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Professor Sandra Kaji-O'Grady is an architectural educator, academic leader and researcher with a PhD in Philosophy from Monash University (2001) and professional architectural qualifications and experience. She led the design and delivering of a new progressive design education while Head of School at UTS (2005-2009) and in September 2013 commenced as Head of School and Dean of Architecture at the University of Queensland. She is committed to critical approaches to design learning and to preparing students for a radically volatile professional future.

Sandra's research is in the architectural humanties and seeks to understand the political and philosophical contexts for contemporary architecture. She has recently completed a project with Chris L. Smith on the architectural expression of contemporary science and its ideologies in laboratory buildings. This research was supported by the Australian Research Council, through the Discovery Grant ‘From Alchemist’s Den to Science City: Architecture and the Expression of Experimental Science’. Laboratory Lifestyles, the first of two major book outcomes from the study, examines the history, ambitions and and effects of the addition of gymnasia, cafes, and social spaces to scientific esearch campuses and will published by MIT Press in 2018. Life science laboratories also incorporate Animal Houses and our consideration of these has led to a new research project, in its early stages. This research will explore the ways in which buildings designed to house animals evidence and determine the relationships we have with non-human animals. Previous work has been published in leading journals including the Journal of Architecture, The Journal of Architectural Education, Architecture &, and le Journal Spéciale’Z. She has presented invited lectures and peer-reviewed conference papers in the USA, Japan, Australia and New Zealand, Finland, Amsterdam, France, Belgium, Germany, England and Scotland, where she was a Visiting Fellow at the University of Edinburgh (2012). Her own artwork investigating serial systems using pianola rolls and commercial paint samples has been exhibited in Singapore and Australia.

Sandra has been a member of the College of Experts of the Australian Research Council (2010-2011) and has reviewed submissions for several scholarly journals and sits on the editorial boards of Architecture and Culture, Studies in Material Thinking, Ardeth, and Architecture Theory Review. She is a reviewer for DrawingOn Journal and regularly contributes as a critic to Architecture Australia, Architecture Review Australia, Monument and Artichoke. Actively engaged with the architectural profession, she has written over fifty reviews for the design press and co-directed the AIA National Conference in 2013.

Dr. Aleksandr Kakinen is an NHMRC Emerging Leadership Fellow at the Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (AIBN), University of Queensland. He completed his PhD in 2014 at Tallinn University of Technology, Estonia, and held a postdoctoral fellowship at Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences from 2016 to 2020.

Dr. Kakinen’s research focuses on neurodegenerative diseases, particularly amyloid-related disorders such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease. His expertise spans structural biology, protein aggregation, neuroinflammation, and nanomedicine, with a special emphasis on developing brain-targeted delivery systems for neuroprotective therapies.

He has authored over 65 peer-reviewed publications in leading journals including Nature Communications, Advanced Science, ACS Nano, and Chemical Society Reviews. Dr. Kakinen also leads a research team that combines fundamental biophysics with translational studies to advance treatments for neurodegenerative disorders.

In addition to his scientific work, he founded a design studio specialising in scientific illustrations and biomedical animations, enhancing science communication through creative visual storytelling.

Dr Sundar Kalaipandian obtained his BSc (Agriculture) and MSc (Plant Breeding and Genetics) from Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, India. He worked as a senior research fellows at Sugarcane Breeding Institute in India. He then went to undertake his PhD in Biotechnology at Academia Sinica, Taiwan. He received a postdoctoral fellowship from Academia Sinica. He got a postdoctoral position to work at Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), and moved to Australia. He worked for University of Adelaide and Biosecurity Queensland. Then, he joined as a research fellow at the University of Queensland. Currently, he received an Advance Queensland Industry Research Fellowship project to develop a commercial tissue culture protocol on date plam.

Sundar has developed expertise in genetics, plant breeding, biotechnology, genomics, and bioinformatics during his career. He has specialized in the development of abiotic and biotic stress tolerant varieties. He has worked on several plant species including sugarcane, rice, maize, Arabidopsis, wheat, coconut, date palm, Australian native plant species and weeds. He has experience in developing strong collaborations with national and international organizations, and private industries. He is interested in commercialization of scientific technologies for farmers and bringing various technologies to field. He is also interested to work on Australian native plant species and environmental factors that affect their germination and growth. Apart from scientific skills, he is taking various roles in preparation of collaborative agreements, biosecurity documents, project and budget management activities.

Dr. Kenan Kalaycı is an experimental economist whose research focus is on behavioural economics and industrial organization. Kenan received his PhD in Economics from Tilburg University and is a Senior Lecturer in Economics at the University of Queensland. Kenan has been an Australian Research Council Discovery Early Career Research Fellow between 2016-208 and a visiting scholar at the University of Oxford in 2017-2018. Kenan's main research has been in the growing field of behavioural industrial organization, which is the study of markets incorporating insights from psychology and other related disciplines. Kenan has been one of the pioneers in the empirical study of this field, developing experimental methodology to study issues of spurious product differentiation and price discrimination in markets. His research has been published in the International Journal of Industrial Organisation, Journal of Economic Behaviour and Organisation, and Experimental Economics.

I grew up in Iran and moved to Canada for the end of high school. I did my undergraduate studies at the University of Waterloo and PhD at the University of Chicago with Vladimir Drinfeld. Afterwards, I did postdocs at the University of British Columbia in Vancovuer and the Max Planck Instittue for Mathematics at Bonn. I moved to UQ in 2013 to take up a lectureship.

My research area is known as the Langlands Program, sometimes described as a Grand Unified Theory of Mathematics. Initiated by the Canadian mathematician Robert Langlands in the 1960s, this program seeks to establish deep connections between seemingly unrelated areas of mathematics, offering a powerful framework for understanding complex equations through their symmetries.

Dr. Edmund W. Kanmiki is a public health researcher with expertise spanning population health, epidemiology and health economics. He is passionate about achieving health equity, particularly for vulnerable populations. Dr. Kanmiki’s research focuses on social determinants of health, reproductive, maternal, and child health (RMCH), community-based healthcare interventions, healthcare financing, Indigenous health, non-communicable diseases and related areas. He holds a bachelor’s degree in mathematics with economics, a master’s degree and PhD in public health. Edmund’s doctoral thesis at the University of Queensland aimed at improving equity in maternal and child health in rural communities using community-based primary healthcare strategies.

At UQ Poche Centre, Edmund is a member of the Implementing Life Course Interventions research team led by NHMRC Leadership Fellow, Mamun Abdullah. He is a co-investigator of the ARC Centre of Excellence for children and families over the Life Course project titled “Preventing and managing diabetes among Indigenous women and youth”. He is also a research coordinator for the “Exposure to Trihalomethanes in Pregnancy and Birth Outcomes in Queensland Study”.

Prior to joining the University of Queensland, Dr. Kanmiki held research roles at the University of Ghana and the Navrongo Health Research Centre and provided consultancy services to some national and multinational institutions. He is a recipient of the Mastercard Scholarship, Elsevier Atlas award and early carrier research grant award from the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (RSTMH). His research and peer-reviewed publications have informed health policy and programs. Dr. Kanmiki has presented his research at several esteemed conferences. His research has also garnered media attention in prominent outlets including The Conversation in Australia, Health and Medicine in Canada, and Health and Wellness in the United Kingdom.

Associate Professor Kappler (ORCiD: 0000-0002-2642-1319) is Group Leader in the School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences at UQ, and Chair of the Metals in Biology group. She held an ARC Australian Fellowship (2008-12) and has proven expertise in managing research projects funded by ARC & NHMRC project grants (>$2.5 million) as well as funding from other agencies. A/Prof. Kappler has > 20 years experience in bacterial physiology and the investigation of enzyme function and metabolic pathways in a wide variety of bacteria, with a particular focus on bacterial sulfur metabolism. Over the past ~10 years she has developed an extensive program of research on the physiology and pathogenesis of the human respiratory pathogen Haemophilus influenzae. Her laboratory is investigating the role of H. influenzae metabolism for host-pathogen interactions, as well as molecular defences against antimicrobials produced by the human immune system (publications: Front. Microbiol., 2015, 2016, 2021, Res. Microbiol. 2018, Adv. Microb. Physiol. 2019, 2xACS Infect. Dis. 2020) Her research has contributed to the development of a novel model of H. influenzae infection that is based on primary human nasal cells differentiated at Air-Liquid Interface.

A/ Prof. Kappler is regularly invited to present her work at international conferences (GRCs, MoTec, EMBO Microbial Sulfur Metabolism, Biometals), and has extensive expertise in the successful supervision of research students and has graduated 10 PhD, 24 Masters and 28 Honors students. She has been the Chair of the UQ Institutional Biosafety Subcommittee (2018-2021), and is the current Chair of the Australian Society for Microbiology (ASM) Queensland branch committee and a member of the ASM national council.

Professor Nitin Kapur is a respiratory & sleep paediatrician at the Queensland Children’s Hospital.

He is also the Director of Paediatric Education (DPE) and Director of Clinical Training (DCT) at QCH.

Nitin is the current President of Paediatrics and Child Health at the Royal Australasian College of Physicians (RACP).

His research interests include medical education, paediatric sleep disorders, chronic cough and bronchiectasis, in which he has a PhD.

He has recently been awarded the “Health Hero of the Decade” award by the Children’s Health Queensland.

Dr Stan Karanasios is an Professor in Information Systems at the UQ Business School, University of Queensland. He has a visiting Professor role at the University of Southampton. Prior to joining the University of Queensland he worked at RMIT University in Melbourne and the University of Leeds in the UK.

Stan's interests focus on how digital technology impacts organisations and society. Over the last ten years he has undertaken a program of research on the interaction between new digital technologies and organisations. Recently he completed a project for the International Telecommunications Union on digital transformation in Ghana and for Emergency Management Victoria on how social media platforms change the information landscape in the emergency sector. His research draws and expands on activity theory, an area in where he is recognised as an international expert. He holds a visiting position at the University of Leeds and regularly teaches on a summer school on activity theory in Europe.

He is a Senior Editor for Information Systems Journal, an Associate Editor for the European Journal of Information Systems, Section Editor for the Australian Journal on Information Systems, and on the Editorial Board for Mind, Culture & Activity and the International Journal of Information Management.

He has published in leading information systems journals such as the Journal of the Association of Information Systems, MIS Quarterly, Information Systems Journal, European Journal of Information Systems, Journal of Strategic Information Systems and Journal of Information Technology. He also regularly publishes in leading information systems conferences such as the International Conference on Information Systems, Americas Conference on Information Systems and Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences. In addition to academic publications, he has written reports for government and organisations, his research also appears in The Conversation and other news and media outlets.

Current PhD Supervision and Projects

Tech Firms Managing Generativity Tension with GenAI in Digital Product Innovation: This project examines how technology firms navigate the opportunities and tensions involved in building digital innovation with generative AI at its core.

• PhD Student: Jiamei Sun (mei.sun@business.uq.edu.au)
• Associate Advisor: Dr Avijit Sengupta

Agritech Startups and the Reshaping of Agricultural Ecosystem: This project examines how Indian agritechs drive digital transformation in agriculture and reduce information asymmetry for smallholder farmers.

• PhD Student: Rohan Chalwaldi (r.chalwadi@student.uq.edu.au)
• IIT Delhi Primary Advisor: Professor P. Vigneswara Ilavarasan

Redefining Boundaries: The Impact of Generative AI in Organizations

• PhD Student: Utsav Chaudhary (u.chaudhary@student.uq.edu.au)
• IIT Delhi Primary Advisor: Associate Professor Agam Gupta.
• Associate Advisor: Dr Avijit Sengupta

Digital Transformation Success Factors: This project examines how generative AI is reshaping the nature of knowledge work.

• PhD Student: Mingyuan (Jasmine) Jiang (m.jiang@uq.edu.au)
• Associate Supervisor: Associate Professor Christoph Breidbach

Dr Shamshad Karatela is an environmental epidemiologist and a public health researcher. From being a molecular microbiologist, she further developed her skills in public health, environmental epidemiology, exposure science, bio-monitoring, infectious diseases, microbiome and intellectual disability. She has also developed skills in program monitoring and evaluation, survey design, curricula development/training, supervision, management and data analysis. Her particular research interest focuses on understanding the long-term impacts of developmental exposures (from gestation, early life, into adolescence) to environmental chemicals/pollutants/contaminants.

Having done a Newton Fellowship at MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, The University of Cambridge, Dr Hamid Karimi-Rouzbahani is now an ARC DECRA fellow at The University of Queensland.

His interests are at the intersection of Computational, Cognitive and Clinical Neuroscience and combine neural signal processing (e.g., EEG, MEG and fMRI), machine learning (e.g., deep neural networks) and mathematical modelling.

His computational work involve the development of multidimensional connectivity and decoding analysis methods to study information coding and transfer across the brain. His cognitive interests include research into the neural bases of visual perception, attention and the multiple-demand system. His clinical work develops methods to quantify and localise brain areas involved in epilepsy.

Professor Salit Kark is a conservation and environmental scientist, with international experience examining the processes shaping biodiversity and their implications for conservation, ecology, environmental decisions, practice and management. Kark and her group provide international leadership in the areas of conservation science, prioritization, invasive species, urban ecology, spatial planning, island conservation, terrestrial, marine and coastal conservation, human-wildlife conflict, and cross-boundary collaboration, working across land-based, coastal and marine environments and collaborating with a wide range of stakeholders and partners in Australia and internationally. The Biodiversity Research Group is a dynamic research team led by Professor Salit Kark at The University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia with interests in conservation science, ecology and biodiversity. The Kark Group works on a range of conservation, environmental and ecological aspects and collaborates with multiple groups worldwide across terrestrial, coastal and marine ecosystems and across spatial scales, ranging from regional to global to help solve key environmental questions, ecological, sustainability and conservation challenges around the Planet. We mentor and train future generations of conservation scientists and practitioners, working with local communities and partners internationally to enhance conservation that supports livelihoods and communities.

Kark and her Biodiversity Research Group students and fellows work on addressing environmental and conservation challenges using advanced approaches and tools across multiple spatial scales, from global to local (examining latitudinal and altitudinal gradients), and in both terrestrial (birds and mammals mostly) and marine ecosystems. This includes work across both natural and human-dominated landscapes, examining the generality of spatial patterns and processes. Kark's work integrates socio-economic and historical factors as well as biological and ecological drivers in disentangling the role of the multiple factors that shape biodiversity and its conservation and management. In this framework, Kark's work advances the links between science, practice and policy and in leading actions that allow us to improve science-based conservation. Our group works to enhance close collaboration in conservation with Indigenous and local communities.

Kark is currently serving as a member of UQ's Cultural Inclusion Council and one of UQ's Senate committees and has served on the Promotions and the Confirmation Committee of the Faculty of Science (LCPC), as well as the School of Biological Science's Equity and Diversity Committee (ongoing), the research committee and the the First Nations Engagament committee (ongoing).

Professor Kark served as Deputy Director of UQ's Faculty of Science Centre for Biodiversity and Conservation Science. Kark was an Australian Research Council (ARC) Future Fellow and is currently teaching and research academic and Professor at the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Queensland, Brisbane (Australia) and was a Chief Investigator at the Australian Research Council (ARC) Centre of Excellence for Environmental Decisions (CEED; 2011-2018) and CEED's Theme A (Environmental Policy and Management) Leader. Kark was Chief Investigator of the Commonwealth-supported NESP Threatened Species hub (2015-2021). In this hub, Kark has initiated and led the national-scale Australian islands conservation project (Saving Species on Australian Islands), which aims to examine and prioritize the conservation of threatened species and actions for native and invasive species across Australia's 9000+ islands.

Kark's Biodiversity Research Group is very international, enhancing gender equity, cultural diversity, and Indigenous engagement, and includes students and fellows from over 20 countries. Kar's graduates are now based across continents in key positions in a broad range of governmental organizations, NGOs, academic organizations, industry, the private sector, and diverse conservation, management and policy roles.

Kark completed her PhD in 1999. She was a post-doctoral fellow at the Department of Biological Sciences, Stanford University (between 1999-2002) working with Prof. Harold Mooney, Prof. Gretchen Daily and Prof. Paul Ehrlich at the Center for Conservation Biology at Stanford.

Between 2002 and June 2013, Kark was a full-time research and teaching faculty member (Senior Lecturer) where she established and led the Biodiversity Research Group, which she currently leads at the University of Queensland.

Dr Jurij Karlovšek is a recognised expert in Geotechnical and Underground Engineering, known for driving innovation through research, fostering industry collaboration, and mentoring the next generation of engineers. His work bridges technical excellence with strategic leadership across academia and industry, positioning him as a key contributor to infrastructure transformation.

He leads multidisciplinary research and teaching initiatives with deep expertise across three core domains. In the area of infrastructure innovation, Dr Karlovšek is at the forefront of sustainable infrastructure development and geotechnical resilience, contributing to the advancement of resilient urban systems and underground space utilisation. He brings specialist knowledge in tunnelling and constructability, particularly in the design and delivery of large-scale underground infrastructure projects.

In digital engineering and information modelling, he is internationally recognised for his pioneering contributions to Building Information Modelling (BIM) in tunnelling, with a strong focus on bored and mechanised tunnelling methods. His research advances the integration of digital workflows, sustainability principles, and life-cycle asset management, positioning him as a thought leader in the digitalisation of infrastructure systems.

In the field of advanced non-destructive and spatial technologies, Dr Karlovšek applies cutting-edge non-destructive testing (NDT) and spatial analysis techniques to evaluate infrastructure integrity and subsurface conditions. He leverages technologies such as Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR), SLAM, LiDAR, and InSAR to support precise monitoring, localisation, and long-term performance assessment of critical assets.

Dr Karlovsek is an EAIT Faculty Lead and Director at the Sustainable Infrastructure Research Hub, collaborating closely with the BEL Faculty. Additionally, he is the co-founder and area lead at the Infrastructure CoLab.

Within the School of Civil Engineering (SoCE), Dr Karlovsek serves as the course coordinator for key subjects:

• CIVL2210 - Soil Mechanics
• CIVL4525 - Sustainable Infrastructure Design
• CIVL6250 - Underground Structures

At the corporate level, Dr Karlovsek is actively involved in community engagement through the creation and implementation of associations. Currently, he holds the position of Vice-President of the National Committee of the Australian Tunnelling Society (ATS) and serves as the Past Animator (Chair) of the International Tunnelling and Underground Space Association (ITA) Working Group 22 – Information Modelling in Tunnelling (BIM in Tunnelling). Locally, Dr Karlovsek contributes to committees at BrisBIM – Digital Community Group Queensland, Planning Institute of Australia Technical Group (PlanTech), Australasian BIM Advisory Board (ABAB) and the Australian Shotcrete Society National Committee.

Beyond his organizational roles, Dr Karlovsek is deeply committed to mentorship, actively guiding undergraduate and postgraduate students. He supports their research endeavors, industry engagement activities, and overall ensures a enriching and profitable educational experience for each student under his mentorship.

Dibesh Karmacharya has a Conservation Biology degree from Wayne State College, USA and a PhD on Conservation and Microbiome Genetics from Griffith University, Australia. He worked extensively in the US for Caliper Lifesciences in New Jersey as a research scientist (transgenic animal models). He promoted Genomics and Proteomics technology platforms for GE Healthcare Lifesciences in the US and Canada. He founded the Center for Molecular Dynamics Nepal (CMDN), a wildlife genetics and clinical epidemiology research center and is the Chairman and Executive Director of the Organization. He also founded Intrepid Nepal Pvt. Ltd.-a molecular diagnostics-based Biotechnology Company, and Intrepid Cancer Diagnostics-a leading cancer diagnostic laboratory. He leads several innovative researches in Nepal including building Nepal’s first genetic database of wild tigers through Nepal Tiger Genome Project. He was the Principal Investigator of PREDICT Nepal project-an emerging pandemic threat project. He also founded BIOVAC Nepal Pvt. Ltd. - a vaccine research, development and manufacturing company. He is Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) Regional Project Coordinator of Pandemic Prevention Leadership Initiative (PPLI). He specializes in One Health and Conservation Genetics.