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Professor Daniel Franks is Director of the Global Centre for Mineral Security at the University of Queensland’s Sustainable Minerals Institute and is an Australian Research Council Future Fellow. Professor Franks is known internationally for his work on the interconnections between minerals, materials and sustainable development, with a particular focus on the role of minerals in poverty reduction. He has introduced a number of key concepts in development studies including ‘mineral poverty’, ‘mineral security,’ and ‘development minerals;’ and has worked with a wide range of public and private sector partners to implement breakthrough sustainability innovations, such as OreSand to drastically reduce mine waste, and ‘social impact management plans,’ a regulatory tool now adopted throughout the world.

He is the author of more than 160 publications, including more than 40 publications for the United Nations. His research has appeared in journals such as Nature Sustainability and the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, and is available in 11 languages. He is an Editorial Board Member of the International Journal of Minerals Policy & Economics, as well as Impact Assessment and Project Appraisal and has field experience at more than 100 mining and energy sites and 40 countries.

Lucy Fraser is a Senior Lecturer in Japanese at the School of Languages and Cultures, St Lucia campus, UQ. Her research interests include depictions of animal-human relationships in fiction, fairy tales and fairy tale retellings in Japanese and English, and ideas of gender--especially the figure of the girl--in contemporary Japanese literature, manga, film, and television. She is also interested in Japan-Australia literary and cultural connections, and editing and translation of literature and literary criticism.

Professor Ian Frazer is a clinician scientist, trained as a clinical immunologist in Scotland. As a professor at the University of Queensland, he leads a research group working at TRI in Brisbane, Australia on the immunobiology of epithelial cancers. He is recognised as co-inventor of the technology enabling the HPV vaccines, currently used worldwide to help prevent cervical cancer. He heads a biotechnology company, Jingang Medicine (Aus) Pty Ltd, working on new vaccine technologies, and is a board member of several companies and not for profit organisations. He was the inaugural president of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences, and a member of the Australian National Science and Technology Council. He chairs the Australian Medical Research Advisory Board of the Medical Research Future Fund.

He was recognised as Australian of the Year in 2006. He was recipient of the Prime Ministers Prize for Science, and of the Balzan Prize, in 2008, and was elected Fellow of the Royal Society of London in 2012. He was appointed Companion of the Order of Australia in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list in 2013.

Associate Professor Chris Freeman is a leading pharmacist, educator, and clinician-researcher with national recognition and international impact in Safe and Quality Use of Medicines. He is currently appointed as the inaugural Conjoint Associate Professor of Safe and Effective Medication Research at the University of Queensland and Metro North Health (2021-present), Consultant Pharmacist at Camp Hill Healthcare (2009-present), and Board Director of the Brisbane South PHN (2020-present). A/Prof Freeman has served at the highest professional position within the Australian pharmacy sector, as National President of the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia (2018-22).

A/Prof Freeman’s research theme focusses on the Safe and Quality use of Medicines, specifically relating to developing the evidence to support future roles for pharmacists in collaborative healthcare settings, reducing harm from inappropriate medication use, and tailoring therapy through personalised medicine. He has been a productive researcher relative to opportunity, with more than 80 publications, and secured $7Min competitive research grants and fellowships from a range of funders including NHMRC (including the prestigious TRIP Fellowship), MRFF, and HCF Research Foundation.

A/Prof Freeman has been recognised for his contributions to the advancement of patient care, research, and the pharmacy profession through awards such as the PSA’s Young Pharmacist of the Year, the Australian Association of Consultant Pharmacy’s Consultant Pharmacist of the Year, the James Cook University’s Outstanding Early Career Alumni Award, and Fellowships of PSA and the Queensland Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Fully funded PhD Scholarship is currently available: https://study.uq.edu.au/study-options/phd-mphil-professional-doctorate/projects/unsteady-turbulence-dynamics-pulsatile-pipe-flow

Dr Navid Freidoonimehr is a Lecturer in Mechanical Engineering within the School of Mechanical and Mining Engineering at The University of Queensland and an ARC Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (DECRA) Fellow. He completed his PhD at the University of Adelaide in 2021. His research spans biofluid mechanics, cardiovascular haemodynamics, and unsteady/pulsatile flow, with an emphasis on translating engineering insight into clinically meaningful cardiovascular diagnostics.

Navid Freidoonimehr’s research sits at the interface of engineering and clinical practice, with a strong focus on coronary artery physiology. His work integrates computational modelling (e.g., CFD and haemodynamic/diagnostic indices) with experimental fluid mechanics (benchtop flow loops, pressure–flow measurements, and flow visualisation) to quantify how lesions and microvascular resistance shape coronary physiology and how these effects can be captured with improved diagnostic approaches.

Alongside his cardiovascular program, Dr Freidoonimehr leads a DECRA project inspired by human heart pulsation that investigates how controlled flow pulsation can reduce energy consumption in pipelines, aiming to develop practical strategies for more efficient fluid transport in engineered systems. Before joining The University of Queensland, he held research and fellowship positions at the University of Adelaide, as a postdoctoral researcher (2021-2024), and Queensland University of Technology, as a Heart Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow (2024-2025).

Yiradhu marang! (Good day!) I’m a Lecturer in the School of Psychology at The University of Queensland, and a proud Wiradyuri man from Wagga Wagga and Brungle. My research background is in cognitive psychology, decision-making, and computational modelling, with my current work focused on the intersection of cognitive science and cybersecurity.

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 offsets. 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.