Find an expert

My research focuses on oceanography and paleoceanography of the oceans around Australia. I use stable isotopes (oxygen, carbon), geochemical tracers, sedimentology and microfossils to understand the present and past changes in ocean chemistry to reconstruct ocean circulation (changes in ocean currents and fronts) and its relationship to global climate. I am particularly interested in understanding past changes in the Great Barrier Reef, and at the other extreme past changes in processe at the Antarctic Margin. I am also interested in mapping marine sediment distribution, sediment transport processes, marine geomorphology, marine microplastic pollution, and multidisciplinary topics such as ocean acidification (the uptake of CO2 by the oceans) and blue carbon and climate change in the oceans (marine heat waves, sea level rise). I have participated in a number of research voyages on open ocean vessels including the RV Tangaroa and RV Investigator, including several as lead or co-lead scientist. I am involved in the Australian-New Zealand International Ocean Discovery Program.

Prior to joining the University of Queensland in July 2019 I previously worked in government research institutes including Geoscience Australia (2004-2006) and the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research in New Zealand (2006-2019; now renamed as Earth Sciences New Zealand).

Dr Botella's research interests are in genetic engineering, molecular biology and signal transduction in plants.

Dr. Jimmy Botella is Professor of Plant Biotechnology at the University of Queensland. He obtained a degree in Quantum Chemistry from the University of Madrid (Spain) and a PhD in Biochemistry from the University of Malaga (Spain). After postdoctoral positions at Michigan State University and Pennsylvania State University he joined the University of Queensland in 1995. At UQ he founded the Plant Genetic Engineering Laboratory (PGEL) specialising in the fields of tropical and subtropical agricultural biotechnology for almost 15 years. J. Botella has eleven international patents in the field of Plant Biotechnology and is a founding member of two biotechnology companies (Coridon Ltd. and Origo Biotech).

Dr Botella is a member of the Plant Molecular Biology and Biotechnology research group.

Some highlights of the Plant Genetic Engineering Laboratory’s research:

• Production and field trial of the world’s first genetically modified pineapples with genetic constructs to control flowering time. These pineapples will allow farmer control over harvesting times.
• Development of a new technology to confer protection against nematode infestation.
• Discovery of a gene that can confer resistance to the devastating fungus Fusarium oxysporum in plants.
• Development of a new technology to confer protection against pathogenic fungi in plants.

Research interests

Dr. Botella’s research has two major foci: basic cell biology and applied biotechnology. In cell biology he is interested in studying the function of the Heterotrimeric G proteins in plants. This family of proteins is extremely important in humans but their role in pant systems is still largely unknown. Dr. Botella’s research has strongly contributed to the current body of knowledge available in plants with critical contributions such as the discovery and characterization of the first plant gamma subunits and the establishment of these subunits as the critical element conferring function specificity to all plant G proteins. Dr. Botella’s team has also discovered the important role that these proteins play in defense against pathogens. New and unpublished data has now revealed that G proteins are important yield enhancing factors in crops such as rice. Another research interest resides in the communication between plants and insects. There is plenty of knowledge of how important smell, volatiles emitted by the plant, is for foraging insects in order to determine their host preferences. Nevertheless, most of the available studies have been performed using synthetic chemicals in artificial experimental settings. Dr. Botella’s team and collaborators have genetically engineered plants to produce different volatile mixes in the flowers in order to perform in vivo behavioral studies in insects.

Biotechnology research at the Plant Genetic Engineering Laboratory mostly arises from discoveries made in basic research. The PGEL focuses in tropical and subtropical crops. These crops have attracted little attention in terms of biotechnology but are essential sources of food and energy for a large part of the world’s population, especially in Asia and the Indian subcontinent. The PGEL has developed a number of platform technologies that can be applied to multiple crops in order to confer resistance to pathogens, modify plant architecture and control flowering time.

Current research projects include:

• Plant heterotrimeric G proteins: New roles in defence, stomatal control and ABA perception.
• Putting smells into context: using in vivo technologies to understand plant-insect odour communication.
• Use of host-derived RNA interference technology to control plant pathogens (especially pathogenic fungi and nematodes).
• Control of Fusarium wilt disease.
• Genetic improvement of grain crops.
• Genetic engineering research projects

Dr Amanda Bourgeois is a postdoctoral researcher in the UQ Learning Lab: a group of multi-disciplinary researchers, educators, and industry partners who collaborate to transform learning, teaching, and training in diverse school and post-school contexts through the science of learning. In this role, Amanda is investigating the proposed adolescent ‘dip’ across a range of social, emotional and cognitive skills and dispositions, predominantly around the age of 15. This dip has appeared in research projects looking at diverse, but related phenomena such as academic wellbeing, learning regulation, emotion regulation, engagement, curiosity, creativity, and self-esteem. Amanda is developing a comprehensive literature review of the adolescent dip with the aim to better understand what is happening, when, and the potential causes, with the aim of working with education stakeholders to co-design possible interventions and resources to support positive growth and development through the adolescent period.

Amanda has experience as a teacher and counsellor working with disadvantaged adolescents in both the United States and Australia. Her research activities span the topics of adolescence, wellbeing, classroom emotions, student-teacher relationships, and student self-efficacy, particularly with a focus on those from a low socioeconomic background. Amanda is interested in incorporating innovative, real-time forms of measurement in classroom research and she recently developed the S2* emotion application, which captures real-time emotions and causes for emotions.

Professor Bowen is Director of the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence in Quantum Biotechnology, and leads the Quantum Optics Laboratory at UQ. He is recognised both nationally and internationally for research at the interface of quantum science and nanotechnology; including bioimaging, biotechnology, nanophotonics, nanomechanics, quantum optomechanics and photonic/quantum sensing. He is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Physics.

Professor Bowen's research spans from the very fundamental, e.g. how does quantum physics transition into our everyday world at large scales?, to applied, e.g. developing next generation sensors for medical diagnostics and navigation. To pursue this research, his lab works in close partnership with industry and uses state-of-the-art facilities for nanofabrication, nanoanalysis, precision optical measurement and deep cryogenic refrigeration available in-house or on campus at UQ.

Professor Bowen has supervised more than thirty postgraduate students, who have been recognised with prizes such as Fulbright Scholarships, an Australian Youth Science Ambassadorship, a Springer PhD theses prize, the Queensland nomination for the Australian Institute of Physics Bragg Medal, the Australian Optical Society Postgraduate Student Prize and UQ Graduate of the Year. He regularly has projects available, both for postgraduate students and for postdoctoral researchers. Please check his website, above, or contact him directly for details (w.bowen@uq.edu.au).

Professor Roslyn Boyd is Scientific Director of the Queensland Cerebral Palsy and Rehabilitation Research Centre (QCPRRC) an internationally recognised research group at the University of Queensland in the School of Medicine. The centre includes a multidisciplinary team of 38 researchers and in addition provides clinical research leadership to 60 clinicians from multiple disciplines in the state-wide Queensland Paediatric Rehabilitation Service based at the Queensland Children's Hospital. After primary training and experience in Australia and London as a physiotherapist she completed her PhD in neuroscience at La Trobe University, the Brain Research Institute and the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute in Melbourne for which she was awarded the Premier’s Commendation by the Victorian Government. Prof. Boyd arrived at the University of Queensland in 2007 as a recipient of a Smart State Fellowship and more recently has led an EBrain program grant funded by the Qld Government Department of innovation. Her research team focuses on research on the early natural history of motor and brain development for preschool aged children with CP, the efficacy of novel rehabilitation for children with Hemiplegia and very early detection and early intervention for infants at high risk of CP (all funded by the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia). This research program is underpinned by advanced brain imaging including functional imaging of the motor and sensory motor cortex, Diffusion Imaging and Functional Connectivity to assess the impact of training on neuroplasticity (NHMRC, ARC). Prof. Boyd has been awarded the prestigious international Gayle Arnold Award on 3 occasions at the American Academy of Cerebral Palsy and Developmental Medicine. Prof Boyd has published over 340 manuscripts in peer-reviewed international journals and has achieved over $40M in research funding.

Stella Boyd-Ford is a Post Doctoral Research Fellow with the First Nations Cancer and Wellbeing Research Program. She has a background as an Accredited Practicing Dietitian with expertise in food security, paediatric nutrition, community health, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health research. Her current focus involves co-designing culturally safe healthcare services for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.

Stella works at the intersection of health promotion, community-based nutrition interventions, and research, with extensive experience in outreach roles and collaborating with diverse communities.

Assoc Prof Fran Boyle is a social scientist and health services researcher at the Institute for Social Sciences Research. Fran's background is in psychology and public health and her research focuses on people’s lived experiences of health, health services and the health system. Fran's research expertise is in the application of social sciences methods (including the integration quantitative and qualitative approaches) and health systems thinking to guide policy and practice.

Fran is a Principal Investigator with the Australian Centre of Research Excellence in Stillbirth where she co-leads the Care after Stillbirth program. Her research addresses the psychosocial impacts of perinatal loss and is committed to improving outcomes for women and families through the implementation and evaluation of best practice parent-centred perinatal bereavement care in hospital and community settings.

My research integrates empirical data and mechanistic models to understand the dynamics of coral reef populations and ecosystems across a range of spatial scales. I am particularly interested in the processes that regulate reef populations and shape their resilience in space and time. My current research focuses on assessing the cumulative impacts of recent and future disturbances across Australia’s Great Barrier Reef. I also explore scenarios of climate change and strategies of management interventions to help corals persist and adapt from the impacts of warming.

As a music-maker and language revivalist from the south coast Noongar region of Western Australia, I am interested in the connections between song, language, and landscapes. My work intersects with applied linguistics, ecomusicology, Australian studies, and Indigenous studies.

I am lead Chief Investigator for ARC DI project 'Restoring on-Country Performance' and a Chief Investigator for ARC LIEF project 'Nyingarn: A platform for primary sources in Australian Indigenous languages', ARC DI project 'The role of First Nations’ music as a determinant of health', and ARC Linkage project 'Life After Digitisation: Future-Proofing WA's Vulnerable Cultural Heritage'.

After working as an ESL and music teacher, I helped establish the major in Indigenous Knowledge at the University of Western Australia, where I completed a PhD in Noongar song. At the University of Sydney I co-developed the major in contemporary music for Sydney Conservatorium of Music, before returning to Western Australia at Edith Cowan University to bolster humanities research in my home state. Recent arts-language projects I have collaborated on include a mainstage production of Shakespeare's Macbeth in Noongar (Hecate 2020), a Bruce Lee film dubbed in Noongar (Fist of Fury Noongar Daa 2021), and the multi-sensory ‘Noongar Wonderland’ performance installation in Perth Festival 2022.

I serve as Deputy Chair of the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS) and received the 2020 Barrett Award for Australian Studies.