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Dr Lauren Sanders is a Senior Research Fellow with the TC Beirne School of Law, The University of Queensland in the Law and Future of War project. Lauren’s current research focus is on the application of export control, arms trade and sanctions regimes relevant to the export and brokering of trusted autonomous military systems and associated technology. Her broader research and teaching interests include international criminal law, international humanitarian law and domestic counter-terrorism law. She is the editor of UQ's Law and Future of War podcast where she interviews experts in the fields of law and emerging and disruptive technology, military strategy and military affairs.

She completed her initial law studies with The University of Queensland, along with a Bachelor of Arts in Peace and Conflict Studies. Her PhD studies were competed at the Australian National University focused on the practical application of universal jurisdiction. She holds an LLM in Legal Practice, Masters in Defence and Strategic Studies and numerous Graduate certificates in military law.

Before returning to The University of Queensland, Lauren spent twenty years as an Australian Army signals officer and legal officer, and has served in Iraq, Afghanistan and East Timor and on humanitarian assistance and disaster relief operations, a legal advisor to ADF domestic counter-terrorism operations, and an assistant Inspector-General of the ADF. She is a graduate of the Australian Command and Staff College, and was awarded a Conspicuous Service Cross for her work as the Command Legal Officer within Special Operations Command.

She supports the training of military legal officers with the University of Adelaide's Legal Training Module Level Three (Masters Law Course); and is a reserve legal officer, where she is a member of the Principal Writing Team for the Australian Defence Force’s Law of Armed Conflict Manual, and teaches at the Indo-Pacific Centre for Military Law and the ADF's Military Law Centre.

Lay detail

• Emeritus Professor of Psychology; Affiliate Professor, Medical School
• Former Professor of Cognitive Engineering and Human Factors (Joint appointment: School of Psychology, School of ITEE, School of Clinical Medicine) and Leader, Cognitive Engineering Research Group (CERG)
• Responsible for development and operation of the University of Queensland Usability Laboratory (UQUL).
• Director of ARC Key Centre for Human Factors and Applied Cognitive Psychology, 2004-2007.
• Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia (ASSA).
• Fellow of the USA-based Human Factors and Ergonomics Society (HFES).
• Fellow of the International Ergonomics Association (IEA)

Background:

• Adjunct Professor, Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1997-2006.
• Professor of Computer Science (HCI), Swinburne University of Technology, 1997-2001.
• Assistant and then tenured Associate Professor of Psychology, M&IE, and Aviation, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1985-1996.

Editorial responsibilities

• Associate Editor, Human Factors in Healthcare, 2021-2023
• Regional Editor, Cognition Technology and Work, 2000-present.
• Consulting Editor, Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, 2005-2011, 2013-2018
• Editorial Board, Journal of Cognitive Engineering and Decision Making, 2005-present.
• Editorial Board, Human Factors, 1986-1997, 2005-2013, 2016-present.
• Associate Editor, Human Factors, 2014-2015.
• Associate Editor, Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied: 2012-2013.
• Associate Editor, International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, 2002-2005.

Dr Stephen Sanderson is an expert in nonequilibrium molecular dynamics simulation, with a particular interest in fundamental theory and method development. His current research focuses on developing new methods based in response theory for efficient calculation of nonequilibrium steady state properties, with applications in fluid dynamics, energy materials, heat flow, and quantum systems, among others. Previously, Stephen worked as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the group of Prof. Debra Bernhardt, where his focus was on nonequilibrium thermodynamics and statistical mechanics theory, and improving capacity for molecular dynamics simulation of fluids. He holds undergraduate degrees in electrical engineering and physics and a PhD in physics from James Cook University, during which he developed and applied kinetic Monte-Carlo simulations of charge and exciton dynamics coupled with atomistic molecular dynamics deposition simulations to establish a better understanding of structure-property relationships in organic semiconductors, particularly organic light-emitting diodes.

Saira is a Research Fellow in the Research Alliance for Urban Goori Health (RAUGH) team at the UQ Poche Centre for Indigenous Health. She has an academic background in pharmacy and public health. Before joining the UQ Poche Centre, she worked at the Centre for Health Service Research and the Dermatology Research Centre.

She has research collaborations with the Psycho-oncology Co-operative Research Group and Queensland Centre for Gynaecological Cancer. Saira’s main research interests are mental health, psycho-oncology, cancer survivorship, healthcare service and system, and evaluation. She has been involved in quantitative and qualitative analyses of various clinical trials and epidemiological research projects on mental health, early detection and treatment of cancer, health service outcomes, and cancer survivorship care.

As a team member of RAUGH, her current research aims to close the gap in life expectancy and promote health equality for urban First Peoples in greater North Brisbane through applied research in key healthcare pathways—across the continuum of care and throughout the lifespan.

Dr Flavia Santamaria is a biologist whose PhD focused on the impact of translocation on the health (chlamydial disease), tree species selection and movement of radio-tracked koalas relocated from French Island to three forests around Ballarat, Victoria.

She is an Adjunct Senior Fellow in the School of Veterinary Science at The University of Queensland, a researcher with the Koala Research-CQ and Senior Lecturer at Central Queensland University.

Dr Santamaria has been collaborating with a team of Australian and international researchers in the field of metabolomics, adrenocortical activity and veterinary applications to successfully design the most suited assay kit for the detection of stress in koalas through fecal analyses as a non-invasive method.

Dr Santamaria's current and future research focus is on:

• the impact of anthropogenic environmental changes on koalas, including the potential pressure caused by environmental stressors on their health

• detection and prevention of disease in koalas

• using the koala as a flagship species in educating communities for sustainability

Dr Viviene Santiago is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Natural Toxins group within the Centre for Animal Science, Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation (QAAFI) and is based at the Health and Food Sciences Precinct (Coopers Plains). With a robust foundation in organic and analytical chemistry, her research primarily focuses on natural products chemistry from terrestrial, marine, and microbial sources.

Dr Santiago joined QAAFI as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in 2023. Her current research involves developing a delivery system for bioactive compounds aimed at reducing enteric methane emissions in cattle and exploring atypical sugars in novel foods such as stingless bee honey. Over the years, she has cultivated a keen interest in utilising liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) and molecular networking techniques to investigate chemical diversity from different sources such as natural toxins in certain plants and atypical sugars in stingless bee honey.

Dr Santiago earned her Ph.D. from The University of Queensland, where her dissertation focused on applying advanced molecular networking techniques, such as the Global Natural Products Social Molecular Networking (GNPS), to explore the chemical diversity of Australian microbes. Her academic journey also includes a Master’s and a Bachelor’s degree in Chemistry from the University of the Philippines – Diliman. These academic experiences have equipped her with a comprehensive understanding of natural products chemistry, enabling her to make significant contributions to both academia and industry.

Dr Damian Santomauro leads the Epidemiology and Burden of Disease Research Stream based at the Queensland Centre for Mental Health Research (QCMHR). He is also an affiliate assistant professor at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME), University of Washington, for his work on the Global Burden of Disease Study where he is the head of the mental disorders team responsible for modelling the epidemiology and burden of mental disorders.

Dr. Yomani Sarathkumara’s research focuses on characterising humoral immune responses to Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) in EBV-associated diseases.

During her PhD at James Cook University, Australia, she identified novel antibody biomarkers for EBV-associated cancers, including natural killer/T-cell lymphoma and Hodgkin lymphoma, using well-characterised hospital-based case-control samples from the AsiaLymph study—a large, multicentre epidemiological investigation of lymphoma and related haematologic malignancies conducted across Asia in collaboration with the U.S. National Cancer Institute (NCI). She also identified antibody markers predictive of clinical responses in EBV-positive lymphoma patients treated with EBV-specific T-cell immunotherapy in Phase I clinical trials conducted by Baylor College of Medicine, USA.

Her Honours research at Northumbria University, UK, focused on identifying antibody responses to a fungal antigen associated with Pigeon Fancier's Lung disease. For her Master’s by Research (MPhil) from 2016–2018, conducted in collaboration with the University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka, and Hokkaido University, Japan, she demonstrated that hantavirus exposure is a major risk factor for developing chronic kidney disease of unknown aetiology (CKDu) in Sri Lanka—a significant public health concern in agricultural communities. This study earned the President’s Award for Scientific Research - 2019 in Sri Lanka.

Following her PhD, Dr. Sarathkumara joined the University of Queensland (UQ) as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow under the supervision of Professor Denise Doolan. Building on her doctoral work, she is currently investigating the potential role of EBV in triggering autoimmune diseases such as multiple sclerosis (MS), aiming to identify diagnostic and predictive antibody biomarkers. This work is conducted in collaboration with the University of Texas and the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation, USA. In parallel, she is also examining antibody responses in individuals with acute EBV infection through a collaboration with UMass Chan Medical School, University of Massachusetts, USA.

Her research integrates high-throughput serological profiling, statistical modelling, and immunoassay development, and is supported by strong international collaborations.

A/Prof Benn Sartorius is an established spatial and global health epidemiologist, with a particular interest in the burden of infectious disease and attributable determinants at sub-national, national and global scales as a tool to help inform and optimise policy at national and subnational scales. Dr Sartorius a principal research fellow in UQ's ODeSI team at University of Queensland, an affiliate professor in Department of Health Metric Sciences at University of Washington and a honorary visiting research fellow at University of Oxfored. Prior to join UQ, Dr Sartorius was the principal investigator for the Global Research on Antimicrobial Resistance (GRAM) Project based in the Centre for Tropical Medicine and Global Health at University of Oxford.

Dr Sartorius' research has focused on better understanding the spatial-temporal burden and risk factors of multiple IDs, including mosquito-borne diseases such as malaria, sexually transmitted infections, neglected tropical diseases such as soil-transmitted helminths and onchocerciasis, vaccine preventable diseases, emerging infectious diseases and more recently focused on antimicrobial resistance. These and other examples highlight the utility of spatial epidemiology to identify higher risk areas that should be prioritised for more targeted, tailored and resource efficient intervention and control measures. However, often spatial risk estimates for IDs are often not produced in-country in settings such as the Pacific, where disease burden is high and local modelling expertise is limited, resulting in use of incomplete/biased data and resulting in inefficient and suboptimal decision-making. I’ve been a collaborator on the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) project since 2014 and the Scientific Council for the GBD Project since 2015. Dr Sartorius is a member of the WHO Reference Group on Health Statistics (RGHS) and chair of the Age-Specific Mortality Estimation and Life Table Computation task force. Benn's vision, through ODeSI-HERA, is to expand his international profile and leadership in spatial-temporal epidemiology of priority infectious diseases in Australia and the Pacific. This will include spatial epidemiological innovation, and capacity building to improve health outcomes in high-risk and vulnerable sub-populations within the region, and will be co-created with stakeholders in the region to ensure that it aligns with their priorities, and support precision-based decision-making systems to help policy makers optimise resource allocation and guide targeted interventions.

Ian Satchwell is an Adjunct Professor with UQ's Sustainable Minerals Institute. Ian is also an Affiliate of the UQ's Global Centre for Mineral Security and a Senior Fellow at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute.

Ian advises business, government and NGOs on minerals, energy and infrastructure policies, practices and governance to facilitate investment and deliver outcomes aligned with sustainable development goals. The focal areas of his research are on:

• Australia’s global investment footprint in minerals exploration, mining and processing and its role in fostering sound governance and sustainability frameworks and performance.
• Building diverse, secure and sustainable supply chains for critical minerals, and Australia’s domestic and global role.
• The geopolitics of menerals and energy, implications for Australia and how it contrbutes to global minerals and energy security.
• Strengthening the contribution of Northern Australia to the nation's strategic interests.

For much of his career, Ian was a senior executive in minerals and energy industry bodies, and a partner in an Australian consulting firm specialising in economics, policy and strategy. He also served on boards and advisory committees of research and policy organisations in Australia, Asia and Canada.

In addition to reseaching and preparing reports on key topics, Ian Satchwell writes regularly for the Lowy Interpreter and ASPI’s The Strategist on minerals and energy policy and geopolitics

Dr Jodi Saunus is a senior fellow who specialises in translational research on metastatic breast cancer. Based at Brisbane’s Translational Research Institute, she was recruited by Mater Research in 2022 to help facilitate patient-focused research at the interface of biomedical R&D and clinical practice.

Dr Saunus has an honours degree in biochemistry and biomedical science, a PhD in breast cancer molecular genetics, and broad post-doctoral experience in immunology, molecular cell biology, pathology informatics, and early-phase investigator-initiated clinical trials. Her current portfolio focuses finding new ways to improve the clinical management of aggressive breast cancer, with a focus on triple-negative breast cancer, and the prevention and treatment of brain metastases. This work spans across multiple disciplines and capabilities, and broadly involves:

• Molecular profiling of patient-donated blood and tumour tissue samples to identify features that can predict treatment response, or represent previously uncharacterised therapeutic targets.
• Using experimental models of breast cancer metastasis to learn about the molecular mechanisms exploited by cancer cells to survive and grow in brain tissue.
• Developing innovative treatment strategies that work differently to conventional cancer drugs, including alpha-particle endoradiotherapy and in-situ vaccination.

With an outstanding network of collaborators from academia and clinical practice, she has secured more than $6M to fund this work and has a track record of publishing in prominent biomedical research journals (e.g., Cancer Research, Nature, Science Translational Medicine, Nature Communications and The Journal of Pathology).

Peripherally, Jodi is a strong proponent of biospecimen banking, and clinician and consumer engagement in translational research.

Katerina is a geologist with a specialization in hyperspectral data analysis as applied to mineral identification and interpretation, with big data integration. She has 15 years of hands-on experience working on both ground-breaking research and commercial activities for greenfield, brownfield and mining projects of various scales around the world. While with Corescan, she pioneered innovation in hyperspectral data acquisition, interpretation, and presentation. She developed and interpreted the results of complex algorithms associated with various mineral hyperspectral signatures. As part of her work, she contributed to geochemical and geotechnical research as applied to hydrothermal mineral alteration patterns associated with several world-class deposits, deposit delineation initiatives, new exploration projects, as well as geoenvironmental studies of acid-rock drainage and mining waste characterization. In her earlier roles, as an exploration geologist, she worked on uranium deposits in Canada, the USA, and Australia, with a focus on the system controls and definition of hydrothermal alteration mineral zonation and spatial patterns. Currently, Katerina is collaborating on several long-term projects with different challenges related to geological and mining industries at the W.H. Bryan Mining and Geology Research Centre, SMI including critical minerals research, mineral and textural characterization as applied to mine waste and tailings, as well as development of educational material and short-course delivery. Specific areas of research and interest include:

• Hydrothermal alteration mineralogy and its characterization using high-resolution hyperspectral data in combination with other micro-analytical techniques
• Remote sensing techniques and data interpretation
• Detailed investigation of a variety of geological environments and mineral deposit settings including epithermal, unconformity-associated uranium, orogenic gold, porphyry, skarn, as well as IOCG
• Minerals and mineral groups, their chemical composition and variations, recognizing hydrothermal alteration patterns and identifying vectors to mineralization
• Establishment of new mineralogical and hyperspectral reflectance tools for drill core characterization for various mining applications

Melanie Saward is a proud Bigambul and Wakka Wakka woman. She is a lecturer of Australian Studies in the School of Communication and Arts and has recently (July 2024) been appointed as the coordinator of BlackWords. Her research looks at Indigeneity in romantic comedy fiction with a focus on diversity, intersectionality, and the Australian publishing industry.

Melanie is a writer and editor. Her debut fiction book, Burn, was published in 2023 with Affirm press and her first romantic comedy novel, Love Unleashed, was published in August 2024.

Dr Anne Sawyer is a molecular plant biologist passionate about the development of plant-based solutions to global problems. Her current research focus is the development of RNA sprays to protect plants from fungal pathogens. Dr Sawyer completed her PhD at the Institute for Molecular Bioscience, The University of Queensland on gene expression in microalgae. Following this, she carried out postdoctoral research at Ruhr University Bochum in Germany on microalgal hydrogen production. Dr Sawyer then returned to Australia to study RNA interference in plants and plant pathogenic fungi. Dr Sawyer has research experience in the fields of biotechnology, molecular biology, microalgal biology, synthetic biology, biochemistry and structural biology.

Professor Nerina Scarinci is the Head of School, School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences at The University of Queensland. Her main research focus is on the implementation and evaluation of patient- and family-centred care for adults and children with communication disability. Professor Scarinci has clinical and research expertise in the development, implementation, and evaluation of alternative models of allied health service delivery, including group interventions, eHealth, and communication partner training. Professor Scarinci has over 20 years clinical and research experience, with expertise in co-design, patient- and family-centred care, and the evaluation and management of communication disability.

University Profile: Professor Nerina Scarinci is a Professor in Speech Pathology and Director of Higher Degree Reserach Students in the School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences.

Teaching Themes: Professional Practice and Communication Skills, Children with Special Needs in Communication, Paediatric Speech Pathology, Hearing Impairment, Service Delivery, Professional Issues and Ethics

Research interests: Paediatric and Adult Hearing Impairment, Communication Disability, International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF), Third-Party Disability, Family-Centred Care, Early Intervention, Co-Design

Grant funding: Professor Scarinci has attained >$10.2 Million in grant funding, with >$4.12 Million as Chief Investigator and >$6.1 Million as Associate Investigator or Program Lead.

Reviewer: International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology; International Journal of Audiology; Ear & Hearing; Speech, Language and Hearing; Disability & Rehabilitation; Child Language Teaching & Therapy, American Journal of Audiology; BMC Geriatrics; Clinical Interventions in Aging.

Editorial Boards: Associate Editor for International Journal of Audiology; Editorial Consultant for International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology.

Professional Memberships: Speech Pathology Australia; The Hanen Centre; Ida Institute.