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Michele Sterling is a NHMRC Leadership Fellow (leadership level 2), Professor in the Recover Injury Research Centre, Program Lead of the Musculoskeletal Injury research program and Director of the NHMRC Centre of Research Excellence (CRE) in Better Health Outcomes for Compensable Injury. She is a Musculoskeletal Physiotherapist and a Fellow of the Australian College of Physiotherapists. She is internationally recognised for her research on whiplash-associated disorders. Michele’s research focusses on the mechanisms underlying the development of chronic pain after injury, predictive algorithms for outcomes and developing effective interventions for musculoskeletal injury and pain. She has received over $50M in research funding from the NHMRC, MRFF, ARC and industry partners, including 7 NHMRC project grants, and 2 Centres of Research Excellence. Michele holds editorial roles with several leading journals and textbooks, including being a Section Editor of PAIN and co-editors of the 4th and 5th editions of the seminal physiotherapy textbook 'Grieve's Musculoskeletal Physiotherapy). Michele has published over 325 scientific works and has received numerous awards for her research including the Research Australia Research Translation award in 2023. Examples of recognition as a national and international leader in the field include:

2024- Secretary of the Executive Council - International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP)

2022-2024 Chair Scientific Program Committee World Pain Congress, Amsterdam 2024

2023-2027 NHMRC Leadership Fellow (Level 2) for research of road traffic injury.

2023 Research Australia Research Translation award

2016-2022 Council member International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP)

Dr Michael Edward Stewart completed his PhD at the University of Queensland in 2013. His first monograph, based on this work, The Soldier's Life: Martial Virtues and Manly Romanitas in the early Byzantine Empire was published in 2017. His second book, Masculinity, Identity, and Power-Politics in the Age of Justinian: A Study of Procopius was published in 2020 with Amsterdam University Press. He co-edited with David Alan Parnell and Conor Whately the Routledge Handbook on Identity in Byzantium (Routledge) 2022.

Among his current and forthcoming projects are an edited volume for Amsterdam University Press, 12 Generals: Portraits of Generalship & Authority in the Age of Justinian (2025) and a monograph under contract for Routledge: Marriage, Alliance, and Social Networks in the Age of Theodora and Justinian. Dr. Stewart has been an invited speaker for the ICS (School of Advanced Studies University of London) and at the University of Venice.

In the past decade he has published several articles for wider audiences on the Late Roman army, the historian Procopius, the Arab conquests and other periods of Roman/Byzantine history for magazines such as Desperta Ferro, Medieval Warfare Magazine, Medieval World: Culture & Conflict, and medievalists.net.

Dr. Stewart has been interviewed on numerous platforms including the newbooksnetwork.com and Agnus.net. He has peer reviewed book manuscripts for Palgrave Macmillan, Brill, Bloomsbury, and Routledge as well as articles for Byzantion, Classica Cracoviensia, Studies in Late Antiquity, Eos, Revista de Historian, Journal of Ancient Civilizations, and Journal of Late Antique, Islamic and Byzantine Studies

Philip holds a PhD in fire ecology and has worked in the field of nature conservation and national park management in Namibia, South Africa and Australia. While working in nature conservation he gained extensive experience in wildlife capture, translocation and management, fire ecology and biodiversity conservation fuelling his passion for research and working in the field. In Australia Philip lectured in wildlife management, wildfire behaviour, fire ecology and other biological/conservation science courses at Charles Darwin University for a number of years.He has presented internationally on topics ranging from invasive species to wildfire and fire ecology, and has lectured in wildfire behaviour, fire ecology and other environmental science courses. Philip is a Certified Wildlands Fire Ecologist through the Association for Fire Ecology, and is undertaking further studies in veterinary and wildlife science.

Philip is a Research Fellow with the Applied Behavioural Ecology and Ecological Research Unit (ABEERU) in the College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences at the University of South Africa.

Adam G. Stewart, BBiomedSci, MBBS (Hons), MPHTM, FRACP, FRCPA

Dr Adam Stewart is an Infectious Diseases Physician, Clinical Microbiologist and Physician-Scientist.

His research interests include clinical trials, new antimicrobials, diagnostics for infectious diseases, and infections involving transplant recipients and other immunocompromised patients.

After graduating from the University of Melbourne in 1997, Allison spent 2 years in mixed practice in Gawler, SA, before traveling to the USA to undertake a residency in Large Animal Internal Medicine at the Ohio State University. She completed her Masters of Science and was awarded Diplomate status of the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine (ACVIM) in 2002. She then became a faculty member at Auburn University in Alabama and competed a fellowship in Emergency and Critical Care and obtained Diplomate status in 2007. Allison worked as a specialist and taught veterinary students at Auburn University for 12 years, and has over 300 publications/book chapters/scientific presentations/conference lectures. She was awarded 30 research grants and has presented research throughout the world in the areas of equine endocrinology, fungal disease, neurology, infectious disease and pharmacology. Allison resigned her position as Professor of Equine Medicine at Auburn University in 2015 and moved back to Australia. She spent some time in small animal, mixed and equine practice seeing primarily emergency cases whlist actuing as a Director on the Veterinary Surgeons Board of Victoria. She then completed her PhD at the Swedish Agricultural University in Uppsala and commenced as a Senior Lecturer at the University of Queensland's School of Veterinary Science. Allison enjoys speaking at international conferences. Her current research interests include equine endocrinology, pharmacokinetics and tthe local Queensland specific probelms of Hendra virus diagnsotics and vaccination responses and treatment of Insect Bite Hypersensitivity. Because of her broad prior experieinces she is able to supervise graduate students and undertake collaborative research working with a number of veterinary species.

Associate Professor Steyn is a leading expert in neurodegenerative disease research, specializing in the metabolic and physiological aspects of Motor Neurone Disease (MND). He currently directs a comprehensive translational research program at the University of Queensland, focusing on the interplay between metabolism and disease progression in MND, and leads key projects investigating the impact of metabolic dysfunction, appetite dysregulation, and hypermetabolism on patient outcomes. His work prioritizes the integration of pre-clinical models, clinical studies, and innovative digital health technologies to advance understanding of the heterogeneity in MND, patient care and therapeutic development.

Associate Professor Steyn’s career began with detailed investigations into the hypothalamic regulation of energy homeostasis, growth, and reproduction. He developed industry-standard methodologies for evaluating hormone release patterns in rodent models, particularly concerning growth hormone regulation. In 2015, he transitioned to focus on neurodegenerative diseases, establishing a research platform at UQ that has significantly advanced the analysis of metabolic phenotypes in MND.

His current research projects include the MEND-MND study, which explores how altered energy metabolism influences disease progression, and the EATT4MND study, which examines the consequences of appetite loss and impaired body weight regulation on disease outcomes. Through collaboration with industry partners, he is also developing novel therapeutic strategies and refining wearable digital health technologies for precise, real-time monitoring of disease progression, including the validation of actigraphy-based measures as clinical trial biomarkers.

Dr Stjepanović is a senior research fellow at the National Centre for Youth Substance Use Research (NCYSUR). His work focusses on how drug use patterns are changing, particularly as a consequence of public policy. This includes, for example, understanding who vapes cannabis, if psychedelics are being used to self-treat physical and psychiatric symptoms, and what the effect psychedelic microdosing has. Additionally, he is interested in using experimental methods to understand substance use, leveraging his background in experimental psychology and cognitive neuroscience.

I am a medicinal and organic chemist

Studied organic chemistry at the University of Sydney, moved to UQ in 1993, then worked for Bayer in Germany, before moving back to Australia in 1996. Worked in Melbourne at the Victorian College of Pharmacy (now MIPS). I then returned to UQ in 2000 to the Fairlie lab where we design and synthesise new chemical entities to tackle human disease. Since 2012 I have been on extended medical leave and am currently an Adjunct Research Fellow, researching proteins from flaviviruses such as Dengue, West Nile, and Zika viruses, and the coronaviruses SARS, MERS, and SARS-CoV-2.

Jason Stokes is a Professor in the School of Chemical Engineering and leads the Premium Food and Beverages Program in Australia’s Food and Beverage Accelerator. This program focuses on industry-driven research to enhance onshore value-adding and business growth opportunities. Jason obtained his BE (Chem) and PhD from University of Melbourne, and was a Researcher with Unilever R&D United Kingdom from 1999-2008, before joining UQ in 2008.

Jason is a recognized expert in the rheology, lubrication, structure and processing of complex fluids and soft materials, including food and beverages. He pioneered the development of rheology and soft contact tribology techniques to provide new insights into oral processing and sensory perception that includes mouthfeel, taste and flavour. His research has uncovered the physical and structural properties driving the complex sensory attributes of a wide variety of food and beverages. These are used by industry to engineer next-generation foods with improved quality and sustainability.

He served in a leadership role as Deputy Associate Dean Research in the Faculty of Engineering, Architecture and IT (EAIT), 2020-23, with a specific focus on research training, development and well-being of emerging researchers. He has previously held other senior roles inlcude Acting Associate Dean of Research in Faculty of EAIT and Director of Research in the School of Chemical Engineering.

Some key areas of his research include:

1. Rheology, tribology, and interfacial properties of soft matter, food and beverages, including development of methods to uncover relevant material properties of food and beverages driving mouthfeel, texture and flavour. .
2. Soft materials and Soft matter such as gels, soft glasses, suspensions, microgels, emulsions and foams, with particular emphasis on using fundamental approaches to uncover structure-property relationships for complex systems.
3. Colloids and hydrocolloids such as nanocrystalline cellulose, microgels, polysaccharides, proteins and starches.
4. Development of structure-property-processing relationships for rational design of food and beverages, including dairy & plant-based and solids & liquids.
5. Aqueous lubrication, transport phenomena and flow of non-Newtonian fluids and their application across various industries (minerals, waste, foods, firefighting fluids, polishing fluids).

Professor Stokes lectures and coordinates teaching modules in the Chemical Engineering degree, with particular strengths in Fluid Mechanics and currently coordinates and lectures both Transport Phenomenon (CHEE4009) and Engineering Placement (ENGG7292) courses.

Dr Nicole Stormon is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Queensland and AHPRA registered Oral health therapist. The current and inaugural Program Convenor for the School of Dentistry’s Doctor of Dental Medicine. She is also the Principal Research Fellow for Queensland Health Metro North Community and Oral Health. An alumnus of the University of Queensland for her undergraduate and postgraduate training, Nicole has become an internationally recognised leader and advocate in Oral Health Therapy.

Nicole Stormon has publications in high quality journals, numerous conference presentation and research collaborations. Health service research is a central theme of her research, with ongoing collaborations with Queensland Health to develop evidence-based and cost-effective models of dental care. She has extensive experience in the analysis of complex quantitative health service data and large longitudinal cohort studies. Additionally, Nicole is experienced in relevant health services research methods including qualitative, scoping methods and consumer engagement. Translating evidence into practice can be challenging, however her research aims to implement innovations and generate new knowledge to better patients oral health outcomes. Being a clinician herself and her effective collaborations to the health service are key to bridging the knowledge-implementation gap.

Nicole Stormon represents the oral health workforce and applies expertise, leadership and governance skills. As an advocate for oral health, she has consulted on a number of national oral health policy issues. Called as an expert witness into the Aged Care Royal Commission into oral health. She has contributed to countless written submissions and representations on national and local advocacy and policy matters. As a leader and advocate for her profession, saw through the recognition and implementation of oral health professionals in obtaining provider numbers and claiming within the Child Dental Benefits Schedule. She has contributed to ongoing public policy issues and has published evaluations of the federal funding policy the Child Dental Benefits.