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I am a globally recognised leader in lived-living experience led research on substance use, particularly image and performance enhancing drugs (IPEDs). Presently, I am a senior research fellow at The University of Queensland, School of Public Health, funded through an NHMRC Investigator Grant to examine how both individual behaviours and systemic factors, such as stigma and healthcare barriers, shape the risk profiles of people who use IPEDs. My research program has received >$10 million in funding and I have authored >200 outputs.

I have strong national and international partnerships. I am the Peer Research Lead and Vice President of the Queensland Injectors Voice for Advocacy and Action (QuIVAA), Research Lead (QLD) for The Loop Australia, QLD Representative for Australian Injecting and Illicit Drug User League (AIVL), and a member of the Performance Enhancement Task Force for The Enhanced Games.

My award-winning research program triangulates insights from IPED consumers and health professionals to address critical policy and service gaps. This has led to pioneering initiatives such as the world’s first steroid checking trial and full program, which was awarded Harm Reduction Program of the Year (AIVL, 2024). I also founded Steroid QNECT, Australia’s only peer-led steroid education program, now informing national and international health enhancement strategies related to IPEDs. I have received >15 prestigous awards, including: Queensland Mental Health Commission Emerging Leader Award 2026, AIVL Peer Researcher Recognition Award (2024) and the APSAD Kyp Kypri Early Career Researcher Award 2024 for exceptional performance relative to opportunity.

I am the Section Editor for Human Enhancement Drugs at the Harm Reduction Journal, and sit the Editorial Boards of Performance Enhancement & Health, Drugs: Education, Prevention, and Policy, and Addiction Research & Theory.

Renee Piccolo is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Queensland and Wildlife Observatory of Australia (WildObs), where she focuses on ecological data management and analysis, contributing to large-scale biodiversity monitoring and conservation reporting, in partnership with researchers and government agencies.

Her PhD, completed through Griffith University and CSIRO, developed a decision-support framework to assess the feasibility of habitat restoration under complex biophysical, social, and governance constraints, using mangrove ecosystems as a case study. This interdisciplinary research integrated spatial modelling, conservation science, and applied ecology to support restoration decision-making.

Renee’s work spans species distribution modelling, land tenure analysis, and restoration prioritisation, and is published in Restoration Ecology, Ocean & Coastal Management, and Scientific Reports. She has contributed to Queensland’s State of the Environment Report and collaborates closely with academic institutions and government departments on biodiversity outcomes.

Before entering academia, Renee worked extensively in wildlife handling, ecological consultancy, and community engagement for over a decade. She brings practical field experience, strong analytical skills, and a policy-informed perspective to her work on complex environmental challenges.

Dr Giovanni Pietrogrande is based at the Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (AIBN), where he is the Synthetic Neuroimmunology Theme Leader.

He leads the development of advanced human brain and spinal cord organoid models to study neuroinflammation, demyelination and neurodegeneration, with a particular focus on how microglia, oligodendrocytes and other neural cells interact to drive diseases such as multiple sclerosis and motor neuron disease, and on using this knowledge to identify and test new therapeutic strategies. His research program is supported by competitive funding from HNMRC, MS Australia, MND Research Australia and FightMND, underscoring the translational impact and clinical relevance of his work.

Together with his team, he works on a broad range of problems, from engineering next-generation immune-based cell therapies and endowing central nervous system organoids with a functional immune system, to modelling their interactions with immune cells to fully reproduce neurodegenerative and neuroinflammatory pathologies. The group also leverages synthetic biology to design new strategies to rebalance neuroinflammation, promote remyelination and repair neural circuits.

Amanda Pigott (BOccThy, PhD) is an occupational therapist with over 25 years’ experience in oedema and lymphoedema management. Amanda has a bachelor’s degree in occupational therapy and a PhD obtained studying the side effects of cancer treatment. Amanda is passionate about improving oedema management. To progress this passion, she works as a specialist clinician, is a key researcher in the field of lymphoedema and delivers education through training and conference presentations.

• As a clinician, Amanda works in the public sector as a clinical specialist at the Princess Alexandra Hospital cancer-related lymphoedema clinic.
• As a researcher, Amanda holds a position as an honorary research fellow at the University of Queensland. She has been involved in research projects securing over $650, 000 in research funding through competitive grants. As a researcher, Amanda ranks in the top 2.5% of published authors worldwide on lymphoedema (May 2024; expertscape.com)
• As an educator, Amanda has been trainign occupational therapists in oedema management since for 15 years. She has provided training to public and private organisations. Her training is regularly delivered via Occupational Therapy Australia. Amanda also delivers lectures and tutorials to undergraduate Occupational Therapy students addressing the occupational therapy role in cancer care, palliative care and management of complex conditions.

Amanda was awarded the Contribution to Lymphology Research award from the Australasian Lymphology Association in recognition of conducting, publishing and presenting lymphoedema related research to promote or support evidence based practice in the prevention, detection, diagnosis and management of lymphoedema. She was awarded the Dr Dorothea Sandars and Irene Lee Churchill Fellowship to study techniques in head and neck lymphoedema assessment and treatment methods.

Amanda is an active member of the Australasian Lymphology Association through her roles on the research committee and conference scientific committees.

Ilje Pikaar received his Bachelor of Science in Environmental Science (2004) and Master of Science in Environmental Technology (2006) from the Wageningen University, the Netherlands. He received his PhD degree in Environmental Engineering in 2012 from The University of Queensland, Australia.

Ilje Pikaar expertise involve the areas of environmental electrochemistry, the global nitrogen cycle, sewer corrosion, next generation sludge management, metal recovery, integrated urban water management and resource recovery with a special focus on nitrogen recovery and production of microbial proteins. Central theme in his international oriented research approach is to conduct high-quality research and extrapolate fundamental knowledge and scientific discoveries to real life applications and development of innovative technologies.

In the past 8 years, Ilje Pikaar has obtained signification funding, including 7 ARC projects as chief investigator. He also played an important role in the development in the CRC Blue Economy, a 10-year AUS$50 million dollar project (https://blueeconomycrc.com.au/). Equally important, his work on integrated urban water management led to a first author publication in the prestigious journal Science. In 2018, his work on the re-engineering the global nitrogen cycle was awarded the prize of best feature article of 2017 in the esteemed journal Environmental Science and Technology. He has also published in other prestigious journals such as Nature Food and The Lancet Planetary Health. Overall, he has published over 40 peer reviewed articles with an average impact factor of his publications of 8.51, which is quite uniquely considering his field of research.

From 2015 to 2019, Ilje Pikaar was the secretary of the International Water Association (IWA) Cluster of Resource Recovery from Water. As the secretary of the cluster for resource recovery from water of the IWA, Ilje Pikaar has been very active in organizing international conferences and workshops and other IWA related activities. Since 2019 he is the co-chair of the cluster. He was the co-chair of the 3rd IWA Resource Recovery from Water Conference in Venice (8-12 September 2019).

Since January 2018, Ilje Pikaar is board member of the International Waste Working Group (IWWG). The IWWG is the leading organisation in the field of solid waste management globally. Since September 2018 joined the editorial board of Waste Management, the leading scientific journal dedicated to solid waste management, as Associate Editor, handling over 100 manuscripts annually. In 2020, he was the handling guest editor of a special edition on 'Resource Recovery from Water' in Water Research. Moreover, in October 2020 he joined the Early Career Editorial Advisory Board of Environmental Science and Technology. Lastly, Dr. Pikaar has signed a book contract with the IWA publishing for the development of a graduate entry masters textbook on Resource Recovery from Water. The expected publication date of this book will be mid 2021. Finally, he is a managing program committee member for the bi-annual Resource Recovery from Water conferences of the International Water Association.

Dr Taylor Pini is a lecturer in veterinary reproduction within the School of Veterinary Science and leads the Molecular Animal Reproductive Biology Lab (MARBL). Taylor's research focuses on understanding fundamental reproductive biology across species, in order to improve the outcomes of assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs) like artificial insemination for livestock and wildlife. Some recent examples of her research work include:

• Exploring sperm formation and function in kangaroos
• How cooling and freezing sperm impacts cellular 'clean up' machinery
• Why frozen ram semen fails to get ewes pregnant
• How the cellular makeup of sperm differs across the kingdom of life

Taylor graduated with a Bachelor of Animal and Veterinary Bioscience (Hons) and a PhD in reproductive biology from The University of Sydney. After her PhD, Taylor undertook postdocs at the Colorado Center for Reproductive Medicine (USA), and with the Gametic Epigenetics Consortium against Obesity (GECKO) at The University of Sydney, before beginning at UQ in 2021. Taylor has worked across many aspects of reproduction (from pregnancy detection to sperm freezing) in a range of species, including mice, humans, sheep, horses, koalas, kangaroos, parrots and echidnas.

Taylor is a co-host and producer of the science communication podcast Repro Radio.

Looking for a research project? Taylor is currently on parental leave, but will be taking on Summer and Winter Scholarship Students (undergraduate), Science Honours Students, Masters and PhD students in 2027.

I graduated from The University of Tasmania, and received my PhD in Developmental Biology from The University of Queensland in 2003. My PhD, performed at the Institute for Molecular Bioscience with Prof. Melissa Little, centred on understanding the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying embryonic kidney development. My first postdoc was performed with Prof. Christine Holt at The University of Cambridge, UK, where I studied the mechanisms by which axonal growth cones navigate to their targets in the brain, using the frog Xenopus laevis as a model system. In my second postdoctoral position, with Prof. Linda Richards at the Queensland Brain Institute at The University of Queensland, my work focussed on understanding the molecular mechanisms of neural progenitor cell specification in the developing cerebral cortex. In late 2010, I took up a joint position with the Queensland Brain Institute and The School of Biomedical Sciences (SBMS) to continue my research into the mechanisms underlying neural stem cell differentiation. I have held numerous fellowships during my career, including an NHMRC Howard Florey Fellowship, an NHMRC CDF and an ARC Future Fellowship. I currently hold a continuing Teaching and Research position within SBMS, and am currently the Director for Higher Degree Research Training at SBMS.

Professor Pitsis is a globally renowned expert in the strategic design and management of complex and high-risk projects. These projects range from Olympic infrastructure, deep tech quantum computing. Most recently, he is working on AI agent adoption and trust and its role in decision-making under extremely volatile conditions. He is an ideal person to speak on making the impossible possible, and the strategic and managerial constraints and opportunities of engaging and investing in high-risk, but high-reward, projects.

He is the recipient of several awards for his research. Most recently, he and his co-authors were Finalists for the 2025 Responsible Research in Management Award, co-sponsored by the Academy of Management Fellows Group and the Community for Responsible Research in Business and Management (RRBM) at The Academy of Management Annual Conference for their research on ColaLife, a temporary organisation that successfully eradicated childhood mortality due to diarrhoea in Zambia. Other awards have included the Emerald Science Citation of Excellence and the Paper of the Year Award (Human Relations).

He has published in several FT50 and other highly regarded academic and practitioner journals (including Academy of Management Learning and Education, Organization Science, Organization Studies, Long Range Planning, Journal of Management Studies, Human Relations, California Management Review, and Management Learning, amongst others). He is also a co-author of critically acclaimed and best-selling texts in management and innovation.

He has appeared on the radio (ABC) and television (BBC), in addition to podcasts in the UK and the USA. He has also provided strategic advice and leadership development for several major projects and organisations, including the Royal Air Force (Plan Astra), Royal Australian Air Force (Air Force Improvement Program), Reserve Bank of Australia, Reserve Bank of India, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, BorgWarner (Sevcon), TNT, KONNE, just to name a few.

Dr Erin Pitt is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the area of Childhood Allergy and Epidemiology within the Child Health Research Centre (CHRC). Erin possesses a Bachelor of Health Science (Nutrition); a Master of Public Health (Epidemiology and Research Methods); and a PhD, which was conferred in March, 2020. Her doctoral research investigated the influence of local food environment and socio-ecological determinants on early childhood dietary intake using a mixed methods research approach, which had a strong focus on nutritional epidemiology in the context of public health nutrition.

Prior to pursuing an academic career, Erin worked as a Public Health Nutritionist with Queensland Health where she managed, designed, implemented, and evaluated community-based public health nutrition interventions in a range of settings and locations including rural/remote and metropolitan regions. Erin collaborated and engaged with a range of diverse government and non-government organisations and industry bodies to address priority areas including rural and remote food supply issues, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health and nutrition, children’s food literacy and local government nutrition-related policy and planning.

Erin is currently working on a diverse range of projects including determinants of developing cow’s milk allergy in infancy; the role of migration in allergy prevalence; and the potential co-occurrence of allergy with neurodevelopmental conditions. She has a particular interest in the role of maternal and child dietary diversity as well as socio-economic determinants and their association with the development of allergy in children.

Dr Stacey Pizzino is a global health expert specialising in the intersection of conflict, disasters, and climate change. Her research examines the health and environmental impacts of armed conflict, explosive ordnance and climate-driven extreme events - issues that increasingly shape the global public health landscape.

She led the world’s largest epidemiological study on casualties from landmines and explosive remnants of war, analysing data from over 100,000 individuals across 17 countries. This landmark research contributes to global strategies aimed at mitigating the health consequences of explosive ordnance.

Dr Pizzino brings a unique perspective shaped by frontline experience as a paramedic alongside her academic expertise. She is the co-editor of a textbook on Disaster Health Management, contributing to the education and training of the next generation of disaster health professionals.

She is Co-Lead of CliMigHealth Asia Pacific, part of a global network advancing research, education, and policy on the intersections of climate change, migration, and health to build resilient, inclusive, and responsive health systems.

She has extensive experience in public health partnerships and policy translation, working collaboratively with diverse stakeholders to inform research and transform findings into actionable policies that enhance population health outcomes.

Dr Pizzino is a skilled communicator and advocate, and regularly presents in global policy forums such as the United Nations. Her ability to engage policymakers, humanitarian agencies and global audiences ensures that her research drives real-world impact.

Dr Stefanie Plage is a Research Fellow with the Life Course Centre at the School of Social Science at UQ. Her expertise is in qualitative research methods, including longitudinal and visual methods. Her research interests span the sociology of emotions, disadvantage and health and illness. Stefanie has taught introductory and advanced courses in sociology and medical sociology, research design and qualitative inquiry, including the use of software for qualitative research (i.e. NVivo). Her work is multi-disciplinary. She completed her PhD at the Centre for Social Research in Health at The University of New South Wales. In her study she employed a mix of longitudinal qualitative interviews and visual elicitation methods to explore the lived experience of people with cancer. Currently, her research seeks to understand and improve the interactions of families experiencing social disadvantage with the social and health care systems.

I am an educator with over 20 years of teaching experience. I have taught in Queensland primary and high schools, academic English programs and federally-funded adult migrant English teaching programs.

My research explores professional learning and classroom-based research,with a particular focus on pronunciation teaching and literacy development.

I teach undergraduate and postgraduate courses in Arts, languages and primary literacy education. I also teach courses in professional learning and teacher development, TESOL and research methods.

As a researcher and teacher educator, I believe my strengths lie in my ability to draw on a broad range of teaching experiences across different sectors of education, and in my ability to network and collaborate effectively with academics nationally and internationally.

Prof. Nicola M. Pless is an expert in Sustainability, Leadership, Leadership Development & Executive Education and a pioneer and thought leader in responsible leadership. She is listed in the Stanford University Ranking of Top 2% of World Scientists and has been recognized for outstanding performance internationally by TOP-ScholarGPS (lifetime) listed among the top 0.5% of all scholars worldwide, in leadership ranked #135 globally and #10 in Australia; in ethics ranked #58 globally and #3 in Australia.

She is a Chaired Professor of Management at the University of South Australia / Adelaide Univeristy, Honorary Professor at the University of Queensland and served on the faculties of INSEAD, EASDE and University of St. Gallen. She also held honorary positions at EBS University in Germany and at the University of Antwerp. She serves as an Advisor to the Globally Responsible Leadership Initiative (partnership of EFMD, AACSB and UNGC). She sits on the editorial boards of the Academy of Management Perspectices and Academy of Management Collections (2023 AOM Best Reviewer Award). In additiion, she has substantial executive experience in board functions and as former Vice President International Leadership Development working for a global Fortune 100 companies in Switzerland. She also served at the World Bank Group in Washington DC.

She has published several books and over 90 academic papers, among them 18 articles classified as A/A* on the Australian ABDC-list, 15 articles on the FT50 list. Her research on responsible leadership, sustainability, global governance, ethics, diversity & inclusion, and neuroscience appeared in leading academic journals (e.g., Academy of Management Learning & Education, Academy of Management Perspectives, Human Resource Management, Journal of Business Ethics, Journal of Management Studies, Organizational Research Methods), received numerous awards (among them four Academy of Management Awards), and has been featured in the media (e.g., BBC, Boston Globe, Business Week, CEO Magazine, EL PAIS, Fortune, Psychology Today). She has mentored numerous PhD students and early career researchers to success. Her teaching was honoured with the Aspen Institute’s Faculty Pioneer Award. She is a certified executive coach by INSEAD and IECL, and a Fellow of the Institute of Coaching at McClean Hospital / Harvard Medical School Affiliate.

Her mission is to contribute through research, teaching and collaboration to the development of responsible global leaders.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicolapless/

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SELECTION OF RECENT PUBLICATIONS

Books

Maak, T., M., Pless, N.M., Orlitzky, M., & Sandhu, S. (Eds.) (2023). The Routledge Companion to Corporate Social Responsibility. New York and London: Routledge.

Pless, N.M. & Maak, T. (Eds.; 2nd revised edition) (2022). Responsible Leadership. London, New York: Routledge.

Articles

Javed, M.**, Pless, N. Waldman, A. E., et al. (2024). What, When, and How of Responsible Leadership: Taking Stock of Eighteen Years of Research and Future Agenda. Journal of Management Studies. https://doi.org/10.1111/joms.13157 [FT50/BW20 list; ABDC: A*; 2022: 5y IF: 10,5]

Yildiz, M.*, Pless N. M., Ceyhan, S. & Hallak, R. (2023). Responsible Leadership and Innovation during COVID-19: Evidence from the Australian Tourism and Hospitatlity Sector, Sustainability, 15(6), 1-22. [Q1 journal]

Pless, N. M., Sengupta, A.**, Wheeler, M., & Maak, T. (2022). Responsible Leadership and the reflective CEO: Resolving stakeholder conflict by imagining what could be done. Journal of Business Ethics, 180(1), 313-337. [FT50/BW20 list; ABDC: A, 5y IF: 8,086]

Wang, D.*, Waldman, Balthazard, P. A., Stikic, M., Pless, N. M., Maak, T., Berka, C. & Richardson, T. (2021). Applying Neuroscience to Emergent Processes in Teams. Organizational Research Methods. 24(3), 595-615. [ABDC list: A*, JCR 12/194 in Management, 18/226 Psychology, IF 2020: 5-year IF 9,289] *PhD at project start. **Early Career Researcher

AWARDS

2023 Academy of Management Best Reviewer Award 2023 Academy of Management Award Finalist, Honour by the League of Leadership (Division: MED, Management Education) 2022 Academy of Management Best Paper Award (Division: NEU, Neuroscience) 2011 Academy of Management Best Paper Award (Division: MED, Management Education) 2010 Academy of Management Caroly Dexter Finalist Award (all Academy of Management Award)

Aspen Institute, Aspen Faculty Pioneer Award Winner for Teaching Innovation & Excellence, NYC

Nina Pocuca is a Research Fellow in the School of Psychology, The University of Queensland. Nina works on the Meaningful Outcomes in Substance use Treatments Centre of Research Excellence, which aims to implement routine outcome measures and feedback (ROMF) in the alcohol and other drug (AOD) sector to increase its capacity to deliver evidence-based and cost-effective care.

Nina completed her PhD with the National Centre for Youth Substance Use Research at Queensland University of Technology (2019), where her research examined the interplay between personality and peer norms, on alcohol use in young people. Following her PhD, Nina completed postdoctoral fellowships at the University of California San Diego (UCSD; 2019-2020) and the University of Montreal (2020-2022). Nina's postdoctoral research at UCSD focused on the association between substance use and cognitive function, while her Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR)-funded postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Montreal used 25+ years of longitudinal data to examine factors associated with co-occurring mental health and substance use disorders.

Nina's interests lie in examining factors associated with co-occurring mental health and substance use, understanding the association between substance use and cognitive function, and translating research findings stemming from these areas into practice.

Current projects include:

• Projects as part of the Meaningful Outcomes in Substance use Treatments Centre of Research Excellence
• Co-design and acceptability testing of a drug checking/ pill testing brief intervention
• Using longitudinal birth cohort data to examine the link between alcohol, cannabis and polysubstance use, and cognitive development in youth (collaboration with researchers at the University of Montreal)