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Professor of Political Science

Background:

Gillian Whitehouse researches in areas of gender and employment equity, focusing in particular on the impact of regulatory frameworks and legislative change on gender equity in contemporary societies. Her research has attracted significant funding from Australian and international agencies (including the Australian Research Council, Government departments in Australia and Britain, the OECD and the European Commission). She is a member of several international networks of researchers in the areas of employment rights and equity, including the International Network on Leave Policies & Research which produces an annual report on parental leave policies in over 30 countries. Her work has been influential within and beyond academic, contributing in particular to pay equity and parental leave policy developments in Australia.

Research Interests:

• Gender Pay Equity: This research spans a considerable period, commencing with cross-nationally comparative analyses of the relationship between institutional frameworks for wage setting and gender equity outcomes and extending to occupational case studies of female-dominated occupations and the resilience of wage gains won through pay equity cases, particularly in times of legislative change. Gillian Whitehouse’s work in these areas has informed pay equity inquiries and claims before tribunals at national and state levels in Australia.
• Parental Rights in Employment: This research focuses on the work/family intersection and includes analyses of the use of parental leave in Australia and investigations into the impact of parental leave type and duration on outcomes such as career progression, gendered parenting roles and family well-being. Following on from the design and implementation of Australia’s first comprehensive survey on the use and impact of parental leave (which informed a major Productivity Commission inquiry and national policy development), Gillian Whitehouse is currently part of a consortium undertaking an evaluation of Australia’s paid parental leave policy.
• Work and Occupations: This research has focused on gender equity and work/family balance for a number of different occupational groups, including academia, professional roles in universities, architecture and - more broadly - science and technology. Aspects of this research have addressed horizontal and vertical patterns of sex segregation within computing work and emerging ‘creative’ areas such as multimedia, as well as the use of technology in changing the spatial and temporal organisation of work (e.g. via telework). Recent project work includes contribution to the European Commission project Practising Gender Equality in Science which focused on organisational strategies to attract and retain women in leadership positions in science and technology occupations in 20 countries.

Associate Professor

Pharmacy Australia Centre of Excellence Email: karen.whitfield@uq.edu.au

Dr Karen Whitfield is an Associate Professor within the School of Pharmacy and is the Program Lead for the Master of Clinical Pharmacy.https://future-students.uq.edu.au/study/programs/master-clinical-pharmacy-5718

Karen was awarded the Research Excellence Award for Research Support - Metro North Health Service in 2020 and the Australian Clinical Pharmacist awarded by the Society of Hospital Pharmacists of Australia in 2017

Karen has worked at a number of different hospital including Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital, Leicester Royal Infirmary, Leicester General Infirmary, North Staffordshire Hospital Trust (Surgical and Paediatric Directorate Pharmacist), The Townsville Hospital. Most recently she has worked at the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital (from 2015-2021) holding several positions including, Team Leader Women's and Newborns and Assistant Director Cancer Care Services. She has also held a number of teaching positions including, Sr Lecturer James Cooke University, Teacher Practitioner with Medicines Services Queensland and lecturer with the University of Queensland.

Her specialist interests include Women's Health and Neonatology

She completed a Diploma in Hospital Pharmacy (1991), Masters in Clinical Pharmacy (1996) and completed her PhD at Aston University in 2002 under the supervision of Dr John Marriott and Dr Keith Wilson at the Birmingham Children’s Hospital UK, investigating sedatives in the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit.

Karen has presented work Nationally and Internationally at several Seminars and Conferences including, Life Long Learning for Pharmacists Conference (Dublin 2020, Croatia 2016), FIP webinar series ‘Hearing from our Hero’s’ (2020), Monash Pharmacy Education Symposium (2019), MM2018 SHPA Conference Brisbane (2018), Neonatal and Paediatric Pharmacists Conference UK (2015), Society of Obstetric Medicine Australia and New Zealand (Melbourne 2015).

Dr. Whitmire is a group leader at the Queensland Brain Institute (QBI) and a senior lecturer in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS) at The University of Queensland (UQ). She is a leading expert in understanding how sensory information is represented along the neuraxis from the neurons in the skin that sense external stimuli to the central representation in the thalamocortical circuit. She operates at the interface of neuroscience and engineering to generate novel insights into information representation in the brain. Her laboratory uses a combination of tools to record from populations of neurons, manipulate the activity of those neurons, and model the underlying neural circuitry. Dr. Whitmire trained as a Biomedical Engineer at North Carolina State University (B. S.) and Georgia Institute of Technology/Emory Universty (Ph.D.). Following postdoctoral work at the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine, she established her own laboratory at The University of Queensland in 2023.

Professor Andrew Whittaker is Senior Group Leader and founder member of the Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (AIBN). He directs research funded through more than $61.3 million in competitive grants since 2000 and $39.7M since 2010. Professor Whittaker’s work in synthesis and characterisation of polymeric materials has underpinned major development programs in several key areas.

His work in the field of materials for photolithography has been supported by funding from leading semiconductor companies Intel, Sematech, Dow Chemical Company and DuPont. Outcomes include novel high-index resists for 193 nm immersion lithography, new concepts for design of non-chemically amplified resists for EUV lithography, novel approaches to healing roughness in IC features and block copolymer self-assembly.

In the field of biomaterials science and nanomedicine, Professor Whittaker has established a network of international scientists under the theme “Bringing Materials to Life”. He is active in developing novel imaging agents for MRI, and has introduced a new class of 19F polymeric agents. He leads research into responsive polymers for nanomedicine and for device manufacture. His work on polymeric hydrogels including transport properties is highly cited.

Finally, Professor Whittaker is an expert in the fundamentals of diffusion process in complex solids and has an international reputation in the field of NMR and MRI of polymeric systems.

International links

Professor Whittaker is a member of numerous international committees of governing bodies in polymer science and technology, and is involved in organising major international conferences. He is currently president of the Pacific Polymer Federation. He actively collaborates with scientists at the University of California Santa Barbara, USA; Institute of Nano Science and Technology, Mohali, India; Gebze Technical University, Turkey; Nagoya Institute of Technology, Japan; Jilin University, Hubei University, the National Center for Nanoscience and Technology (NCNST, CAS), SUSTech and Shanghai University, China; the University of Nottingham, UK; IMEC, DuPont Electronics and Imaging, USA. He has held visiting professor positions at NCNST, INSA Lyon and NIT, was DICE Chair at the University of Nottingham, and is currently visiting professor at Hubei University.

Dr Koa Whittingham is a clinical and educational/developmental psychologist with research interests across parenting, neurodevelopmental disabilities and acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT). Koa began her career building key empirical support for the flagship UQ program Stepping Stones Triple P for specific neurodevelopmental disabilities including autism, acquired brain injury and cerebral palsy. She has since developed an international reputation as a leader in developing and testing novel acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) interventions to support parents, including using online/telehealth formats. Her contributions to the field of ACT-based parenting intervention were recognised by her election as a Fellow to the Assocaition for Contextual Beahvioural Science in 2023. Koa has a strong track record with over 100 papers and 6 book chapters and currently leads an MRFF testing her online intervention Parenting Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (PACT) with 300 families of children with neurodevelopmental disabilities or developmental delay. She has written a self-help book for the transition to motherhood, Becoming Mum, as well as the first clinical manual on applying ACT to parenting support, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy the Clinician's Guide for Supporting Parents.

Dr Jocelyn Widagdo is a molecular neuroscientist at the Queensland Brain Institute (QBI), The University of Queensland. She received her PhD from the University of New South Wales and, after a short period of postdoctoral training at the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Dr Widagdo returned to Australia in 2012 and joined the QBI, where she is currently a Senior Research Fellow at the Clem Jones Centre for Ageing Dementia Research. She leads a research team focused on uncovering the epitranscriptomic mechanisms that regulate brain function. Her work centres on how RNA modifications regulate synaptic plasticity, learning and memory. Beyond RNA, her research extends to chemical modifications of DNA and proteins, and explores how these highly dynamic molecular changes orchestrate neuronal activity and may contribute to brain disorders. Dr Widagdo’s research is supported by the Australian Research Council and was awarded a Discovery Early Career Researcher Fellowship. Through her research, she hopes to open new paths toward understanding molecular switches that support healthy brain aging.

Dr Felix Wiesner is an Assistant Professor at the University of British Columbia and an Honorary Fellow in the School of Civil Engineering at The University of Queensland and works as part of the National Centre for Timber Durability and Design Life. He was appointed at UQ as a Lecturer in Timber Engineering in 2019 to lead research projects focused on enhancing the fire performance of timber using treatments and modification techniques. His background is in structural fire engineering and the fire safety of timber structures, specifically engineered timber structures. His field of expertise are the critical evaluation of load bearing capacity of building elements in fire and the assessment of safety implications arising from the use of engineered timber as structural members in tall buildings or structures with extraordinary architectural features.

Dr Wiesner completed his Master of Engineering in Structural and Fire Safety Engineering at The University of Edinburgh from 2010 to 2015 before he completed his doctoral studies on the structural behaviour of cross-laminated timber in fire between 2015 and 2020. During his undergraduate and postgraduate work, he closely worked with Arup on multiple projects regarding the fire safety of timber buildings and the effect of localised fires in large open spaces. He actively participated in the European COST Action FP 1404 for the Fire Safe Use of Bio-Based Building Products between 2016 and 2019, representing the UK as a Management Committee member. He significantly contributed to the success of the Fires in Tall Timber Structures: Large-scale Tests in Support of Tall Timber Construction project at the BRE in the UK and also worked as a member of the global Fire Safe Use of Wood research collaboration.

Chamith completed his PhD in Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Akron, Ohio, USA in 2014 and BSc (Hons) degree in Electronic and Telecommunications Engineering with first class honours at the University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka in 2007. His research interests and expertise include multidimensional signal processing, digital hardware architectures for signal processing, FPGA based system design, hardware accelerators for machine learning, and engineering education. Chamith has received a number of awards including the Outstanding Student Research Award at the University of Akron, Ohio, USA, in 2011 and he is one of the two recipients of the IEEE Circuits and Systems Pre-Doctoral Award in 2014. From 2015-2019 he was a lecturer at the School of Electrical Engineering and Telecommunications, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia.

Dr Lahann Wijenayake is the Head of Orthopaedic Surgery at The University of Queensland. He is a Brisbane based orthopaedic surgeon having obtained his FRACS and FAorthA through the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons. He is also an Associate Fellow of the Royal Australian College of Medical Administrators. Dr Wijenayake is a surgeon at the Queensland Children's Hospital. He has a keen interest in medical student teaching as well as research in the field of paediatric orthopaedics, orthopaedics, and medical student education.

I completed my Bachelor of Biotechnology with First Class Honours at the Australian National University (ANU) during 2008. During my honours, I became interested in understanding ways to best harness the immune system in combating viral infections. Consequently, I embarked on a PhD project at The John Curtin School of Medical Research, ANU during 2010 to understand ways to improve the efficacy of genetically modified and safe pox viral vaccines to target human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). I completed this project during 2014 and worked as a an Early Career Fellow (sponsored by The Hospital Research Foundation) at the University of Adelaide to develop safe and effective vaccines against HIV, hepatitis C virus (HCV) and Zika virus. I joined the The University of Queensland during May, 2019 to develop a 'Rapid Response Vaccine Pipeline' (sponsored by The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI)) to target emerging/re-emerging viral infections using a prioprietary 'Molecular Clamp' vaccine technology. My career objective is to develop vaccines that can be effective in protective humans against viral infections.

Janet Wiles is a Professor in Human Centred Computing at the University of Queensland.

Her multidisciplinary team co-designs language technologies to support people living with dementia and their carers and social robots for applications in health, education, and neuroscience. She is currently developing a citizen science project which uses insights from neuroscience, AI and language technologies to explore the electrical characteristics of mycelial networks of symbiotic fungi in local ecosystems. She received her PhD in computer science from the University of Sydney and completed a postdoctoral fellowship in psychology. She has 30 years’ experience in research and teaching in machine learning, artificial intelligence, bio-inspired computation, complex systems, visualisation, language technologies and social robotics, leading teams that span engineering, humanities, social sciences and neuroscience. She currently teaches research methods for thesis and masters students, and is developing a new course in human-centred AI. Previous special interest courses include a cross disciplinary course ”Voyages in Language Technologies” that introduced computing students to the diversity of Indigenous and non-Indigenous languages, and state-of-the-art tools for deep learning and other analysis techniques for working with language data.

Featured projects

• Human-centred AI
• Florence communication technology
• For more on Human Centred Computing see the HCC projects page

Kim Wilkins is a humanities researcher and acclaimed creative writer who specialises in the intersection of creativity, technology, and cultural industries. Currently Associate Dean (Research) in the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at UQ, she leads innovative research into the socio-material dimensions of creative industries and the application of creative thinking to complex technological challenges.

Her research portfolio spans popular fiction studies, publishing ecosystems, and technology foresight. Recent projects include pioneering work on speculative fiction storytelling for defence innovation, community publishing in regional Australia, and the application of "story thinking" to anticipate technological impacts. She serves as a member of the Australian Research Council College of Experts.

As a creative practitioner, Wilkins has published 30+ novels in 20+ languages, including bestselling historical fiction and fantasy series. Her dual expertise as both researcher and professional writer uniquely positions her to bridge academic inquiry with industry practice, particularly in areas of creativity research, reading and book culture, the future of publishing, and transdisciplinary innovation.

Shelley is an Associate Professor and Senior Principal Research Fellow in the School of Pharmacy, UQ as part of the RECARD project.

She is also a Project Officer - Research and Clinical Support in the Department of Obstetric Medicine, Mater Mothers Hospitals, Brisbane.

She is recognised as a leading Australian researcher in maternal health and in implementation science.

Shelley's main research interests include:

• Implementation Science and Translating Research into Practice
• Health service redesign through co-creation
• Nutrition and maternal health ('The first 1000 days')
• Digital technologies and platforms to facilitate behaviour change

Shelley is an Associate Editor for Dietitians Australia’s national journal, Nutrition and Dietetics. In 2010, Shelley received Advanced Accredited Practising Dietitian status as recognition of her professional leadership and expertise. The high quality of her research has been recognised with six awards in the field of Evidence-Based Practice and Clinical Research.

With 41 peer reviewed publications in the past 5 years, she has an h-index of 23 and her Field-Weighted Citation Impact score (1.50) is above average for her discipline, particularly in the areas of Health Service Research (FWCI 2.35), Gestational Diabetes (FWCI 1.55), and Gut Microbiota (FWCI 2.10).

My research focusses on soil health in cropping and pasture systems, specialising in soil carbon and soil organic matter dynamics, microbial ecology, and plant-soil interactions. I am interested in how agronomic interventions impact soil health and in developing methods to reverse soil fertility decline and build healthier, more productive soils. This includes understanding the impacts of tillage, cover cropping, crop rotational diversity, nutrient management, and organic amendments on soil functional processes and crop development and productivity.

I have extensive experience in designing and analyzing field and glasshouse experiments and implementing advanced statistical models using R. I have excellent verbal and written communication skills, maintain positive relationships with collaborators both nationally and internationally, and publish manuscripts in peer-reviewed scientific journals.