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Dr Desalegn Markos Shifti (PhD, MSc, BSc) is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Child Health Research Centre (CHRC) at the University of Queensland. He is currently engaged in the comprehensive investigation of the prevalence, natural history, causes and consequences of allergic diseases.

Desalegn obtained his PhD in Clinical Epidemiology and Medical Statistics from the University of Newcastle, Australia, in 2022. Before pursuing his PhD, Desalegn worked as an Assistant Professor, Lecturer, and Graduate Assistant at various universities in Ethiopia, where he held both academic and research roles.

Desalegn has authored and co-authored several peer-reviewed research articles published in high-impact journals, such as the Lancet, JAMA Paediatrics, JAMA Oncology, and the International Journal of Public Health. He has expertise in several epidemiological and statistical skills, including generalised linear modelling, multilevel modelling, causal inferences for observational studies, mediation analysis, socio-economic assessment, geospatial analysis, big data analysis, systematic review, meta-analysis, and network meta-analysis.

Desalegn collaborates widely with public and clinical health researchers within Australia, low and middle-income countries, and internationally, across epidemiological studies. Key areas of interest and collaboration include allergies, maternal and child health, Indigenous health and well-being, reproductive health, health services research, chronic disease, and public health.

Dr Shim's research revolves around developing computational methods to understand determinants of cell identity by analysing various genomic data. Trained in bioinformatics, pharmacy and biomedical science (majoring in biochemistry and immunology), Dr Shim incorporates inter-disciplinary knowledge to solve research questions in both basic science and translational medicine.

Emma Shipton is a Registered Midwife and International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC) and academic employed by the School of Nursing, Midwifery and Social Work, UQ. Emma's teaching interest is in supporting students to support women across the pregnancy and postpartum continuum, and understand the importance of theoretical knowledge and therapeutic relationships. Emma's research focuses on midwifery breastfeeding education and support provided to women, specific through midwifery led continuity of care models. She is committed to providing individualised and holistic care to women and their families, to best support them to achieve their breastfeeding goals, through her academic and clinical work.

Dr. Denis Shishin,

• Bachelor of Science and Master of Science in Chemistry from Moscow State University (Diploma with Honors)
• PhD in Metallurgical Engineering from University of Montreal, Canada
• 2014 - Current: Research Fellow in Pyrometallurgy Innovation Centre (PYROSEARCH) of the University of Queensland

Dr Sally Shrapnel is an internationally recognised interdisciplinary scientist whose research spans quantum physics, artificial intelligence, digital medicine, and philosophy. With a unique career trajectory bridging clinical medicine and cutting-edge quantum technologies, Dr Shrapnel is committed to solving foundational and applied problems that cross traditional disciplinary boundaries.

A registered medical practitioner and Fellow of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners, she brings over two decades of clinical experience in Tasmania, Queensland, and the UK. After earning an MSc in Bioengineering from Imperial College London, she pursued a PhD in Quantum Artificial Intelligence—focusing on quantum causal inference—which launched her second career as a quantum physicist.

Currently, Dr Shrapnel is Associate Professor of Physics at The University of Queensland and Deputy Director of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Engineered Quantum Systems (EQUS). Her research addresses two fundamental questions:

• What does quantum theory reveal about the nature of reality?
• Can quantum resources be harnessed to design faster, more efficient AI algorithms?

These inquiries drive her leading contributions in Quantum Foundations and Quantum Machine Learning, where she develops novel theoretical frameworks and algorithms that aim to unlock the quantum advantage in emerging technologies. As Program Lead for Quantum Technologies for Health at the Queensland Digital Health Centre, Dr Shrapnel is also preparing the state’s healthcare ecosystem for the next technological revolution—bringing quantum tools into real-world applications in health and medicine.

A passionate advocate for interdisciplinary research, Dr Shrapnel continues to publish widely across quantum physics, computer science, digital health, and the philosophy of science. Her work exemplifies the power of rigorous, cross-disciplinary thinking to address some of the most profound and practical challenges of our time.

Dr Shakti Shrestha is a Lecturer in Pharmacy Practice and Medicines Management at the School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, The University of Queensland (UQ) and undertakes course coordination for the First Year Bachelor of Pharmacy program - PHRM1101 in Sem 1 and Sem 3. Shakti shifted to this full time academic role from a Research Fellow position that mainly involved conducting and supporting an Australian Government funded (Dementia Ageing and Aged Care Mission Medical Research Future Fund) research on improving the Quality Use of Medicine in Australian Residential Aged Care via the role of knowledge broker pharmacist (the EMBRACE project). Within his Research Fellow role, Shakti course coordinated Second Year teachout courses for UQ's Bachelor of Pharmacy program.

Shakti obtained his PhD at UQ School of Pharmacy, which focused on optimising medication use in older adults with limited life expectancy, drawing his extensive experience working and researching in a clinical medicine and aged care environment. He was a recipient of the 2018 Australian Research Training Scholarship at UQ for his doctoral degree. He also received the 2022 Career Development Scholarship from UQ that allowed him to develop clinical trial skills at Queensland Health, Sunshine Coast University Hospital, Townsville University Hospital and Gold Coast Private Hospital.

Shakti received his Master's degree in Clinical Pharmacology from the University of Aberdeen (UK) in 2010 and had an opportunity to work with the International Stroke Registry data called SITS-ISTR (Safe Implementation of Thrombolysis in Stroke-International Stroke Thrombolysis Registry) in the National Health Service (NHS) Grampian Hospital, UK. He received his undergraduate Pharmacy degree from Pokhara University (Nepal) in 2007 and is registered as a Pharmacist both in Nepal and Australia.

Shakti has supervised nine pharmacy undergraduate thesis (4-years BPharm program) to completion in Nepal, and supervised several undergraduate and masters research project students. He continues to supervise a number of independent research projects mainly with the intention to support the capacity building of health professionals in research; these research often make into publications.

Shakti has research expertise in the field of geriatric and palliative medication use and safety, quality use of medicine, pharmacy practice and health services. He has research methodology expertise on systematic review, clinical research design, predictive model development, meta-analysis, medical statistics and qualitative research. He has more than 10 years of experience working in research, academic and clinical roles nationally and internationally.

Dr Kirstine Shrubsole is an NHMRC Emerging Leadership Fellow at the Queensland Aphasia Research Centre. She holds a Bachelor of Speech Pathology (First Class Honours) from The University of Queensland, and completed her PhD in 2018. Kirstine has a research focus on improving implementation of evidence into practice in speech pathology and multidisciplinary services, with a special interest in stroke and aphasia rehabilitation. She has demonstrated that practice change is achievable for healthcare teams working in aphasia, leading to positive outcomes for patients, clinicians, and organisations.

Kirstine has published over 50 peer-reviewed journal articles, and has been awarded over $11 million in competitive research funding. Kirstine previously worked as the Conjoint Research Fellow in Speech Pathology (Princess Alexandra Hospital and The University of Queensland), providing research capacity building and mentoring to speech pathologists and supporting multidisciplinary research. Kirstine is the co-founder and Deputy Lead of the Collaboration of Aphasia Triallists’ Implementation Science in Aphasia working group, and a research affiliate of the Centre for Research Excellence in Aphasia Rehabilitation and Recovery.

Kirstine is completing a NHMRC Emerging Leadership Fellowship on the following topic:

• The Aphasia Implementation Toolkit Project: Developing an implementation intervention to improve services for stroke survivors with aphasia

She is a chief investigator on three MRFF grants, including:

• Unspoken, Unheard, Unmet: Improving Access to Preventative Health Care through Better Conversations about Care

• Bridging the Digital Divide: Building Health Self-Efficacy through Communication-Accessible Online Environments

• Enhancing utility of neuropsychological evaluation for earlier and effective diagnosis of dementia in Parkinson's disease

Nicki is a marine conservation scientist in the Centre for Policy Futures and an Adjunt in the Centre for Biodiversity and Conservation Science, where she focuses on how conservation and biodiversity outcomes can be improved by interfacing science with policy using novel approaches and decision-support tools. Her expertise is in coastal and marine restoration planning and policy, conservation and impact mitigation at the land-sea interface, and marine biodiversity offsets and net gain policy. She is currently the Regulatory Lead for the Reef Restoration and Adaptation Program (RRAP), a partnership between the Great Barrier Reef Foundation and the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS), funded by the Commonwealth Reef Trust. She co-leads a National Environmental Science Program (NESP) on de-risking nature repair in Australia. She previously co-led another National Environmental Science Program (NESP) project on identifying and overcoming the legal barriers to marine and coastal restoration.

My research interest may be seen to lie within one or more of the following areas

· Postcolonial sociologies of education

· Critical governmentality studies

· Student mobilities.

· Studies of globalization and transnationalism in relation to education institutions, policies and practices

· International higher education governance

· Development and education

These interests probably have something to do with my personal biography. I am a first generation ‘education migrant’ whose parents migrated to Australia at the tail end of the 1970s, their postcolonial dream unraveled by the cultural politics of new nationhood. We came to live in Western Australia at the end of one mining boom (this one was Japan driven), and the start of a major economic restructuring project that would transform the Australia economy, and the lifestyles and livelihoods of many of its citizens. I finished high school and then majored in Microbiology at the University of Western Australia, before working for two years in a genetics laboratory on the molecular aspects of change in anaerobic bacteria. I subsequently moved disciplines to the social sciences, completed a degree in Social Work, and worked for a decade in a number of areas ranging from child protection and juvenile justice to ‘educational development assistance’, multicultural counselling, refugee settlement and international student advising. In 1999, I commenced my PhD studies. My thesis investigated the workings of the education export industry using postcolonial and poststructuralist frameworks. It critically appraised the concept of globalisation and its use to govern international education. Through this work, I developed an interest in the different actors in the cast of globalization - international students, transnational scientists, and refugees and asylum seekers.

My more recent research has focused on emerging education hubs in Singapore and Malaysia and the transnational mobilities of ‘knowledge workers’ recruited to these emerging knowledge spatialities. I am also investigating the temporal reach and recontextualisation of colonial knowledges and practices on assembling ‘postcolonial’ subjectivities in the context of Southeast Asia. I have a strong interest in empirical work and welcome enquires from students who are interested in deep and substantive engagement with theoretical frameworks. Being a cultural, professional and disciplinary hybrid, I am keen to work across disciplines.

I am actively involved in three research projects at present, all concerned variously with investigations of mobility:

• Globalising Universities and International Student Mobilities in East Asia, Funded by the Ministry of Education, Government of Singapore
• Transnational Knowledge Workers in the Life-and Technosciences, Funded by the University of Queensland
• Inbound and Outbound Student Mobility, Funded by the University of Queensland.

Dr Thomas Sigler is an Associate Professor of Human Geography, with a focus on urban and economic geography. He holds a PhD and MSc from the Pennsylvania State University, and a BA from the University of Southern California. He is Deputy Head of School in the School of the Environment, and is a Guest Professor of Geography at the University of Luxembourg. Dr Sigler has published more than 100 peer-reviewed papers on topics relating to urban growth and development, economic connectivity, urban planning, and the sharing economy with collaborators in Asia, Europe, Australia and North America. These publications appear in a wide range of academic journals, including Urban Geography, Environment and Planning A, PLoS One, Urban Studies, Regional Studies, Journal of Geography, International Journal of Urban and Regional Research (IJURR), and the Bulletin of Latin American Research. Dr Sigler is an editorial board member of Urban Geography, Finance & Space, Global Networks and Geographical Research.

Dr Anelise Silveira is a physiotherapist and early career researcher specializing in musculoskeletal (MSK) conditions, particularly upper extremity disorders. She has a strong interest in non-pharmacological randomized controlled trials (RCTs), systematic reviews (including meta-analysis and network meta-analysis), and co-designing research protocols with people with lived experience to ensure relevance and impact.

Currently, she is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Clinical Trials at the STARS Education and Research Alliance and the School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, The University of Queensland. Anelise is also affiliated with the Centre for Innovation in Pain and Health Research (CIPHeR), the ANZMUSC Clinical Trials Network, the Queensland Orthopaedic Physiotherapy Network (QOPN), and the Canadian Physiotherapy Association (CPA).

She has contributed to 12 successful grant applications securing over AUD$688,000 and published 19 peer-reviewed papers. She has mentored 10 orthopaedic surgery residents in completing research projects, 4 physical therapists in conducting systematic reviews, 2 physiotherapists in clinical skill development, and numerous research personnel in data collection, RCT procedures, and project management. She previously served as Research Director for the College of Health Sciences at the University of Alberta in Canada, where she also completed her PhD in Epidemiology in 2024. Her doctoral work focused on improving care and return-to-work outcomes for workers with shoulder injuries. Anelise relocated to Australia in March 2025 to begin her fellowship and is welcoming PhD and Master’s students interested in upper-extremity MSK research.