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I am an ARC Future Fellow with 13 years as an active researcher (2 years academic interruption). My research seeks to bring significant fundamental advances about how animals adapt to changing environments and see its translation into industry and government as a critical aspect of my academic career. A critical part of my research has been the development of innovative genomic tools to enhance the conservation of Australian animals, including the development and validation of [1] non-invasive molecular disease diagnostics tools, [2] next generation sequencing for improved genotyping of DNA extracted from faecal samples , [3] metagenomics as tool for the identification of meta-populations, and most recently [4] airborne eDNA as a tool to monitor threatened species (e.g. koalas and its surrounding mammalian community). I am also a passionate advocate for women in STEM and was named Queensland Tall Poppy Scientist of the Year in 2020 and SuperStar of STEM Science and Technology Australia (2017).

Lana Friesen is a Professor in the School of Economics at the University of Queensland, Australia. She is primarily an experimental economist with interests in environmental economics and behavioural economics. Her research focuses on three broad themes. First, and most recently, the optimal design of environmental markets including those for pollution permits and carbon credits. Second, how to leverage limited enforcement resources to improve compliance with environmental regulations. Third, improving decision making in complex environments such as mobile phone contracts and aged care.

Professor Friesen’s research has been published in leading economics journals including the Economic Journal, European Economic Review, Journal of Environmental Economics, and the Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization. Her research has received funding from the Australian Research Council, Energy Consumers Australia, and AgriFutures Australia, among other sources.

Professor Friesen is currently an Associate Editor at the Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization and a Coordinating Editor at Theory and Decision.

Dr Joachim Froese is an artist, educator and scholar working in photography. He did his undergraduate studies at the School of Art at Launceston, University of Tasmania where he received an Associate Diploma in Printmedia in 1994 and a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1996. In 2002 he received a Master of Visual Arts from the Queensland College of Art, Griffith University in Brisbane and in 2017 a PhD (Art) from RMIT in Melbourne.

Since 2007 Dr Froese has held regular sessional appointments lecturing in photography at Griffith University, Queensland University of Technology, and the University of the Sunshine Coast. As a Visiting Lecturer in Germany he conducted postgraduate seminars at the Architecture Department, Technical University in Darmstadt and the Sociology Department, Justus-Liebig University in Giessen.

He is an acclaimed artist who has shown his work in major solo and group exhibitions across Australia, Europe, Asia and North America. His photographs are held in numerous public collections in Australia and Germany, amongst them the National Gallery of Australia and the National Portrait Gallery in Canberra as well as the Queensland Art Gallery / Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA) in Brisbane.

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Venoms play a range of adaptive roles in the animal kingdom from predation to defense to competitor deterrence. Remarkably, despite their biological importance and uniqueness, the evolution of venom systems is poorly understood. New insights into the evolution of venom systems and the importance of the associated toxins cannot be advanced without recognition of the true biochemical, ecological, morphological and pharmacological diversity of venoms and associated venom systems. A major limitation has been the very narrow taxonomical range studied. Entire groups of venomous animals remain virtually unstudied. My research is inherently interdisciplinary, integrating ecological, evolutionary, and functional genomics approaches in order to understand the evolution of venom systems. Studies range from discovering the shock-inducing hypotensive and anticoagulant venom of the iconic Komodo Dragon through to exploring the unique temperature specific adaptations of Antarctic octopus venoms.

Dr Changkui Fu is currently an NHMRC Emerging Leadership Fellow in the Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (AIBN), The University of Queensland (UQ).

Dr Fu obtained his bachelor and PhD degrees in Chemistry from Tsinghua University China in 2010 and 2015 respectively. After that, he moved to the Centre of Advanced Macromolecular Design (CAMD) in the UNSW as a postdoctoral researcher working with Prof Cyrille Boyer to explore photo-induced polymerization technologies. In 2016, he relocated to AIBN, UQ as a postdoctoral research fellow in Prof Andrew Whittaker's group on developing advanced imaging agents. In 2018, He was awarded a UQ Development Fellowship to work on novel bioactive polymers. Following this, he was awarded an NHMRC Emerging Investigator Grant on studying Bio-Nano interaction.

Dr Fu's research focuses on the design and synthesis of novel polymers with well-defined molecular structures and sophisticated functionalities. These polymers are suitable for a range of advanced applications including controlled drug delivery and bioimaging. He has published a number of peer-reviewed articles in leading scientific journals including Macromolecules, ACS Macro Letter, Polymer Chemistry, Advanced Healthcare Materials, Chemical Communications, JACS, Angewandte Chemie and others, and been granted a patent. To date, these publications have received nearly 4000 citations in total with an h-index of 36.

Dr Fu is looking for HDRs to join his group with a focus on Polymer Science and Biomaterials.

General Research specialises in: Evolutionary microbiology, Marine microbiology; Molecular phylogenetics, genomics and bioinformatics of bacteria; Planctomycete bacteria; Bacterial cell biology and structure.

Current research projects include:

Professor Shu Fukai obtained his BAgSci (Biological Science) from Tokyo University. He then went on to undertake his PhD Studies at Adelaide University on a study of canopy photosynthesis in subterranean clover. This was followed with postdoctoral studies at the University of California, Davis. He spent 3 years at Macquarie University as a tutor in Biological Sciences. He then joined UQ as an academic staff member. Much of Prof. Fukai’s research at UQ has focused on crop physiological understanding of genotypic variation in abiotic stress resistance and of different cropping systems. During his time at UQ he has supervised many postgraduate students and has been the School Postgraduate Coordinator for the past 5 years.

The actions of people just like you and me have caused a massive biodiversity crisis, pushing many species to the brink of extinction and beyond. Doing something about this is one of the most important and urgent problems globally. I am interested in understanding how people have affected the natural world around them, and how some of their destructive effects can best be reversed. On the flip side, I am also keen to understand whether people can benefit positively from experiences of biodiversity.

To answer these questions I work on pure and applied topics in biodiversity and conservation. Much of my work is interdisciplinary, focusing on the interactions between people and nature, how these can be enhanced, and how these relationships can be shaped to converge on coherent solutions to the biodiversity crisis. Current research topics include the ecology and conservation of migratory species, understanding what drives some people to show stronger environmental concern than others, and strategies for designing efficient conservation plans. I enjoy working closely with all my wonderful colleagues in the Centre for Biodiversity and Conservation Science.

Dr. Fulopova is an early career Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Queensland Brain Institute (QBI), The University of Queensland (UQ), focusing on research promoting neural adaptation in health and disease. Dr. Fulopova received PhD in Medical Studies (Neuroscience) in 2021 at the Wicking Dementia Research and Education Centre, University of Tasmania. During her doctoral candidature Dr. Fulopova developed expertise working in preclinical animal models, combining cutting edge in vivo imaging, neuromodulation and behavioural assays to investigate presynaptic axonal pathology, and how this could be ameliorated in dementia associated neurodegeneration. In her current postdoctoral work, Dr. Fulopova applies neurophysiological techniques using both ex vivo patch clamp recordings as well as in vivo optical calcium imaging and extracellular microelectrode recordings to study recovery of neural circuits connectivity following stroke and neurodegeneration.

Christophe Fumeaux received the Diploma and Ph.D. degrees in physics from the ETH Zurich, Switzerland, in 1992 and 1997, respectively.

From 1998 to 2000, he was a Postdoctoral Researcher with the School of Optics, University of Central Florida, Orlando. In 2000, he joined the Swiss Federal Office of Metrology, Bern, Switzerland, as a Scientific Staff Member. From 2001 to 2008, he was a Research Associate and Lecturer with the Laboratory for Electromagnetic Fields and Microwave Electronics at ETH Zurich. From 2008 to 2023, he has been a Professor with The University of Adelaide, Australia. In 2023, he joined the School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at The University of Queensland, as Chair Professor in Optical and Microwave Engineering. His main research interests concern applied electromagnetics, antenna engineering, and the application of RF design principles across the electromagnetic spectrum.

Prof. Fumeaux was the recipient of the ETH Medal for his doctoral dissertation. From 2011 to 2015, he was a Future Fellow of the Australian Research Council. He was the recipient of the 2018 Edward E. Altshuler Prize, the2014 IEEE Sensors Journal and the 2004 ACES Journal best paper awards. He also received best conference paper awards at the 2012 Asia-Pacific International Symposium on Electromagnetic Compatibility (APEMC 2012) and the 17th Colloque International sur la Compatibilité Electromagnétique (CEM 2014). More than ten of his students have received student awards with joint papers at IEEE conferences. He was the recipient of the University of Adelaide Stephen Cole the Elder Award for Excellence in Higher Degree by Research Supervisory Practice in 2018. He served as an Associate Editor for the IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques from 2010 to 2013. From 2013 to 2016 he served as a Senior Associate Editor and later as the Associate Editor-in-Chief for the IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation. From 2017 to early 2023, he served as the Editor-in-Chief for the IEEE Antennas and Wireless Propagation Letters. He is a Fellow of the IEEE and the 2025 President of the IEEE Antennas and Propagation Society.

Dr Jenny Fung is a Senior Research Officer in the School of Biomedical Sciences (SBMS). Her research focuses on understanding how multi-omics—including genomics, transcriptomics, and proteomics—and immune mechanisms contribute to complex diseases, with the aim of translating laboratory discoveries into improved patient outcomes.

Dr Fung completed her PhD in Endocrinology at The University of Queensland and undertook postdoctoral training at QIMR Berghofer and the Institute for Molecular Bioscience (IMB, UQ) in Professor Grant Montgomery’s laboratory. There, she used high-throughput genetic and genomic approaches to uncover key molecular mechanisms underlying endometriosis. In 2019, she joined Professor Trent Woodruff’s laboratory, where she expanded her research to neurodegenerative diseases, including motor neuron disease (MND), Huntington’s disease (HD), and frontotemporal dementia (FTD). Her work spans both preclinical and patient-focused studies, including contributions to a Phase Ib clinical trial in MND, the identification of immune and molecular biomarkers in longitudinal patient cohorts, and the evaluation of therapeutic targets using patient-derived cells.

Dr Fung has published over 40 peer-reviewed papers in journals including Nature Genetics, Nature Communications, PNAS, and Brain, Behavior, and Immunity. She is passionate about connecting laboratory discoveries with clinical impact and co-leads projects integrating multi-omics, immunology, and patient-focused research to develop new strategies for treating complex diseases.

My research focuses on the biological control and integrated management of insect pests. Understanding the ecological and biological relationships between insects and their natural enemies (pathogens, parasitoids and predators) and the interactions between these natural enemies is fundamental to effective biological control and is central to my research. Strategies which manipulate natural enemies to enhance their impact on pest populations are under development, examples include

• Integration of biological stressors and fungal entomopathogens for improved control of insect pests
• Reduced insecticide inputs combined with the provision of adult food sources to enhance endemic parasitoid performance
• Utilizing inducible plant defences to manipulate pests and improve the effectiveness of natural enemies.

Externally funded research projects concentrate on the development of sustainable pest management strategies for insect pests in developing countries. In Indonesia the structure and function of the natural enemy complexes attacking the diamondback moth (Plutella xylostella) and the cabbage cluster caterpillar (Crocidolomia pavonana) are being determined. In Samoa the biology and ecology of the egg parasitoid Trichogramma chilonis is being investigated and the possibility of its release as a biological control agent of C. pavonana in Fiji, Tonga and Solomon Islands explored. Research in Fiji is focused on quantifying field resistance of the diamondback moth to commonly used insecticides. An insecticide resistance management strategy has been developed and will be implemented in collaboration with UN-FAO.

BA University of Oxford

MSc Imperial College

PhD Imperial College

Sebastian is an expert on molecular pharmacology of G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs - the largest class of cell surface recpetors and major drug targets). His lab has a particular interest in those involved in communication between the gastrointestinal tract and brain (the so-called gut-brain axis). Current foccusses include ghrelin, melanocortin 4, dopamine D2, and cholecystokinin receptors and the lab has also worked on the calcitonin, glucagon-like peptide 1 and other receptors. His lab is interested in answering complelling biological questions relating to physiology and pathophysiology of the gut-brain axis all the way down to the level of the receptor.

Sebastian is from Adelaide and received his BSc(Hons) and PhD. from the University of Adelaide, where he worked on the Aryl Hydrocarbon receptor in the lab of Murray Whitelaw. He then did postdoctoral research on haematopoitic stem cell differentiation in Kelly McNagny’s lab at the Biomedical Research Centre at the University of British Columbia before joining Patrick Sexton to work on G protein-coupled receptors at Monash University .

Sebastian is now an ARC Future Fellow with his own research program in the School of Biomedical Sciences at the University of Queensland. He remains an adjunct member of MIPS DDB as well as CCeMMP.

Sebastian has honours and PhD positions for motivated students who have a strong desire to assume ownership of a project and work independently.

Dr Luis Furuya Kanamori MBBS, MEpi, MPH, PhD, FACTM is a clinical epidemiologist and research synthesis methodologist. He is an international leader in travel medicine, vaccine preventable diseases, and research synthesis, and has been listed in Stanford University’s World top 2% of scientists.

Dr Furuya Kanamori leads the Travel Medicine and Vaccine Preventable Diseases Theme, and the Clinician-Epidemiologist Hub at UQ's HERA program on Operational Research and Decision Support for Infectious Diseases (ODeSI). He is Director of Research of the Clinical Research & Evidence Synthesis (CRESTMA) at the Travel Medicine Alliance (TMA), network of 30+ travel medicine clinics in Australia.

Dr Furuya Kanamori’s applied research on travel medicine and vaccine preventable diseases has influenced key changes in clinical and public health guidelines (e.g., WHO, ATAGI, Australian Immunisation Handbook, UptoDate). His methodological work on publication bias (LFK index) has been implemented in MetaXL, Stata, and R, and has been utilised in 800+ published meta-analyses.

In addition to his academic roles, Dr Furuya Kanamori is editorial board member for J Travel Med and Clin Infect Dis, and chairs the Research and Awards Committee of the International Society of Travel Medicine.

Selina Fyfe is a research scientist in food systems, food science and food composition who holds a Research Fellow position at the Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation (QAAFI). Her research special interests include plant foods, traditional foods and food security. Selina's current research projects focus on food systems and on food composition. Her PhD thesis was on the Australian green plum (Buchanania obovata) and included food chemistry, metabolomics, multivariate statistical analysis, food composition and nutrition profiles, food sensory analysis and descriptions, physical properties, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), fruit growth and maturation, and responsible research. Prior to food science, she was a multi-skilled medical scientist working in pathology laboratories and this background deepens her application of food science and her knowledge of the food system.

Professor Gabrielli completed his undergraduate education at James Cook University in Townsville and PhD at La Trobe University in Melbourne. After two postdoctoral positions in the USA in the emerging field of cell cycle regulation, he was recruited to establish his own independent research at the Queensland Institute of Medical Research, and then recruited to the Diamantina Institute in 2002, and Mater Research Institute in 2016. He is head of the Smiling for Smiddy Cell Cycle Group.

Research Interests

Mechanisms that regulate cell division, particularly progression into mitosis. These mechanisms are often mutated in cancers and are likely to be major contributors to cancer development. Identifying the genetic mutations that disrupt normal progression and particularly mechanisms, known as checkpoints, provides diagnostic and prognostic opportunities. It also provides potential new targets for chemotherapeutics as drugs targeting defective checkpoints have tumour selective cytotoxic potential.

Research Projects

• Identifying the molecular basis for defective checkpoints in melanoma.
• Targeting defective cell cycle responses to ultraviolet radiation, replication stress and TopoII inhibitors in melanoma, and investigating whether the same defects in other cancer types respond to similar targeting.
• Investigating means of identify very early changes in moles that drive progression to melanoma
• Targeting Aurora kinases in HPV-driven cancers