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My research concerns i) understanding causes and impacts of hearing impairment, particularly in the context of multimorbidity in older age, ii) prevention and treatment of hearing impairment, and iii) hearing service development and evaluation. My research involves epidemiological modelling with population data sets, clinical trials and hearing health policy. I have authored over130 publications in peer reviewed journals and books, and I frequently present invited and keynote addresses at international conferences. I have received the British Society of Audiology’s TS Littler prize for services to audiology and a prestigious US-UK Fulbright award.

I have been awarded 10 grants as principal investigator in the last 5 years totalling >AUD$14.5 million from competitive sources including the NHMRC, the NIHR, the Alzheimer’s Society UK, the European Commission, industry and charity funders. This funding includes an EU Horizon 2020 grant of €6.2 million (as joint PI for “Ears, Eyes and Mind: The “SENSE-Cog Project” to improve mental well-being for elderly Europeans with sensory impairment”), and two NHMRC Medical Research Future Fund awards ($1.2 million as CI for “SENSEcog aged care: Hearing and vision support to improve quality of life for people living with dementia in residential aged care”; AUD$1.3 million for "Home hearing and vision care to improve quality of life for people with dementia and carers"; and an AUD$0.9 million NHMRC targetted hearing research award (as CI for "Improving access to the hearing services program for people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds"). I have strong links with hearing industry partners and have received research funding (total >AUD$500,000) from major hearing aid companies Starkey, Oticon, Phonak and the hearing industry research consortium. I have a position at the University of Manchester with on-going involvement (as CI and co-I) in projects funded by the NIHR, the ESRC, the Alzheimer’s Society and the RNID.

Associate Professor Paul Dawson is the Mater Research Head of Education, MRI-UQ Director of Higher Degree Research, and a Mater Foundation Principal Research Fellow. Paul leads the Neurodevelopmental Research Group at Mater, which is focussed on cerebral palsy in preterm infants, non-syndromic intellectual disability and autism.

Paul’s research group collaborates very closely with neonatologists, maternal fetal medicine specialists, obstetricians, bioinformaticians and biochemical pathologists at Mater to investigate clinical, biochemical and genetic markers that predict adverse neurodevelopmental outcomes. In particular, his research is focussed on the role of nutrient sulphate in brain development. Paul through his work has brought many collaborative groups together. Some of his notable collaborations are with the Queensland Brain Institute (QBI), Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital (RBWH), UQ Centre for Clinical Research (UQCCR), the University of Sydney and the Cerebral Palsy Alliance.

With over 80 research publications, Paul notes a career highlight as being one of the key investigators, and Autism Biobank member, in the Autism Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) which was awarded $31 million from the Australian government.

Paul is heavily involved in national and international peer review and is a strong advocate for health and medical research with executive roles (Past-President 2012, Chair Advisory Committee) for the Australian Society for Medical Research (ASMR).

‘My career in medical research happened for many reasons, including my interest and passion for understanding the genetics of disorders that impact on people’s health and well-being. In my early days, I was fortunate to work with a group of like-minded biomedical and clinician scientists which kicked off many discoveries in neurodevelopment, as well as the opportunity to develop and investigate pre-clinical models with the aim of implementing research outcomes to improve healthcare. Working at Mater provides a fantastic opportunity to investigate new approaches for reducing the risk of adverse neurodevelopmental outcomes in preterm infants. I look forward to the coming years when the benefits of our Mater-led research will be realised and proven around the globe. It’s a privilege to contribute to Australian health and medical research.’

I am an endorsed Clinical and Health Psychologist, and my main area of research interest is in optimising non-pharmacological treatment options for chronic pain. My program of research is primarily focused on implementing randomised controlled trials designed to evaluate the efficacy and mechanisms of cognitive-behavioural and mindfulness-based interventions for heterogeneous chronic pain conditions. My concurrent line of research aims to further our understanding of the experience of chronic pain via converging methodologies (including experimental pain paradigms and electroencephalogram), as well as advance our capacity to accurately assess its multidimensional nature. I have led the development, application, and evaluation of Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy for chronic pain, and I disseminated this treatment approach for research and clinical use via my sole-authored book, published by Wiley in 2017. My US-based collaborators and I have a number of on-going NIH and foundation funded treatment trials underway at the University of Washington, Seattle. I am also an Affiliate Associate Professor at the University of Washington.

As of 2021, I was elected the inaugural Chairperson of the Australian SHAPE Futures EMCR Network, which is in development with the support of the Australian Academy of the Humanities and the Australian Academy of the Social Sciences. The purpose of the Network is to ensure SHAPE disciplines (Social Sciences, Humanities, and the Arts for People and Environment) thrive and excel in Australia, by fostering an inclusive and diverse community that supports, empowers and promotes early and mid-career researchers (EMCRs) in Australia, within and beyond academia.

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.

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.

Paul Dennis leads an exciting research group that applies cutting-edge technologies to understand the roles of microorganisms and their responses to environmental change.

He is also a passionate educator and public speaker who advocates for the importance of biological diversity and evidence-based environmental awareness. He has talked about his research on ABC Radio and a range of other media outlets.

His teaching covers aspects of ecology, microbiology, plant and soil science, and climatology. He considers these topics to be of fundamental importance for the development of more sustainable societies and takes pride in helping others to obtain the knowledge and skills they need to build a better future.

Paul's research has taken him to Antarctica, the Amazon Rainforest, high mountains and oceans. The approaches used in his lab draw on a wide range of expertise in molecular biology, ecology, statistics, computer science, advanced imaging and soil science. He applies these skills to a wide-range of topics and systems including plant-microbe interactions, Antarctic marine and terrestrial ecology, biogeography, pollution and human health.

Dr Brooke Devlin is an Advanced Accredited Practising Dietitian (AdvAPD), Advanced Sports Dietitian (AdvSD) and a Lecturer in Nutrition and Dietetics at the School of Human Movement and Nutrition Sciences, University of Queensland. Dr Devlin holds qualifications in exercise science (BExSci), nutrition and dietetics (MNutrDiet) and completed a PhD in Sports Nutrition at La Trobe University, Melbourne. Her current research interests include diet and exercise interventions to optimise blood glucose control and metabolic health including chrono-nutrition and time-restricted eating. In addition to this, Dr Devlin continues to have an interest and ongoing research in sports nutrition, focusing on nutrition knowledge and dietary behaviours of athletes.

Dr Tracey Di Sipio is a teaching and research academic in the Epidemiology and Biostatistics Division of the School of Public Health. Dr Di Sipio is an experienced cancer epidemiologist with a focus on women’s cancers, caregivers, and health equity.

Taylor Dick is an Associate Professor in The School of Biomedical Sciences and Director of the Neuromuscular Biomechanics Laboratory within the School of Biomedical Sciences. She leads a highly interdisciplinary research program at the nexus of biomechanics, bio-inspired assistive devices, and neuromuscular physiology. Using a combination of experimental and modelling tools, her research answers fundamental questions about how movement underpins evolution, health, and disease.

Upon completing her PhD in 2016 (Simon Fraser University, Canada), in collaboration with Harvard’s Concord Field Station, she undertook post-doctoral training in biomedical engineering (University of North Carolina, 2016-17) where she combined her expertise in biomechanics and muscle physiology to discover how bio-robotic devices influence locomotor energetics and the neuromechanical mechanisms that enable stability during unexpected perturbations. This has since provided inspiration for the optimization of bio-robotic assistive devices, in response to the behaviour of their physiological targets. In 2017, she was appointed a research and teaching academic at the University of Queensland (UQ) where she has developed a uniquely integrative and multi-disciplinary approach to studying locomotion and neuromuscular function with applications across discovery and translation. Her research program integrates musculoskeletal anatomy, neural control, and biomechanics to understand the diverse movements of humans and animals. By combining high-resolution and innovative experimental paradigms with modelling and simulation techniques, her team, a rich blend of biomechanists, physiologists, mathematicians, engineers, and computer scientists, investigates the complex interactions between biological systems that enable the remarkable diversity in human and animal movement.

Taylor has established herself internationally as an emerging leader in biomechanics research. This reputation is supported by prestigious awards, invited talks and review papers, and media attention. Her research has been funded through competitive grant schemes and industry partnerships, with total research support exceeding $3.6 million. Her contributions to research and mentorship have been recognized with a 2024 Queensland Tall Poppy Award, 2024 International Union of Physiologists Junior Faculty Award; 2024 International Society of Electrophysiology and Kinesiology Kevin P. Granata Award, and the 2021 International Society of Biomechanics Jaquelin Perry Emerging Scientist Award. Taylor has been nominated (2020 and 2021) for the Faculty of Medicine Rising Star of the Year Award. Taylor is an elected Executive Council member of the International Society of Biomechanics (ISB) and the elected Chairperson of the Comparative Neuromuscular Biomechanics Technical group. She is a passionate promotor of STEM for young girls—having co-developed the led a government-funded nationwide program to boost girls’ engagement in STEM, BRInC https://www.canberra.edu.au/about-uc/faculties/health/brinc

She currently advises 12 PhD candidates, 1 Master’s student, and 5 Honours students. She has successfully advised 5 PhD, 2 Master’s and 9 Honours students to completion since commencing her faculty position at UQ in 2017.

For more information about her program of research, visit her lab website: https://biomedical-sciences.uq.edu.au/research/groups/neuromuscular-biomechanics

Sandra Diminic is a Principal Research Fellow at Queensland Centre for Mental Health Research (QCMHR) and leads the Mental Health Services Research stream. She has qualifications in psychology and public health and her PhD focused on understanding the service needs of carers and families of people with mental illness. Before joining QCMHR Sandra worked on the Australian Schizophrenia Research Bank and interned in Mental Health Policy and Service Development at the World Health Organization; she has also been a visiting scholar at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto.

Sandra's research aims to reduce the population burden of mental illness through understanding demand for and utilisation of mental health services, identifying and evaluating evidence-based mental health service models, and applying these findings to improve mental health systems and services. This research program involves close collaboration with health system partners such as national and state governments, Primary Health Networks and community organisations to provide evidence and advice to support integrated regional and national mental health service planning. Her current major project is development and application of the National Mental Health Service Planning Framework (NMHSPF), a needs-based planning tool which models population needs and required packages of care to produce resource targets for optimal mental health service delivery in Australia. Sandra also leads projects drawing on population surveys and health service administrative data to understand current mental health service delivery and identify service gaps for specific regions and populations.

Professor in Clinical Psychology at UQ and affiliate Professor at Nottingham Trent University (UK). Her research focuses on social (non-medical) interventions for mental health such as music, arts and nature based programs.

• Course Convenor:

PSYC7291 Cognitive Behaviour Therapies for Adults

PSYC3102 Psychopathology

• Journals:

Associate Editor, Psychology of Music

• Professional Roles:

Cuture and the Arts on Prescription lead, Australian Social Prescribing Institute for Research and Education (ASPIRE)

Member, Arts Health Network QLD (AHNQ) committee.

Alana is an experienced physiotherapist, researcher and lecturer at The University of Queensland. She has a strong clinical background in private practice physiotherapy, with a particular interest in the physiotherapy management of temporomandibular disorders. Alana is a guest member of the Australian and New Zealand Academy of Orofacial Pain, and is an active member of the Neck and Head Research Unit (NAHRU), Professional Education Research Engagement Theme and Knowledge Translation Research Engagement Theme at The University of Queensland. Alana's PhD explored disability associated with persistent intra-articular temporomandibular disorders in adults. She has achieved numerous high-quality research outputs and has an increasing national and international research profile in the areas of temporomandibular disorders and clinical education. Alana is experienced across a variety of research methodologies and paradigms, including qualitative and quantitative approaches, with a keen interest in knowledge translation across intra-professional, inter-professional, academic and industry settings.

Professor Nadeeka Dissanayaka is a UQ Amplify Professorial Research Fellow. She is founder and director of the Dementia & Neuro Mental Health Research Unit at the University of Queensland Centre for Clinical Research. She is also the director of the UQ Dementia Friendly University Initiative. Her expertise include multidisciplinary areas ranging from basic science (eg: pharmacology, genetics, cognitive neuroscience, neuroimaging) to clinical science and medicine (eg: psychology, psychiatry, neurology, clinical trials and implementation science).

Ageing, Mental Health, and Neurodegenerative diseases such as Dementia and Parkinson's disease are key areas of Prof. Dissanayaka's research. Her primary research themes include:

1. Evaluation and Treatment of Behavioural and Psychological Symptoms in Dementia (BPSD), with a special focus on anxiety and depression.

2. Development of a Mental Health Benchmarking Industry Specific Tool for Residential Aged Care (MHICare Project)

3. Pychotherapeutic Interventions including artificial intelligence, virtual reality and telehealth guided by biofeedback systems for persons with cognitive impairment and Parkinson's disease

4. Neuropsychiatric Manifestations in Parkinson's disease including anxiety, depression, cognitive dysfunction, sleep and impulse control disorders.

5. Neurobiological Underpinnings of Cognitive and Emotional Impairment in Dementia and Parkinson's disease (neuroimaging studies) and drug repurposing.

Professor Loc Do is a dentist and an oral epidemiologist with special interest in social and clinical oral epidemiology. He completed his PhD in Oral Epidemiology at the University of Adelaide. He was a lead investigator in the National Child Oral Health Study 2012-14 and the National Study of Adult Oral Health 2017-19.

Loc is currently Director of Research at the School of Dentistry, University of Queensland.

Research funding: Currently, he is the Chief Investigator A of four major NHMRC- and MRFF-funded research projects: a population-based birth cohort study investigating impact of socioeconomic inequality on child oral health, a longitudinal study investigating effect of early life exposure to fluoride, a study to investigate effectiveness of water fluoridation in Queensland, and a study to develop and implement a package to improve oral health in residents of Aged Care Facilities in Queensland and NSW.

Qualifications: BDS, MScDent, PhD

Research Interests: Oral epidemiological measurement of dental diseases Quantitative analysis of oral epidemiological data including multilevel analysis Risk and benefit trade-off in the use of fluorides in children Natural history of dental fluorosis Socio-economic inequality in oral health Oral health-related quality of life Smoking as a risk factor for periodontal diseases Effectiveness and safety of water fluoridation in children Complex systems science in dental research.

Awards and Honours: In 2022, Loc is the recipient of the International Association for Dental Research (IADR) Distinguished Scientist H Trendley Dean Award 2022. In 2023, his paper in Journal of Dental Research was awarded the IADR Abrey Sheiham Award for Distringuished Research in Dental Public Health.

Professor Annette Dobson's research interests are in: Biostatistics (generalised linear modelling, clinical biostatistics, statistical methods relevant to longitudinal studies), and Epidemiology (tobacco control, cardiovascular disease, women's health).

Emmah is an experienced occupational therapist and researcher in the field of brain injury rehabilitation. Emmah's PhD, completed in 2010, compared the effectiveness of an outpatient brain injury rehabilitation program in home and hospital settings.

Research Interests

Emmah has conducted collaborative research in the field of neurorehabilitation, partnering with consumers and clinicians to develop and trial rehabilitation approaches to enhance person-centred care, goal setting and cognitive rehabilitation. Other research interest areas include metacognitive and occupation-based treatment approaches, the use of technology in rehabilitation, outcome measurement, and community-based rehabilitation.

Research Expertise

Emmah has conducted research using quantitative and qualitative methodologies including randomised controlled trials and single case experimental design. Emmah has an interest in knowledge translation, has conducted implementation research using a range of implementation frameworks, and codesigned with end-users including consumers and clinicians.

Maria is a Principal Research Fellow with the Primary Care Clinical Unit and Associate Professor Research Strategy affiliated with the Centre for Health System Reform and Integration (CHSRI). Her research uses a collaborative framework to investigate scalable and transformative primary health care interventions to improve patient health outcomes.

Maria has over twenty-five years’ experience in evaluating health innovations and health services research. She is an experienced implementation scientist with a strong background in primary care research, and skilled in operationalising pragmatic RCTs in general practice. She has an emerging track record researching long-term antidepressant prescribing in general practice with two successful research grants commencing in 2022 (CIB in collaboration with CIA Professor Katharine Wallis) https://medical-school.uq.edu.au/release:

• NHMRC Partnership Project. RELEASE+: REdressing Long-tErm Antidepressant uSE in general practice (2022-2027)
• Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF) 2020 Clinician Researchers: Applied Research in Health. RELEASE: REdressing Long-tErm Antidepressant uSE in adults. A cluster RCT effectiveness-implementation hybrid type 1 design in general practice. (2022-2025)

She is a highly experienced mixed methods researcher whose academic career has involved public health research, health psychology, primary care, mental health, integrated GP-specialist care, chronic disease prevention and management, and sexual health. Prior to taking up her current positions, between 2012 and 2018, she was Senior Research Fellow with UQs NHMRC CRE in Quality & Safety in Integrated Primary-Secondary Care where she directed the evaluation (RCT of effectiveness, cost-analysis, and implementation) of a GP-based primary-secondary integrated model of care (the ‘Beacon model). Before that she was teaching and researching with The University of Queensland’s School of Public Health where she was a Senior Lecturer between 2006 and 2012. She also spent seven years in teaching and research at The University of Queensland’s Centre for Primary Health Care and five years before that as a researcher with the National Centre for HIV Social Research.

Professor Denise Doolan is Director of Research at the Institute for Molecular Bioscience. She joined IMB in 2022 and was previously Deputy Director of the Australian Institute of Tropical Health and Medicine, and Director of the JCU Centre for Molecular Therapeutics, at James Cook University.

She is a molecular immunologist, working on the development of vaccines, diagnostics and host-directed therapeutics for infectious and chronic diseases that impact global public health, with a particular focus on malaria. Her cross-disciplinary research program spans host-pathogen immunity, antigen discovery, vaccine engineering, and biomarker discovery. A particular interest is the application of state-of-the-art genome-based technologies and human models of disease system to identify novel targets for intervention against disease or that predict risk of disease.

She is a recognized world expert in malaria immunology, vaccinology, and omic-based approaches for therapeutic and diagnostic development. She has been honoured as a Fellow of the International Society for Vaccines (2017) and a Fellow of the Australian Society of Parasitology (2019) in recognition of her leadership and contribution to health and medical science in Australia and internationally.

Professor Doolan serves on a number of Executive Boards and Advisory Boards. Most recently, she has been elected as President of the International Society for Vaccines (2021-2023), and has been appointed to the Federal Government’s Australian Medical Research Advisory Board (AMRAB; 2021-2026) to provide specialist insights into Australia’s medical research and innovation priorities.

Teaching Themes: Clinical Audiology, Rehabilitative Audiology, Paediatric Audiology.

Research interests: Paediatric Audiology, Hearing Screening, Animal-Assisted Services.

Publications: 130+ peer-reviewed journal articles, 3 edited books, 12 book chapters, 80+ conference abstracts.

Editorial Boards: People and Animals: The International Journal of Research and Practice (PAIJ); Animals

Reviewer: International Journal of Audiology; European Journal of Neurology; International Journal of Pediatric Otorhinolaryngology; Journal of the American Academy of Audiology; BMC Health Services Research Journal; Journal of Hearing Science; Audiology Research; Journal of Speech, Language and Hearing Research; Ear & Hearing; Pediatrics - The Official Journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics; Journal of Educational, Pediatric, and (Re)habilitational Audiology; American Journal on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities; International Archives of Otorhinolaryngology.

Professional Memberships: Audiological Australia; Animals & Society Institute; UQ Partnership in Animal Wellbeing (UQ PAW); Human-Animal Interaction Section 13 Division 17 of the American Psychological Association.