Find an expert

Mr Carl Soltau is a medicinal chemist focused on developing novel therapeutic strategies and understanding the mechanisms required to address major challenges in preserving human health. He obtained his PhD in 2026 from the Queensland University of Technology, where his research has centred on the design and synthesis of nitroxide-based hybrid molecules with mutiple modes of action, including anti-inflammatory, and anticancer activity. In his current current role, he focus on the synthesis of fluorescent antibiotic derivatives as to better understand drug–target interactions, localisation, and mechanisms of resistance in bacterial systems.

Overall, his research is driven by a broader goal of uncovering how molecular design can be leveraged to better understand and overcome complex disease processes.

Dr Pranavan Somaskandhan is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Children’s Health Research Centre, University of Queensland (UQ), where he is part of the Community Sleep Health Group led by Professor Simon Smith. His research expertise lies in applying artificial intelligence techniques to sleep research and physiological signal analysis. He is a recipient of the 2026 Future Leaders Professional Development Funding Award within the Australian Research Council (ARC) Centre of Excellence for the Digital Child.

Dr Somaskandhan holds a PhD in Biomedical Engineering from UQ, with doctoral research focused on developing deep learning methods for reliable and physiology-aligned sleep scoring. During his doctoral studies, he received the Richard Jago Memorial Prize from the School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at UQ in 2022 and was recognised as a New Investigator Award Finalist at the Sleep DownUnder 2024 conference.

He also holds a Bachelor of Science in Computer Engineering with First-Class Honours and has experience across both academic and industry settings. As a Research Fellow, he contributes to the Healthy Child program by implementing machine learning approaches to better understand how digital and light exposure influences sleep health.

Dr Susan Sommerlad graduated as a Bachelor of Veterinary Science, from The University of Liverpool. After completing an intern year at the Small Animal Hospital, University of Liverpool, UK, and spending time in small animal practice in UK, she became a Lecturer in Small Animal Surgery and Medicine at the School of Veterinary Science, The University of Nairobi, Kenya. After moving to Australia, and working in small animal practice, Dr Sommerlad joined the School of Veterinary Science at The University of Queensland in 1990, as a Clinical Resident and Surgical Registrar, and then as a Lecturer in Small Animal Surgery until 2009. During this time she developed a keen interest in small animal soft tissue surgery, particularly of the ear nose and throat and also in surgical correction of portosystemic shunts and vascular surgery in the dog and cat. She founded an audiological testing service for congenital and acquired deafness in the dog and cat. She obtained a membership by examination of the Australian and New Zealand College of Veterinary Scientists, in Small Animal Surgery. In 2013 Dr Sommerlad completed a PhD in Veterinary Science, The University of Queensland entitled " The Treatment of Acquired Conductive Deafness and Management of Congenital Hereditary Sensorineural Deafness in the Dog". She is now an Adjunct Research Fellow in the School of Veterinary Science, providing clinical audiological facilities combined with the promotion of further research into the genetic nature of Congenital Hereditary Sensorineural Deafness in the dog and the surgical treatment of Conductive Deafness in the dog.

Dr. Youhong Song is currently leading a research in crop/plant modelling and smart agriculture for sustainable crop production in School of Agricultural Sciences, Jiangxi Agricultural University.

Youhong is also supporting research in crop ecophysiology in Anhui Province, China where it is known as one significant food supplier province in the nation, aiming to sustain high maize/wheat productivity in facing the constraint of extensive abiotic stresses under climate change. Waterlogging during early canopy establishment, drought/heat stress during reproduction, lodging/interplant competition in maize season while in wheat season, late spring coldness, sprouting and lodging/interplant competition, are major concerns in achieving high crop production. To address the challenges, the knowledge from multidiscipline including crop physiology, agronomy, biology and crop modelling applies, extending from molecular to whole plant level. Projects are ongoing in relation to the above topics.

In particular, Youhong is engaged in bringing scientists together in collaborations for sustaining crop production and food security worldwide.

Reconciling biodiversity conservation with development pressures is one of the world’s greatest sustainability challenges. This is particularly true given the myriad ways that human wellbeing directly depends on well-functioning ecosystems. My research seeks to understand where, when and how to manage and conserve landscapes, so as to beneift both nature and people. I use land use change models, coupled with remote sensing and GIS datasets, to predict how future development projects (e.g. mines, hydropower dams, transportation infrastructure) will impact biodiversity and ecosystem services. This information allows us to compare the costs and benefits of alternative management interventions and, ultimately, provides the knowledge needed to make more informed decisions. My research benefits from collaborating across disciplines (ecology, economics, engineering) and working alongside government and non-government organizations. I am currently conducting projects in Australia, Brazil and the USA.

Jacob is a Clinical Psychologist and Research Fellow in the School of Psychology, at the University of Queensland. Jacob works on projects under the Meaningful Outcomes in Substance use Treatments Centre of Research Excellence (MO-CRE) and the National Centre for Youth Substance use Research (NCYSUR).

Jacob completed his PhD in Clinical Psychology at Griffith University in 2022, where his projected examined the motivational influencers on alcohol and drug preloading behaviours across youth populations in entertainment districts. After completion of his PhD, Jacob developed further clinical specilisation into the treatment of substance use disorders, behavioural addictions, post-traumatic stress disorders (PTSD), obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) and long-term emotional dysregulation. While focusing on his clinical career, Jacob honed his scientist-practitioner skills, published several journal articles and presented in conference proceedings.

Jacob's research interests lie in the overlap between mental health and substance use difficulties, improving outcomes in AOD treatment services through brief interventions, as well, the motivational predictors of alcohol and substance use with relation to preloading and broader policy implications.

Current projects:

• Examining alcohol and substance use trends in youth college populations
• Exploring the potential role of lived experience peer workers in early AOD treatment
• Investigating and testing theoretical components and predictors of alcohol and drug preloading behaviours
• Projects under the MO-CRE and NCYSUR

I am a Research Fellow in the School of Economics and the Sustainable Minerals Institute, where I am currently collaborating with the Resourcing Decarbonisation Program. I obtained my PhD from the London School of Economics (LSE).

Laura Natali Sotomayor is a Research Platform Fellow (Geospatial Data Scientist) with the UQ Drone Collaborative Research Platform, based within the W.H. Bryan Mining Geology Research Centre at the Sustainable Minerals Institute. She develops tools and workflows to process, analyse and interpret drone-acquired multi-sensor imagery and lidar data, supporting research and industry applications.

She completed her PhD in Geomatic Engineering at the University of Tasmania, where her research developed deep learning workflows for multi-sensor Unoccupied Aerial Systems (UAS) monitoring of vegetation in semi-arid rangelands, combining remote sensing techniques with automated image analysis to translate high-resolution imagery into spatially explicit information on vegetation cover, structure, and condition.

Professor Southam is a Professor in Geomicrobiology. He is an interdisciplinary researcher who crosses the traditional boundaries between biological and geological sciences to examine bacterial transformations of materials composing the earth’s crust, and the impact these transformations have had over geologic time. Field sites have ranged from Yellostone National Park, to Axel Heiberg Island in the Canadian high arctic, to the ultradeep gold mines in the Republic of Southam Africa (up to 4 km below land surface, to the Amazon Basin. Following his appointment as a Canada Research Chair in Geomicrobiology and Director of Environment and Sustainability at Western University, Canada, Dr. Southam has moved to the University of Queensland where he is leading projects on:

Mineral carbonation, using acid generating bacteria to enhance weathering of ultramafic mine waste, promoting mineral carbonation (CO2 sequestration);

Bioremediation of iron mine sites, by enhancing the biogeochemical cycling of iron to promote the formation of ferruginous duricrusts (canga), and

Bioleaching, focussing on low-grade copper in arid through tropical ecosystems (Australia and Brazil);

Gold exploration, examining the fundamental roles that bacteria play in catalysing the formation of placer gold.

Zac Southern is an APA Sport & Exercise Physiotherapist, Pain Physiotherapist and clinician–researcher whose work focuses on lower limb musculoskeletal conditions, performance medicine and pain management in athletes, performers and active adults. He holds clinical roles at Olympic Park Sports Medicine Centre and academic roles at The University of Queensland, where he contributes to teaching and research in musculoskeletal and sports physiotherapy.

Zac’s emerging research program examines education and exercise‑based interventions for ankle osteoarthritis, ACL reconstruction rehabilitation and load management in field, court and sliding sports. He has contributed to feasibility trials in ankle osteoarthritis and published applied case work on return to running after ACL reconstruction, with the aim of optimising safe and efficient return‑to‑sport and return‑to‑performance pathways.

He has extensive experience in elite sport and touring entertainment, including Cirque du Soleil’s Messi10, Dolphins NRL, the Australian Women’s Olympic Bobsleigh Team at the Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics, VFL/QAFL football and high‑performance netball programs. This provides a strong applied context for collaborative research in injury prevention, wellness monitoring and performance medicine. Key interests include sport and exercise physiotherapy, lower limb injury (ACL and ankle), ankle osteoarthritis, pain education, performance medicine, and implementation of evidence‑based care in high‑performance and clinical settings.

Professor Soyer is an academic dermatologist with over 30 years experience in the field. He was appointed as the inaugural Chair in Dermatology by The University of Queensland (UQ) in 2007 and was Director of the Princess Alexandra Hospital (PAH) Dermatology Department from 2008-2023. His clinical background drives a strong focus on translational skin cancer research.

Professor Soyer is internationally recognised in the field of dermatology with particular expertise in the areas of preventative dermatooncology, dermatopathology and dermatologic imaging (dermoscopy and reflectance confocal microscopy). Within the dermatology discipline he is a pioneer and world leader in the field of dermoscopy of pigmented skin lesions, a non-invasive diagnostic method. He has led the development of the morphologic classification system currently used worldwide.

His main research focus is skin cancer (both melanoma and keratinocyte skin cancer), with a particular interest in technological innovations and their ability to impact early detection strategies and expand the concept and applications of teledermatology and teledermoscopy. A $9.9M infrastructure grant awarded in 2018 by the Australian Cancer Research Foundation (ACRF) has enabled establishment of the collaborative Australian Centre of Excellence in Melanoma Imaging and Diagnosis (ACEMID); installing 15 3D total body imaging systems, linked by a research network, across Australia’s east cost to facilitate research in the early detection of melanoma. ACRF ACEMID is currently conducting Australia’s largest melanoma cohort study targeting 15,000 participants, with the multi-modal research data being collected and stored in a national research repository. This unprecedented data resource will allow many unanswered research questions in the field to be addressed and will facilitate advancements in artificial intelligence, resulting in the development of reliable, evidence-based solutions to transform melanoma early detection.

Professor Soyer has an extensive publication record with over 680 publications to date, with more than 700 citations per year (in the last 5 years) and an h-index of 96 (Google Scholar). His textbook entitled "Dermoscopy - The Essentials 3rd Edition", co-authored with G Argenziano, R Hofmann-Wellenhof and I Zalaudek is considered a world-leading textbook in the field.

Professor Soyer has been awarded two competitive fellowships while at UQ: a Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF) Next Generation Clinical Researchers Program Practitioner Fellowship (2018-2022) and an NHMRC Practitioner Fellowship (2012-2016). The NHMRC Practitioner Fellowship was acknowledged in the NHMRC ‘10 of the Best NHMRC research projects 2016’ publication. He has also been awarded 1 NHMRC European Union Collaborative Research Grant (CIA), 1 NHMRC Synergy Grant (CIC), 1 NHMRC Clinical Trials and Cohort Studies Grant (CIC), 1 MRFF Targeted Health System and Community Organisation Research Grant (CIC), 3 NHMRC Centre of Research Excellence Grants (CIA, CIB, CIE), 4 NHMRC Project Grants (CIA, CIA, CIB, CID), 2 NHMRC Partnership Grants (CIA, CIB), 2 ARC Discovery Project Grants (CIB, CID), and a Queensland Genomic Health Alliance (QGHA) Demonstration Project Grant (CIA), with many additional projects funded through other competitive, industry and philanthropic funding sources. In total, through his involvement as an investigator, he has achieved over $43M in research funding for UQ since 2014.

Beth Spacey is a Lecturer in Medieval History in the School of Historical and Philosophical Inquiry. Beth is a historian specialising in the religious cultures of Europe and the broader Mediterranean region. Her expertise lies in the history of the crusades and the Latin East, and she has broader research interests in medieval ideas about the supernatural, violence, gender, landscapes, and colonialism. She has published on the medieval Latin Christian historiography of the crusades, especially on ideas of the miraculous and masculinities, and is currently conducting research into attitudes towards nature and God's Creation in crusade texts. Her first book, The Miraculous and the Writing of Crusade Narrative, was published in March 2020 by Boydell and Brewer and was released in paperback in 2023.