Find an expert

Simon Reid is a Professor in the School of Public Health at the University of Queensland. He is a keen advocate of One Health and the application of systems thinking approaches to understand and improve interventions for wicked zoonotic disease problems at the human-animal-ecosystem interface such as leptospirosis, brucellosis, human-bat interactions and antimicrobial resistance. His research focuses on understanding how to improve multisectoral governance, planning and implementation of responses to manage One Health problems. He delivers postgraduate courses in systems thinking, communicable disease control and One Health.

Dr Lynne Reid is a General Practitioner. She is a Senior Lecturer in the General Practice Clinical Unit (GPCU) at The University of Queensland. Working in a part-time continuing appointment.

Her current work centres on enhancing student learning and supervisor engagement across metropolitan and regional general practice placements. Lynne contributes to curriculum development, OSCE and MMI assessment, and early-year seminars, supporting students from entry selection through to clinical practice readiness.

Clinically, she combines general practice, sports and exercise medicine, maintaining active practice to inform evidence-based teaching. Her professional interests include behavioural change science, preventive health, musculoskeletal medicine, and medical education research.

Lynne’s ongoing development within UQ reflects her commitment to academic excellence, interprofessional collaboration, and building sustainable GP training networks that support both learner wellbeing and community health outcomes.

Dr Natasha Reid is an Epidemiologist and Research Fellow at the Centre for Health Services Research, Faculty of Medicine. Natasha has a specific interest in increasing quality of life and healthy life expectancy, and works across epidemiological, intervention and dissemination projects identifying and addressing frailty in a number of settings.

Natasha conducted her PhD at the School of Public Health, examining the association of physical activity and sedentary behaviour with the physical functioning of older adults, utilising cross-sectional, longitudinal and intervention studies. Since then, Natasha's work has focused primarily on frailty, investigating its development/aetiology, measurement, outcomes, and interventions strategies. Natasha currently coordinates or is involved in five ongoing research projects, including the feasibility and importance of measuring frailty in patients assessed for kidney transplantation, understanding epigenetic and other deep phenotyping changes in patients who have undergone a kidney transplant, and testing if comprehensive geriatric assessment is feasible and effective at improving frailty and attainment of patient goals in patients with (1) solid organ and haematological malignancies, (2) severe mental illness, and (2) vascular disease.

Natasha also has a significant role in researcher development, having supervised 7 undergraduate or post-graduate coursework research students, with a further 3 PhD students and 7 Geriatric Medicine Advanced Trainees currently under supervision. Natasha is chair of the CHSR EMCR committee, and represents EMCR interests as part of the organising committee of the Australia and New Zealand Society for Sarcopenia and Frailty Research annual general meeting, in Brisbane 2022.

Natasha is a Clinical Psychologist and Senior Research Fellow at the Child Health Research Centre. Natasha leads the Perinatal and Early Life Exposures Research Group.

The Perinatal and Early Life Exposures Group is dedicated to uncovering the foundational influences on lifelong health and wellbeing. Their research focuses on the critical impact of environmental, nutritional, substance exposures, and psychosocial factors during the perinatal and early childhood periods on long-term health outcomes. By advancing our understanding of these early exposures, they aim to inform public health strategies, improve clinical practices, and ultimately enhance the health and well-being of future generations. Their work contributes to reducing the burden of chronic diseases and mental health disorders, promoting healthier developmental outcomes, intergenerational health benefits and fostering resilient communities.

Susanne Reindl-Krauskopf is Professor of Criminal Law, Criminal Procedure and Criminology, Head of the Department of Criminal Law and Director of ALES-Austrian Center for Law Enforcement Sciences and was Associate Dean (2010-2014) of the School of Law at the University of Vienna, Austria.

Besides her academic career, Susanne has taken an active role in consultancies, e.g. she acted as representative of the Permanent Mission of The Holy See to the International Organisations during the preparations of the UN Convention on Transnational Crime in Vienna. She is currently member of the Advisory Board of the Section ‘Fundamental Rights and Interdisciplinary Exchange’ of the Austrian Judges‘ Association, of the Criminal Law Commission at the Austrian Chamber of Lawyers, of the Austrian Security Police Academy’s Advisory Board at the Austrian Ministry of the Interior and Corresponding Member of the Austrian Academy of Sciences. Recently, she was appointed member of the Board advising the Austrian Minister of Justice in matters of ministerial instructions to be given to prosecution authorities.

Susanne’s main research fields within the area of criminal law, criminal procedure and police law are law enforcement and fundamental rights (esp. surveillance, interception and other data collection methods), tasks and responsibilities of the executive and the judiciary in law enforcement as well as selected areas of crime, eg smuggling of migrants, trafficking in human beings, computer and cybercrime, corruption in the private and public sector, (fraudulent) abuse of social services, criminal organisations. She has published 14 books and more than 100 articles in these fields.

Dr Saphira Rekker is a Senior Lecturer (Assistant Professor) in Sustainable Finance and an ARC DECRA Fellow at The University of Queensland Business School. She holds a PhD in Finance and is internationally recognised for her work on corporate climate performance measurement and the development of science-based emissions reduction methodologies.

Saphira’s research focuses on building robust tools to measure, verify, and benchmark the credibility of corporate decarbonisation actions and commitments. She is widely regarded for her expertise in carbon-budget-based assessment frameworks and corporate climate benchmarking. During her 2019 secondment at Princeton University, she co-developed the Rapid Switch Australia project within Princeton’s global Rapid Switch initiative. She now leads the Carbon Budget Tracker, a collaborative platform linking researchers from UQ, Oxford, Princeton, LSE, and Utrecht to assess corporate and portfolio alignment with the Paris Agreement.

Saphira contributes her expertise to major international standard-setting and policy processes. She serves as an Australian delegate to the ISO Net Zero standard and previously served on both the Scientific Advisory Group and the Technical Working Group of the Science Based Targets initiative (oil and gas), where she contributed to the development of methodologies underpinning credible, science-aligned targets. Although the SAG was dissolved in 2024/2025, she remains engaged in methodological guidance and advisory work for science-based target-setting. She also played a significant role in shaping the EU Climate Benchmarking Regulation, where her quantitative contribution remains a central component after multiple revisions. In addition, she advises on climate-related litigation, including work with the Environmental Defenders Office.

Her research is cross-disciplinary and published in leading academic journals including Nature Climate Change and Nature Communications. Her 2022 Nature Communications article attracted international attention and led to a collaboration with Norges Bank Investment Management, one of the world's largest sovereign wealth funds, to evaluate steel-sector Paris alignment. Her recent Nature Climate Change Comment proposes “structured pluralism with budget compliance” as a way to strengthen corporate climate benchmarking practices. She maintains active collaborations with Oxford, Princeton, LSE, and Utrecht, as well as industry partners such as Fidelity, Ernst & Young, and NBIM.

Saphira has received numerous awards and competitive funding, including the prestigious ARC DECRA (over $430,000, 2024–2027), the 2024 UQ BEL Commendation for Enhancing Employability and the UQ Business School Award for Excellence in Student Engagement (for SMIF), the Green Gown Awards Australasia 2022 and UQBS Excellence in Innovation Award 2021 for co-founding Australia’s first Carbon Literacy course, the Business & Society Best Paper Award (2021), the UQBS Excellence in PRME Award (2023), first place in the UN PRI Essay Competition (2018), and a UQ Teaching Award (2017).

She is deeply committed to embedding sustainability into finance education. Saphira co-led UQ’s Student Managed Investment Fund (A$260,000+) from 2021–2023, integrating climate-risk analysis into portfolio management and competition preparation. She co-founded Australia’s first Carbon Literacy course and co-authored two open-access UQ Press textbooks. Her teaching evaluations are consistently outstanding. She supervises Honours, Masters, and PhD students, postdoctoral researchers, and industry-linked projects.

Saphira also serves as the elected UQ academic representative to UniSuper (188/211 votes) and coached the UQ team that placed second in the Global Business Challenge (2019, $15,000). She is a frequent speaker at conferences such as the UN PRI Annual Conference and the Princeton E-ffiliates Retreat, and is a regular reviewer for journals including Nature Climate Change, Nature Sustainability, and Nature Communications.

Marguerite Renouf BSc(Hons)/BA, PhD (Env Man) UQ is a Research Fellow at the School of Chemical Engineering's Water-Energy-Carbon Research Group (www.chemeng.uq.edu.au/water-energy-carbon).

She has worked in environmental research at UQ for 20 years, with a particular interest in the environmental evaluation of production systems and urban systems using environmental life cycle assessment (LCA), urban metabolism evaluation and eco-efficiency analysis. She is interested how we can produce and consume with less drain on the environment.

Since completing a PhD in 2011, she has driven a stream of research that evaluates the environmental performance of agri-based product supply chains and products (bio-fuels, bio-materials, food, beverages) using LCA. She has collaborated with industries and researchers in Australia and overseas to develop LCA tools for industry to support the identification of more environmentally-friendly production practices and processes.

Prior to this, her research was concerned with eco-efficiency in manufacturing industries (food processing, metal industries, retail and tourism sectors) and was a long-term contributor to UQ’s Working Group for Cleaner Production (now operating as the Eco-Efficienc Group), and its Director for three years (2009-2012).

Currently, Marguerite is a lead researcher with the CRC for Water Sensitive Cities, develop methods and metrics for quantifiying the water water-sensitive performance of Australian cities, using urban metabolism approaches. In this work she collaborates cloesely with urban planners, water manager and architects.

The School of Education is one of the most productive and high profile schools of education in Australia.

Professor Peter Renshaw's research has focussed on learning and teaching processes both at school and tertiary level. With a team of colleagues in the School of Education at UQ, he is currently investigating the quality of teaching and assessment practices in schools across Queensland. In two current ARC projects, with his co-researchers (Dr Ray Brown and Dr Elizabeth Hirst) he is investigating how teachers group and label students, and the effects of these practices on learning outcomes. These projects are framed by a sociocultural theory of education that foregrounds the social and cultural construction of knowledge and identity, and the responsibility of educators to create challenging, inclusive and supportive learning contexts for diverse groups of students. Professor Renshaw was President and Secretary of Australian Association for Research in Education and a member of the Executive for over a decade (1991-2002). He currently is on the International Advisory Board of CICERO Learning, an interdisciplinary research centre at the University of Helsinki, Finland. He has active collaborations with European researchers in the Netherlands and Sweden, studying how teachers deal with student diversity and how they provide inclusive contexts for learning in multicultural classrooms.

I am a genetic epidemiologist specialising in the genetics of neurodegenerative diseases, with a particular focus on Parkinson’s disease, chronic pain, and other age-related conditions. I lead a dynamic team of scientists dedicated to understanding how genetic and environmental factors influence neurodegeneration, brain health, and related health outcomes. My research is interdisciplinary, integrating advanced statistical genetics, bioinformatics, and data science to unravel disease mechanisms, improve patient stratification, and identify potential therapeutic targets.

In 2020, I founded the Australian Parkinson’s Genetics Study (APGS), now the largest Parkinson’s cohort in Australia with over 10,000 participants. This landmark study has positioned Australia as a key contributor to global Parkinson’s genetics research. I am also actively involved in the Global Parkinson’s Genetics Program (GP2), where I contribute to large-scale data analysis and work within the underrepresented populations working group to enhance diversity in genetic research worldwide.

Committed to training the next generation of researchers, I have supervised over 16 students, including several PhD candidates who have gone on to successful careers in academia and industry. Two of my recent PhD graduates received the Outstanding Thesis Award, and another received the AIPS Florey Next Generation Award.

I have published consistently in prominent journals, including Nature, Nature Genetics, Nature Communications, BRAIN, Biological Psychiatry, and SLEEP. To date, I have authored over 100 academic articles, which have been widely cited, and I have secured competitive funding from NHMRC, MRFF, The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research, Shake It Up Australia Foundation, the US National Institutes of Health, and the Alzheimer’s Association. My work has been recognised with several prestigious awards, including the 2023 Al & Val Rosenstrauss Fellowship from the Rebecca L Cooper Medical Research Foundation, the 2021 Enrico Greppi International Migraine Research Award, and the 2024 Adele Green Emerging Leader Award from QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute. I am also a Global Atlantic Fellow for Equity in Brain Health, a program by the University of California San Francisco and Trinity College Dublin, which supports my commitment to promoting brain health equity worldwide.

April Reside is a senior lecturer in the School of the Environment and School of Agriculture and Food Sustainability, affiliated with the Centre for Biodiversity and Conservation Science.

Dr Reside's research encompasses ecology, conservation, and policy; investigating refuges and refugia; and recovery actions and their costs for Australia’s threatened species. April also works on conservation of woodland bird communities, the impact of climate change on biodiversity, and strategies for climate change adaptation. This work has involved applying conservation planning frameworks to identify spatial priorities for climate change adaptation for biodiversity and carbon sequestration.

April has a particular fascination of flying vertebrates, and has worked on bats on three continents and nine countries. She worked as a field ecologist for non-government organisations before her PhD on understanding potential impacts of climate change on Australian tropical savanna birds. She adapted species distribution modelling techniques to account for temporal and spatial variability in the distributions of highly vagile bird species. These dynamic species distribution models take into account species’ responses to fluctuations in weather and short-term climatic conditions rather than long-term climate averages. In her first postdoctoral position, Dr Reside modelled the distribution of c.1700 vertebrates across Australia at a fine resolution, and located the future location of suitable climate for all these species for each decade until 2085. From this, she identified hotspots across Australia where species were moving to in order to track their suitable climate, informing the IUCN SSC Guidelines for Assessing Species’ Vulnerability to Climate Change by the IUCN Species Survival Commission.

April has been involved in conservation of the Black-throated Finch for over 12 years, and is Chair of the Black-throated Finch Recovery Team. She has served on Birdlife Australia's Research and Conservation Committee and Threatened Species Committee; and the Science Committee for the Invasive Species Council.

Dr Felipe Retamal-Walter is a bilingual speech pathologist, audiologist, and early career academic at The University of Queensland. His research focuses on improving access, equity, and quality in communication and hearing healthcare across the lifespan. Drawing on over 15 years of experience across Chile and Australia, Felipe leads and contributes to international research projects funded nationally and internationally. He is a recipient of multiple academic recognitions, including top-cited article awards, international fellowships, and an invention patent for neonatal care technology.

Felipe uses mixed methods, implementation science, and participatory research approaches to co-design and evaluate practical, person-centred models of care. He works in partnership with families, students, clinicians, educators, and policymakers across many regions in Australia and the Pacific, North and South America, and Europe to develop tools, training, and systems that respond to the needs of underserved and diverse communities.

Felipe’s research themes include:

• Design, improvement, and evaluation of service delivery models to enhance access to timely and high-quality services. This is achieved by building honest, transparent, and long-lasting partnerships that consider all stakeholders as equal partners in care: clients, families, communities, healthcare professionals, and policymakers.
• Development and validation of implementation tools and measures to enhance person- and family-centred care, engagement, and shared decision-making in healthcare services. These tools promote equitable, community-based access for people across the lifespan in diverse regions and contexts.
• Implementation of culturally responsive education and training approaches to prepare health professions students for inclusive, digitally enabled, and person-centred practice in global and diverse contexts.

Felipe is an active member of the World Health Organization’s World Hearing Forum. He serves on The University of Queensland’s Cultural Inclusion Council and several research engagement themes. His work has informed national policy, clinical training programs, and service delivery innovations across Australia and other global settings. As an advocate for inclusion, Felipe also leads interdisciplinary initiatives that embed equity, diversity, and cultural responsiveness in healthcare and health education systems.

Mr Alireza Rezvani is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the School of Chemical Engineering, The University of Queensland (UQ), Australia. With over a decade of experience in mining and academia, he specialises in mineral processing, ore characterisation, and metallurgical test management. His research focuses on optimising copper and gold flotation while integrating sustainable practices to enhance plant performance and reduce environmental impact.

Expertise in Mineral Processing As a member of UQ’s Minerals and Energy Resources Processing group, Mr Rezvani's research aims to improve comminution, flotation, and separation efficiency. His work delves into the complexities of solution chemistry, colloid and surface interactions, and electrochemistry, advancing the development of eco-friendly reagents to optimise mineral separation. By leveraging innovative approaches, he enhances process efficiency while minimising the environmental footprint of extractive operations.

Ore Characterisation and Process Mineralogy Mr Rezvani is an expert in advanced ore characterisation techniques, including QEMSCAN, EBSD, EMP, TEM, Synchrotron XRD, and optical microscopy. His work provides valuable mineralogical insights that drive process optimisation strategies for base and precious metal sulphides (copper, nickel, gold), rare earth elements, iron ore, and PGMs. By integrating these techniques with metallurgical testwork, he develops targeted solutions to address complex processing challenges.

Computational Modelling and Molecular-Level Investigations A key aspect of Mr Rezvani’s research is computational modelling and simulation. Using Density Functional Theory (DFT) and first-principles calculations via VASP, he investigates interfacial interactions of sulphide minerals at the atomic scale. These molecular-level insights help elucidate the fundamental mechanisms governing flotation and metallurgical processes, ultimately contributing to the development of more efficient and sustainable extraction technologies.

Process Optimisation and Metallurgical Accounting Beyond fundamental research, Mr Rezvani applies data-driven methodologies to process optimisation and metallurgical accounting. His expertise in process control and design enables the maximisation of recovery rates, operational efficiency, and sustainability in mineral processing plants. By integrating computational and experimental approaches, he continues to drive advancements in metallurgical performance and environmentally responsible mineral extraction.

I am a postdoc at the Computational Imaging Group, led by Steffen Bollmann. I recently finished my Ph.D. in Computational Imaging at UQ. Specifically, my Ph.D. work involved predicting the functional organization of the human visual cortex from underlying anatomy using geometric deep learning. To tackle this and other research questions, I am leveraging my interdisciplinary background in Biophysics (Bachelor's degree; University of Sao Paulo, Brazil), Neuroscience (Master's degree; Federal University of ABC, Brazil), and now the intersection of AI and imaging. I am interested in (geometric) deep learning, vision, neuroscience, and explainable and fair AI research.

I am an early career neuroscientist investigating the capacity for neural progenitor cell behaviour to shape neural circuit formation, maintenance and function during development and throughout adulthood. More specifically, the role of oligodendrocyte progenitors and myelin in brain circuit formation and maintenance. My research examines the brain under health and pathological conditions by performing manipulations relevant to autism spectrum disorder, multiple sclerosis and schizophrenia. While under the supervision of Prof Helen Cooper at the Queensland Brain Institute – University of Queensland - I studied how the WRC-Cyfip1-FMRP protein network impaired apical radial glial progenitor function and neural migration, leading to cortical malformation and Autism-like traits in mice. During my PhD at University of Tasmania and under the supervision of Prof Kaylene Young, I studied the effect of neuronal activity on cells of the oligodendrocyte lineage. I found that voltage-gated calcium channels are critical for oligodendrocyte progenitor cell survival and characterised the impact of kainite receptor dysfunction on neuropathology and behaviour in mice. Currently under the supervision of Dr Carlie Cullen I am using transgenic mice strategies to determine how aberrant myelination can contribute to onset of neuropsychiatric and neurodegenerative disorders. I am also using mouse models of demyelination to investigate the effect of infectious diseases such as COVID19 and influenza on oligodendrocyte lineage cell function and the impact for myelin repair and multiple sclerosis disease progression. I have a long-standing interest in neuroscience research, that extends from understanding how brain function is regulated during development and in healthy ageing, and the dysregulated signalling pathways that enable neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative disorders.

Dr Veronique Richard earned her doctoral degree in Sport Science from the University of Montreal and subsequently completed a postdoctoral fellowship in Sport Psychology at Florida State University. Specialising in performance psychology and creativity, she has extensive experience in both research and applied settings.

Currently a research fellow at the University of Queensland, Dr Richard conducts pioneering research that integrates creativity and movement sciences to enhance performance, health, and wellbeing. Her research interests stem from her dual engagements with high-performance sports and circus arts. In her previous roles as a mental performance consultant for Canadian national sports organisations and Cirque du Soleil, Dr Richard observed the complexities of balancing high-level performance with wellbeing among athletes and performers.

To address these challenges, she designs enriched movement activities aimed at fostering creativity-supportive environments and investigates their impact on cognitive, affective, and socio-cultural variables related to creativity. Her research aspires to promote holistic growth by creating spaces where individuals can use their physicality to experiment, discover, connect, and express themselves.

While sports organisations remain a significant area of her research, Dr Richard is expanding her focus to other high-performance domains such as the medical field, educational institutions, and health and wellbeing organisations. She is also exploring how creativity-supportive environments can enhance equity, diversity, and inclusion within organisations.