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I am a research fellow in the School of Mathematics and Physics at the University of Queensland, Australia. I work with Professor Geoffrey J. McLachlan (Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science) on semi-supervised learning, specifically investigating missingness mechanisms and mixture modelling. I earned my PhD in 2022 from the Queensland University of Technology (QUT), under the joint supervision of Professor You-Gan Wang (biostatistician), Professor Kevin Burrage (applied mathematician), and Professor Yu-Chu Tian (computer scientist).

Following my doctoral studies, I was appointed as an Associate Lecturer at QUT, where I coordinated the course Modelling Dependent Data, covering topics such as time series analysis and longitudinal data modelling. I subsequently joined the Australian Catholic University as a Research Fellow, working with Professor Herbert W. Marsh (Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia and the British Academy of Social Sciences) on large-scale social survey data modelling, and also coordinated the course Interpreting Literature and Data.

My research focuses on machine learning and statistical modelling, with a particular emphasis on robust statistical methods and predictive analytics. I have published over 80 peer-reviewed papers in leading journals such as Pattern Recognition and several IEEE Transactions journals. My work has been cited over 1,450 times, and my current h-index is 22 (Google Scholar).

I currently serve as an Academic Editor for PLOS ONE and have guest-edited special issues for journals including Safety Science and Environmental Modelling & Assessment. I have acted as a frequent peer reviewer for over 50 leading journals, such as The New England Journal of Medicine and IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence. Additionally, I have served as a grant reviewer for the German Academic Exchange Service.

I have served on program committees for major conferences such as the International Conference on Artificial Intelligence in Education and the Australasian Data Science and Machine Learning Conference. I actively engage in international research collaborations with scholars from leading institutions, including the University of Oxford (UK), the University of Munich (Germany), Michigan State University (US), and Xi’an Jiaotong University (China).

In 2022, I received the Chinese Government Award for Outstanding Self-Financed Students Abroad, a highly competitive distinction granted by the China Scholarship Council to acknowledge the top 500 Chinese scholars studying overseas.

Dr Wuethrich is an NHMRC Emerging Leader fellow and ARC DECRA awardee at the Centre for Personalised Nanomedicine, Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology, The University of Queensland (UQ). Dr Wuethrich obtained his PhD from the University of Tasmania in 2016 after completing a Master’s degree in Switzerland. His research expertise lies in liquid biopsy, electrohydrodynamics, surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy, nanotechnology and diagnostics. He held positions in international pharmaceutical companies and became lead inventor on a European patent. He has actively engaged with national and international companies to translate diagnostic nanotechnologies. Since 2017 he has provided continuous research mentoring to the group and has supervised >30 postgraduate and graduate students in nanotechnological strategies to detect cancer and other diseases.

Stephanie Wyeth is the Professional Planner in Residence and Senior Lecturer within the Planning Program, and Director of Engagement for the School of Architecture, Design and Planning.

Stephanie is an experienced urban and social planning practitioner with significant research, project and leadership experience in the public and private sectors. She joined The University of Queensland in 2019 following several years as a Director with a multidisciplinary planning and design firm, where she led projects focussed on complex social, urban planning and development issues. Her motivation for joining academia is a belief that a values-led and practice intensive university experience is critical if the next generation of urban planning professionals are to be equipped with the skills, knowledge and mindsets to lead, sustained positive change in our cities, towns and communities.

As a pracademic, Stephanie seeks to bridge the theory – practice divide, by promoting the exchange of knowledge, ideas and capabilities across university, industry and community. She regularly facilitates and brokers opportunities for the university’s world-leading researchers to share their expertise with government and community for projects with a strong public interest focus. Stephanie is regularly invited to join advisory forums and judging panels, and to speak at industry and community events.

Between 2016 – 2022 Stephanie served as a Non-Executive Director on the Board of the South Bank Corporation. In 2020 she was appointed a Fellow of the Planning Institute of Australia for services to the profession. Her most recent panel appointments include Logan Urban Design Awards, Lord Mayor’s Business Awards (Brisbane), and an advisory committee for a national design project.

Memberships

• Planning Institute of Australia
• Committee for Brisbane

Teaching Responsibilities

PLAN1000 The Planning Challenge (Course Coordinator and Lecturer – 2019 to date)

PLAN1100 Foundational Ideas in Planning (Course Coordinator and Lecturer – 2019 to date)

PLAN4001/PLAN7120 Citymaking: Theory and Practice (Course Coordinator and Lecturer – 2020-2022)

PLAN4100 Advanced Planning Practice (Course Coordinator and Lecturer – 2021 to date)

PLAN4130 / PLAN7130 Planning Industry Placements (Course Coordinator and Lecturer – 2019 to date (Semesters 1, 2 and Summer)

ENVM3103 Regulatory Frameworks for Environmental Management and Planning (Guest lecturer 2021-2023)

Various guest lectures providing insights into urban planning, employability and planning practice.

Student supervision for PHD, Honours and research projects

Awards

2022 Teaching Award - Planning Program, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences

2022 Staff Award, Organisation of Planning Students

Service and Engagement

Director of Engagement – School of Architecture, Design and Planning (2023 to date)

Academic Program Advisor for Bachelor of Regional and Town Planning (2021 to date)

Deputy Director of Engagement School of Earth and Environmental Sciences (2022 – 2023)

Co-founder and Director of UQ City Impact Lab (2021 to date)

Research Affiliate – UQ Sustainable Infrastructure Research Hub (since 2022)

Member - UQ Community Engagement Community of Practice – Leadership Group (since 2023)

Planning Institute of Australia (Qld) - Fellow

Hons K. Wyn joined the School of Civil Engineering at the University of Queensland in mid-2016 as an Occupational Trainee in the Fire Safety Research Group. He commenced his PhD mid-2017 on smouldering combustion and its potential as a renewable energy production process by generating value-added productions alongside the treatment of organic wastes. Upon the completion of the PhD, Hons continued as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Fire Safety Research Group in mid-2023. Hons currently supports consultancy projects, lab-related activities, teaching, and supervision.

I received my B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees in Materials Science and Engineering from Central South University (China) in July 2012 and July 2015, respectively. In December 2019, I completed my Ph.D. in Materials Engineering, specialising in Energy Materials, at the University of Wollongong (Australia). Since July 2020, I have been doing postdoctoral research at The University of Queensland.

I have over 11 years of research experience developing electrode materials for lithium/sodium-ion batteries. My expertise encompasses materials design, synthesis, characterisation, and electrochemical analyses.

My current research focuses on:

(1) developing low-cost, functional electrode materials for high-energy-density rechargeable batteries;

(2) in situ/operando techniques for studying electrode or electrode/electrolyte interface reactions in batteries;

(3) solid polymer electrolytes;

(4) solid-state metal batteries.

Yuwei Xiang holds a bachelor's degree in Food Science and Technology (2019) from the University of Shanghai for Science and Technology (USST, China). She earned her PhD in Food Microbiology (2024) from the University of Queensland (Australia). After completing her PhD, she pursued an academic career as a postdoctoral researcher in the lab of Prof. Mark Turner. Her research specializes in lactic acid bacteria (LAB) and their applications in food fermentation and biotechnology, with a focus on exploring the genetic mechanisms of LAB to enhance osmoresistance, particularly under high c-di-AMP conditions.

Research Areas

• Lactic Acid Bacteria (LAB): I study the roles of LAB in food fermentation, with a focus on their genetic and metabolic responses to environmental stresses.
• Osmoresistance and c-di-AMP Pathways: My research investigates the genetic regulation of osmoresistance in LAB, aiming to improve their robustness in industrial fermentation processes.
• Current Projects
• Investigating LAB from plant-based sources for potential applications in food fermentation and innovative food ingredients production.

• Keywords: Lactic acid bacteria, food fermentation, osmoresistance, c-di-AMP, gene regulation, biotechnology.

An experienced researcher with a multi-disciplinary training background, Ning is a Research Fellow in the Inclusive Education and Employment research group at ISSR.

Ning has strong expertise in delivering multi-year collaborative research projects, including complex mix-method evaluation projects (e.g., the national evaluation of the Australian Government’s Paid Parental Leave scheme and a follow-up ARC Linkage Project, funded by the Department of Social Services).

Ning has also significantly contributed to a number of projects funded by Department of Education at federal and state levels and though various research grant schemes, utilising data from LSIC, LSAC, LSAY and HILDA to investigate the impacts of a range of factors (e.g., individual, family, school and community) on disadvantaged students’ outcomes, such as socio-emotional wellbeing, academic achievement, university participation and graduate labour market outcomes.

Ning has specialist expertise in literature review, constructing theoretical framework to guide data analyses, data preparation, management, screening and analysis, which she has applied to great effect in these projects. Ning has a track record of successfully delivering accessible and policy informing documentation. She also specialises in longitudinal data analysis, and has published extensively on school climate, student engagement, and long-term education and labour market outcomes for students from equity groups.

Yanfei has a discipline background as a physiotherapist. She completed her PhD at The University of Queensland in October 2021. Her PhD involved ultrasound shear wave elastography, quantitative sensory testing, and physical and psychological measures to uncover potential biopsychosocial mechanisms underlying work-related neck pain and disability in a high-risk occupation group. After her PhD, she was awarded a competitive UQ postdoctoral fellowship to conduct research related to musculoskeletal pain and injury at RECOVER Injury Research Centre. Her current research focuses on uncovering the biopsychosocial mechanisms underlying musculoskeletal pain and injury, developing, and implementing effective and tailored pain treatments. She also has interests in occupational health and health equity. She has a broad range of research skills applicable across methodologies, including randomized controlled trials, case-control, and longitudinal study designs, systematic and scoping reviews, and meta-analysis. Yanfei has presented her work at national and international conferences and received several presentation awards.

Yuan Xu completed a Bachelor of Engineering degree (Chemical and Material) from the University of Queensland in 2015. After that, he started his PhD in the research field of colloidal science, rheology and chemical engineering, supervised by Professor Jason Stokes. He has continued in UQ as postdoctoral research fellow since 2019, at which, he has contributed to multidisciplinary projects including viscoelastic lubrication of soft matter systems, and programming structural anisotropy in nanocellulose hydrogels. His research capability focuses on the area of rheology, colloidal science/ physical chemistry, material/physical science, soft matters/complex fluids, and tribology/lubrication.