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Professor Almond’s current research interests include apocalypticism in early modern England; and demonic possession, exorcism and witchcraft in early modern England. He has particular interests in themes in religious cultural history in the early modern period.

Professor Almond holds the following qualifications: B.D. (Hons.) (London), M.A. (Lancaster), Ph.D. (Adelaide), F.A.H.A.

He is the author of The British Discovery of Buddhism (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006, paperback edition); The Witches of Warboys: An extraordinary Story of Sorcery, Sadism, and Satanic Possession (London: I.B.Tauris, in press); Demonic Possession & Exorcism in Early Modern England (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004); Adam and Eve in Seventeenth-Century Thought (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999), Heaven and Hell in Enlightenment England (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994); The British Discovery of Buddhism (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988); Heretic and Hero: Muhammad and the Victorians (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1989); Rudolf Otto: An Introduction to his Philosophical Theology (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1984); Mystical Experience and Religious Doctrine: An Investigation of the Study of Mysticism in World Religions (Berlin: Mouton, 1982).

Recent articles include “Adam, Pre-Adamites, and Extra-Terrestrial Beings in Early Modern Europe,” Journal of Religious History 30(2006), 163-74; “‘The Witches of Warboys’: A Bibliographical Note,” in Notes and Queries 52 (2005), 192-3; “Western Images of Islam, 1700-1900, Australian Journal of Politics and History 49(2003), 412-24; “Modern Imaginings of Islam,” St Mark’s Review 192(2003), pp.24-9, reprinted in The Sceptic 24(2004), 6-10. “Fundamentalism, Christianity, and Religion,” The 2001 Sir Robert Madgwick Lecture, Armidale: The University of New England, 2002, Broadcast on ABC Radio National, Encounter, 7.4.02, www.abc.net.au/rn.relig/enc/stories/s520400.htm; " Druids, Patriarchs, and the Primordial Religion”, The Journal of Contemporary Religion 15(2000), 379-94.

He is currently working on a book on apocalypticism in early modern England.

Dr Patricia Alves is a digital media educator and researcher, whose work bridges critical theory with contemporary practice. With expertise across social media studies, philosophy of technology, and democratic engagement, she brings both scholarly rigor and industry insight to her teaching and research.

Her doctoral research at the University of Technology Sydney applied postphenomenological frameworks to understand how social media platforms shape young Brazilians' political participation, work that speaks directly to global concerns about digital citizenship and democratic futures. Her academic work is enriched by over a decade of experience as a broadcast journalist in Brazil.

Patricia's pedagogical approach draws from extensive international experience across Asia-Pacific, Europe, and Latin America, including collaborative projects with NGOs in Malaysia and Vietnam. She is committed to inclusive teaching practices that recognises the diverse backgrounds and learning needs of contemporary university students, creating learning environments where all students can thrive in an increasingly digital world.

I am primarily interested in how we, as scientists, can make meaningful contributions to halting and reversing the ongoing global biodiversity crisis. I am particularly committed to tackling gaps in our knowledge needed for biodiversity conservation, focusing on the following three aspects.

(i) Identifying gaps in existing information and their drivers: I have been working on how information on biodiversity is distributed over space, time and taxa, and what causes the existing gaps in information availability.

(ii) Overcoming information gaps with modelling approaches: I have been applying modelling approaches to better inform conservation initiatives through the use of available, imperfect data. For this I have intensively worked on assessing long-term changes in global waterbird diversity (see for example our recent papers in Nature (also see my blog post) and Nature Climate Change (blog post))

(iii) Bridging the research-implementation gap: I am also keen to provide scientific information for conservation in a more accessible way and have been involved in the Conservation Evidence project as a statistical editor, with the aim of contributing to the implementation of evidence-based decision making in conservation.

I am leading the translatE project (transcending language barriers to environmental sciences), funded by the Australian Research Council, which incorporates the above three aspects in order to understand the consequences of language barriers in biodiversity conservation. The project aims to:

• assess the importance of scientific knowledge that is available in non-English languages,
• understand how language barriers impede the application of science in decision making,
• quantify language barriers to the career development of non-native English speaking scientists, and
• devise solutions for exchanging information across languages and cultures in an effective manner.

See my interview in Nature's Changemakers series: Biologist Tatsuya Amano works to make science a fairer place for non-fluent speakers.

Our work on language barriers in science has also been featured in Nature in 2019 and July and August in 2023, Science in 2020 and 2023, The Conversation in 2021 and 2023, The Guardian, and The Economist, and my presentation on findings from the project (plenary at the 2022 Joint Conference of the Ecological Society of Australia and the Society for Conservation Biology Oceania: from 48:48).

Also see the website of Kaizen Conservation Group for our research, members and latest publications.

I am also an affiliated researcher at the Centre for Biodiversity and Conservation Science.

Noorul Amin is SAAFE CRC's foundation Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the analytics program. His research focuses on advanced computational techniques in biological data, including omics data analysis and tools development. With a background in applying machine learning and data mining approaches to biological challenges, Noorul's current work centres on the intersection of data analytics and antimicrobial resistance, particularly in agribusiness, food, and the environment.

He is seeking Honours and PhD students interested in applying machine learning and data analytics approaches to biological questions.

Associate Professor Saiied Aminossadati is a distinguished academic in Mechanical and Mining Engineering with over three decades of experience in research, teaching and industry collaboration. He holds a B. Eng. (1989), M. Eng. (1994), PhD (1999) in Mechanical Engineering, Grad. Cert. in Higher Education (2009) and Senior Fellowship in Higher Education Academy (2017). His research in computational thermofluids, fibre optic sensing and underground mine ventilation has earned national and international recognition, resulting in nearly 200 publications, over 6600 citations and an H-index of 40. He has secured more than $4.65 million in competitive research funding and serves as a reviewer for 30 leading journals. He has supervised 22 higher degree research students and contributed to numerous industry reports. He is a regular keynote speaker and conference chair at national and international forums. In the classroom, he inspires a diverse cohort of over 1000 engineering students annually with a personalised and inclusive teaching approach. Through leadership, mentoring and employability initiatives, he actively connects students with professional pathways, ensuring they are prepared for real-world engineering challenges. Since 2009, his exceptional contributions to education have been recognised with 14 university and national teaching awards.

I am a quantitative wildlife ecologist who uses and develops novel statistical methods coupled with research computing to understand species interactions and how wildlife communities are impacted by a wide range of contemporary disturbances.

I am currently a Principal Data Scientist working on developing the Wildlife Observatory of Australia (WildObs) that aims to bring together siloed camera trap data into a user-friendly continental database. I recently completed my PhD in wildlife ecology and conservation at the University of Queensland in the Ecological Cascades Lab where I studied food web dynamics among Southeast Asian tropical forest vertebrates. Before moving to Australia, I worked towards the conservation of several different threatend reptile and amphibian species in the USA. When I am not stuck behind my computer, you can find me outdoors looking for wildlife, biking, hiking, camping, and surfing.

I am the Group Leader of Bio-inspired Materials Research at the Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology, The University of Queensland. My research focuses on transforming agricultural waste into innovative solutions for tackling environmental, health and plastic waste issues. My mission extends beyond research and into commercialisation. I am dedicated to fostering partnerships across industry, academia, Indigenous communities and government, utilising waste as a valuable resource to advance the environment, food and health sectors. My approach is clear: turning challenges into opportunities for a sustainable future.

I am a strong advocate for cultural diversity and equity, and I support staff and students in growing into more effective leaders and in creating social good.

In recognition of my contributions to nanomaterials engineering and research excellence, I have received several awards, including being one of the winners of AgriFutures Australia and growAG.Catalyst Program(2024), one of the Queelsnand Tall Poppy Award winners(2024), The Eight Australian Women Who Are Shaking up the World Of Science (Marie Claire, 2020), one of Australia’s Top 5 Scientists (ABC/UNSW, 2018), Queensland Women in STEM Prize- judges choice award (2017), Women in Technology Life Sciences and/or Infotech Rising Star Award (2016), AIBN Research Excellence Award (2016), a Class of 2014 Future Leader award and Best poster prize at the Australian Nanotechnology Network ECR Entrepreneurship workshop(2015).

Esinam is currently working on a multidisciplinary project (led by Prof. David Jordan) aimed at dissecting the genetics and physiology of lodging in sorghum. Her focus is on developing genomic prediction models and strategies to select for lodging without compromising on other important production traits.

Esinam is a strong research professional with a demonstrated history of working on quantitative and statistical genomic analyses of large datasets. She holds a joint PhD from Wageningen University and Research, the Netherlands and the Swedish University of Life Sciences, and double-degree MSc from Norwegian University of Life Sciences and the University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences, Austria.

Dr Feng (Chris) An completed his Ph.D. degree in Electrical Engineering at the Tsinghua University in 2023. He joined the Power & Energy Systems Research Group with the School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the University of Queensland in 2024. His research interests include renewable energy power conversion, topology and control of power electronic converters, optimized operation and modeling of power systems integrating power electronic equipment. He is also the reviewer of many top journals, such as: IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics, IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics, IEEE Transactions on Power System, etc. Dr. Feng made the Stanford/Elsevier Top 2% Scientists List 2024.

Welcome undergraduate/graduate students interested in renewable energy and power conversion to contact and participate in the research work.

Associate Professor Rebecca Ananian-Welsh is a constitutional law scholar, Executive Director of Public Law with the Centre for Public International and Comparative Law (CPICL), and Chief Editor of the University of Queensland Law Journal. Her research focuses on courts, national security and press freedom and she has published widely in these fields, including more than 25 journal articles and 4 books. Her research interests focus on the separation of judicial power, the constitutional role and nature of courts, national security law and policy, and press freedom in security contexts.

Rebecca is an Honorary Senior Fellow at Melbourne Law School and has been a visiting scholar at the National University of Singapore (NUS). Prior to joining UQ, She held positions at UNSW Law with the Laureate Fellowship Project 'Anti-Terror Laws and the Democratic Challenge' and the Gilbert + Tobin Centre of Public Law's Terrorism & Law Project, as a litigation solicitor with global law firm DLA Piper, and as a legal officer with the Federal Attorney-General's Department Canberra.

Ramprakash is focused on advancing hypersonic technology through innovative experimental techniques and strong industry collaboration. His expertise includes supersonic and hypersonic experimental studies, scramjet engine research, shock tunnel testing, and implimenting noval optical diagnostics, all of which aim to push the boundaries of aerospace engineering. His work is dedicated to bridging the gap between theoretical research and practical applications in aerospace, making significant contributions to both academic and industrial sectors.

Dr Kate Anderson is a researcher based on the Sunshine Coast who has worked as an ally in collaboration with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander researchers and communities for more than 15 years across the areas of cancer, kidney disease and wellbeing. Her current program of research at FNCWR is focused on understanding and measuring the wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people across the lifespan.

Kate has extensive qualitative research skills and experience, with >50 peer-reviewed journal publications, 22 in the past five years alone. She is currently a Chief/Associate Investigator on grants totalling over $14 million, including:

• What Matters to Kids (WM2Kids) Study: https://public-health.uq.edu.au/project/what-matters-2-kids
• Co-design in Health with First Nations Peoples: https://public-health.uq.edu.au/project/co-design-health-first-nations-peoples
• Supporting the health and wellbeing of Indigenous youth in out-of-home care: https://public-health.uq.edu.au/project/health-wellbeing-indigenous-youth-out-home-care Understanding the contribution of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture and wellbeing to health: Implementation of the What Matters 2 Adults Wellbeing Measure: https://public-health.uq.edu.au/project/implementing-what-matters-2-adults
• What Matters to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Youths' Wellbeing: Developing a wellbeing measure for youth (WM2Y Project): https://public-health.uq.edu.au/project/what-matters-2-youth
• Yarning About Cultural Safety (YACS): https://public-health.uq.edu.au/project/yarning-about-cultural-safety-yacs