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Dr Dana Pourzinal is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Dementia & Neuro Mental Health Research Unit within the UQ Centre for Clinical Research, Faculty of Medicine. From her PhD (2023) and continued research, she has gained extensive expertise in neuroimaging, advanced statistical analysis, and clinical trials, with a particular focus on identifying dementia risk in Parkinson's disease and related therapeutic interventions and biomarkers. Dr Pourzinal's current work aims to improve current clinical practice for people living with Parkinson's disease (MRFF-funded PDCogniCare project) by developing guidelines for the diagnosis and management of cognitive disorders in Parkinson’s disease.

Dr Pourzinal's primary research interests are focussed on cognition in Parkinson's disease (PD) and include:

1. Defining and profiling PD cognitive subtypes using advanced data-driven methods.
2. Neuroimaging biomarkers to predict cognitive decline and dementia risk in PD.
3. Evaluating pharmacological treatments for dementia risk in PD.
4. Longitudinal tracking of cognitive trajectories to inform early intervention strategies in PD.

Jenny leads the Social Justice and Inclusion research group at the Institute for Social Science Research at the University of Queensland. She is a Psychologist and obtained her BA Honors, MA and PhD from the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University in South Africa. Before coming to ISSR, Jenny worked as a Chief Researcher at the Human Sciences Research Council in South Africa in the area of education effectiveness.

Jenny’s research focuses on advancing social justice and inclusion across education, employment, and social service systems. She evaluates programs and policies that support marginalised populations navigating complex service systems. Jenny’s work integrates lived experience with rigorous analysis of the services, institutions, and policy environments that shape life trajectories, identifying evidence-based levers for change within families, organisations, and government systems. She is a mixed-methods researcher with expertise in integrating large-scale population and administrative data with survey and in-depth qualitative data to generate nuanced, practice-relevant insights. Through large-scale evaluations and long-term research partnerships with government and community organisations, Jenny produces generalisable knowledge with demonstrable real-world impact, while strengthening research and evaluation capability within the human services sector. Her research is grounded in participatory and co-production approaches, ensuring that people with living or lived experience are meaningfully involved in shaping research design, interpretation, and impact.

Jenny has worked closely with Government Departments and Ministries both in Australia (e.g., Tasmania DHHS; Australian DoE; Qld DoE; CESE NSW; Australian DSS; Qld DCSSD; Department of Home Affairs) and internationally (e.g., South Africa, Eritrea, Cambodia and the Solomon Islands) to gather research evidence from a wide range of disadvantaged communities to inform policy. Jenny is a Chief Investigator on an ARC Linkage project which investigates how Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and non-Indigenous children experience Out-of-Home Care (OOHC) using elicitation methods and a longitudinal qualitative research design to provide evidence to improve service agencies’ understanding of children’s experiences in OOHC and how agencies can best support families, carers and communities to promote the social, emotional, and cultural well-being of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and non-Indigenous children in OOHC. This research will improve service provider capability and test Government reform interventions. Jenny leads large-scale complex commissioned evaluations and is currently leading the following evaluations: FamilyLinQ Evaluation and the Journi Online Road Safety Education Program Evaluation.

In addition to leading a research group and complex evaluation, Jenny delivers hands-on professional training and capability-building in evaluation, statistical, and social research methods for policymakers, practitioners, and service leaders, contributes as an Associate Investigator to research for the ARC Centre of Excellence on Families and Children over the Life Course (the Life Course Centre), and supervises HDR and placement students.

This is an automatically generated university page - my real website is https://people.smp.uq.edu.au/BenPowell/

Malcolm has applied fundamental comminution research to design and process improvement on over 70 mines worldwide during 40 years at Mintek, UCT, Professor of comminution at the JKMRC in Australia, and through private research companies. His work is published in over 240 papers and has been presented in as many conferences worldwide. Malcolm collaborates extensively, with close compatriots on 5 continents forming the Global Comminution Collaborative (GCC) – providing an expert research and consulting base covering the full comminution process chain. Malcolm provides on-site experiential training and site reviews to empower mine staff to upgrade the productivity and their skills. This is supplemented with formal training workshops on liner design, comminution and Advanced Mine to Mill. Malcolm’s research vision is of integrated total process simulation as a tool for innovation – linking geology, mining, energy and size reduction, gangue rejection and recovery into flexible process design and process optimisation.

Malcolm supervises research students and runs three companies dedicated to advancing cutting edge technology into the mining industry. These focus around operation-relevant training; advanced mill liner design using DEM modelling; mechanistic mill modelling; introducing the latest tools into daily process control; operationalising advanced mine-to-mill implementation; and development of step-change reduction in comminution energy.

My research interests centre on using quantitative genetics to drive genetic gain and efficiency in plant and animal breeding programmes.

Previous work in the UK focused on using genomic information prediction to demonstrate and exploit synergies between plant and animal breeding. Stochastic simulations were used to quantify the impact of new genomic breeding strategies in a wide variety of settings; from low to middle-income (LMIC) dairy cattle breeding programs to large, well-funded maize breeding programs.

My work at QAAFI and the ARC Centre of Excellence for Plant Success in Nature & Agriculture focuses on the development of prediction methods that combine biological, environmental and management information under a unifying framework, to enhance our ability to identify breeding parents, varieties and genotype-by-agronomic management (GxM) solutions that are best suited for future climates.

GRDC Project Press Release

Ben's research focuses on Pre-Hospital and Retrieval Medicine (PHRM), including predicting deterioration and the use of telehealth.

NAME Professor Elizabeth Ellen POWELL

POSITION TITLE Professor, School of Medicine, The University of Queensland; Hepatologist, Princess Alexandra Hospital

Email e.powell@uq.edu.au

EDUCATION/TRAINING

Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery with First Class Honours (M.B.,B.S.Hons1), The University of Queensland

Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), The University of Queensland

Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians, London

Fellow, American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases

Elizabeth Powell is a Hepatologist and Senior Staff Specialist in the Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Princess Alexandra Hospital. She is also Professor, School of Medicine, The University of Queensland, Director of the network Centre for Liver Disease Research in The University of Queensland and a Research Fellow with the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases. She is also a recent past member of the Executive of the Australian Liver Association.

Professor Powell has a very productive research group, bridging basic science and clinical research. Her main research interests include:

(i) developing strategies to improve the assessment of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease by primary care clinicians and non-hepatology specialists.

(ii) examining ways to improve education and medication management for people with decompensated cirrhosis (advanced liver disease)

(iii) examining the role of injury-stratifying biomarkers for non-alcoholic fatty liver disease

I’m a researcher and lecturer at The University of Queensland Business School. My expertise is in critically evaluating how people and organisations use language to communicate about themselves and shape the world around them. I’m committed to doing research that promotes justice and equity, and helps government, the media, and industry communicate for the common good.

My recent research has explored sustainability in the arts and culture sector, news reporting on violence against women and girls, and COVID-19 crisis communication.

I’ve recently collaborated with various peak bodies in the Australian arts and culture sector such as Theatre Network Australia, and arts companies of various sizes (e.g., Queensland Ballet and La Boite Theatre) to develop a free peer coaching program known as “Creating out Loud.” This program builds networks of mutual support for artists and arts workers across all levels of the arts and culture sector.

Enriching the arts and culture sector is of high importance to me. In 2021, I was awarded an Advance Queensland Industry Research Fellowship to support arts workers recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic.

To find out how I can help your organisation, email me at k.power@business.uq.edu.au. You can also follow me on LinkedIn.

Dr. Luis Prada e Silva is an Associate Professor at the Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation (QAAFI), University of Queensland, specialising in ruminant nutrition. His research focuses on unravelling the mechanisms behind feed efficiency in tropical cattle and improving maternal nutrition, attracting strong support from industry, private funders, and the scientific community. With experience across three of the world's major beef-producing countries, Brazil, Australia, and the United States, Luis brings a global perspective to his work. He previously held a position at the University of São Paulo, completed a sabbatical at AgriBio, Melbourne, and earned his PhD at Michigan State University, where he studied the nutritional and physiological modulation of ruminant development. Among his achievements are leading multiple research projects aimed at improving cattle production efficiency, publishing 59 peer-reviewed scientific articles and several book chapters, and supervising 8 PhD students and 18 Master's students. His research integrates cattle nutrition, physiological mechanisms, and genomic tools, contributing significantly to advancements in the field.

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.