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Dr Felix Wiesner is an Assistant Professor at the University of British Columbia and an Honorary Fellow in the School of Civil Engineering at The University of Queensland and works as part of the National Centre for Timber Durability and Design Life. He was appointed at UQ as a Lecturer in Timber Engineering in 2019 to lead research projects focused on enhancing the fire performance of timber using treatments and modification techniques. His background is in structural fire engineering and the fire safety of timber structures, specifically engineered timber structures. His field of expertise are the critical evaluation of load bearing capacity of building elements in fire and the assessment of safety implications arising from the use of engineered timber as structural members in tall buildings or structures with extraordinary architectural features.

Dr Wiesner completed his Master of Engineering in Structural and Fire Safety Engineering at The University of Edinburgh from 2010 to 2015 before he completed his doctoral studies on the structural behaviour of cross-laminated timber in fire between 2015 and 2020. During his undergraduate and postgraduate work, he closely worked with Arup on multiple projects regarding the fire safety of timber buildings and the effect of localised fires in large open spaces. He actively participated in the European COST Action FP 1404 for the Fire Safe Use of Bio-Based Building Products between 2016 and 2019, representing the UK as a Management Committee member. He significantly contributed to the success of the Fires in Tall Timber Structures: Large-scale Tests in Support of Tall Timber Construction project at the BRE in the UK and also worked as a member of the global Fire Safe Use of Wood research collaboration.

Dr Lahann Wijenayake is the Head of Orthopaedic Surgery at The University of Queensland. He is a Brisbane based orthopaedic surgeon having obtained his FRACS and FAorthA through the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons. He is also an Associate Fellow of the Royal Australian College of Medical Administrators. Dr Wijenayake is a surgeon at the Queensland Children's Hospital. He has a keen interest in medical student teaching as well as research in the field of paediatric orthopaedics, orthopaedics, and medical student education.

Chamith completed his PhD in Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Akron, Ohio, USA in 2014 and BSc (Hons) degree in Electronic and Telecommunications Engineering with first class honours at the University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka in 2007. His research interests and expertise include multidimensional signal processing, digital hardware architectures for signal processing, FPGA based system design, hardware accelerators for machine learning, and engineering education. Chamith has received a number of awards including the Outstanding Student Research Award at the University of Akron, Ohio, USA, in 2011 and he is one of the two recipients of the IEEE Circuits and Systems Pre-Doctoral Award in 2014. From 2015-2019 he was a lecturer at the School of Electrical Engineering and Telecommunications, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia.

I completed my Bachelor of Biotechnology with First Class Honours at the Australian National University (ANU) during 2008. During my honours, I became interested in understanding ways to best harness the immune system in combating viral infections. Consequently, I embarked on a PhD project at The John Curtin School of Medical Research, ANU during 2010 to understand ways to improve the efficacy of genetically modified and safe pox viral vaccines to target human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). I completed this project during 2014 and worked as a an Early Career Fellow (sponsored by The Hospital Research Foundation) at the University of Adelaide to develop safe and effective vaccines against HIV, hepatitis C virus (HCV) and Zika virus. I joined the The University of Queensland during May, 2019 to develop a 'Rapid Response Vaccine Pipeline' (sponsored by The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI)) to target emerging/re-emerging viral infections using a prioprietary 'Molecular Clamp' vaccine technology. My career objective is to develop vaccines that can be effective in protective humans against viral infections.

Janet Wiles is a Professor in Human Centred Computing at the University of Queensland.

Her multidisciplinary team co-designs language technologies to support people living with dementia and their carers and social robots for applications in health, education, and neuroscience. She is currently developing a citizen science project which uses insights from neuroscience, AI and language technologies to explore the electrical characteristics of mycelial networks of symbiotic fungi in local ecosystems. She received her PhD in computer science from the University of Sydney and completed a postdoctoral fellowship in psychology. She has 30 years’ experience in research and teaching in machine learning, artificial intelligence, bio-inspired computation, complex systems, visualisation, language technologies and social robotics, leading teams that span engineering, humanities, social sciences and neuroscience. She currently teaches research methods for thesis and masters students, and a new course in human-centred artificial intelligence. Previous special interest courses include a cross disciplinary course ”Voyages in Language Technologies” that introduced computing students to the diversity of Indigenous and non-Indigenous languages, and state-of-the-art tools for deep learning and other analysis techniques for working with language data.

Featured projects

• Human-centred AI
• The Underground Brain Project
• Florence communication technology
• For more on Human Centred Computing see the HCC projects page

Kim Wilkins is a humanities researcher and acclaimed creative writer who specialises in the intersection of creativity, technology, and cultural industries. Currently Associate Dean (Research) in the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at UQ, she leads innovative research into the socio-material dimensions of creative industries and the application of creative thinking to complex technological challenges.

Her research portfolio spans popular fiction studies, publishing ecosystems, and technology foresight. Recent projects include pioneering work on speculative fiction storytelling for defence innovation, community publishing in regional Australia, and the application of "story thinking" to anticipate technological impacts. She serves as a member of the Australian Research Council College of Experts.

As a creative practitioner, Wilkins has published 30+ novels in 20+ languages, including bestselling historical fiction and fantasy series. Her dual expertise as both researcher and professional writer uniquely positions her to bridge academic inquiry with industry practice, particularly in areas of creativity research, reading and book culture, the future of publishing, and transdisciplinary innovation.

Plant geneticist specialising in predictive breeding and evolutionary genetics, Melanie's research focuses on accelerating crop improvement by integrating genomics and predictive modelling across both horticultural and field crops.

Her recent work includes uncovering the role of chromosomal inversions in driving variation in mango breeding traits, the ensemble of genomic prediction methods through the EasiGP framework, and integrating APSIM crop growth models with genomic prediction for soybean and sorghum.

Melanie leads interdisciplinary collaborations combining quantitative genetics, machine learning, and crop modelling, with active partnerships across industry and international research institutions.

I help women cut through diet culture and conflicting advice to find nutrition that actually works for their bodies - through fertility, pregnancy, and perimenopause. I'm a dietitian with 30 years of clinical experience and a PhD in Health Psychology, which means I care as much about whether someone can sustain a change as whether it's evidence-based. That dual lens - clinical and behavioural - shapes everything I do. I work across three connected roles:

Research: As an Associate Professor and Senior Principal Research Fellow at UQ's School of Pharmacy, I lead implementation research on the RECARD project, focused on combining the evidence and needs of stakeholders into real clinical practice.

Health service redesign: At Mater Mothers' Hospitals, I support service development in the Department of Obstetric Medicine, helping translate best-practice guidelines into care models that work in busy clinical settings.

Clinical care: I founded and direct Lifestyle Maternity and Lifestyle PeriMenopause, telehealth dietetic clinics supporting women across Australia with personalised, no-nonsense nutrition advice - no pills, potions, or unproven claims. I'm an Advanced Accredited Practising Dietitian, a Fellow of Dietitians Australia, and Associate Editor of Nutrition and Dietetics. I also write for The Conversation and appear on podcasts talking about women's health nutrition.

With 49 peer reviewed publications in the past 5 years, I have an h-index of 25 and my Field-Weighted Citation Impact score (1.12) is above average for my discipline, particularly in the areas of Frameworks for effective behaviour change interventions (FWCI 4.23), Enhancing medication safety through medication reconciliation (FWCI 2.94) and Patient-centric approaches to health design (FWCI 1.33).

Research into advanced computer architectures

John Williams, born in 1973, was awarded his Ph.D from the Queensland University of Technology (QUT), Australia, in 2001. He was previously awarded undergraduate degrees in Electronic Engineering, and

Information Technology, also from QUT, in 1995. He is currently employed in the School of ITEE at The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia, where he holds the position of Research Fellow.

His research interests include reconfigurable computing and real-time embedded Systems, as well as 3D computer vision and imaging. He has authored 5 refereed journal publications, and more than 20 refereed conference publications, and recently edited the Proceedings of the 2004 IEEE International Conference on Field Programmable Technology. He has been a member of the IEEE for 8 years.

Judge, Queensland Court of Appeal (2000-08); President, Industrial Court of Queensland (1998-99); Judge, Solomon Islands Court of Appeal (1993-); Judge, Supreme Court of Queensland (1982-2000); Acting Judge, Supreme Court of Queensland (1982).

Brittany is an Occupational Therapist with over 10 years of clinical experience, having worked in both non-governmental and private sectors. Her career encompasses a broad range of practice areas, with a focus on providing client-centered care. Currently, Brittany is an Associate Lecturer at the University of Queensland, within the Occupational Therapy program. Brittany's research interests focus on improving occupational therapy services for children and women living with epilepsy. Driven by personal caregiving experiences, her work seeks to address the gaps in care and develop targeted interventions that enhance quality of life and participation in everyday activities for this population.

Shellee is an Epidemiologist and Academic with the ATLAS Indigenous Primary Care Surveillance and Research Network. Shellee moved from Larrakia Country (Darwin) to Meanjin in 2022. She has always had an interest in public health and completed a Masters of Applied Epidemiology (ANU) in 2007 following a Master of Public Health (UNSW), having started her professional life in Immunology laboratory research and working in the HIV community sector in Sydney in the early ‘90s. Shellee has worked with Menzies School of Health Research and the Northern Territory and Commonwealth governments most recently, and has extensive experience in the evaluation of surveillance systems and sexually transmissible infections and blood borne viruses public health surveillance. Shellee also has experience in the analysis of complex data sets and statistical modelling, assessment of data linkage quality and conducting epidemiological studies.

Katie Williams is a Senior Lecturer within the University of Queensland's Business School and specialises in Business Information Systems.

Katie's doctoral dissertation, “Investigating Information Systems Risk Management Processes and Information Security Practices within e-business Organisations” focused on the design of a series of classification frameworks relating to various aspects of information systems risk management, including the creation of the CARE framework.

A former KPMG Partner, Katie brings significant curated industry experience in the public sector, with a focus on business and digital transformation, data governance, business analytics and continuous auditing practices. Katie is a member of the Future of health - Business School - University of Queensland and an active member of the University's Business Educator's Hub.

Katie currently teaches into the MBA and Master of Business Analytics programs; and has designed and taught several Executive Education courses focusing on the use of data in aiding decision-mkaing.

Her research interests include AI governance, the impact of AI across the public sector, the use of AI as a pedagogical tool, and data governance.

I am a physiotherapist with a clinical specialty in the management of individuals with neurological conditions and vestibular disorders. I have a keen interest in examining how the body's balance systems, including the inner ear (vestibular system), eyes (ocular system), and sensory modalities (touch, proprioception), interact with the brain to optimize movement control, functionality, physical activity, and participation outcomes for individuals affected by neurological and vestibular pathologies. This includes conditions such as multiple sclerosis, cerebellar dysfunction, traumatic brain injury, stroke, Parkinson's disease, myasthenia gravis, motor neuron disease, concussion, Meniere's disease, vestibular migraines, acoustic neuromas, and age-related vestibular dysfunction. Additionally, I am interested in the influence of lifestyle choices on vestibular system functioning and integration, particularly how factors such as physical activity, community integration, sleep, and overall wellness affect both neurological and vestibular conditions, including Meniere's disease, vestibular migraines, and age-related vestibular dysfunction.

Luke Williams is a proud Gumbaynggirr man of northern NSW. Luke’s research primarily focuses on the traditional uses of native Australian plants with an emphasis on understanding how these plants can contribute to our modern food systems. This includes the promotion of traditional foods in Indigenous communities to improve food security and cultural wellbeing, through to supporting Indigenous businesses to lead the bush food industry, so that the nutritional and environmental benefits attributed to native plants can be enjoyed by all.

Luke’s PhD examined the dietary safety assessment of Australian native foods. He continues this line of research today using a mixed-methods approach that includes working with Traditional Custodians to understand histories of use and cultural context, while supporting consumer safety through the generation of quantitative evidence, such as toxicological endpoints and chemical analyses. Luke is currently expanding this work to develop new laboratory approaches for characterising biological activity and potential toxicity, including emerging non-animal and high-content screening tools to better understand safety and mechanism of action.

Luke sees the growing native foods industry as a culturally appropriate economic opportunity for Indigenous Peoples. However, he also recognises that if these foods and plant-based products are to be made widely available, development must occur under Indigenous leadership and be supported by robust scientific evidence to ensure they are safe for general consumption.