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Professor Nick Gaskell has had over 45 years' experience as a research active academic and, since retiring as a full-time academic, is currently Emeritus Professor of Maritime and Commercial Law at the TC Beirne School of Law. Previously, he held the posts of Dean of Law and Head of School (Acting), Director of the Marine and Shipping Law Unit, and Director of Research. Prior to joining the School he held (from 1994) the titled position of "David Jackson Professor of Maritime and Commercial Law" at the School of Law of the University of Southampton, UK. From 2003-2007 he was Head of that School, and from 1996-1999 was Director of its Institute of Maritime Law.

He has lectured widely to the maritime professions and academic community all over the world, including Belgium, China, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Holland, India, Italy, Japan, Korea, Malta, New Zealand, Norway, Pakistan, Poland, Singapore, South Africa, Sweden, Yugoslavia, UK. He first worked with the Maritime Law Association of Australia and New Zealand on courses in the 1980s and 1990s and continues to be an active member. He was a Visiting Law Lecturer at Monash University in 1984 and 1986. He has represented the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) at the International Maritime Organisation's Legal Committee, and at the meetings of the International Oil Pollution Compensation Funds. He attended and participated in many IMO meetings and diplomatic conferences which produced international maritime law conventions, including the Salvage Convention 1989, the 1992 Protocol to the Civil Liability Convention for Oil Pollution Damage, the Hazardous and Noxious Substances Convention 1996, the Bunker Pollution Convention 2001, the Athens Convention on the Carriage of Passengers 2002, the liability Protocol to the Antarctic Convention, and the Wreck Removal Convention 2007.

Professor Gaskell has written books and articles on a wide range of maritime and related commercial law subjects. He has most recently co-authored a book on The Law of Wreck. His work on carriage of goods by sea (bills of lading) has been cited in courts internationally, including Australia (High Court, Federal Court, Supreme Court of Victoria), Hong Kong, Singapore (Court of Appeal), New Zealand (High Court) and the UK (including the House of Lords). He is a Titulary Member of the Comite Maritime International (CMI), and is an Academic associate of Quadrant Chambers (a leading set of maritime law chambers in London).

Dr Jeff Gates's research interests are in: (a) Engineering failure analysis and forensic metallurgy; (b) Abrasive wear and wear-resistant alloys.

Dr Gates received his PhD from Monash University in 1985 and spent 15 years as an academic and senior researcher at the University of Queensland before starting UQ Materials Performance. He has been the Principal of UQMP (http://www.uqmp.com/) since its inception in 1998.

Dr Gates current long-term research projects are in the fields of:

• Development of white cast irons with improved abrasion resistance and fracture toughness
• Development of a suite of new-generation abrasive wear tests with verified predictive ability
• Development of methodologies for improving resistance to fatigue failure in machinery, including railway axles and conveyer drives
• Understanding the mechanical and metallurgical factors controlling the incidence of fires of electrical origin and other electrocutions

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 am a Lecturer in the School of Psychology. My research focuses on examining the cognitive foundations of children’s social understanding.How do children learn about the social implications of their behaviour and make sense of the way other people act? I combine cross-cultural, developmental and evolutionary approaches to generate novel perspectives on human social cognition.

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.

Nicole’s research focuses on the gendered politics of conflict and peacebuilding, violence, security and participation. She has a strong interest in feminist institutional theory, as well as conceptual debates on regulatory pluralism and contested notions of (gendered) order as they are evident in local and global politics. Since the early 2000s, she has conducted research in the Pacific Islands region focusing on gender politics, gendered security and post conflict transition in Fiji, New Caledonia, Bougainville and Solomon Islands. She has worked in collaboration with women’s organisations, women decision-makers and women policy-makers in these settings to progress aspects of this work. She has led large, externally funded, comparative research projects examining how women's rights to security are institutionalised in Pacific Island countries (2013-2016) and where and how women participate in post-conflict transformation (as part of a broader collaborative ARC Linkage Project (2016-2020). Aside from the scholarly publications listed below, she has made influential contributions to national and regional intergovernmental policy forums on gender, security and development programs and is a regular contributor to national and regional on-line opinion editorial sites.