Find an expert

Jonah Zankl is Lecturer in Entrepreneurship at UQ Business School. His research focuses on understanding the systems and interdependencies between support for entrepreneurial activity, social innovation, and social change, asking broadly “how do societies support the organization of entrepreneurship and in turn ensure its positive impact on society?” Jonah's research includes longitudinal qualitative studies in the contexts of entrepreneurial ecosystems and practice-based studies around entrepreneurial decision making. His most recent work understanding the potential of a responsible entrepreneurship ideology has been published in Academy of Management Review.

Prior to joining UQ, Jonah completed his PhD in Management Studies at Judge Business School, University of Cambridge. Jonah also holds a Master of Philosophy in Innovation, Strategy and Organisation from the University of Cambridge and undergraduate degrees in Economics (Hons) and Applied Mathematics from the University of Calgary. Jonah has industry experience in financial services as a Product Manager, where he managed technologies for international money movement and personal financial wellness.

Sergio Zarate joined the School of Civil Engineering at the University of Queensland in 2016 and currently serves as the Fire Laboratory Manager. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering and a Ph.D. in Civil Engineering with a specialization in fire dynamics. Sergio has extensive experience in projects involving fluid mechanics, combustion, and fire dynamics.

He possesses comprehensive expertise in fire science, including heat-transfer analytical methods, experimental techniques, and the design and operation of apparatus to evaluate the burning behavior of various materials. His research interests include:

• Fire safety engineering
• Development of innovative combustion-based technologies
• Heat transfer in ignition and flame spread
• Battery fires

Saeid Zare is an expert in troubleshooting and optimizing mineral processing plants. He is currently a research officer of the Julius Kruttschnitt Mineral Research Center (JKMRC) at the University of Queensland's Sustainable Minerals Institute.

He graduated as a top student with Bachelor’s and Master's degrees in mining engineering-mineral processing from Shahid Bahonar University of Kerman, Iran. His Bachelor’s and Master’s thesis projects were on flotation and comminution, in Sarcheshme Sarcheshmeh Copper Complex, and in the Gol-E-Gohar iron ore company, the largest mines in the Middle East, respectively. He was also chosen as elite member by Iran's National Elites Foundation in 2019 and 2023. Over the past nine years, he has successfully contributed to numerous funded industrial projects focused on troubleshooting, optimization and designing, mostly in comminution, separation and dewatering fields at the mineral processing plants in more than eight of the largest Mining and Industrial Companies in Iran, which helped him to apply his knowledge in real industrial settings.

Saeid is currently a researcher at the Julius Kruttschnitt Mineral Research Center (JKMRC), working within the Advanced Process Prediction and Control group. His research focuses on the optimization of mineral processing techniques to enhance operational efficiency and sustainability.

Dr. Norhasnida Zawawi is an Honorary Senior Fellow at the Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation (QAAFI), University of Queensland, Australia, where she contributed to the discovery of trehalulose, a rare low-GI sugar in stingless bee honey. She is currently Head of the Halal Science Laboratory at the Halal Products Research Institute and Senior Lecturer at Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM), leading the Halal Healthcare and Wellness Research Programme.

She has played key roles in developing honey standards, including contributions to the FSANZ-approved native bee honey standard (2024), and previously served with the Department of Standards Malaysia and Apimondia Asia. Dr. Zawawi is an Editorial Board Member of the Pertanika Journal of Tropical Agricultural Science and a reviewer for high-impact journals such as Food Chemistry and Journal of Apicultural Research.

With over RM 1 million in research funding, 46 Scopus-indexed publications, and an H-index of 20, her work bridges food science, halal innovation, and bee product research.

Dr. Zawawi’s future research is centred on advancing functional foods and halal-certified bioactive products, with a strong emphasis on native bee honey and plant-based milk alternatives. Her goals include:

• Exploring bioactive compounds and unique compositions of stingless bee honey, plant seed beverages, and other alternative foods to enhance human health.
• Integrating omics technologies to identify molecular markers of efficacy and quality in halal-certified functional foods.
• Promoting sustainable innovation in the halal wellness industry through translational research and commercialisation pathways.
• Expanding global collaborations to support cross-disciplinary research in food science, nutrition, and halal product development.

These goals reflect her commitment to bridging traditional knowledge with cutting-edge science, enhancing public health, and supporting the growth of the native bee honey and halal food industries worldwide.

Dr Jian Zeng is a statistical geneticist and NHMRC Emerging Leadership Fellow at the Institute for Molecular Bioscience (IMB) at the University of Queensland (UQ). He received his PhD in animal breeding and genetics at Iowa State University and joined the Program in Complex Trait Genomics (PCTG) at UQ in 2016. His research focuses on the development and application of innovative statistical methods for estimating the genetic architecture and evolutionary signals in complex traits, identifying genetic variants, genes and other molecular intermediates associated with phenotype variation, and predicting trait phenotypes using genome sequence data. In 2019, he was awarded an NHMRC Investigator Emerging Leadership Grant to develop statistical methods and software tools for best predict an individual’s disease risk using genomic and omics data. He was an invited speaker at the prestigious Gordon Research Conference in 2019.

Dr. Xiangkang Zeng is a UQ Amplify Lecturer/ARC DECRA Research Fellow at the UQ Dow Centre within the School of Chemical Engineering at The University of Queensland. He earned his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from Monash University, Australia, in 2017. Prior to that, he pursued his studies at Jiangnan University in China, attaining a Master's Degree in Fermentation Engineering in 2012 and a Bachelor's Degree in Biological Engineering in 2010. Following his doctoral studies, Dr. Zeng conducted postdoctoral research training at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) from 2017 to 2018. Subsequently, he held the position of Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Department of Chemical Engineering at Monash University, Australia, from November 2018 to July 2022.

Dr. Zeng's current research endeavors center around the development of functional materials for energy and environmental application via redox catalysis. As a testament to his contributions, Xiangkang has authored over 50 papers in prestigious journals, including Advanced Materials, Advanced Energy Materials, Advanced Functional Materials, ACS Catalysis, Angewandte Chemie, Applied Catalysis B, Water Research, and Green Chemistry. In addition to his research, Xiangkang has a strong interest in university teaching. He has served as a Lecturer or Associate Lecturer for courses including Bioprocess Engineering (BIOE4020), Process Principles (CHEE2001), Research Thesis (CHEE7381), and Thermodynamics: Energy and the Environment (ENGG1500).

I am currently working on a project investigating intensive hard-rock preconditioning for underground mining, specifically focusing on how hydraulic fracturing and confined blasting support the block caving method.

My research journey began with coal seam gas transport and expanded into proppant transport in hydraulic fractures, leading to my current focus on rock mass preconditioning. With an academic and research background spanning mining, geotechnical, and petroleum engineering, I am passionate about leveraging numerical modeling and emerging AI methods to tackle complex engineering challenges in reservoir simulation, multiphase and granular flow, and rock fragmentation.

I am a lecturer at the School of Economics, University of Queensland. I obtained my Ph.D. in Economics from the W. P. Carey School of Business, Arizona State University. I study information economics (especially mechanism design and strategic communication) and its applications to industrial organization.

Dr Jihui (Aimee) Zhang is currently a lecturer (Assistant Professor) in the School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, University of Queensland, Australia. She is also an honorary lecturer in the Audio & Acoustic Signal Processing (AASP) group, the Australian National University (ANU), Australia. From 2023 to 2024, she was a lecturer (Assistant Professor) in the Institute of Sound and Vibration Research (ISVR), University of Southampton, the United Kingdom. From 2018 to 2022, she was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow and a Research Fellow in the AASP group, ANU, Australia. From May 2018 to Aug.2018, she was a Research Engineer Intern in SONY, Japan.

Her research interest is mainly in Audio and Acoustic Signal Processing, especially Spatial Active Noise Control, Spatial Audio Solution for Virtual and Augmented Reality, and Microphone Arrays. Her other research interest is in Human-Robot/machine Audio Interactions, especially Audio Solution for Human-Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) Interactions. She has practical experience in Digital Design and Embedded Systems, especially Embedded Automatic Test & Control Systems and Embedded Audio Systems

She is currently a senior member of the IEEE and Signal Processing Society (SPS), a member of Audio Engineering Society (AES) and Acoustical Society of America (ASA). She serves as Student Activities Chair in the IEEE Queensland Section in 2025. She served as a chair of Women in Engineering Affinity Group in IEEE Australian Capital Territory Section in 2021 and 2022.