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Will is a lecturer in Chinese translation within the University of Queensland’s Master of Arts in Chinese Translation and Interpreting programme and a practicing NAATI accredited professional translator. Having completed his BA (Hons) from the School of Oriental & African Studies (SOAS) in London, Will worked in Beijing at the British Embassy and then subsequently completed his PhD at the University of Queensland. In addition to Will’s teaching and research roles at UQ he is also a practicing commercial translator currently specialising in the translation of Chinese medical research into English.

Dr Arianna Gatta is a Research Fellow at the School of Economics and the Centre for Policy Futures at the University of Queensland. Arianna's research explores labor market discrimination and the effects of policy design on marginalized groups, including those experiencing unemployment and homelessness. Arianna specialises in quantitative and experimental methods applied to real-world challenges. Arianna has a strong track record of external collaborations, including with Workways Australia, Anglicare Southern Queensland, the Italian Bureau of Statistics, and the Italian Federation of Organizations for the Homeless (fio.PSD). Through her expertise she offers research insights and practical recommendations to enhance the wellbeing of workers, and vulnerable populations, and to support employers facing labour market shortages, both in Australia and globally.

Dr Joe Gattas is as an Associate Professor at the University of Queensland's School of Civil Engineering, where he heads the Folded Structures research group. His research expertise spans various fields, including origami-inspired engineering, computational building design, advanced manufacturing, lightweight and modular structures, and timber engineering. In 2009, Joe obtained his Bachelor of Engineering from the University of Queensland, and in 2013, he completed his Doctor of Philosophy at the University of Oxford, funded by a prestigious John Monash Scholarship. He remains an active participant in the John Monash Scholar community.

From 2016 to 2021, Joe led the Manufacture and Digital Design project stream within the ARC Future Timber Hub. This initiative aimed to support the development of tall timber buildings in the Pacific region. Upon its successful completion, timber industry partners backed the establishment of a new ARC Advance Timber Hub (2022-), designed to accelerate innovation and the adoption of timber in Australian buildings. Joe currently serves as Co-Lead for two research nodes within the new Hub: 1) Manufacturing Innovation, which encompasses projects focusing on the digital design and fabrication of innovative structures and systems; and 2) Value Chain Innovation, which covers projects dedicated to enhancing resource utilization throughout the forest-to-building timber value chain.

John is a Professor in the School of Agriculture and Food Sustainability at The University of Queensland, Gatton, Australia. John has 178 publications, in the areas of; impacts of harsh climatic conditions on livestock, physiological responses to heat stress, modeling the impact of climate change on animal production (beef, dairy, sheep), animal welfare and ruminant nutrition. He is part of an international team which has recently developed new thermal stress indices for livestock, a heat stress risk assessment model for feedlot cattle, and is currently developing a heat stress risk assessment model for dairy cows, horses and working dogs. His worked has largely focused on gaining an understanding of animal’s physiological responses to acute and chronic heat stress, the development strategies to ameliorate the impact of high heat load, and the likely impact of future climatic conditions on animals (domestic and wildlife). John is also part of a team investigating greenhouse gas abatement strategies for cattle, and has on-going collaborative projects with colleagues in the USA and India.

I specialize in the international and comparative political economy of finance.

My research examines how politics shapes the conduct of monetary policy, the functional profile of central banks, and the size and scope of the global financial safety net. I explore how political pressures influence central banks' decisions, particularly under populist regimes, and how these pressures affect economic stability. My work also examines the historical evolution of central banks, analyzing how their roles have been shaped by the political and economic needs of their founding regimes.

Additionally, my research seeks to explain why the global financial safety net, though intended to provide universal protection, often fails to do so, leaving many countries vulnerable. I investigate how the politics shaping the size and scope of international institutions like the IMF lead to a fragmented and ultimately inequitable system of global financial governance.

I am primarily a plant virologist but have has a diversity of research interests in mycology, bacteriology and even entomology as part of broader biosecurity projects. Living in Queensland has provided me the opportunity to work on diseases of tropical and subtropical horticultural crops such as banana, avocado, pineapple, citrus and sugarcane, and his expertise has been sought in developing nations throughout the world, particularly in southeast Asia.I strive to see fundamental scientific discoveries translated into practical outcomes for farmers. I also take a keen interest in promoting the profession of plant pathology through a previous role as President of the Australasian Plant Pathology Society, and my current role as Vice President of the International Society of Plant Pathology.

Katharine Gelber is Deputy Executive Dean and Associate Dean (Academic) in the Faculty of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences at UQ. She is a former Head of the School of Political Science and International Studies (2019-2023), and a Professor of Politics and Public Policy. Her research is in the field of freedom of speech, and the regulation of public discourse. She has been awarded several ARC, and other, competitive research grants. In Oct-Dec 2024 she was a Leverhulme Visiting Professor at Cambridge University. In November-December 2017, she was a Visiting Scholar at the Global Freedom of Expression Project, Columbia University, New York. In Dec 2017, she jointly hosted, with Prof Susan Brison, a workshop at the Princeton University Center for Human Values on, 'Free Speech and its Discontents'. In 2014, with Prof Luke McNamara, she was awarded the Mayer journal article prize for the best article in the Australian Journal of Political Science in 2013. In 2011 she was invited by the United Nations to be the Australian Expert Witness at a regional meeting examining States' compliance with the free speech and racial hatred provisions of international law. She is the author of three monographs (Free Speech After 9/11, OUP 2016; Speech Matters, UQP, 2011, Speaking Back, John Benjamins, 2002), and three edited books (incl. Free Speech in the Digital Age, OUP 2019), as well as numerous journal articles.

Kath is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences Australia, and a Fellow of the Queensland Academic of Arts and Sciences.

Selected publications:

Books

Brison, S and Gelber, K (eds) 2019 Free Speech in the Digital Age, Oxford University Press, New York.

Gelber, K 2016 Free Speech After 9/11, Oxford University Press, Oxford.

Gelber, K 2011. Speech Matters: Getting Free Speech Right, University of Queensland Press, St Lucia.

Panzironi, F & Gelber, K (eds) 2012. The Capability Approach: Development Practice and Public Policy in the Asia-Pacific Region, Routledge, London.

Refereed journal articles

Gelber, Katharine 2024 ‘Free speech, religious freedom and vilification in Australia’, Australian Journal of Political Science 59(1): 78-92, https://doi.org/10.1080/10361146.2023.2283008.

Gelber, Katharine and Murphy, M 2023 ‘The Weaponisation of Free Speech under the Morrison Government’, Australian Journal of Political Science, doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/10361146.2023.2242304.

Brennan, K; D Duriesmith, E Fenton and K Gelber 2022 “Gendered Mundanities: Gender Bias in Student Evaluations of Teaching in Political Science”, Australian Journal of Political Science (published online 27 Feb 2022), https://doi.org/10.1080/10361146.2022.2043241.

Bowman, K and Gelber, K 2021 ‘Responding to Hate Speech: Counter Speech and the University’, Virginia Journal of Social Policy and the Law, 28(3): 248-275.

Gelber, K 2021 ‘Differentiating Hate Speech: A Systemic Discrimination Approach’, Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy, 24(4): 393-414, DOI: 10.1080/13698230.2019.1576006 (published online 2019).

Gelber, K and O’Sullivan, S 2020 “Cat Got Your Tongue? Free Speech, Democracy and Australia’s ‘Ag-Gag’ Laws”, Australian Journal of Political Science, 56(1): 19-34, https://doi.org/10.1080/10361146.2020.1799938.

Gelber, K 2019 ‘Norms, Institutions and Freedom of Speech in the US, the UK and Australia’, Journal of Public Policy, online 25 June, http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0143814X19000187.

Gelber, K 2019 ‘Terrorist-extremist speech and hate speech: understanding the similarities and differences’ Ethical Theory and Moral Practice, 22(3), 607-622, doi: 10.1007/s10677-019-10013-x.

Gelber, K 2018 ‘Incitement to hatred and countering terrorism – policy confusion in the UK and Australia’, Parliamentary Affairs 71(1): 28-49, https://doi.org/10.1093/pa/gsx008.

Gelber, K 2017 ‘Diagonal Accountability: Freedom of Speech in Australia’, Australian Journal of Human Rights 23(2): 203-219.http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1323238X.2017.1363371 (Published in Special Issue: ‘Democracy and Human Rights’)

Gelber, K 2017 ‘Hate Speech – Definitions and Empirical Evidence’, Constitutional Commentary 32: 101-111.

Gelber, K & McNamara, L 2016 'Anti-vilification laws and public racism in Australia: mapping the gaps between the harms occasioned and the remedies provided', University of New South Wales Law Journal 39(2): 488-511.

Gelber, K & McNamara, L 2016 ‘Evidencing the harms of hate speech’, Social Identities, 22 (1-3): 324-341. DOI: 10.1080/13504630.2015.1128810.

Book chapters (selected)

De Silva, Anjalee; Katharine Gelber & Adrienne Stone 2024 (in-press). ‘Academic Freedom in Australia’, in Scott-Baumann, A., Holmwood, J., & Pandor, H. (eds) How to Develop Free Speech on Campus: Talking to Others. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing.

Gelber, K 2022 ‘Free Speech in Australia’ in Paula Gerber & Melissa Castan eds., Critical Perspectives on Human Rights Law in Australia Thomson Reuters, Pyrmont: 517-534.

Gelber, K 2021 ‘Speaking Back’, in Adrienne Stone and Frederick Schauer eds., The Oxford Handbook of Freedom of Speech, Oxford University Press, Oxford: 249-265.

Gelber, K 2020. ‘Post-memory and Artefacts: The Gelber/Altschul Collection’, in N Marczak and K Shields eds. Genocide Perspectives VI: The Process and the Personal Costs of Genocide. Sydney: UTS ePress: 53-68. https://doi.org/10.5130/aaf.

Gelber, K 2020 ‘Capabilities and the Law’, in E Chiapperro-Martinetti, S Osmani & M Qizilbash eds The Cambridge Handbook of the Capability Approach Cambridge University Press, Cambridge: 643-659.

Gelber, K 2020 ‘Free Speech Debates in Australia: Contemporary Controversies’, in Helen J. Knowles and Brandon T. Metroka eds., Free Speech Theory: Understanding the Controversies, Peter Lang: 187-208.

Gelber, K and Brison, S 2019 ‘Digital Dualism and the “Speech as Thought” Paradox’, in Brison, S and Gelber, K (eds) Free Speech in the Digital Age, Oxford University Press, New York.

Gelber, K & Stone, A 2017 ‘Constitutions, Gender and Freedom of Expression: the Legal Regulation of Pornography', in Helen Irving ed. Constitutions and Gender, Edward Elgar, Cheltenham: 463-481, DOI: 10.4337/9781784716967.

Gelber, K 2016 ‘Critical Race Theory and the constitutionality of hate speech regulation’, in R Dixon & G Appleby (eds) The Critical Judgments Project: Re-reading Monis v The Queen, Federation Press, Sydney: 88-102.

Laura Genovesi is a Cure Brain Cancer Foundation Research Fellow within the Paediatric Brain Cancer Laboratory headed by Professor Brandon Wainwright.

Dr Genovesi is a cancer biologist specialising in in vivo pre-clinical models to dissect the mechanisms underpinning growth of medulloblastoma, a paediatric brain tumour. They were awarded their PhD in 2012 (University of Western Australia), where they studied the role of microRNAs in the transformation of human neural stem cells to Medulloblastoma. They relocated to the University of Queensland to commence her post-doctoral studies in the laboratory of Prof. Brandon Wainwright. Dr Genovesi's post-doctoral research focuses on discovering and targeting the genetic networks that drive medulloblastoma. Their work has contributed to defining regulatory networks underlying the growth of medulloblastoma and the therapeutic application of CDK4/6 inhibitors in the treatment of medulloblastoma. Most recently, her work has characterised the status of the blood brain barrier in some of the most widely used patient derived orthotopic xenograft models of medulloblastoma. Dr Laura Genovesi’s research is now focused on understanding the intrinsic and adaptive plasticity of tumour cells and acellular components of the brain tumour microenvironment (TME) that drive tumour progression and determine response to therapy. Their research integrates integrates diverse preclinical model systems including patient-derived in vivo models and dynamic ex vivo 3D hydrogel models with innovative spatial transcriptomics/ imaging and advanced computational cancer biology aiming to ultimately to improve the lives of children diagnosed with brain tumours.

My research is based on organic materials for uses including energy storage, solar cells, light emitting diodes and sensors. The way that they pack into thin films and the processes that occur at the interfaces between materials are the main areas of interest.

Examples of specific areas of research are:

• Understanding structure in organic optoelectronic devices - Organic devices such as organic light emitting diodes, solar cells and sensors, are constructed using multiple layers of materials that perform different functions such as emitting light and charge transport. The morphology and interaction betweens these layers are very important and we study structure and diffusion in layers and at interfaces using such techniques as X-ray and neutron reflectometry, X-ray diffraction and electron microscopy.

• Materials for energy storage - We are developing new materials for use as cathodes in high-energy rechargeable batteries, particularly lithium sulfur batteries, and supercapacitors. Materials developed so far show potential increases in energy density of 3-5x that of lithium ion batteries.