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Maureen Engel is a Lecturer in Digital Culture in the School of Communication and Arts. She was formerly Associate Professor of Digital Humanities at the University of Alberta, Canada. At Alberta, she served as Director of Digital Humanities (2011-13; 2015-2019), and Director of the Canadian Institute for Research Computing in Arts (2011-2019). Formally trained as a textual scholar, her background is in cultural studies, queer theory, and feminist theory. She brings these methods/orientations to her research on digital culture, with a particular interest in locative media, XR, and gaming. She is the author of the game Go Queer, a ludic locative media experience of queer history.

Bonnie Evans is a Lecturer in Media Studies at the University of Queensland. Her research has addressed the intersections between feminist politics and screen media, particularly film and television, and she has published on true crime documentary. Her most recent journal article examines rape-revenge film in the context of the Me Too movement, specifically Corale Fargeat's 2017 film Revenge, and her forthcoming monograph The New Feminist Horror will be published by Edinburgh University Press in 2027. Her book will explore aesthetic and thematic links between contemporary feminisms, including the Me Too Movement and recent horror cinema, and the PhD thesis that forms the basis of the book received a UQ Dean's Award for Oustanding HDR Theses in 2022. Bonnie teaches across film and television studies, media studies and digital media and in 2025, she won the HASS Early Career Teaching Excellence Award for her innovations in teaching.

She is interested in supervising HDR research on the following broad topics:

• Gender in film, television and media studies
• Feminist media studies
• Genre film, television and media, particularly horror
• Embodied approaches to media studies (phenomenology, affect, feeling and emotion)
• Documentary studies, true crime and reality television
• Gender and sexual violence in film and television
• Feminist movements in media (#MeToo, the fourth wave, second wave etc).

Suzanna received her PhD in Sociology at the University of Washington where she concentrated on comparative perspectives of crime, immigration, and neighborhood action as well as methodology via association with the Centre for Statistics and the Social Sciences. Her recent work centers around three themes that are related to multiple aspects of crime and the justice system. The first theme examines the comparative context of crime and considers how different people perceive crime and criminals particularly in the neighborhood context. The second considers how perceptions of gun regulation by police, dealers, and the community influence debate and enforcement of Australia’s gun laws and consider these consequences across time and space. The third, considers the perceptions of child maltreatment and abuse and it’s consequences for reporting, monitoring, and court outcomes for children and families. Underscoring all three themes are sociological questions of race and ethnic stratification, and how perceptions of crime influence individual actions.

Professor Jason Ferris, is the Director of Research and Statistical Support Services (RASSS), University of Queensland. While providing service primarily to the Faculty of Health, Medicine and Behavioural Sciences RASSS has the capability to support other organisation units. Professor Ferris is also a leading research academic at the Centre for Health Services Research (CHSR) where he is the Program Leader for Global Substance Use and Mental Health (GSUMH) unit. He is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (GAICD) and the Chief Data Scientist for the Global Drug Survey (2013-). Since 2019 he has held a ministerial appointment as an Advisory Council Member to the Queensland Mental Health Commission and is an interRAI Fellow (interrai.org) and contributes internationally as a World Health Organization (WHO) advisor, providing expertise and technical guidance on substance use trends and harm‑reduction policy development.

Since 2020, Professor Jason Ferris, in collaboration with Dr Dom Gorse (Director of UQ's Data Science CRP) and many others from QCIF and UQ, have been working on the development and deployment of KeyPoint - an innovative data infrastructure, data governance and digital solution enabling researchers to access, manage, analyse and share sensitive research data in a scalable, fully governed and highly secure environment. The work has received a number of accolades. In 2023, The University of Queensland recognised the value of KeyPoint winning the Award for Excellence in Innovation. In 2022, the Faculty of Medicine recognised his commitment and leadership to the University awarding him and the team the Innovators of the Year Award. Professor Ferris and Dr Gorse are now developing a UQ solution for a Trusted Research Environment (UQ-TRE). Professor Ferris has received other recognition as well. In 2021, the Faculty of Medicine recognised the outstanding support of RASSS with a Service Excellence Award. In 2020, The University of Queensland recognised his contributions to his research field: he was awarded the Faculty of Medicine Leader of the Future Award (Academic) and The Director's Choice Award for contributions to the Centre for Health Services Research. In 2019, he was awarded The Outstanding Mid-Career Researcher within the Centre for Health Services Research and was also chosen as a finalist for the Faculty of Medicine Leader of the Future Award (Academic). Additionally, across the Faculty of Medicine, his Research and Statistical Support Service, was nominated for a Service Excellence Award (2019 and 2020). In 2015, he received the University of Queensland, Early Career Researcher Award within the Faculty of Humanities and Social Science. In September, 2014, he received a Highly Commended Early Career Researcher Award within the Faculty of Humanities and Social Science.

He has been involved in a number of key projects: The Queensland Evaluation of the Alcohol Fuelled Violence Policy (QUANTEM), The Overarching Evaluation of the National Support for Child and Youth Mental Health Program (CHYME), the evaluation of ProjectSTOP (a decision-making national database for pharmacists aimed at preventing the use of pseudoephedrine based products as a precursor in the manufacture of methamphetamine), and a national review of the links between random breath testing and alcohol-related road traffic accidents. Jason has over 20 years of social science and public health research experience. He has a well-established publication record with a strong focus on alcohol and drug research and public health. With a Master degree in biostatistics he has well developed and expansive quantitative methods skills and a broad range of experience in many of the facets of both social science and medical research. In 2014 his PhD on alcohol epidemiology was conferred.

Previously, as a senior statistician at the Institute for Social Science Research he developed and taught a number of training models in research methods and statistical analysis as part of the Methods for Social Analysis and Statistics (MFSAS). Since its inception in 2012 he has been course coordinator and trainer for a number of these training modules (see below). From 2016-2018 he was the Director of MFSAS. Between 2016-2017 he was also the ISSR Co-postgraduate Coordinator.

Pedro Fidelman leads strategic projects in the Social and Environmental Sustainability theme at the UQ Centre for Policy Futures, including the Centre's contribution to the Reef Restoration and Adaptation Program and Blue Economy Cooperative Research Centre.

Pedro’s research focuses on environmental policy and governance with an emphasis on the role of institutions (e.g., regulations, norms, and decision-making processes) in addressing global environmental change (e.g., over-exploitation of natural resources, biodiversity loss and climate change). He is also interested in the process of policy making and associated social and political actors and contextual factors.

His research is predominantly empirical, drawing on case studies in the context of marine and coastal social-ecological systems, climate change adaptation and natural resources management in Australia, Southeast Asia and Brazil. Current research includes governance, policy and regulatory implications of using novel and emerging technologies for environmental outcomes, and policy and regulatory innovation in the context of environmental, social and technological change.

Prior to joining UQ, Pedro held research positions in Brazil (e.g., University of Brasilia) and Australia (e.g., ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies and Sustainability Research Centre of the University of the Sunshine Coast).

I am a public health sociologist with research interests in the health and wellbeing of people experiencing marginalisation and the social determinants of (sexual) health. I am the course coordinator of PUBH7033 Foundations of Public Health and PUBH7003 Qualitative Research Methods. I am engaged in social research projects related to HIV, sexual health, young people, LGBTIQ+ health, sex worker health and the scholarship of teaching and learning.

Carmel Fleming is a mental health professional with the Queensland Eating Disorder Service (QuEDS) and conjoint Clinical Lecturer with Queensland Health and the School of Nursing, Midwifery and Social Work at the University of Queensland where she teaches in Advanced Practice in Health. At QuEDS Carmel is senior social worker, clinical educator, and clinical supervisor providing consultation and service development across Queensland as well as coordination of QuEDS family and carer services. Prior to this she developed and led the QuEDS statewide education and training program for ten years. Carmel has specialised in mental health and eating disorders since 1992 with a focus on low intensity and specialist interventions such as self help and cognitive behavioural programs as well as family work. Carmel completed her PhD into the effectiveness of services for families of adults affected by eating disorders and maintains a special interest in the clinical support and supervision of other health professionals.

Professor Daniel Franks is Director of the Global Centre for Mineral Security at the University of Queensland’s Sustainable Minerals Institute and is an Australian Research Council Future Fellow. Professor Franks is known internationally for his work on the interconnections between minerals, materials and sustainable development, with a particular focus on the role of minerals in poverty reduction. He has introduced a number of key concepts in development studies including ‘mineral poverty’, ‘mineral security,’ and ‘development minerals;’ and has worked with a wide range of public and private sector partners to implement breakthrough sustainability innovations, such as OreSand to drastically reduce mine waste, and ‘social impact management plans,’ a regulatory tool now adopted throughout the world.

He is the author of more than 160 publications, including more than 40 publications for the United Nations. His research has appeared in journals such as Nature Sustainability and the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, and is available in 11 languages. He is an Editorial Board Member of the International Journal of Minerals Policy & Economics, as well as Impact Assessment and Project Appraisal and has field experience at more than 100 mining and energy sites and 40 countries.

Katharine Gelber is Deputy Executive Dean and Associate Dean (Academic) in the Faculty of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences at UQ. She is a former Head of the School of Political Science and International Studies (2019-2023), and a Professor of Politics and Public Policy. Her research is in the field of freedom of speech, and the regulation of public discourse. She has been awarded several ARC, and other, competitive research grants. In Oct-Dec 2024 she was a Leverhulme Visiting Professor at Cambridge University. In November-December 2017, she was a Visiting Scholar at the Global Freedom of Expression Project, Columbia University, New York. In Dec 2017, she jointly hosted, with Prof Susan Brison, a workshop at the Princeton University Center for Human Values on, 'Free Speech and its Discontents'. In 2014, with Prof Luke McNamara, she was awarded the Mayer journal article prize for the best article in the Australian Journal of Political Science in 2013. In 2011 she was invited by the United Nations to be the Australian Expert Witness at a regional meeting examining States' compliance with the free speech and racial hatred provisions of international law. She is the author of three monographs (Free Speech After 9/11, OUP 2016; Speech Matters, UQP, 2011, Speaking Back, John Benjamins, 2002), and three edited books (incl. Free Speech in the Digital Age, OUP 2019), as well as numerous journal articles.

Kath is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences Australia, and a Fellow of the Queensland Academic of Arts and Sciences.

Selected publications:

Books

Brison, S and Gelber, K (eds) 2019 Free Speech in the Digital Age, Oxford University Press, New York.

Gelber, K 2016 Free Speech After 9/11, Oxford University Press, Oxford.

Gelber, K 2011. Speech Matters: Getting Free Speech Right, University of Queensland Press, St Lucia.

Panzironi, F & Gelber, K (eds) 2012. The Capability Approach: Development Practice and Public Policy in the Asia-Pacific Region, Routledge, London.

Refereed journal articles

Gelber, Katharine 2024 ‘Free speech, religious freedom and vilification in Australia’, Australian Journal of Political Science 59(1): 78-92, https://doi.org/10.1080/10361146.2023.2283008.

Gelber, Katharine and Murphy, M 2023 ‘The Weaponisation of Free Speech under the Morrison Government’, Australian Journal of Political Science, doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/10361146.2023.2242304.

Brennan, K; D Duriesmith, E Fenton and K Gelber 2022 “Gendered Mundanities: Gender Bias in Student Evaluations of Teaching in Political Science”, Australian Journal of Political Science (published online 27 Feb 2022), https://doi.org/10.1080/10361146.2022.2043241.

Bowman, K and Gelber, K 2021 ‘Responding to Hate Speech: Counter Speech and the University’, Virginia Journal of Social Policy and the Law, 28(3): 248-275.

Gelber, K 2021 ‘Differentiating Hate Speech: A Systemic Discrimination Approach’, Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy, 24(4): 393-414, DOI: 10.1080/13698230.2019.1576006 (published online 2019).

Gelber, K and O’Sullivan, S 2020 “Cat Got Your Tongue? Free Speech, Democracy and Australia’s ‘Ag-Gag’ Laws”, Australian Journal of Political Science, 56(1): 19-34, https://doi.org/10.1080/10361146.2020.1799938.

Gelber, K 2019 ‘Norms, Institutions and Freedom of Speech in the US, the UK and Australia’, Journal of Public Policy, online 25 June, http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0143814X19000187.

Gelber, K 2019 ‘Terrorist-extremist speech and hate speech: understanding the similarities and differences’ Ethical Theory and Moral Practice, 22(3), 607-622, doi: 10.1007/s10677-019-10013-x.

Gelber, K 2018 ‘Incitement to hatred and countering terrorism – policy confusion in the UK and Australia’, Parliamentary Affairs 71(1): 28-49, https://doi.org/10.1093/pa/gsx008.

Gelber, K 2017 ‘Diagonal Accountability: Freedom of Speech in Australia’, Australian Journal of Human Rights 23(2): 203-219.http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1323238X.2017.1363371 (Published in Special Issue: ‘Democracy and Human Rights’)

Gelber, K 2017 ‘Hate Speech – Definitions and Empirical Evidence’, Constitutional Commentary 32: 101-111.

Gelber, K & McNamara, L 2016 'Anti-vilification laws and public racism in Australia: mapping the gaps between the harms occasioned and the remedies provided', University of New South Wales Law Journal 39(2): 488-511.

Gelber, K & McNamara, L 2016 ‘Evidencing the harms of hate speech’, Social Identities, 22 (1-3): 324-341. DOI: 10.1080/13504630.2015.1128810.

Book chapters (selected)

De Silva, Anjalee; Katharine Gelber & Adrienne Stone 2024 (in-press). ‘Academic Freedom in Australia’, in Scott-Baumann, A., Holmwood, J., & Pandor, H. (eds) How to Develop Free Speech on Campus: Talking to Others. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing.

Gelber, K 2022 ‘Free Speech in Australia’ in Paula Gerber & Melissa Castan eds., Critical Perspectives on Human Rights Law in Australia Thomson Reuters, Pyrmont: 517-534.

Gelber, K 2021 ‘Speaking Back’, in Adrienne Stone and Frederick Schauer eds., The Oxford Handbook of Freedom of Speech, Oxford University Press, Oxford: 249-265.

Gelber, K 2020. ‘Post-memory and Artefacts: The Gelber/Altschul Collection’, in N Marczak and K Shields eds. Genocide Perspectives VI: The Process and the Personal Costs of Genocide. Sydney: UTS ePress: 53-68. https://doi.org/10.5130/aaf.

Gelber, K 2020 ‘Capabilities and the Law’, in E Chiapperro-Martinetti, S Osmani & M Qizilbash eds The Cambridge Handbook of the Capability Approach Cambridge University Press, Cambridge: 643-659.

Gelber, K 2020 ‘Free Speech Debates in Australia: Contemporary Controversies’, in Helen J. Knowles and Brandon T. Metroka eds., Free Speech Theory: Understanding the Controversies, Peter Lang: 187-208.

Gelber, K and Brison, S 2019 ‘Digital Dualism and the “Speech as Thought” Paradox’, in Brison, S and Gelber, K (eds) Free Speech in the Digital Age, Oxford University Press, New York.

Gelber, K & Stone, A 2017 ‘Constitutions, Gender and Freedom of Expression: the Legal Regulation of Pornography', in Helen Irving ed. Constitutions and Gender, Edward Elgar, Cheltenham: 463-481, DOI: 10.4337/9781784716967.

Gelber, K 2016 ‘Critical Race Theory and the constitutionality of hate speech regulation’, in R Dixon & G Appleby (eds) The Critical Judgments Project: Re-reading Monis v The Queen, Federation Press, Sydney: 88-102.

Nicole’s research focuses on the gendered politics of conflict and peacebuilding, violence, security and participation. She has a strong interest in feminist institutional theory, as well as conceptual debates on regulatory pluralism and contested notions of (gendered) order as they are evident in local and global politics. Since the early 2000s, she has conducted research in the Pacific Islands region focusing on gender politics, gendered security and post conflict transition in Fiji, New Caledonia, Bougainville and Solomon Islands. She has worked in collaboration with women’s organisations, women decision-makers and women policy-makers in these settings to progress aspects of this work. She has led large, externally funded, comparative research projects examining how women's rights to security are institutionalised in Pacific Island countries (2013-2016) and where and how women participate in post-conflict transformation (as part of a broader collaborative ARC Linkage Project (2016-2020). Aside from the scholarly publications listed below, she has made influential contributions to national and regional intergovernmental policy forums on gender, security and development programs and is a regular contributor to national and regional on-line opinion editorial sites.

Professor Christian Gericke is a Neurologist and Public Health Physician. He directs the Canberra Specialist Epilepsy Centre at Deakin Private Hospital in Canberra and consults at Cadogan Medical in Brisbane.

He is Clinical Professor of Medicine at the Australian National University, Honorary Professor of Public Health at the University of Queensland, and Convener of the Specialist Medical Review Council (SMRC) for the Australian Government. He regularly acts as an Independent Medical Expert for the Supreme Courts and the Coroners Courts in all Australian jurisdictions and for the High Court of Justice in England (King's Bench).

Previously, he worked as an academic neurologist at Calvary Mater Newcastle, the Prince Charles Hospital in Brisbane, King’s College Hospital in London, and Sheffield Teaching Hospitals.

After graduating from medical school in Berlin, he trained in neurology at the Charité, followed by fellowships in adult and paediatric epilepsy in Strasbourg and Geneva. He holds two research doctorates and master's degrees from the University of Cambridge and the London School of Economics.

He chairs the Neuroepidemiology Section of the American Academy of Neurology (AAN) and serves on the International League against Epilepsy (ILAE) Standards and Best Practice Council.

Stephanie Gilbert is in its truest word an inter-discplinary scholar. Her undergraduate work lies in community welfare and social work. Moving then to Women's studies and history Professor Gilbert encapsulates the lives of removed chlldren in Australia and elsewhere. Her work in Indigenising work in universities is ground-breaking and works to embodies Indigenous data principles, ethical perspecitives and centring Indigenous knowledges and new knowledge creation.

I'm a linguistic anthropologist who studies how communicative events in Indonesia figure in the building and maintenance of social relationships and common knowledge among Indonesians. During my PhD and post-PhD early years my research often involved long periods of fieldwork in Indonesia. As research funding and sabbatical have become scarce, I have increasingly turned to publically available data, such as Indonesian films, newspapers, social media and so on. I have published extensively on my research, including Language, Migration, and Identity: Neighbourhood Talk in Indonesia (Cambridge University Press, 2010); Language and Superdiversity: Indonesians Knowledging at Home and Abroad (Oxford University Press, 2015), Global Leadership Talk: Constructing Good Governance in Indonesia (Oxford University Press, 2020); Reimagining Rapport (Oxford University Press, 2021); Rapport and the discursive co-construction of social relations in fieldwork settings (Mouton De Gruyter, 2019); and Contact Talk: The Discursive Organization of Contact and Boundaries (with Deborah Cole and Howard Manns, Routledge, 2020).

Dr Kelly Greenop is an Associate Professor within the School of Architecture and is co-Director of the Architecture Culture Theory History (ATCH) Research Centres within the School. Her research has focused on work with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in urban Brisbane, using ethnographic techniques to document the place experiences and attachment, and the importance of architecture, place, family and country for urban Indigenous people. She also conducts research into the intercultural place heritage of the Brisbane region, and the urban cultural history of Brisbane’s suburbs.

Kelly's latest research is in Digital Cultural Heritage, utilising 3D laser scanning of heritage environments and buildings in South East Queensland. She has been working with researchers from ATCH, School of Architecture, CSIRO and site managers at Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service to scan and archive fragile, remote and at risk sites, and research the use of scanning in architectural heritage practice.

With colleagues from AERC she has also conducted research into Aboriginal housing, particularly with respect to crowding and homelessness. Kelly’s research has been supported by grants from the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS), the Queensland Government, the Australian Federal Government and the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute (AHURI).

Awards

National Trust (Queensland) John Herbert Memorial Award (best heritage project in the state) for Agency Programs, in collaboration with Queensland Rail, 2018

National Trust (Queensland) Gold Award for Agency Programs, in collaboration with Queensland Rail, 2018

Queensland Premier’s Sustainability Awards for Heritage: ‘Highly Commended’ for Moreton Bay Digital Cultural Heritage Projects, 2014

Best Paper, Society of Architectural Historians, Australia and New Zealand Conference, 2013

Memberships

Member, International Association for People Environment Studies (IAPS)

Member, Society of Architectural Historians (US)

Member, Society of Architectural Historians Australia New Zealand (SAHANZ)

Member, Architectural Humanities Research Association (AHRA)

Member, Association of Critical Heritage Studies Member (Appointed), Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies

Reader in International Relations, Director, Rotary Centre for International Studies in Peace and Conflict Resolution

Background:

Dr Hanson was a Stipendiary Lecturer in Politics at Magdalen College, Oxford University before she joined the University of Queensland in 1995. She has been a Visiting Scholar at the Liu Centre for the Study of Global Issues, Department of International Relations at the University of British Columbia, a Visiting Fellow at the Department of International Politics, University of Wales, Aberystwyth and a Visiting Scholar at Sciences Po in Paris.

Research Interests:

International security - especially from a critical security studies perspective, and focussing on the role of law, institutions and norms in shaping security policies; European security - the role of institutions such as NATO and the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE); Arms control and disarmament - particularly the debate on the elimination of nuclear weapons and the efforts to delegitimise the use or possession of weapons of mass destruction: human rights - both within Australia and at the global level, and with a strong focus on the creation of legal institutions (such as the International Criminal Court) designed to uphold human rights; humanitarian intervention - the theory and practice of humanitarian interventions and the implications of these for issues such as state sovereignty, human rights and global justice; normative International Relations theory and the role of ethics in world politics - the evolution of a series of norms and other constraints affecting world politics, and which includes an emphasis on concepts such as good international citizenship and human security. The 'English School' of thought in International Relations theory - the theoretical framework most closely associated with Hedley Bull, John Vincent and others focussing on the construction and operation of an 'international society'. Dr Hanson is currently working on a book titled 'Humanitarianism and nuclear weapons: building a global prohibition regime without the great powers' which examines the growth of norms and legal constraints on the possession and use of nuclear weapons.

Professor Brian Head joined the University of Queensland in mid-2007 after holding senior roles in government, universities, and the non-government sector. He is the author or editor of several books and numerous articles on public management, governance, social isues and environmental policy. His major interests are evidence-based policy, complex or 'wicked' problems, program evaluation, early intervention and prevention, collaboration and consultation, public sector integrity, and leadership. He has undertaken several consultancies on program evaluation, policy review, organisational performance, and good governance processes. He has strong interests in applied research across many areas of public policy and governance, and is committed to building closer links between the research and policy sectors. His recent books include Wicked Problems in Public Policy (2022, Palgrave, open access), Reconsidering Policy (2020, Policy Press, co-authored), and Learning Policy, Doing Policy (2021, ANU Press, co-edited).

Professor Karen Healy AM is Head of the School of Nursing, Midwifery and Social Work at the University of Queensland. A leading social work academic, she is deeply committed to health equity, family inclusion, integrated care, and social justice. Her research examines and develops community-based responses to child and family welfare and to health and wellbeing across the life course with people experiencing adversity and disadvantage.

Karen has established and leads a program of research partnerships with government, non-government and lived-experience organisations, underpinning a collaborative program of work with strong policy and practice impact. She has led award-winning initiatives such as Young Mothers for Young Women, a midwifery–social work–peer support program for young parents. Working closely with Micah Projects, Karen leads a team conducting the first Australian practice trial of Family Connections, a family inclusive approach to keeping child safe and families together. She has also contributed to the development of integrated care models for people experiencing homelessness, combining physical, mental, and maternal health services. She is the author of several influential books on social work theory, methods and communication.

Professor Healy chairs Clinical Care and Governance for Anglicare Southern Queensland, which provides health and community services across the life course.

In 2016, she was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for her contribution to social work in child protection, higher education, and research. In September 2018, she was appointed a Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (UK).

Paul is Professor of Digital Sociology and Social Policy. He is a Chief Investigator of the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision Making and Society (ADM+S), and Lead of the Social Services Focus Area in the Centre. Having degrees in sociology/social policy and computer science, and having worked in the public service, Paul has a unique insight into the intersection of digital technologies and their social implications.

For over 20 years, Paul's research has focused in the development, design, deployment and evaluation of digital technology, automated decision making and Artificial Intelligence (AI) in government and social services. Taking a multi-disciplinaray perspective, he explores the implications of automation and AI on policy, service delivery, service users and citizenship, governance and practices of power. His work considers the ethical, legal, social and pratical considerations of AI and automation.

Paul's research is regarded as influential in the development of Digital Welfare State and Digital Social Policy literatures. Past publications include Governing Electronically (Palgrave 2010), Performing the State (Routledge 2018), and Adminstering Welfare Reform (Policy, 2006). He is currently finalising Digital Government in an Age of Disruption with Professor John Halligan, which takes an international comparative, institutionalist approach.

His current research focus is on using critical social science to inform the development of practical digital and AI tools to advance pro-social outcomes,

• Data navigation for lawyers. Working with Economic Justice Australia and welfare rights community legal centres, Paul is working with colleagues to co-design and produce a data extraction and navigation tool. This tool will assist lawyers to better provide legal advice and support to clients who are contesting decisions by the Australian government's Services Australia and Centrelink.
• Trauma Informed Algorithmic Assessment Toolkit. Working with human service delivery agenies, this project is piloting a practical, online Toolkit to enable organisations to design and deploy AI and algorithmic enable services that is safe, responsible and avoids causing harm.

I am a social anthropologist specialising in migration, refugee protection, and religious politics in Southeast Asia, with particular expertise in Malaysia's treatment of displaced populations and Muslim identity formation. My research combines ethnographic fieldwork with policy analysis to understand how states, communities, and individuals navigate questions of belonging, protection, and cultural identity.

Academic Background I hold a PhD in anthropology and sociology from La Trobe University, with previous degrees in Social Anthropology and Politics/International Relations from the University of Kent. I was an Australian Research Council DECRA research fellow (2014-2017) and the Lee Kong Chian NUS-Stanford Fellow on Contemporary Southeast Asia (2023-2024), spending time at the National University of Singapore and Stanford University's Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center.

Research Focus My work spans political anthropology, development studies and migration studies, with particular focus on:

• Refugee and immigration policy in Southeast Asia
• Religion-state relations and Muslim identity politics
• Urban refugee experiences and protection frameworks
• Faith and spirituality in the modern world
• Participant observation methodology in sensitive research contexts

Publications and Engagement I am author of Modern Muslim Identities: Negotiating Religion and Ethnicity in Malaysia (NIAS Press) and co-editor of volumes on human security and urban refugees published by Allen & Unwin/Routledge. As a regular media commentator and course director for UQ's MOOC "World101x: Anthropology of Current World Issues," I translate academic research for broader audiences through traditional and digital platforms.