Find an expert

I am a Science Advisor for the Threatened Species Index (TSX) at the Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network (TERN) and an Affiliated Researcher with the Centre for Biodiversity and Conservation Science. The TSX integrates long-term monitoring data for Australia’s threatened and near-threatened species to estimate abundance trends. A key focus of my role is assisting to get the hard-won data of Australia’s ecologists into the TSX, including working with data providers to generate reliable time-series of abundance or occurrence rate from their data. Ultimately, I help to ensure that the TSX continues to provide accurate and up-to-date information on population trends for Australia’s imperilled species.

Outside of the TSX, I continue to pursue research on the spatial and temporal dynamics of declining species, seeking insights into population processes that can guide conservation planning. My projects usually lie at the intersection of applied ecology and herpetology, because I’ve been fascinated by reptiles and amphibians since I was a boy, and the obsession shows no sign of abating. Whatever the taxa, my aim is to provide insights and tools that can support practical, on-ground conservation decision-making.

Kerry Heckenberg is currently an active research member in the School of Communication and Arts at the University of Queensland with experience in teaching both science (physiology) and art history at this university.

We are currently investigating biological processes that valorise waste carbon, typically gaseous compounds such as CO2, CO​, or CH4. Microbial biotechnology is our focus due to its scalability, efficiency, and stability - being capable of utilising typical catalysis contaminants such as NOx and H2S. Further, certain hydrogenotrophs and methanotrophs (H2 and CH4 utilising organisms) have metabolic properties that make them attractive for use in the circular carbon economy (e.g. co-uptake of CO2 and CH4 as sole carbon and energy sources). A wide-range of products can also be made, from short-chain alcohols to polymers and tailored animal feeds. To better understand their ability for real-world application, we characterise their metabolism using multi-omics analysis methodologies and then optimise it through data-driven hypotheses and testing. My main interests include

• identifying genes (and their regulation) essential for desirable traits, and methods for manipulation of those genes to enhance a bioprocess.
• (methods for) identifying and alleviating bottlenecks in metabolism.
• creating novel C1 metabolic pathways through culturing of synthetic microbial consortia and/or metabolic engineering.

​James recently submitted completed his PhD, where he was also working in the Marcellin Group. Prior to this, he studied for a BE(Hons.) in Chemical and Process Engineering (with Bioprocess minor) at the University of Canterbury (NZ) and became interested in further study after a summer research internship. His PhD research employed systems biology and bioprocess engineering principles to build datasets that expanded our understanding of gas fermentation in an industrially relevant manner. In partnership with LanzaTech, the World leader in commercial gas fermentation, this analysis focused on the industrially-relevant and model acetogen Clostridium autoethanogenum. Current interests in reducing global CO2 levels and high efficiencies encouraged us to investigate this biological system as a potential CO2 recycling platform.

Stephen Heimans is a Senior Lecturer in The School of Education at The University of Queensland. He writes and teaches about education policy/ leadership enactment, education research methodology and schooling in underserved communities. He is interested in the post-critical possibilities of Jacques Rancière’s thinking and the philosophy of science of Isabelle Stengers- especially experimental constructivism.

Stephen contributes to the International Teacher Education Research Collective (ITERC), a recently established group collaborating around research on teacher education in several countries including Australia, the UK, Canada, Denmark, Ireland, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Japan, Hong Kong and Sweden. The Collective is currently exploring three interrelated research themes: how professionalism is ‘claimed’; the ethics and politics of teachers’ knowledge; and the knowledge base of teacher education. https://twitter.com/_ITERC

Dr Anita Heiss AM is a proud member of the Wiradyuri nation of central New South Wales and one of Australia’s most prolific and well-known authors publishing across genres including non-fiction, historical fiction, commercial fiction and children’s fiction. Anita’s children’s literature includes Who Am I? the diary of Mary Talence, Our Race for Reconciliation, Harry’s Secret, Matty’s Comeback, and Kicking Goals with Goodesy and Magic, co-written with Adam Goodes and Micheal O’Loughlin. She also wrote two kid's novels with students from La Perouse Public School - Yirra and Her Deadly Dog Demon and Demon Guards the School Yard.

Anita’s non-fiction works include Am I Black Enough for You?, Dhuuluu-Yala (To Talk Straight) – Publishing Aboriginal Literature, and as editor, Growing Up Aboriginal in Australia and The Macquarie PEN Anthology of Aboriginal Literature which she co-edited with Peter Minter. Her adult fiction includes Not Meeting Mr Right, Avoiding Mr Right, Manhattan Dreaming, Paris Dreaming and Tiddas. Her novel Barbed Wire and Cherry Blossoms was shortlisted for the QLD Literary Awards, longlisted for the Dublin International Literary Prize and was the University of Canberra 2020 Book of the Year. Bila Yarrudhanggalangdhuray won the 2022 NSW Premier’s Literary Prize for Indigenous Writing, was shortlisted for the 2021 HNSA ARA Historical Novel (Adult Category) and the 2022 ABIA Awards, and longlisted for the 2022 Stella Prize. In 2004 Anita was listed in The Bulletin magazine’s “Smart 100”. Her memoir Am I Black Enough for You? was a finalist in the 2012 Human Rights Awards and she was a finalist in the 2013 Australian of the Year Awards (Local Hero). As an advocate for Indigenous literacy, Anita has worked in remote communities as a role model and encouraging young Indigenous Australians to write their own stories. On an international level she has performed her own work and lectured on Aboriginal literature across the globe at universities and conferences, consulates and embassies in the USA, Canada, the UK, Tahiti, Fiji, New Caledonia, Spain, Japan, Austria, Germany, China, India and New Zealand. Anita is a Lifetime Ambassador for the Indigenous Literacy Foundation, and a proud Ambassador of Worawa Aboriginal College, the GO Foundation and the Sydney Swans. Anita is a Professor of Communications at the University of QLD and is on the board of the National Justice Project, Aboriginal Art Co and Circa Contemporary Theatre.

Anita’s first play Tiddas, produced by La Boite Theatre had its world premiere at the 2022 Brisbane Festival.

Anita loves chocolate, running and being a creative disruptor.

Dr. Michael Tobias Heitzmann is the Co-Director for the Centre for Advanced Materials Processing and Manufacturing (AMPAM) and a Associate Professor at the School of Mechanical and Mining Engineering at The University of Queensland. The centre he co-directs brings together over 60 researchers and 110 PhD students working with over 124 different industry and research partners.

He is an expert in composite materials and processes with a strong industry focus. His research group at The University of Queensland is focused around the two areas: ‘High temperature Composites’ and ‘Composite durability’. His expertise includes manufacturing process development and modelling, materials characterisation and composite mechanics. In the last 5 years, he has been awarded over $8.5M AUD in research funding as chief investigator (CI) of which over $3.5M AUD have been obtained as the lead CI. He has secured significant funding across the funding spectrum including, direct industry funding, CRC, ACARP, ARC Linkage and ARC Discovery projects. Since joining The University of Queensland in 2014, he has produced over 45 academic publications and is the inventor of 3 patents. He has graduated 6PhD students, 2 MPhil students and is the current supervisor of 10 PhD students and 3 research fellows.

As an academic with a strong industry focus, Dr. Heitzmann prides himself on his impact beyond tractional academic outputs. For example, he and his team have developed coal seam gas sucker-rod wear guides that are now use across Australia with over 1 million guides sold. In collaboration, with Prof. Glen Lichtwark, he developed the Cricket Australia test standard for cricket balls and overseen the certifications of all cricket balls currently being played in Cricket Australia men’s competitions. He has also pioneered the development of high temperature ceramic matrix composites for hypersonic applications in Australia. His team has successfully developed and demonstrated the manufacture of polymer-matrix and ceramic-matrix composites for test campaigns including industry primes such as Lockheed Martin and Thales. He also played a significant role in the establishment of the Defence Science and Technology (DST) Eagle Farm Facility and has helped to shape the current high temperature composites development that is undertaken within DST.

From 2012 to July 2015, he was the project leader of the CRC-ACS “Plant fibre biocomposites” project (CRC-ACS P1.1), a 6.5M five year project. He was responsible for leading a multinational team of over 10 researchers including project partners form Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Thailand and Malaysia. Since taking over the project lead, he has successfully established a steering committee for the development of biocomposite design guidelines, engaged three additional research providers and introduced two new commercial end-users to the project. The license for commercialisation of the project outcomes has been issued to Queensland based agronomy company Agri Fibre Industries.

Before joining the University of Queensland he worked as a Senior Research Engineer for the commercial entity of the CRC-ACS, Advanced Composite Structures Australia. In this role he contributed and led composite research and development projects for major local and international companies such as QBE insurance, Brisbane Transport, Australian Aerospace, Airbus and PETRONAS.

As part of the management executive of the Program in Complex Traits Genomics (PCTG) based at the Institute for Molecular Biosciences (IMB) Anjali is responsible for the day-to-day running of the PCTG, including the coordination of their research activities and strategies, research governance and supervison of their high-through put genomics laboratory. Anjali has over 15 years experience in managing complex, large-scale research programmes and specialises in facilitating and managing interdisciplinary collaborations and consortiums.

Prior to moving to UQ, Anjali was the Senior Project Manager for the Genetic Epidemiology Laboratory at the Queensland Institute for Medical research (QIMR) where she held an integral role in the management of large human research projects collecting biological samples for down stream genomics. Her significant contribution to these projects has been recognised by her inclusion in publications and commentaries.

Amanda Henderson has an extensive career in nursing education, research and leadership in both academic and clinical settings internationally and in Australia. Her substantive position is Nursing Director, Nursing Practice Development Unit at the Princess Alexandra Hospital where she provides leadership and guidance for education initiatives and directives across Metro South Health. Her scholarship is focused on the establishment of clinical settings that promote learning in practice, including the development and utilisation of health care knowledge.

Margaret teaches in the literature area in the School of Communication and Arts. Her teaching interests are literary theory, contemporary women’s writing, and postmodern fiction.

Margaret is the author of Marking Feminist Times: Remembering the Longest Revolution in Australia, a study of Australian feminist cultural memory; Kathy Acker: Punk Writer; and co-author with Anthea Taylor of Postfeminism in Context: Women, Australian Popular Culture, and the Unsettling of Postfeminism. She is the co-editor of Terra-Recognita: New Essays in Australian Studies, Manifesting Australian Literary Feminisms: Nexus and Faultlines, and Things that Liberate: An Australian Feminist Wunderkammer. She has also published numerous articles on feminist fiction and culture, and autobiography.

She has been a consultant to the National Museum of Australia, advising on a modern Australian women's movement collection. Her current project is a monograph on women’s punk and post-punk memoirs.

Paul is Professor of Digital Sociology and Social Policy. He is a Chief Investigator of the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision Making and Society (ADM+S), and Lead of the Social Services Focus Area in the Centre. Having degrees in sociology/social policy and computer science, and having worked in the public service, Paul has a unique insight into the intersection of digital technologies and their social implications.

For over 20 years, Paul's research has focused in the development, design, deployment and evaluation of digital technology, automated decision making and Artificial Intelligence (AI) in government and social services. Taking a multi-disciplinaray perspective, he explores the implications of automation and AI on policy, service delivery, service users and citizenship, governance and practices of power. His work considers the ethical, legal, social and pratical considerations of AI and automation.

Paul's research is regarded as influential in the development of Digital Welfare State and Digital Social Policy literatures. Past publications include Governing Electronically (Palgrave 2010), Performing the State (Routledge 2018), and Adminstering Welfare Reform (Policy, 2006). He is currently finalising Digital Government in an Age of Disruption with Professor John Halligan, which takes an international comparative, institutionalist approach.

His current research focus is on using critical social science to inform the development of practical digital and AI tools to advance pro-social outcomes,

• Data navigation for lawyers. Working with Economic Justice Australia and welfare rights community legal centres, Paul is working with colleagues to co-design and produce a data extraction and navigation tool. This tool will assist lawyers to better provide legal advice and support to clients who are contesting decisions by the Australian government's Services Australia and Centrelink.
• Trauma Informed Algorithmic Assessment Toolkit. Working with human service delivery agenies, this project is piloting a practical, online Toolkit to enable organisations to design and deploy AI and algorithmic enable services that is safe, responsible and avoids causing harm.

Dr Joerg Henning is a Professor in Veterinary Epidemiology at the School of Veterinary Science. He is the Director of Students and Admissions, the International Student Mentor and International Recruitment Coordinator for the BVSc (Honours) program. He has over 15 years of research experience in epidemiology and biostatistics with a focus on international animal health. He was the main operational scientist in research projects in Myanmar, Vietnam and Indonesia. He also worked as a consultant for international organisations such as the FAO, World Bank, ILRI and others.

A key focus of Dr Joerg Henning’s research is to identify sustainable and acceptable interventions to improve the livelihoods of small-scale farmers in developing countries. His research interests included zoonotic diseases such as Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza H5N1, infectious diseases and management of poultry, attitudes and behaviours of small-scale farmers, extension programs to improve livestock health, the translation of research outcomes while considering farmer’s attitudes, behaviours, cultural background and literacy and research linking livestock production to human nutrition.

Dr Henning's research interest also includes the analysis of wildlife data, including anthropogenic threats to koalas, the development of citizen science approaches to support koala conservation and investigations into snake envenomation in domestic animals.

Dr Leah Henrickson is a Lecturer in Digital Media and Cultures at the University of Queensland. She is the author of Reading Computer-Generated Texts (Cambridge University Press, 2021) and other peer-reviewed articles about how we understand text generation systems and output, artificial intelligence, and digital media ecosystems. Dr Henrickson also studies digital storytelling for critical self-reflection, pedadogy, community building, and commercial benefit. She is the author of Digital Storytelling: An Introduction (Polity, 2025).

Dr Henrickson is especially keen to collaborate on projects involving digital methods and media, hermeneutics, histories of communications media, and unconventional text production and dissemination.

Julie is a Professor in the School of Psychology at The University of Queensland, and is also an Affiliate Professor at The Queensland Brain Institute as well as The Mater Research Institute. She is a Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia, and of the Association for Psychological Science.

Julie leads a group that particularly focuses on how social cognition and prospection are disrupted by normal adult ageing and clinical illness. Social cognition refers to how we perceive, process, and interpret social cues in our environment. Good social cognitive skills are therefore key to mental health and wellbeing because they provide the foundation on which strong social relationships are built. Prospective memory plays a different but equally important role in our everyday lives, critical if we are to appropriately anticipate, plan and/or act with the future in mind.

Julie has published more than 250 peer‑reviewed papers which appear in prestigious outlets that include Trends in Cognitive Sciences, Annual Review of Psychology, Cognition, Psychological Bulletin, Cortex, Human Brain Mapping, Developmental Science, Psychology and Aging, Emotion, Brain, Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, and Nature Reviews Neurology. Her work has been cited ~ 20,000 times in Scopus and > 36,000 in Google Scholar. In 2021 and 2022, The Australian identified 40 Lifetime Achievers who are “Superstars of Research”. These are “chosen for the consistent excellence of their work and the impact they had in their fields.” In both years Julie was identified as a Lifetime Achiever and one of the top five researchers in Social Science across all of Australia. Julie has also appeared on Stanford University’s list of the top 2% of science researchers in the world every year since the list was first published in 2019.

Julie has also received continuous prestigious and highly competitive research funding. This includes two ARC Fellowships and eight ARC Discovery Projects, seven of which she has led as first-named CI. Between 2011 and 2017, Julie was Editor in Chief of the British Journal of Clinical Psychology, and she is currently an Associate Editor for Psychology and Aging and sits on a number of Editorial Boards, including Journal of Aging & Social Policy. Julie has been the recipient of many prestigious awards. This includes the Research Higher Degree Supervision Award (2016) and the Research Mentorship Award (2022) from the Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences, competitive across the Faculty’s six schools and three research centres. In 2023, Julie was also the sole recipient of The UQ Award for Excellence in Graduate Research Training - Supervision, competitive across all UQ, for “outstanding and exemplary supervisory practice”.

Julie is Director of The Queensland Multidisciplinary Initiative for Neurocognitive Difficulties (The QLD MIND Project) and President of The Australasian Society for Philosophy and Psychology.