Find an expert

James De Voss received a B. Sc (Hons) in Chemistry and a University Medal from the University of Queensland in 1984. He was a Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851 scholar at Cambridge University, where he worked on the biosynthesis of Vitamin B12 with Prof. Sir Alan Battersby. A postdoctoral fellowship, again from the Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851, allowed him to work with Prof. Craig Townsend at Johns Hopkins University on the mechanism of DNA cleavage caused by the enediyne antibiotic calicheamicin. He was then introduced to the cytochromes P450 by Prof. Paul Ortiz de Montellano with whom he worked while at the University of California, San Francisco. Since returning to the University of Queensland to take up an academic appointment, initially as a Senior lecturer and subsequently as a Reader and then a Professor, he has continued his interest in problems at the interface of chemistry and biology and currently works with a range of bacterial, insect and mammalian P450s, as well as on the biogenesis of insect pheromones and phytochemistry of herbal medicines.

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.

Associate Professor Judith Dean, a Registered Nurse/Midwife with over 25-years clinical and research experience in sexual and reproductive health (SRH), HIV and other BBV, is a Principal Research Fellow at the UQ Poche Centre for Indigenous Health. The overall aim of her program of research is to address inequities of access to sexual and reproductive health and rights education and services through innovative models of care and workforce development using mixed methods and longitudinal qualitative community-based participatory approaches.

She is currently working on research evaluating 'Birthing in our Community' models of care for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women and their families, developing a program of preventative SRHR research including exploring access to culturally safe and responsive pregnancy options and abortion care and is working with community to develop a culturally safe and responsive 'Black and Proud' model of care for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander LGBTQAI+ Sister Girls and Brother Boys. She is also the Higher Degree Research Program Advisor for UQ Poche.

Before joining UQ Poche Centre in 2023, she was a research fellow at the School of Public Health (2015-2022) and was leading projects exploring innovative models of HIV Self-testing dissemination, access to peer-led Molecular point-of-care STI testing, transgender care, syphilis in pregnancy and access to pregnancy options, abortion and contraception. From 2016 to 2019, she was the co-ordinating investigator on the Queensland PrEP Demonstration Monitoring and Evaluation study. Her other projects and areas of interest include exploring the experiences of newly diagnosed PLHIV including implementation of a Peer Navigation program, access to SRH care for gender and sexually diverse young people and the sexual health literacy of CALD youth in Queensland. She has a strong background working in partnership with refugee and migrant / culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) communities, sex worker organisations, gender and sexually diverse young people, and the LGBTQAI+ community.

During her time at UQSPH, she also taught into the Bachelor of Health Science (PUBH3002 Health Policy in Practice, PUBH3010 Global Health and Infectious Diseases) and the Master of Public Health (PUBH7101 Communicable Diseases Management and Control).

From 2002 to 2013 Judith held a joint appointment between Griffith University School of Nursing and Midwifery where she held the title of Griffith Graduate Sexual Health Program Convenor and Queensland Health where in her role as State Nurse Educator for Queensland Sexual Health and HIV Services she was responsible for state-wide coordination and development of clinical practice standards, policy and professional development programs for specialist advanced practice nurses working in SRH and HIV. She completed her Doctor of Philosophy in 2014 titled Sexual health knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs of Queensland Sudanese communities.

Judith has extensive educational and clinical expertise in SRH, HIV, women’s health and midwifery in a diverse range of national and international settings. Before moving into SRH and HIV education and research, she worked clinically as a midwife and SRH Nurse in a range of locations in Australia and overseas. This includes over 5 years working in the Northern Territory as a Midwife and remote area nurse along with two years with International Committee of Red Cross in settings such as South Sudan and Afghanistan developing midwifery training programs and models of care for women and their families experiencing conflict and displacement.

I am available to supervise PhD/MPhil students, Honours and Master of Public Health projects.

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.