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Junliang Yu is currently an ARC DECRA Fellow with the Data Science discipline at The University of Queensland (UQ). Previously, he worked as a postdoctoral research fellow with Prof. Shazia Sadiq. He completed his PhD degree at UQ in 2023 under the supervision of Prof. Hongzhi Yin. Before his time at UQ, he earned his M.Sc. and B.E. degrees at Chongqing University, where he was supervised by Prof. Min Gao.

Professor Chengzhong (Michael) Yu is an internationally recognised expert in nanotechnology, chemistry and materials science. He is the author of over 400 scientific publications with over 36,000 citations. He has received National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Leadership (L3) and Australian Research Council (ARC) Future Fellowship.

His research interest includes functional nanomaterials and their applications in healthcare, agriculture, and energy storage. He is working with industrial partners to provide innovative solutions for challenging problems in our society.

My name is Xin Yu, a Senior Lecturer at the University of Queensland. I am an Australian Research Council Discovery Early Career Researcher Award 2023-2025 (DECRA) recipient and an awardee of the prestigious Google Research Scholar Program in 2021. I am also a Google Visiting Faculty. Previously, I was a research fellow at the Australian National University (ANU). I received my PhD degree from the Australian National Unversity under the supervision of Prof. Richard Hartley, Prof. Fatih Porikli and Dr. Basura Fernando. I also received a PhD degree from Tsinghua University supervised by Prof. Li Zhang. I am interested in Computer Vision and Machine Learning topics.

My research topics includes various computer vision and machine learning tasks, especially in efficient low-level image processing, image retrieval and localization, action recognition, 3D pose estimation, visual navigation and sign language recognition and translation.

Currently looking for motivated PhD candidates from diverse disciplines, including but not limited to engineering (e.g., mechanical, biomedical, mechatronics, materials, and chemical), information technology, physics and biomedicine.

Fully funded PhD scholarship is available:

https://study.uq.edu.au/study-options/phd-mphil-professional-doctorate/projects/viscoelastic-microfluidics-biomedical-and-environmental-applications

Dr Dan Yuan is a Lecturer in Mechanical and Biomedical Engineering (2022 - ongoing) and an ARC DECRA Fellow (2024 - 2027) within the School of Mechanical and Mining Engineering (SoMME) at the University of Queensland. Dan has been successful in obtaining competitive grant funding including over $1.6M as chief investigator in a range of projects (ARC DECRA Fellowship, ARC LIEF, Japan Society for Promotion of Science (JSPS) Fellowship, Alfred Deakin Postdoctoral Research Fellowship). She completed her PhD at the University of Wollongong (UOW) in 2018. After graduation, she continued her research at UOW as an Associate Research Fellow. From 2019 to 2021, she was a JSPS Research Fellow in the Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, University of Tokyo. From 2021 to 2022, she worked as an Alfred Deakin Research Fellow at Deakin University.

Based on the micro-nano devices, she was doing interdisciplinary research of mechatronics, chemistry, physics, optics, environmental and biomedical applications, aiming at addressing real-life challenges in both environment and biomedicine. Her research interests are microfluidics, microfabrication, development of point-of-need devices for environmental and biomedical applications, intelligent image activated cell sorting, and smart sensors, materials and platforms.

In less than 10 years’ research time, she published over 70 peer-reviewed journal articles which have received > 4000 citations. The prestigious journals include Adv. Funct. Mater., Nat. Commun., Small, Lab Chip, Microsystems & Nanoengineering, and Anal. Chem. She currently has an h-index of 30. She was the Guest Editor for Biosensors (2022), Frontiers in Medical Technology (2021-2022); regular independent reviewer for more than 10 international journals such as ACS Nano, Lab on a Chip, Analytical Chemistry, Microsystems and Nanoengineering, Scientific Reports, IEEE Transactions on Mechatronics, Microfluidics and Nanofluidics, Cytometry Part A. etc.

Master's and PhD positions are opening. The potential research projects include physics of fluid flow (especially non-Newtonian fluids) in micro/nano-channels, manipulation and separation of micro-/nanoparticles and fluid control, development of point-of-need devices for environmental and biomedical applications (e.g. disease diagnosis and therapeutics), intelligent microfluidics. Candidates with backgrounds in engineering (e.g., mechanical, mechatronics, materials, chemical and biomedical etc.), information technology, physics and biomedicine are welcome to enquiry.

Prof Yuan received his PhD degree in aeronautical engineering in 1992 from Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, China. He changed research direction to wastewater management in 1994, when he took up a postdoctoral research fellow position at Ghent University, Belgium. He joined the Advanced Water Management Centre (AWMC), renamed as the Australian Centre for Water and Environmental Biotechnology in July 2021, at The University of Queensland in 1998. He served as the AWMC Deputy Director 2001-2014, and then the AWMC/ACWEB Director in 2015 to July 2022. His research focuses on development of innovative solutions for urban water management and environmental biotechnology through effective integration of fundamental science and applied engineering. He won over $50M in government, industry and university research funding including many ARC Discovery, Linkage and Fellowship grants, mostly as the lead Chief Investigator. Prof Yuan was one of the founding members of the $117m Cooperative Research Centre for Water Sensitive Cities. He has published intensively both in specialised journals such as Water Research and Environmental Science and Technology, and multidisciplinary journals including Nature and Science. He is the founder of three biotechnology businesses namely SeweX, Cloevis and Lodomat, and his research has delivered documented savings of hundreds of millions of dollars to the Australian water industry. His research achievements and leadership have been recognized through major national and international awards including the 2015 ATSE Clunies Ross Award and the International Water Association (IWA) 2014 Global Project Innovation Award (Applied Research Category). Prof Yuan was named as one of Engineers Australia’s Top 100 Most Influential Engineers for 2015. He is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering (ATSE), an IWA Distinguished Fellow, and was awarded the highly prestigious ARC Australian Laureate Fellowship in 2017. He was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia in January 2019.

Trained as a veterinarian, Dr Yuen is a veterinary microbiologist with expertise in pathobiology, host-pathogen interactions, and immunology in infectious diseases. Currently, he is a veterinary virologist at the Elizabeth Macarthur Agricultural Institute within the NSW Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development, and holds an adjunct research fellow position at the School of Veterinary Science at UQ. While his current research focuses on vaccine development and immunology, he has active collaborations with academics in universities and research institutes in the areas of antimicrobial resistance, disease biomarkers discovery, epidemiology of emerging zoonotic diseases, and disease pathogenesis.

Dr Joseph Yunis obtained his PhD from the University of Queensland under the mentorship of Associate Professor Philip Stevenson at the School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences on understanding the role of CD4+ T cells in herpesvirus immunity. He uncovered the immune evasion mechanisms of CD4+ T cells by cytomegaloviruses. Subsequently, he chose to conduct a postdoctoral research training with Professor Di Yu, first at the John Curtin School of Medical Research of Australian National University (Canberra) and then moved to UQ Diamantina Institute with the lab. Primarily using various mouse models, he is investigating the role of CD8+ T cells in elimination infection and driving immunopathology, such as promoting acute respiratory distress syndrome. His research has been recognised by a number of awards including, the UQDI publication of the month award, Bootes Foundation Research Grant, Eureka Research Fund for Immunology and Virology and the UQ postdoctoral retention scheme.

I am a microbiologist, molecular cellular biologist, and genetic engineer with expertise in antibody discovery and characterization, yeast and mammalian cell line development, and mass spectrometry proteomics (with a focus on post-translational modifications).

I graduated from Universidad Nacional de Río Cuarto, Argentina. I then obtained a Fulbright Scholarship to pursue my Ph.D. in Microbiology, Immunology, and Cancer Biology at the University of Minnesota, USA. For my dissertation I studied genetic and epigenetic mechanisms of phenotypic variation in the pathogenic yeast Candida albicans. I did post-doctoral work in the laboratories of Dr. Jeffrey Brodsky (University of Pittsburgh, USA), Dr. Julio Caramelo (Fundación Instituto Leloir, Argentina), Dr. Benjamin L. Schulz (SCMB, UQ), and the ARC Training Centre for Biopharmaceutical Innovation (AIBN, UQ). I have received Fellowships from the Dystonia Medical Research Foundation, CONICET-Argentina, Endeavour-Australia, and The University of Queensland.

Research Area and Impact

In my team, we believe we can help prevent, diagnose, treat, and cure diseases; and we work every day to design new antibody-based therapies and to develop novel approaches to discovering antibodies against difficult targets.

Jessica is a General Dental Practitioner who graduated in 2015 with a Bachelor of Dental Science. She is a Lecturer and Dental Officer at the UQ Oral Health Centre. Jessica has previously worked as an Dental Officer at Nepean Hospital and as a Dental Officer at Westmead Hospital. Jessica has completed further studies including a Bachelor of Science (Honours), Graduate Certificate in Learning and Teaching in Higher Education, a Graduate Diploma in Clinical Dentistry (Surgical Dentistry) and a Master of Clinical Dentistry (Oral Surgery). She is presently a PhD Candidate, focusing on the therapeutic efficacy of dental analgesia using a polychromatic light-emitting diode for dental procedures.

She has received numerous research publications, grants and awards including 1st Prize at the IADR Unilever Hatton Competition and IADR ANZ Colgate Research Poster Competition. She teaches and supervises the discipline of oral surgery and general medicine to the undergraduate dental students. In 2020, Jessica received a Commendation for Substantive Contributions to Student Learning and in 2022, she led the Clinical Simulation team to win an Excellence in Clinical and Professional Skills Education Award by HaBS. In 2022, she recieved a Commendation in Teaching Excellence award for Programs that Enhance Learning by UQ and was part of the winning team from Dentistry for UQ teaching excellence award in 2023. In 2024, she recieved a Citation for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning by HaBS.

She has also been awarded a Membership of the Faculty of Dental Trainers of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh and a Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy due to her commitment to dental education. Her teaching philosophy revolves around providing stimulating learning environments so that her students can develop into well rounded health professionals who can become leaders within the profession and local community, delivering optimum health care.

Dr Sobia Zafar is a specialist paediatric dentist, clinical senior lecturer and the discipline lead in paediatric dentistry at The University of Queensland. She also holds an affiliated position of Senior Research Fellow at the Child Health Research Centre. She is the current president of the Australia and New Zealand Society of Paediatric Dentistry (ANZSPD) Qld section and the councillor for the International Association of Dental Research (IADR) ANZ for Brisbane section.

Sobia completed her DClinDent and PhD from the University of Otago, New Zealand. Her research and clinical interests are in dental education, digital dentistry, and children's oral health, including those with special needs. She is frequently an invited speaker nationally and internationally on these subjects. Sobia has over 100 publications, comprising full journal papers, a book chapter and published abstracts, in national and international high-quality peer-reviewed journals. Sobia has successfully supervised 40 Honours research students, five HDR (PhD and MPhil) and two DClinDent students to completion. Sobia was the winner of the "Best Research Supervisor Award" for Higher Degree Research students in 2022 and also in 2023.

She is a passionate teacher involved in undergraduate and postgraduate teaching at UQ and in the wider dental profession in Australia and overseas. She has also conducted multiple hands-on courses locally and overseas for the Australian Dental Association Qld branch. Sobia has received numerous teaching awards and fellowships in recognition of her contributions, including from UQ the HABS Commendation for Substantive Contributions to Student Learning (2020), HABS Programs that Enhance Learning (APEL) Commendation (2021), HABS Commendation for Substantive Contributions to Student Learning Award (2022), and a UQ Teaching Excellence Award for APEL Commendation (2022). In 2022, she gained a Fellowship from the Faculty of Dental Trainers of the Royal College of Surgeons Edinburgh, UK, as peer recognition for her accomplishments in dental education. She has recently received the Excellence in Health Professional Education Award from the Australian and New Zealand Association for Health Professional Educators (ANZAHPE) and Flinders University (2023).

Sobia is a highly recognised and respected community leader. Sobia is involved with various dental charities, including the Australian Dental Health Foundation, the Esesson Foundation, and the Turbans4Australia, to provide emergency and essential dental care to underprivileged children (refugees, asylum seekers, those with special needs, and from disadvantaged communities) in the Brisbane and Gold Coast regions. Her efforts as a community leader and leading health professional have been recognised with awards within UQ (the 2022 LeadHers Rise Community Award) and at the national level (the 2022 Appreciation Award from Turbans4Australia). As recognition from her dental peers, she was granted a Fellowship of the Pierre Fauchard Academy.

Dr Renee Zahnow is an Associate Professor in the School of Social Science at the University of Queensland. Her research focuses on place-based patterns of crime and victimisation; she is particularly interested in understanding the link between the regularities of daily human mobility, social and behavioural norms and the propensity for crime and deviance. She has published in various journals, including Criminology, Urban Studies, Journal of Environmental Psychology, Annals of the American Association of Geographers, Environment and Behavior and Crime and Delinquency.

Dr Zahnow has worked across a range of research projects including program evaluations and random-control trials. She has spatial and longitudinal modelling expertise and experience in working with police, ambulance and hospital data. She has established working ties with industry partners and international colleagues. Renee has expert knowledge in areas of environmental and urban criminology, social norms and collective social processes, youth and deviance and substance use.

Tomasz is a Senior Research Fellow at the Institute for Social Science Research (ISSR) at the University of Queensland (UQ) and the Deputy Lead of the Opportunities research program at the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Children and Families over the Life Course (the Life Course Centre). Tomasz holds an MA and PhD in Sociology from the University of Warsaw, Poland. Before joining ISSR, he was an Assistant Professor in Sociology at the University of Warsaw and a Researcher at the National Processing Institute (OPI) in Warsaw, where he developed the Polish Graduate Tracking System (ELA) on behalf of the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education. He was also a visiting scholar at the Center for Studies in Higher Education, University of California, Berkeley and The Bamberg Graduate School of Social Sciences (BAGSS), University of Bamberg, Germany.

Tomasz's research interests include social stratification and inequality, migration, gender, and life-course research, especially individual educational trajectories and their links with labour market outcomes. He specialises in quantitative methods, particularly in using population-wide linked administrative data.

Moreover, he has been involved in developing research infrastructure. He currently leads two activity streams with the Social Science Research Infrastructure Network supported by the Australian Research Data Commons.

The study of insect abundance and distribution.

I am an insect ecologist by "bent" and my students and I work on various applied and basic research areas. We generally take an individuals-process based approach to the study of insect abundance and distribution. We use various "model" systems to ask questions ranging from the effect of host chemistry on oviposition behaviour and early stage caterpillar survival, to the effects of learning on oviposition behaviour at a landscape level and the effects of climate on insect abundance. I prefer to work on Butterfly-plant interactions, particularly Monarchs and milkweeds.

A substantial amount of our applied research has been on the ecology and biology of Helicoverpa spp, the major pest of Australian field crops, and more recently Diamondback moth, a key pest of horticulture.