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I am a political economist with diverse research interests, with a particular interest in the evolving nature of statehood and political agency. My work focuses on Asia and the Pacific. I have written on rising powers (specifically China), global health politics, security governance, statebuilding, non-traditional security, global and regional governance, and Australian development and foreign policy. I have been awarded an Australian Research Council Future Fellowship (2021-26) to examine emerging competition over international development financing projects in Asia and the Pacific. I am a Research Fellow of the Second Cold War Observatory.

My most recent books are The Locked-Up Country: Learning the Lessons from Australia's COVID-19 Response (UQP, 2023), co-authored with Dr Tom Chodor, and Fractured China: How State Transformation is Shaping China's Rise (Cambridge University Press, 2021), co-authored with Prof Lee Jones. My other books include International Intervention and Local Politics (Cambridge University, 2017), Governing Borderless Threats: Non-Traditional Security and the Politics of State Transformation (Cambridge University Press, 2015), and Regulating Statehood (Palgrave Macmillan, 2010). I am also co-editor of the all-new fourth edition of The Political Economy of Southeast Asia: Poliltics and Uneven Development Under Hyperglobalisation (Palgrave Macmillan, 2020). I received my PhD from the Asia Research Centre, Murdoch University in 2009. I tweet @ShaharHameiri.

I received education in English literature, applied linguistics and TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages). I consider TESOL my home. My research straddles global language testing, language in education policy, and diversity of Englishes. I have pursued my research within the Asia Pacific region, with a particular focus on developing societies. In examining the role of English, other languages and English language testing for individual mobility and societal development, I have foregrounded inequity, inequality and exclusion. I use qualitative, quantitative and textual data. My work is underpinned by critical perspectives, my multidisciplinary backgrounds and my life experiences as a confused transnational.

Dr Garry Hamilton is a Doctor of Laws, a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants, a Fellow of the Certified Practising Accountants, a Fellow of the Governance Institute of Australia and a Fellow of the Australian Restructuring Insolvency & Turnaround Association. Until recently, Garry, who is also a chartered accountant, was the only practising solicitor in Australia registered as a liquidator by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission.

Dr Hamilton practises in commercial litigation, corporate reconstruction, debt restructuring and insolvency and has been involved in most of the larger corporate reconstructions and insolvencies in Australia in the past 30 years. He was a Partner with Minter Ellison Lawyers for 25 years and now consults to Taylor David Lawyers, a boutique corporate restructuring and insolvency firm in Brisbane.

Dr Hamilton has advised the Hong Kong, Fijian and Singapore Governments in their review (and in respect of Fiji, its drafting) of their corporate reconstruction legislation, and sat on an advisory board to the Commonwealth Government when the amendments were being made to the insolvency and reconstruction sections of the Corporations Act. In 2018, he also drafted amendments for the Commonwealth Government in its 10-year revision of the Corporations (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander) Act. In 2021, Dr Hamilton prepared and submitted to Treasury draft legislation to remedy the ongoing problems with the external administration of corporate trading trusts. He holds degrees in Commerce, Economics and Law from the University of Queensland, a Master of Laws from that university, and a Doctorate (Juridical Science) from the Queensland University of Technology.

Dr Hamilton was a member of the Law Council of Australia’s Corporate Insolvency and Reconstruction Committee from 1993 to 2016, and has been a member of the editorial board of the Insolvency Law Bulletin since 2013.

Publications and conference papers

Books and Book Chapters:

• The Australian Chapter of Collier International Business Insolvency Guide (Author, revised 2021);
• The Australian Chapter of Restructuring and Insolvency Guide (Thomson Reuters, Practical Law, Co-author with Scott Taylor, revised 2021);
• The Companies section of LexisNexis Court Forms and Precedents in Queensland (Author, currently being revised, 2022);
• Invalidations of Securities Upon Insolvency, The Federation Press, 2000 (Author)

Journal articles (most recently published) and conference papers:

• Back to basics – section 588FA, Corporations Act: is a diminution of a company’s assets a pre-condition to the existence of a preference? The mischief of the “doctrine of ultimate effect” exposed (2021) 29 Insolv LJ 14
• Conflicting intermediate appellate court decisions: voidable preferences, third- party payments and the relevance of double-entry book-keeping (2020) 20 Insolvency Law Bulletin 207, (referred to with approval by Rees J in Western Port Holdings Pty Ltd (receivers and managers appointed) (in liq) [2021] NSWSC 232 at [8]) (12 March 2021)
• Vesting of Trust Property in a Bankruptcy Trustee and “reasonable grounds” for Lodging a Caveat: Some helpful Guidance from the High Court (2020) 28 Insolv LJ at 41
• Winding up and Employee Entitlements: Does Corporations Act s 561 give a Liquidator priority over Employee Entitlements for Liquidation Costs and Expenses? (2019) 27 Insolv LJ 81
• Amerind – the Aftermath: Questions and Practical Difficulties Remaining (2019) 27 (3) Insolv LJ 185 at 187
• Preferences and running accounts: “Peak indebtedness”: The Elephant in the room (2018) 26 Insolv LJ 2 at 8
• Battening down the Hatches under the Insolvency Law Reform Act: How to Resist a Request for Documents from Mr Snoopy Creditor: Part 1, Proctor, Feb 2018, Vol 38 No1 at 28
• The case of the mysteriously disappearing secured debt under a deed of company arrangement: hard cases making bad law again? Insolvency Law Bulletin, 2017, Vol 8, No 6 at 116 (republished in Australian Banking and Finance Law Bulletin, Vol 33, No 6, July 2017)
• Winding up insolvent corporate trustees – what happened to the liquidator? Insolvency Law Bulletin, 2016. Vol 17, No 6
• Equitable subrogation of banks and other secured creditors for the recovery of statutory employee entitlements: A "new class of case" or simply a different perspective? (2016) 34 C&SLJ 121

My PhD, conferred in 2003 by the University of Queensland (UQ), was undertaken under the guidance of Prof. Richard Lewis (IMB), A/Prof. Barry Chiswell (UQ, Chemistry), and Prof. Michael Moore (UQ, ENTOX), on the topic of Ciguatoxins, which are extremely potent site 5 sodium channel activators present in ciguatoxic fish. Their isolation and identification represented a challenging and rewarding PhD. The most innovative aspect of my research was the development of an approach involving radiolabelled receptor binding assays and LC-MS analyses that resulted in the discovery of a new family of ciguatoxins in the Indian ocean.

In 2002, I worked for Dr Kevin James at Cork Institute of Technology (CIT) as a full-time researcher, with responsibility for the maintenance, and training of personnel to use triple quadrupole and quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometers. I was also responsible for delivery of an instrumentational analytical chemistry course to undergraduate chemistry students. Whilst at this post I was involved in projects that investigated the fragmentation pathways of a myriad of phycotoxins, mycotoxins, and cyanobacterial toxins using mass spectrometry. These studies resulted in a number of publications in leading discipline journals including the Journal of Mass Spectrometry and Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry. The results of these structural studies were then applied to develop sensitive and specific quantitative assays for the routine detection of these compounds resulting in publications in Analytical Chemistry. Many of the assays developed translated to have significant impact on the Irish economy, through their adoption in establishing when it was safe to harvest and sell mussels. Dr James provided an encouraging environment to post-doctoral employees, and whilst there I wrote and submitted a number of successful research grant applications, and a received an Irish Post-Doctoral Fellowship.

In 2006 I moved back to Australia to work for Prof. Jeffrey Gorman at Queensland Institute for Medical Research (QIMR). I was principally recruited to establish a suite of electrospray mass spectrometers within Prof. Gorman’s new laboratory and facilitate proteomic analysis on these systems. At QIMR, Prof Gorman acquired the first LTQ-Orbitrap mass spectrometer in the country, along with the first ion trap equipped fitted with electron-transfer dissociation capabilities.

In 2008, I was recruited by Prof. Deon Venter to the Mater Hospital (in Brisbane), specifically to work for him as a part of the CRC for Biomarker Translation. The CRC project entailed establishing matrix-assisted laser desorption ionisation (MALDI) imaging and proteomics to investigate various breast cancer classes, and ovarian cancer. In collaboration, with Prof. Glenn King, Dr Eivind Undheim and A/Prof. Bryan Fry (U. Queensland), I have been involved with developing protocols to allow MALDI imaging of spider and centipede venom glands. A great deal of effort was involved in producing a suitable fixation approach that preserved the tissue without cross linking the peptides and proteins. Many parts of this work have been published, and presented at numerous conferences. The current optimised protocols allow us to routinely produce MALDI imaging data from serial sections cut from processed spider and centipede samples.

In 2017, I was recruited by Prof. Roger Wepf (UQ, CMM), and Prof. Ian Brereton (UQ, CAI), to come to work at the University of Queensland. As a part of this recruitment the Imaging Mass Spectrometry facility was transferred from the Mater Hospital to CMM/CAI at the University of Queensland (St Lucia campus). The move from the Mater involved relocation of the capabilities from an individual research group into an environment where the facility could be accessed by a much wider user base in accordance with CMM and CAI operating principles. The Imaging Mass Spectrometry facility at UQ can be accessed on a 24 hr/7 day basis for all users who have been trained to use the equipment.

Professor Emma Hamilton-Williams’ career focuses on understanding how immune tolerance is disrupted leading to the development of the autoimmune disease type 1 diabetes. She received her PhD from the Australian National University in 2001, followed by postdoctoral training in Germany and the Scripps Research Institute in the USA.

In 2012, she started a laboratory at the Frazer Institute, University of Queensland where she investigates the gut microbiota as a potential trigger or therapy target for type 1 diabetes, as well as developing an immunotherapy for type 1 diabetes. The overall aim of her research is to find new ways to prevent or treat the underlying immune dysfunction causing autoimmunity.

She is Chief Scientific Officer for an Australia-wide pregnancy-birth cohort study of children at increased risk of type 1 diabetes, which aims to uncover the environmental drivers of this disease. Her laboratory uses big-data approaches including proteomics, metabolomics and metagenomics to understand the function of the gut microbiota linked to disease.

She recently conducted a clinical trial of a microbiome-targeting biotherapy aimed at restoring a healthy microbiome and immune tolerance, with an ultimate aim of preventing type 1 diabetes.

Dr Pingping Han is currently leading the Epigenetic Nanodiagnostics and Therapeutics Group within the Centre for Orofacial Regeneration, Reconstruction and Rehabilitation (COR3), at the UQ School of Dentistry. Dr Han received her PhD in Biomedical Engineering from the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) in 2014. Dr Han's current research focuses on three themes: a) salivary diagnostics for periodontal disease, b) “cell-free” regenerative therapy for periodontal tissue engineering and c) cellular nano-mechanics on different modified biomaterial substrates.

I am a Research Fellow and Leader in Pain Relief Innovation at AIBN, UQ. My research interests sit at the interface of drug delivery and the pain field. My overarching research goal is to improve the quality of day to day life of patients suffering from chronic pain, by applying nanotechnology to the development of novel highly effective pain-killer products for improving chronic pain management. I am looking for highly motivated postgraduate students.

I also enjoy volunteering within the academic community, most notably as Head of the SBMS ECR Committee and Treasurer for The Queensland Chinese Association of Scientists and Engineers (QCASE). I am currently serving as guest editor of Pain Research and Management.and JoVE Methods Collection.

Research Interests

My research is focusing on nano-based drug formulation and development to improve chronic pain management. I have a broad and unique background in both pharmacology and drug delivery systems, with specific expertise in the development of novel drug products and testing their analgesic efficacy and safety including pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic studies. To date, I have established five different techniques to produce painkiller–loaded nanoparticles and nanofibers aimed at improving pain relief for patients where currently available pain-killers either lack efficacy or produce dose-limiting side-effects. For example, there is a small and very potent peptide that has been on the market as a chemical for over 10 years but which cannot be used as a therapeutic due to its short half-life and poor oral bioavailability. In the form of my nanoparticles, that peptide has the potential to become an oral treatment for improving pain management in patients whose pain is currently poorly alleviated by clinically used pain-killers. I have significant expertise in the use of rodent pain models to assess novel analgesics, and I have received excellent training in conducting research in accordance with the stringent requirements of the Quality Management System (quality accreditations (GLP and ISO17025) from NATA). Together, my knowledge, skills and experience will facilitate the efficient translation of my research from the bench to the clinic.

The current focus of the lab is on the development of drug-products to solve one of the largest unmet medical needs in the pain field through use of sustainable materials. 1) We are developing multifunctional sutures including biodegradable pain relief sutures. 2) We are developing my innovative novel nanoparticles, which deliver innate-immune targeting peptides for the treatment of cancer and cancer-related pain. We are establishing a platform for the development of safe, effective delivery for other small molecule peptide drugs in general to pave their way to clinical trials. 3) Our research also investigates the role of C5a and C3a, estrogen, etc. in the pathogenesis of chronic pain including neuropathic pain, cancer-related pain, low back pain and OA pain.

We work in collaboration with other leading Australian and international researchers to stay at the forefront of the drug delivery systems field and the pain field. We also provide preclinical evaluation of novel compounds and formulations.

I undertake multi-disciplinary collaborative research developing mathematical, computational and visualisation approaches and techniques that facilitate the research and education in animal and plant systems.

My major research theme is development of mathematical, computer graphics and simulation approaches and techniques that facilitate the study of genetics, physiology, morphogenesis and ecology at the scale of cells, individual plants and insects and their components. These developments in computational biology are being used to increase our understanding of the dynamics of morphogenesis, and as a tool in applied research and education.

Dr. Jonathan Hand specializes in infectious diseases at Ochsner Health. He earned his medical degree from Louisiana State University School of Medicine, New Orleans and completed his internship, residency and infectious diseases fellowship at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York. He is currently an associate professor of medicine at The University of Queensland School of Medicine Ochsner Clinical School. Dr. Hand specializes in the treatment of infections in immunocompromised patients who anticipate or undergo solid organ or hematopoietic stem cell transplantation as well as patients treated with other immunosuppressive therapies. He is a Fellow of the American Society of Transplantation and has served on the executive committee of the Infectious Diseases community of practice. He is also a member of The Transplantation Society, International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation and Fellow of The Infectious Diseases Society of America. Dr. Hand is the Section Head of Transplant Infectious Diseases and the Medical Director of the Antimicrobial Stewardship Program at Ochsner Medical Center. He also serves as co-chair of the Louisiana Organ Procurement Agency's Advisory Board and Associate Medical Director providing guidance on infectious diseases-related concerns in organ donors and recipients. Dr. Hand leads clinical trials as Associate Research Medical Director of Infectious Diseases for Ochsner Health. His practice and research interests include infectious complications of transplant donors and recipients, vaccine and antimicrobial clinical trials and antimicrobial stewardship.

Centre for Solar Biotechnology: Prof Ben Hankamer is the founding director of the Solar Biofuels Consortium (2007) and Centre for Solar Biotechnology (2016) which is focused on developing next generation microalgae systems. These systems are designed to tap into the huge energy resource of the sun (>2300x global energy demand) and capture CO2 to produce a wide-range of products. These include solar fuels (e.g. H2 from water, oil, methane and ethanol), foods (e.g. health foods) and high value products (e.g. vaccines produced in algae). Microalgae systems also support important eco-services such as water purification and CO2 sequestration. The Centre is being launched in 2016/2017 and includes approximately 30 teams with skills ranging from genome sequencing through to demonstration systems optimsation and accompanying techno-economis and life cycle analysis. The Centre teams have worked extensively with industry.

Structural Biology: The photosynthetic machinery is the biological interface of microalgae that taps into the huge energy resource of the sun, powers the biosphere and produces the atmospheric oxygen that supports life on Earth. My team uses high resolution single particle analysis and electron tomography to solve the intricate 3D architecture of the photosynthetic machinery to enable structure guided design of high efficiency microalgae cell lines and advanced artificial solar fuel systems.