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Professor Geoff Wang received his PhD in Chemical and Metallurgical Engineering from the Northeastern University, Shenyang, China in 1990. After earned about 2-year Visiting Academic experience at University of New South Wales, he joined the University of Queensland in 1996 and has been leading in the research focusing on modeling and simulation of the Chemical and Metallurgical Engineering processes, such as iron ore sintering, iron- & steel-making, sustainable energy, coalbed methane (CBM) extraction and carbon dioxide capture and utilization including CO2 -sequestration with enhanced coalbed methane (CO2-ECBM) recovery. Professor Wang’s research activity and interests are directed towards developing energy and environmental technologies. He has made significant contributions to the field of research on fluid flow, heat and mass transfer in chemical reactors, particularly gas solid reaction kinetics associated with various porous media. He has been active and completed research programs in clean energy technologies such as pulverized coal injection into blast furnaces, hydrogen production through lower emission coal combustion, and CO2 electrochemical conversion to fuel or reusable chemicals.

Professor Wang is author of a monograph entitled "Pulverized Coal Injection Technology for Blast Furnaces" and has over 100 original journal publications and about 60 refereed conference papers, included 2 patents.

Dr Wang is currently appointed as Honorary Research Fellow / Lecturer at UQ, double affiliated to RMIT University as Senior Lecturer. She is holding Ph.D in Geography, University of Queensland, Australia, 2018; M.S. in GIS, Northern Illinois University, USA, 2011; B.S. in Urban Planning, Sun Yat-Sen University, China, 2009. Before joining UQ in 2015, she worked as a Geographic Information System (GIS) analyst (2011-2012) in Arizona State Government, USA, and a GIS manager (2012-2015) eTour International, a private IT sector in Hawaii, USA. She has been working as an Australian Research Council (ARC) Postdoctoral Research Fellow (2018-2020) and as an Associate Lecturer (2021-2022) at UQ. She was nominated by the Australia Academy of Sciences as the Research Fellow of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science in 2021. I have been involved in teaching in six courses at UQ: GEOM 2001 Introduction of Geographic Information Analysis (lecturer and course coordinator); GEOM 3003/7002 Spatial Modelling and Analysis (lecturer and course coordinator); GEOM 1001 Fundamentals of Geographic Information and Technologies (lecturer and tutor); GEOG2001 Human Mobility and Migration, GEOG 2205/7205 Global Population Issue, and GEOG 3205 Applied Demography.

Dr. Wang completed her MPhil study in the University of Queensland (UQ) in 2016 and PhD study in UQ in October 2020. As an early career researcher, Dr.Wang has demonstrated a high impact track record relative to opportunity with award of Dean's award for Excellence in Higher Degree Research (2016), the high proportion (41%) of first-authored publications, 28% of which in the top 10% most cited publications worldwide (Scopus 24/03/2021). She has been actively engaged in a number of professional activities in the research fields, including RHD student supervision, assessment for the master research projects (BIOX7021), talks at national and international conferences (The Australian Colloid and Interface Symposium Brisbane hub, 2021; The Australasian Society for Stem Cell Research ECR Symposium, 2021; BioNano Innovation, 2020) and conference organization (The Australian Colloid and Interface Symposium Brisbane hub, 2021).

Andrew Ward is an ARC Industry Fellow at the Australian Centre for Water and Environmental Biotechnology (ACWEB), at The University of Queensland. He holds a PhD degree from the School of Chemical Engineering (The University of Adelaide) and his thesis focused on the optimisation of halophilic anaerobic digestion of algal biomass. At ACWEB projects he has worked on include Nutrient recovery via electrodialysis and Anammox for both domestic wastewater and agricultural wastewater treatment. He previously received an Advance Queensland Industry Research Fellowship to investigate the use of algae and bacterial aggregated flocs for the remediation of wastewater. Andrew has just received and ARC Industry Fellowship to investigate the use of microalgae and its role in energy and nutrient recovery from a circular economy perspective. Andrew has significant industrial experience working with large water utilities and industry partners scaling up research to pilot and demonstration scale. Andrew is currently lead investigator and manages Urban Utilities wastewater microalgae research program.

Professor James Ward is a Pitjantjatjara and Narungga man, and a national leader in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander research. He is currently the Director of the Poche Centre for Indigenous Health at the University of Queensland. As such he leads a research program focused on urban Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health and an infectious diseases research program and associated issues. Having held various roles in Aboriginal public health policy for both government and non-government organisations, in 2007 he was appointed as the Inaugural Program Head of the Aboriginal Program at the Kirby Institute, University of New South Wales. In 2012 he moved to Alice Springs to become Deputy Director of the Baker Institutes' Aboriginal Health Program, after which he joined the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute. James has been awarded funding applications totalling $23M since 2013; including $7.14M as CIA on NHMRC funded grants and has authored 160 publications. He has led national research projects on health services research http://cre-ash.org.au/participating-sites/clinical-hubs/; in health promotion www.youngdeadlyfree.org.au; and methamphetamines https://wecandothis.com.au/ to name a few.

His work has influenced policy and practice significantly contributing to national guidelines, policy and practice. During 2020 he has contributed to the national COVID—19 response nationally through membership of the Communicable Diseases Network of Australia and the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander COVID-19 Taskforce.

Prof Ward's research program has focused on adult acute services, including head and neck cancer management, critical care, and general dysphagia management. She conducts research into improving services, evaluating new models of care and new workforce models, digital service delivery models eg., telehealth, as well as clinical training models eg., simulation. Liz is also engaged in exploring the role and benefits of the clinician-researcher workforce within health services.

Prof Ward currently holds a joint position as the Director of the Centre for Functioning and Health (CFAHR), in Metro South Hospital and Health Service, Queensland Health, and, Conjoint Professor with the School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, The University of Queensland. Her research has a clinical focus with particular emphasis on projects designed to improve patient outcomes within health services. She has published extensively with over 450 publications to date and has a track record of competitive grant funding across a number of research fields. Liz has been awarded multiple UQ teaching awards and has supervised >40 students to successful completion of their research higher degree. In 2014 Liz was awarded the title of Fellow of Speech Pathology Australia in recognition of her contributions to the profession.

Dr David Ward is a Research Fellow in ageing and geriatric medicine at the Centre for Health Services Research, Faculty of Medicine. David is particularly interested in how people’s experiences, behaviours and health conditions can affect their chances of developing dementia as they grow older. A key component of his research is aimed at understanding the complex links between ageing, frailty and the brain.

David conducted his PhD at the Wicking Dementia Research and Education Centre, University of Tasmania, and graduated in 2015. This work centred on exploring modifiable (e.g. education level) and non-modifiable (e.g. genetics) risks for ageing-related cognitive decline within the Tasmanian Healthy Brain Project. David subsequently held postdoctoral research positions at Population Health Sciences, German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE, Bonn Germany)—where he investigated the viability of retinal biomarkers for cognitive functioning, among other topics—and Geriatric Medicine Research, Dalhousie University (Halifax Canada)—where he measured the relationships between frailty and the subsequent risks of mild cognitive impairment and dementia. After returning to Australia and prior to starting at The University of Queensland, David worked for two years as a Team Leader at the Ageing and Aged Care Unit, Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (Canberra Australia).

Since 2020 and resulting from David’s international postdoctoral positions, he has published three articles as first-author in world-leading journals: Neurology; the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry; and Annals of Neurology. David has won an award from the Erica Bell Foundation for Excellence in Medical Research and has acted as a peer-review for 15 journals and as an External Grant Assessor for NHMRC Project Grants. David was one of four academic developers who created the Preventing Dementia MOOC (~100,000 completers and ranked 4.9/5.0 on Class Central) and in 2018 was invited to be a guest lecturer at the University of Bonn, Bonn International Graduate School. David is a member of the DEMON Network and is the current Chair of the Network's Frailty and Dementia Special Interest Group.

Dr Aletha Ward (PhD, MBA, BNurs, RN, GAICD, FACN, MAPNA)

Dr Aletha Ward is a Senior Research Fellow at the UQ Poche Centre for Indigenous Health at the University of Queensland. A highly respected Registered Nurse, academic, and policy leader, she has extensive experience in climate health policy, and health equity. Her work focuses on advancing health outcomes through research, advocacy, and policy reform, particularly in addressing the health impacts of climate change for those most at risk. Dr Ward is currently leading work in climate adaptation within primary healthcare, with a focus on nurse-led interventions.

Aletha has been instrumental in embedding planetary health principles within national nursing curriculum. Dr Ward holds several national leadership roles, including Chair of the Climate and Health Faculty at the Australian College of Nursing, Board Director for the Climate and Health Alliance, and Climate and Health representative for the Australian Primary Health Care Nurses Association. She has served as an expert witness at Senate inquiries, presented at the World Health Organization, and is widely recognised for her contributions to public health policy in climate and health, both nationally and internationally.

Nicola Warren is a neuropsychiatrist, Queensland Director of Psychiatry Training and the Mental Health Course Coordinator for the Medical School. In 2018, she established the Neuropsychiatric Service at Metro South Addiction and Mental Health Services focusing on the psychiatric care of those with severe movement disorders, epilepsy and autoimmune encephalitis. She has undertaken a PhD in psychiatric clinical decision making in anti-NMDAR encephalitis and has been an international and national invited speaker in the area of autoimmune encephalitis. Nicola was awarded the Australian fellowship to the World Psychiatric Association 2020 and the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists Early Career Psychiatrist in 2019.

Qualifications

• Doctor of Philosophy, The University of Queensland
• Fellow of the Aus & NZ College of Psychiatrists (Certificate Consultation Liaison Psychiatry)
• Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery, James Cook University

Dr Nicole Warrington is a NHMRC Emerging Leadership Fellow at the University of Queensland Institute for Molecular Bioscience. She has a strong background in statistical genetics and has been actively working towards understanding the genetic determinants of early life growth. Dr Warrington studied a Bachelor of Science at Victoria University in Wellington, New Zealand, majoring in Mathematical Statistics and Psychology. She then completed an honours degree at The University of Western Australia, where she developed a keen interest for genetics, and was subsequently awarded an Australian Postgraduate Award to complete her PhD in statistical genetics and life-course epidemiology. During her PhD she spent time at the University of Toronto to gain experience in statistical modelling methods for longitudinal growth trajectories and conducted the first genome-wide association study of longitudinal growth trajectories over childhood. After completing her PhD, Dr Warrington started at the University of Queensland and focused on using genetics to inform about the relationship between birth weight and cardio-metabolic diseases in later life. She pioneered a new statistical method to partition genetic effects on birth weight into maternal and fetal components, and combined this method with a causal modelling approach, Mendelian randomization. This method was instrumental in demonstrating the relationship between birth weight and adult hypertension is driven by genetic effects, over-turning 30 years of research into the effects of intrauterine programming. More recently, her research focus has broadened to determine whether rapid weight growth across early life, including fetal development, childhood and adolescence, causally increases risk of cardio-metabolic disease and in doing so, hopes to identify optimal times across the life-course where interventions could reduce the incidence of cardio-metabolic diseases.

Professor Mark Watson Professor Watson has had a long association with the School of Education through his collaboration with Dr Mary McMahon. They have a number of joint research projects and their cross-cultural and cross-national perspective adds significantly to the power of their research designs on career development and career counselling. Professor Watson is a scientist with the National Research Foundation (NRF) of South Africa. He is also Professor in the Department of Psychology at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. Mark is a member of the following Editorial/Advisory Boards: British Journal of Guidance and Counselling; International Journal for Educational and Vocational Guidance, Indian Journal for Career and Livelihood Planning.

Dr Matt Watson is a Lecturer in the TC Beirne School of Law, The University of Queensland. Dr Watson teaches Jurisprudence and Administrative Law. His research interests lie primarily in the fields of legal and political philosophy. Dr Watson’s core research areas include multiculturalism and minority rights (with an emphasis on minority language rights and language policy), constitutionalism, the intersection of law and politics, the liberal philosophical tradition, and all aspects of the philosophy of law. Dr Watson is currently working on a research project that enquires into the legal and moral permissibility of taking account of religious and cultural membership in refugee resettlement determinations.

Dr Watson completed his doctoral studies in law at the University of Oxford in 2016. His DPhil thesis, written under the supervision of Professor Leslie Green, inquired into the philosophical foundations of minority language rights. While at Oxford, Dr Watson led tutorials in Jurisprudence.