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Dr Angela Dean is a conservation social scientist with more than 20 years’ experience leading research and engagement programs with diverse communities, from urban residents to rural farming communities. Her research draws on behavioural science to explore patterns and drivers of environmental stewardship, how people experience and perceive environmental change, and the effectiveness of different engagement & communication approaches in encouraging uptake of conservation actions. Angela works closely with a range of government and NGO partners, coordinating social monitoring of engagement in reef and waterway stewardship.

I am a sedimentary geochemist, and I work on a variety of problems in sedimentary geology, paleoclimate, and basin analysis through the use of petrology, elemental geochemistry, and stable isotope geochemistry. I run the Carbonate Research and Geochemistry group at UQ, where we have a variety of facilities for sample petrology, carbonate precipitation under controlled environmental conditions, and geochemical analysis. I am also heavily involved with ANZIC, the Australian/New Zealand branch of IODP/ICDP, where I serve on the Science Committee.

Clumped Isotope Reordering and Basin Analysis

Currently we are investigating clumped isotope reordering - the change that occurs in a sample's clumped isotope value as a result of solid-state diffusion of 18O and/or 13C within the crystal lattice of a carbonate mineral. This is important to understand for two reasons. First, if we are trying to get accurate paleoclimate data using clumped isotope paleothermometry, we need to know what conditions (burial depth and heating) allow for primary signals, and under which conditions the primary signal is lost. Second, if we know the kinetics of clumped isotope reordering, we can then apply that knowledge to understand past heat flow in a basin. Combined with a stratigraphic column and burial history for a body of rock, we can reconstruct geothermal gradients, and evaluate tectonic/basin models based on whether they could produce the required heat flux to match observed clumped isotope values. Areas of active research include precipitating model carbonates in the lab to study the effects of different cations, burial diagenesis, and applications to sediment hosted ore bodies/other economic systems.

Carbonate Sedimentation and Diagenesis

Carbonate sedimentation and diagenesis is one of our active research areas, with a focus on combining laboratory experiments, modern analogues, and ancient rocks to understand the long term evolution of carbonates and other sediments. Clumped isotopes are useful here as it turns out they do record the temperature of formation in most cases, and can be applied to a variety of problems, such as contemporary dolomite formation, or the temperature of formation of otherwise engimatic carbonate textures, such as 'beef' calcites. We are also interested in the sedimentation and diagenesis of carbonate reefs, such as the geological history of the Great Barrier Reef, and are currently studying the halogen composition of carbonates, reef rocks and corals, and oceanic sediments in general (see below).

Halogens in Sediments and Carbonates

Anions are undercharacterized in Earth materials, largely due to measurement difficulties. At UQ, we have developed combustion ion chromotography to characterize the halogen abundance in sediments and carbonates. The goal is to determine the overall halogen budget in the oceans and oceanic sediments, as while we know a lot about cation and trace element distributions in oceanic sediments, little is known about halogens. Likewise, halogens in carbonate may be potential paleoenvironmental proxies, but have not been investigated thouroughly. This is something I am pursuing, with collaboration from ANZIC/IODP.

Paleoclimate Research

I have been interested in paleoclimate since I took my first geology class at Northwestern. Since then, I've worked on a variety of timescales and systems, but the common theme has been the application of stable isotopes and clumped isotopes. Clumped isotopes are a wonderful tool for paleoclimate research in situations where the water oxygen isotope composition is uncertain, such as terrestrial and lacustrine settings, deep time where even the oxygen isotopic composition of the ocean is uncertain, or even in (relatively) more modern systems that might be affected by runoff or glacial meltwater. Active projects and areas of interest include Holocene climate change/ENSO, Southern Ocean Cenozoic paleoclimatology, and 'bizzare' climate events such as the Neoproterozoic Snowball Earth glaciations.

Degrees and Positions Held

2008 B.A. Geological Sciences and Integrated Sciences (Honors), Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, USA

2014 Ph.D. Geology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA

2014-2017 Postdoctoral Researcher, University of California, Los Angeles, California, USA

2017-2019 Berg-Hughes Postdoctoral Fellow, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, USA

2019-2024 Lecturer in Geochemistry, University of Queensland

2025-Present Senior Lecturer in Geochemistry, University of Queensland

Evolutionary and ecological genomics of marine invertebrate animals.

My lab's research is driven by a fascination with genomes that carry within them endless, brilliant solutions forged by evolution over millions of years in response to a constantly changing ocean. We tap into this to learn how the genomes of coral reef invertebrates and their bacterial symbionts interact with each other, and with the environment, throughout their life cycle. We study these gene-environment interactions in evolutionary and ecological contexts, using genomic, molecular and cellular approaches combined with behavioural ecology in natural populations.

We work often with embryonic and larval life history stages of indirect developers, as these stages are crucial to the maintenance and evolution of marine populations. Our current focus is around larval settlement and metamorphosis in the holobiont of the coral reef demosponge Amphimedon queenslandica. In recent years, our work has extended to functional genomic approaches to identify noval ways to control the coral reef pest, the Crown-of-Thorns starfish.

When not immersed in the molecular or computer lab, we are lucky enough to be immersed in the ocean, often in beautiful places!

Lori is an experienced intersive care nurse who has worked in a range of Intensive Care environments, and with an interest in advance mechancial ventilation, ECMO and VAD management. She completed her PhD in 2023, which investigated sleep monitoring techniques and sleep distruabnce among ICU patients, and impact of the clinical environment. Lori is the program lead in nursing at the University of Queensland and has an interest in how emerging technologies can be leveraged in nursing education and clinical simulation to enhance nursing students knowledge and critical thinking skills. Her career has focussed on providing high quality patient care to the critically ill, and undertaking clinical research to optimise patient care and outcomes.

I'm an emerging clinical researcher in the field of acquired brain injury. Working as a postdoctoral research fellow in the Child Health Research Centre, my research focusses on expanding knowledge relating to the effects of, and management practices for, traumatic brain injury in children. I completed my PhD in 2025, which developed my expertise in neuroscience, clinical trial conduction and research supervision. My PhD explored the effects of sports-related head impacts on the brain using a variety of novel biomarkers (including advanced neuroimaging sequences and blood biomarkers of brain integrity) and the potential for dietary strategies to ameliorate negative consequences. I'm also an Accredited Practising Dietitian, with over 5 years of clinical practice experience in academic, private practice and hospital settings.

Dr Parvin Delshad is a Senior Lecturer and Principal Specialty Supervisor at the General Practice Clinical Unit (GPCU), University of Queensland. She completed her Doctor of Medicine at Birjand University of Medical Sciences in Iran and is a Fellow of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners. Alongside her academic role, she is a practicing GP in Brisbane North.

Her research interests focus on written communication and certification in general practice, with a particular emphasis on improving the experiences of international medical graduates and enhancing communication between GPs and external stakeholders.

Dr. Gianluca Demartini is a Professor in Data Science and an ARC Future Fellow at the University of Queensland, Australia. His main research interests include Information Retrieval, Semantic Web, and Human Computation. His research is currently funded by the Australian Research Council, the Swiss National Science Foundation, Meta, Google, and the Wikimedia Foundation. He received Best Paper Awards at the ACM SIGIR International Conference on the Theory of Information Retrieval (ICTIR) in 2023, AAAI Conference on Human Computation and Crowdsourcing (HCOMP) in 2018, at the European Conference on Information Retrieval (ECIR) in 2016 and 2020, and the Best Demo award at the International Semantic Web Conference (ISWC) in 2011. He has published more than 200 peer-reviewed scientific publications including papers at major venues such as WWW, ACM SIGIR, VLDBJ, ISWC, and ACM CHI. He is an ACM Senior Member, ACM Distinguished Speaker, and a TEDx speaker.

Before joining the University of Queensland, he was a Lecturer at the University of Sheffield in UK, post-doctoral researcher at the eXascale Infolab at the University of Fribourg in Switzerland, visiting researcher at UC Berkeley, junior researcher at the L3S Research Center in Germany, and intern at Yahoo! Research in Spain. In 2011, he obtained a Ph.D. in Computer Science at the Leibniz University of Hannover in Germany focusing on Semantic Search.

Dr Csilla Demeter is a Research Fellow in Strategy and Entrepreneurship at the University of Queensland. Her research investigates corporate responses to climate change, examining how organisations construct narratives, mobilise resources, and influence public discourse to maintain legitimacy during periods of environmental and regulatory uncertainty. Her current research is focused on understanding the debate on the challenges generated by the Energy transition in Australia, as the sector adapts to climate change.

Csilla also investigates public perceptions of novel environmental interventions, with a particular focus on Reef restoration efforts. Her interest lies in understanding public risk perceptions and support for emerging Reef Restoration Technologies.

She holds a PhD in Sustainable Tourism from the University of Queensland. Her doctoral research advanced sustainability scholarship by assessing the use of Environmentally Extended Input-Output Analysis as a practical carbon accounting tool for small and medium-sized enterprises. Her work further explored the effectiveness of various intervention strategies aimed at promoting pro-environmental behaviour, offering a novel framework for triggering behavioural change in leisure-oriented and enjoyment-focused settings.

I specialize in applying geochemical theories and methods, particularly elemental and isotopic analyses, to study past climate and environmental changes. My research focuses on high-resolution reconstructions of climate variability and the responses of marine carbonates to environmental shifts. One of my key contributions has been developing a high-precision carbonate clumped isotope (Δ47) analysis method. This work has clarified biological effects on Δ47 in biogenic carbonates and uncovered fractionation mechanisms during diagenesis and burial, providing a theoretical foundation for broader Δ47 applications in climate studies. I have also reconstructed high-resolution climate records for the South China Sea and western Pacific during the mid-to-late Holocene. These records help distinguish natural climate variability from anthropogenic influences, offering critical insights into past and present climate trends. Additionally, my research has explored traditional and novel isotopic compositions in coral skeletons as indicators of coral biological activity. This work introduces new perspectives on how corals respond and adapt to environmental changes, contributing to a deeper understanding of coral resilience under future climate scenarios.