Tolulope's expertise lies in intellectual property law, public health law, and law and technology. More broadly, his work has come to focus on three sectors now recognized as the so-called grand challenges: pharmaceuticals and health, climate change, and food security. He completed his PhD at the City University of Hong Kong, funded by the University Grants Committee of Hong Kong and the Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition in Germany. After completing his doctoral research, he worked as a postdoctoral research fellow at the Faculty of Law, Chinese University of Hong Kong, and the Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition. He holds a German and European Law Certificate from Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Germany, and is qualified as a Barrister and Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Nigeria. He is currently a consultant to the South African Research Chair in Industrial Development at the University of Johannesburg and the United Nations Office of the Special Adviser on Africa. He is a recipient of several awards and a nominee for the Australian Legal Research Award (ECR) 2024. He is also an affiliate fellow at the Information Society Law Center of the University of Milan, Italy, and the Centre for Policy Futures at the University of Queensland. Among his past experiences, he has held teaching positions at the City University of Hong Kong and Landmark University, Nigeria.
Lemi Baruh (Ph.D. University of Pennsylvania, Annenberg School for Communication, 2007) is a Senior Lecturer at the School of Communication and Arts at the University of Queensland. He is the co-founder of the Social Interaction and Media Lab at Koç University, Istanbul. His research spans various topics, including the effects of social media on interpersonal attraction, surveillance, online security, privacy in online environments, and the role of media in shaping public opinion. His recent work also investigates misinformation and conspiracy theories in the context of health communication, with a particular focus on the COVID-19 pandemic and the influence of news and social media on public perceptions and behaviors related to health.
Janeen Baxter is Director of the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Children and Families over the Life Course and Kathleen Fitzpatrick Laureate Fellow in the Institute for Social Science Research.
Janeen has research interests in social disadvantage, gender inequality, household and family dynamics, life course and longitudinal studies and has published widely in these areas, as well as supervising the research of numerous higher degree students and research fellows.
Janeen has served on several editorial boards for national and international journals and has been a member and Chair of the College of Experts for the Australian Research Council. Janeen is an elected fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences and the U.S. National Academy of Sciences. She is currently a member of several government advisory committees including theCommonwealth Department of Social Services Child Support Expert Committee and the Australian Bureau of Statistics Life Course Data Initiative Household and Family Structures Working Group. Janeen is also a member of the CEDA Council on Economic Policy and the Social Policy Research Centre Advisory Board.
Dr Adrian Cherney is a Professor in the School of Social Science at the University of Queensland. He was an Australian Research Council (ARC) Future Fellow. He has completed evaluations of programs aimed at countering violent extremism and is undertaking research on violent extremism risk assessment. His ARC Future Fellowship explored case-managed interventions targeting convicted terrorists and those at risk of radicalisation.
Leanne is an academic specialising in Indigenous public health. She has a strong background as a health practitioner, executive manager in both the Australian Government and Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services, and as an international public health consultant. She has extensive experience teaching using a strengths-based approach as opposed to the deficit model, and supports other staff to utilise culturally-safe teaching practices across health professional education programs at both the undergraduate and postgraduate level. She was a co-lead on the Game Changing Education - Embedding Indigenous knowledges in the training and development of the health workforce in a culturally safe transformative learning environment project, funded through both teaching fellowship and teaching innovation grants, which have been implemented in both the HaBS and Medicine faculties. Leanne and the Indigenous Health Education and Workforce Development team from UQ and the Institute for Urban Indigenous Health were awarded two prestigious and highly competitive awards: the Business & Higher Education Roundtable Award for Outstanding Collaboration in Higher Education and Training, and the Australian Awards for University Teaching Award for Programs that Enhance Learning. Leanne brings this knowledge and experience to her role as Co-Chair of the World Federation of Public Health Associations' Public Health Professionals' Education and Training Working Group, which has published the results of a curriculum mapping project benchmarked against the Global Charter for the Public’s Health. She is also a member of the Steering Committee and Technical Advisory Group for the World Health Organization project on national workforce capacity to implement the essential public health functions.
Dr Nathalia Costa is a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Queensland's cLinical TRials cApability (ULTRA), located within the Centre for Clinical Research in Herston. Her career goal is to enhance the evidence base from clinical trials and deepen the understanding of healthcare issues through qualitative and mixed methods, with a focus on theoretically grounded, critical, reflexive and collaborative approaches. She is passionate about bringing different types of knowledge and stakeholders together to generate perspectives that create change and make research, practice and education more inclusive and nuanced. She advocates for pluralist inquiries and believes research should go beyond the dualism “quantitative/qualitative” to achieve the intersubjective understandings needed for impactful collective action. Her methodological expertise includes:
Systematic, scoping and rapid reviews
A range of qualitative methods and methodologies including but not limited to interviews, ethnography, Delphi studies, surveys, focus groups, document and policy analysis, thematic analysis, content analysis, and discourse analysis
Embedding qualitative research in feasibility trials to inform large-scale clinical trials
Conducting qualitative research to inform the development of implementation strategies
Use of systems-thinking frameworks to identify opportunities for interdisciplinary and intersectoral action to target health problems
Applying social theory to deepen understanding of healthcare and health more broadly
Participatory and collaborative research with key stakeholders (e.g., patients, clinicians, academics, policymakers)
Her publications (45+) span a diverse range of themes, including musculoskeletal conditions, pain, policy, sociology and culturally responsive care. She has also taught across a range of disciplines, including research methods, musculoskeletal physiotherapy, sociology applied to health, fundamentals of physiotherapy, fundamentals of health care, health policy, health economics and health systems finance.
Her research focuses on aspects of low back pain - from exploring ways to navigate uncertainty in low back pain care to identifying avenues to improve it within the Australian healthcare system. She is currently investigating how to optimise recruitment within the FORENSIC trial, which aims to evaluate if lumbar fusion surgery is more beneficial than continuing with best conservative care for patients with persistent severe low back pain who have already undergone non-surgical treatment.
Alongside collaborators, Nathalia has garnered grants (AUD$6M) and awards, including an international award for one of her PhD studies, awarded by the International Society for the Study of the Lumbar Spine – the 2021 ISSLS Prize for Lumbar Spine Research (Clinical Science). She has made >35 presentations at national and international conferences, including presentations as an invited speaker at international conferences (e.g., World Physiotherapy Congress). Prior to her current appointment, she was a Post-doctoral Research Fellow at the School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences (UQ - 2021), a Post-doctoral Research Associate at the Sydney School of Public Health (The University of Sydney, 2021-2022), and a Lecturer in Physiotherapy at the Sydney School of Health Sciences (The University of Sydney, 2023). Nathalia serves as an Associate Editor for Qualitative Health Research and the Journal of Humanities in Rehabilitation.
Dr Katherine Cullerton is a Research Fellow in the School of Public Health. Katherine joined the School of Public Health in August 2018 after completing postdoctoral research at the MRC Epidemiology Unit at the University of Cambridge, UK where she investigated whether it’s ever acceptable for nutrition researchers to engage with the food industry and if it is, under what conditions. Her current research involves understanding the barriers to evidence informing public policy and how advocates can better influence policy in Australia with a particular emphasis on the effects of framing and public opinion.
Dr Cullerton is also the academic lead for external engagement for the School of Public Health.
Dr Debashish Dev is an interdisciplinary researcher specializing in energy transition, communication, sustainable development, community engagement, and understanding social change processes. Notably, his work integrates social performance and strategic regional development, enhancing community participation and social acceptance in energy policies and initiatives.
Working at the UQ Gas and Energy Transition Research Centre, Dr Dev contributed to developing a participatory community-based monitoring framework for regional development in Northern Territory, Australia. Currently, he is working on implementing the framework in practice. In addition, his ongoing research engagement includes understanding social risks in coal seam gas waste management, public discourses in gas-related policies, energy sector's contribution towards SDGs, energy-related social movements, and how energy information flows through the social systems.
Dr Dev's previous academic roles at the University of Queensland and the Queensland University of Technology involved teaching communication research methods, data in society, and social change processes. He also researched and taught in Bangladesh, concentrating on agricultural extension, organization management, climate change adaptation, and gender dynamics. He holds a Bachelor's (Honours) in Agricultural Science (Bangladesh Agricultural University), a Master's in Agricultural Extension (Bangladesh Agricultural University), and a PhD in Climate and Development (UQ). He is certified in Carbon Literacy and is an Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (UK). Dr Dev’s work bridges research with practical solutions, aiming to advance sustainable development through effective community engagement and participatory approaches.
Pedro Fidelman leads strategic projects in the Social and Environmental Sustainability theme at the UQ Centre for Policy Futures, including the Centre's contribution to the Reef Restoration and Adaptation Program and Blue Economy Cooperative Research Centre.
Pedro’s research focuses on environmental policy and governance with an emphasis on the role of institutions (e.g., regulations, norms, and decision-making processes) in addressing global environmental change (e.g., over-exploitation of natural resources, biodiversity loss and climate change). He is also interested in the process of policy making and associated social and political actors and contextual factors.
His research is predominantly empirical, drawing on case studies in the context of marine and coastal social-ecological systems, climate change adaptation and natural resources management in Australia, Southeast Asia and Brazil. Current research includes governance, policy and regulatory implications of using novel and emerging technologies for environmental outcomes, and policy and regulatory innovation in the context of environmental, social and technological change.
Prior to joining UQ, Pedro held research positions in Brazil (e.g., University of Brasilia) and Australia (e.g., ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies and Sustainability Research Centre of the University of the Sunshine Coast).
Professor Daniel Franks is known internationally for his work on the interconnections between minerals, materials and sustainable development, with a particular focus on the role of minerals in poverty reduction and the social and environmental change associated with mining and energy extraction.
Daniel’s work spans the governance of artisanal, small-scale and large-scale mining. While metals and gemstones are a feature of his research, he especially focused on industrial minerals, construction materials and other ‘Development Minerals’ that are mined and used for local and domestic development. These later minerals matter in our efforts to achieve the ambitious Sustainable Development Goals, because they are literally the matter that underpins much of global development, whether it be the clay bricks and roof tiles that provide shelter, the mineral fertilisers fundamental for agriculture, the garnet that filters water, or the gravel and stone that builds bridges and paves rural roads.
Originally trained as a geologist, he began his career as a field geoscientist in Brazil and Australia. After retraining in political and social sciences, he worked as a Senior Social Scientist at the Queensland Department of Natural Resources and Water. Between 2015 and 2018 he was Chief Technical Advisor at the United Nations Development Programme and Programme Manager of the ACP-EU Development Minerals Programme, where he remains an advisor. In this role he was responsible for the delivery of more than 200 training and capacity building workshops, training over ten thousand people from 41 countries, of Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific in the governance of minerals for sustainable development. He authored curricula now taught in more than 30 universities and advised numerous Heads of State, Ministers of Mining and Ambassadors on mineral policy and governance.
Prior to his work at the United Nations, Professor Franks held research and teaching positions at Griffith University and The University of Queensland, where he was previously the Deputy Director of the Centre for Social Responsibility in Mining. He has held visiting appointments with Columbia University, New York (2013-present), the University of Eastern Finland (2014-present), the University of Western Australia (2013-2015), Central European University, Budapest (2016) and Universidad Católica del Norte, Chile (2011-2015). He has been an invited expert peer reviewer for the World Bank (2018), International Resource Panel, UN Environment (2017), the Academy of Finland (2015) and the Commonwealth Secretariat (2012).
Professor Christian Gericke is Clinical Dean and Professor of Medicine at the University of Newcastle, Director of Research and Neurologist at Calvary Mater Newcastle, Honorary Neurologist at the John Hunter Hospital, and Adjunct Professor of Neurology at Fiji National University. He is the Convener of the Specialist Medical Review Council (SMRC), Australian Government, a Member of the Queensland Neurology/Neurosurgery Medical Assessment Tribunal, and regularly acts as an Independent Medical Expert for the Supreme Courts of Queensland, Victoria, New South Wales, South Australia and Western Australia, and the Queensland Coroners Court. He consults privately in Brisbane.
Before this, he was the Clinical Director of Neurology at The Prince Charles Hospital, Professor of Medicine at the University of Queensland, Executive Director of Medical Services, Director of Research and Consultant Neurologist at Cairns Hospital and Adjunct Professor of Medicine and Public Health at James Cook University. He also chaired the Far North Queensland Human Research Ethics Committee (HREC).
From 2013 to 2016, he led the Wesley Research Institute, a non-profit medical research institute based at the Wesley Hospital in Brisbane, as its CEO and Director of Research. In 2016/2017, he spent a sabbatical as Consultant Neurologist with a special interest in Epilepsy at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. Since 2013, he has been an Honorary Professor in the School of Public Health at the University of Queensland.
From 2010 to 2012, he was Professor of Public Health and Honorary Consultant Neurologist at Peninsula Medical School, Universities of Exeter and Plymouth and Deputy Director of the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care for the English South West Peninsula (PenCLAHRC).
From 2006 to 2010, he was Professor of Health Policy and Director of the Centre for Health Services Research at the University of Adelaide. He also held various roles for the Australian Commonwealth and State Governments, including as Medical Director for Safety and Quality for the State of Tasmania.
From 2003 to 2006, he was Senior Research Fellow /Associate Professor and Deputy Head of the WHO Collaborating Centre for Health Systems Research and Management at Berlin University of Technology, one of the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies hubs. He has experience working as a management consultant for McKinsey & Company and as an advisor to the European Commission, WHO, GIZ and the World Bank. His expertise and research interests are in health systems research and health policy, health services research, and the economic evaluation of health interventions. He initiated and directed a new Master's programme in Health Economics and Policy at the University of Adelaide. He is an Editorial Board Member of Frontiers in Neurology, Australian Health Review, Internal Medicine Journal and PLOS ONE.
Prof Gericke studied medicine at the Free University of Berlin and spent one year as a DAAD scholar at Tufts and Harvard Medical Schools in Boston, Massachusetts. He was awarded an M.D. research doctorate (magna cum laude) in cognitive neurology from the Free University of Berlin. After completing clinical specialist training in neurology, epileptology and clinical neurophysiology at the Charite University Hospital in Berlin and the University Hospitals of Strasbourg and Geneva, he studied tropical medicine at the University of Aix-Marseille, obtained an M.P.H. from the University of Cambridge, an M.Sc. in Health Policy, Planning and Financing from the London School of Economics/London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, an MBA from Deakin University, and a higher doctorate (Habilitation) in health systems research from Berlin University of Technology. He also holds an Advanced Diploma in Medical Law from King's Inns School of Law in Dublin and is a Certified Independent Medical Examiner (CIME) with the American Board of Independent Medical Examiners (ABIME).
He is a Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians (FRACP) in Neurology, the Australasian Faculty of Public Health Medicine (FAFPHM), the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh (FRCP Edin), the European Academy of Neurology (FEAN), the American Neurological Association (FANA), the American Academy of Neurology (FAAN) and Associate Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Medical Administrators (AFRACMA).
He is the Chair of the Australian and New Zealand Association of Neurologists (ANZAN) Therapeutics Committee, Chair of the Ethics Section of the American Academy of Neurology (AAN), and Chair of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians (RACP) Research Committee and a Member of the International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE) Standards and Best Practice Council. He also serves on the Federal Council of the Australian Medical Association (AMA).
School of Political Science and International Studies
Faculty of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences
Availability:
Not available for supervision
Media expert
Professor Brian Head joined the University of Queensland in mid-2007 after holding senior roles in government, universities, and the non-government sector. He is the author or editor of several books and numerous articles on public management, governance, social isues and environmental policy. His major interests are evidence-based policy, complex or 'wicked' problems, program evaluation, early intervention and prevention, collaboration and consultation, public sector integrity, and leadership. He has undertaken several consultancies on program evaluation, policy review, organisational performance, and good governance processes. He has strong interests in applied research across many areas of public policy and governance, and is committed to building closer links between the research and policy sectors. His recent books include Wicked Problems in Public Policy (2022, Palgrave, open access), Reconsidering Policy (2020, Policy Press, co-authored), and Learning Policy, Doing Policy (2021, ANU Press, co-edited).
My research focuses on the protection and wellbeing of children, young people and their families. I use research co-design methods to collaborate with people, communities, and agencies to build family and community inclusive responses to human and health needs.
My research fields are: child protection, out-of-home care, health equity and social inclusion.
My research themes are:
a) peer-parent and family advocacy in child protection, mental health and other health services.
b) promoting the social, emotional and cultural wellbeing of children, young people and families involved with child protection and out-of-home care services.
c) health equity and evidence-based approaches to family support in child protection, mental and other health services.
d) interprofessional health care to improve service access and equity with vulnerable populations.
In 2016, I was appointed a member of the Order of Australia (AM) for my contribution to social work in child protection, higher education and research. In September 2018, I was appointed Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.
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.
Michelle is a sociologist and lawyer: her research focuses on decision-making and the operation of law and regulation in practice for people with disabilities and other impairments to communication and capacity. She has research interests in the sociology of law, decision-making (supported and substituted), legal personhood, the UNCPRD, disability law, legal and administrative transition to adulthood, communication impairments, and profound intellectual disability. Her work examines decision-making in practice in a range of areas, including health and aged care, banking and finance, income support, and the NDIS. Michelle is trained in both qualitative and quantitative methods, and has extensive experience in research development, design, and practice, as well as health consumer research and co-design.
Michelle works on the MRFF funded project: Unspoken, Unheard, Unmet: Improving Access to Preventative Health Care through Better Conversations about Care. She leads the experience gathering stage of the project, the co-design elements of the work, and the development of guidelines about communication, decision-making, and aged care.
Michelle is also a consumer and disability advocate, with experience in strategic policy development, implementation, and evaluation, including the co-design of state level strategy for transition to adulthood health care, and on Australia’s National Living Evidence Taskforce for Covid-19 and Monkeypox. She is also the consumer board Chair of Child Unlimited, a consortium of researchers, clinicians, and consumers working towards best evidence-based practice in health care for children and young adults with chronic ill health and disabilities.
Associate Professor Nina Lansbury (also published as Nina Hall) is an environmental public health research and teaching academic at The University of Queensland’s School of Public Health. Her current research at UQ examines environmental health aspects that support the health and wellbeing of remote Indigenous community residents on both mainland Australia and in the Torres Strait in terms of housing, water and sanitation, and women's health. She also investigates the impacts of climate change on human health, and this involved a role as Lead Author on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC AR6 WG II). Within the research sector, she was previously a senior research scientist at CSIRO, manager of the Sustainable Water program at The University of Queensland, and senior research consultant at the Institute for Sustainable Futures, UTS. Within the non-government sector, she was previously the director of the Climate Action Network Australia and research coordinator at the Mineral Policy Institute.
Dr Lutfun Nahar Lata is a Lecturer in Sociology and Social Policy in the School of Social and Political Sciences at the University of Melbourne. Lutfun's primary research area focuses on the Sociology of work and employment including the gig economy and the future of work.
Prior to joining the University of Melbourne, she was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Institute for Social Science Research at the University of Queensland. Currently, Lutfun is an Honorary Research Fellow at the Institute for Social Science Research at the University of Queensland.
She has written about gig economy, urban marginality, poverty governance, housing and place-based disadvantage. She is a mixed-methods researcher with extensive experience in conducting and publishing qualitative, quantitative and digital research and working with multidisciplinary teams that include stakeholders from academia, industry and local and central governments.
Lutfun is the author of Spatial Justice, Contested Governance and Livelihood Challenges in Bangladesh (Routledge 2023). Her research has been published in journals such as Current Sociology, The Sociological Review, Sociology Compass, Gender, Work & Organization, Cities, Geographical Research, Housing Policy Debate, Journal of Contemporary Asia, and Government Information Quarterly.
Sharlene is a Saltwater woman, with family ties to the Garigal, Awabakal, Darug and Wiradyuri peoples, of NSW.
She is the Director of the UQ Business School Indigenous Business Hub and the Associate PRME Director - Indigenous Engagement for UQ Business School.
Her PhD is in Business, having obtained her Doctor of Philosophy (Business) in 2016. The thesis title is 'Private-sector employment programs for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples: Comparative case studies'. Sharlene was the first Aboriginal person to gain a PhD in Business from the University of Newcastle.
She completed her Honours thesis in 2006, entitled 'Is mentoring an effective Human Resource strategy to redress labour market disadvantage for Indigenous Australians: A qualitative study of mentoring outcomes for Indigenous trainees at the University of Newcastle'.
Sharlene is a staunch Unionist and Activist with left wing political views.
Research Expertise Sharlene's current research areas include: Closing the Gap on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander disadvantage in Education and Employment, Labour Market disadvantage of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Employment strategies, Managing Diversity in Organisations, Employment Relations and the importance of unions, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander labour history, Indigenous Entrepreneurship / Indigenous Social Enterprise / Indigenous Leadership, Indigenous Enabling education & Indigenous HDR success.
She is a member of the UQ Business School Social Impact Hub, Sustainable Infrastructure Research Hub, and the Business Educators Hub, in addition to leading the Indigenous Business Hub.
Teaching Expertise Sharlene is leading the Indigenisation of curriculum for the UQ Business School. Other teaching expertise are: Industrial relations, diversity management, negotiation and advocacy, Aboriginal studies, Aboriginal labour history, Aboriginal employment, enabling courses for Aboriginal students.
Administrative Expertise 13 successful grants
Collaborations Research collaborations include: Building resilience of Scoial Enterprises in QLD, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community engagement, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander inclusion in the workplace, Workplace mentoring for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, Increasing participation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in Business Schools, Aboriginal leadership, Stolen Wages, Disability in employment, Indigenous research methods, Enabling Pedagogies, Enabling education.
Service / Leadership Sharlene is an active participant in university and community service roles. At a University level, Sharlene sits on the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Employment Consultative Committee and the NTEU Branch Committee as the Aboriginal representative. At a Faculty level, Sharlene is on the Bel RAP Implementation Committee and the Indigenous Staff Network group. At a school level, Sharlene is the Director of the UQBS Indigenous Business Hub, the Associate PRME Director for Indigenous Engagement, and leads the Indigenisation of the curriculum within the UQ Business School. External to the university, Sharlene is the Treasurer and director of Hymba Yumba Indpendant School, the Chair of the National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Policy Committee, a member of the Queensland Council of Unions (QCU) First Nations Committee and the Deputy Chair of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Committee of the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU). Sharlene is the secretary of the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Higher Education Consortium (NATSIHEC), the peak organisation for Indigenous Higher Education. Sharlene is the President of the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Postgraduates Association (NATSIPA) and sits on the National representative Committee and the Board of the Council of Australian Postgraduates Association (CAPA).
Sharlene was an elected member of Academic Board from 2021-2023 and the HDR committee of Academic Board for the same period.
Awards Sharlene was the recipient of the Dr Robert (Uncle Bob) Anderson award in 2023 for outstanding contribution to the union movement, the BEL Faculty EDI Award in 2022, the UQ Business School Recognition of Outstanding Achievement Award for Excellence in Community, Diversity and Inclusion in 2021 and a UQ Commendation Award for Excellence in Reconciliaiton in 2021 and 2022. In 2008 Sharlene was the recipient of an Australia Day Award from the Council of Women NSW - Office of Women - Department of Premier and Cabinet.
