genomic approaches to inform the rational design of vaccines against complex human pathogens

2) Defining the molecular basis of immune heterogeneity between individuals using a system-based approach

2)Biomarker discovery for EBV-related cancers

3)Epigenetics and host immunity

4)Application of advanced data mining techniques in medical genomics

Dr Melinda Protani is an epidemiologist with over 15 years experience in research and tertiary education. She is the current Program Director for the Master of Epidemiology at UQ. Her research is focussed on cancer aetiology, survivorship and patterns of care, with a particular interest in inequity in access to health services and the receipt of optimal cancer care. Dr Protani has experience in a number of methods including medical record audits, surveys of the general population, patient groups and clinicians, and data linkage using registry and administrative datasets.

I am Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Canterbury, New Zealand. I was educated at the University of Edinburgh, Dartmouth College in New Hampshire, the University of California at Berkeley (as a Fulbright-Hays Scholar), and the University of Cambridge (as an Andrew Carnegie Scholar). I have held various visiting scholarships/fellowships/professorships, including at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, New York University, Georgetown University, and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology. In 2000 Jack Copeland and I founded the online Turing Archive for the History of Computing, which has received the Encyclopedia Britannica Internet Guide Award for Excellence and the Scientific American Sci/Tech Award. We received a Marsden Grant from the Royal Society of New Zealand for research into the philosophical foundations of cognitive and computer science.