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My research centers on the intersections of Urban Planning and Public Health, with a strong emphasis on interdisciplinary collaboration and practical application. I deliver transdisciplinary solutions to some of the most compelling challenges of our time, 'housing vulnerability' and 'the health outcomes of citymaking'. My work stands out through the application of Systems Thinking to complex planning issues and I explore the connections between planning and the physical, mental, and social health of individuals and communities. My primary focus is on developing resilient cities, capable of maintaining their liveability over time, especially amidst disruptive events and shocks.

Dr. Buning is a Senior Lecturer within the tourism discipline in the UQ Business School and the research lead for the UQ Micromobility Research Cluster. His research interests reside at the intersection of physical activity, travel, and events. Within this area, his research agenda is focused on how tourists are physically active as both a driver of tourism behaviour (i.e., active lifestyle sports) and during visitation (i.e., active transport). His research works on active lifestyle sports closely mirrors his passions in active sport tourism for mountain biking, cycling, running, rock climbing, hiking, and more. His work crosses over to active transport through bikeshare, eScooters, and more generally micromobility where he is focused on tourism usage and related impacts.

The outcome of his work enables communities, events, and organizations to efficiently market to and attract visitors, encourage physical activity generally, and improve the related impact to destinations as a form of sustainable tourism. Prior to academia, Dr. Buning worked in the running event industry managing race logistics and continues to work with physical activity focused organizations, events, and communities as a consultant in developing data driven business strategy. Although he is an expert in survey research design and analysis, his research methodology speciality is in mixed methods (i.e., combining data sources and types) tailored to the research question at hand. He is regularly featured in the media and publishes on the topics of active transport, sport tourism, and event management.

Interested in working on research, teaching, or consulting projects? Please get in touch!

I am an early career researcher with <3 years post-PhD and estimated research time relative to opportunity of 20 months. Currently, I am a Research Fellow and Lecturer at The University of Queensland’s (UQ) Centre for Online Health (COH). I have years of study and work experience, including consumer and community involvement, in various healthcare settings in Brazil (2009-2019), the UK (2003-2008) and Australia (2019-present). I came to Australia in December 2019 for a 12-month PhD research placement at UQ after winning a highly competitive scholarship from the Brazilian Government. I have a Bachelor of Pharmacy, a Graduate Certificate in Project Management, a Master of Philosophy in Public Health, a Diploma of Higher Education in Youth and Community Studies and an OCN Level 3 Certificate in Community Development. I completed my PhD in Public Health in 2021.

I have a proven track record for delivering high-quality projects, with national significance, including policy change and integration into the national strategy in Brazil, and the implementation of a digital model of care developed in Australia. My track record demonstrates a rising career trajectory. My research interests are telehealth, virtual care and digital health, including digitally disrupted models of care for chronic conditions, trust and confidence in telehealth and digital health, digital health literacy, health services research, including implementation and evaluation strategies, mixed-methods, cross-sectional studies, co-design and qualitative inquiry, community and consumer involvement in research and service redesign.

Kelly Fielding's research focuses broadly on understanding the social and psychological determinants of environmental sustainability. She seeks to understand environmental decisions and behaviours and to develop communication and behaviour change strategies that can promote greater environmental sustainability. A key focus of her current reseach is on sustainable urban water management, specifically, how we can engage communities with this issue, how we can communicate about new water technologies such as recycled waater, how we can promote water conservation, and how we can understand and communicate about drinking water supplies. Her research is also focused on understanding climate change beliefs as well as identifying ways to address climate change skepticism and inaction. In the past she has conducted research in the areas of sustainable natural resource management, domestic and public place recycling, and environmental activism. She takes an interdisciplinary approach to her research and has worked with local council, State Government, and catchment management authorities to undertake this research.

Research interests:

• Environmental sustainability
• Sustainable urban water management
• Climate change beliefs and action
• Social identity and norms

Dr. Anthony Halog: Global Leader in AI-Enabled Circular Economy and Sustainable Systems

Dr. Anthony Halog is an internationally recognized expert in AI-driven circular economy, life cycle assessment (LCA), and sustainable systems engineering. His research integrates artificial intelligence, industrial ecology, and systems thinking to optimize green hydrogen production, bioeconomy transitions, and waste-to-energy systems.

As a Senior Academic at the University of Queensland, Dr. Halog leads research projects funded by ARC, EU Horizon, and industry partners. He has published over 130 high-impact journal articles, advancing knowledge in sustainability science and AI-enabled resource optimization. His work has influenced policy development and industry decarbonization strategies in Australia, Europe, and the Middle East.

Dr. Halog has been awarded prestigious international fellowships, including the OECD Research Fellowship (UK/Finland), DAAD Fellowship (Germany), Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) Fellowship, and NSERC Fellowship (Canada). He has held visiting research positions in the UK, Germany, Japan, Saudi Arabia, and Morocco, expanding his global impact on circular economy modeling and AI applications in sustainability.

Beyond academia, he plays a key role in policy advisory and industry collaboration, partnering with the OECD, the United Nations, and the European Commission. As a keynote speaker and editorial board member, he continues to shape global discourse on sustainability transitions and AI-driven resource efficiency.

Baojie is a (Full) Professor of Urban Climate and Sustainable Built Environment with the School of Architecture and Urban Planning at Chongqing University, China. He is currently leading the Centre for Climate-Resilient and Low-Carbon Cities with the focus on Heat-Resilient and Low-Carbon Urban Planning and Design. Baojie has published more than 170 peer-reviewed papers in high-ranking journals and delivered more than 40 invited talks in reputable conferences/seminars. Baojie has a SCOPUS H-index of 49 (Scopus). Baojie has been involved in several large research projects on urban climate and built environment in China and Australia. Baojie has been invited to act as Associate Editor, Topic Editor-in-Chief, Leading Guest Editor, Editorial Board Member, Conference Chair, Sessional Chair, Scientific Committee by a variety of reputable international journals and conferences. Baojie received the received the Most Cited Chinese Researchers Title in 2024, Highly Cited Researcher Title (Clarivate) in 2022 and 2023, the Sustainability Young Investigator Award in 2022, the Green Talents Award (Germany) in 2021, and National Scholarship for Outstanding Study Abroad Students (China) in 2019. Baojie was ranked as one of the Top 2% Scientists by the Mendeley in 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023.

Paul specialises in Assessment and Management of Risk and Impact of Socio-Environmental determinants on the Wellbeing of our younger generations across their life span.

His overall vision is about how we use Environmental Health Intelligence to improve decision-making towards delivering more efficient Environmental Health Practices, Services and Solutions for local and regional communities in remote and disadvantaged socio-economic settings.

Within the complex interdisciplinary domains that hold the socio-environmental determinants of wellbeing, Paul’s operational research focuses on how / what interventions would best support communities to prevent, mitigate and adapt to EH risk and impact in rapidly changing environments and climate.

Laurel is a spatial and social planner with over 30 years of experience as a practitioner and an educator/researcher. Laurel has led, designed and participated in over 60 applied research projects. Many of those research projects guide and influence the policies and programs of various Australian Local and State governments and non-Government organisations in the fields of social infrastructure, social planning, urban planning and transport provision.

Dr. Amrita Kambo is a multi-disciplinary researcher at The University of Queensland. Her work borrows and applies theoretical constructs from concepts such as ‘social acceptance’ and ‘social licence to operate’ (SLO). These modules can be applied to assess the extent to which a business, or industry or technology gains tacit support from the wider public. Additionally, the SLO concept can be applied to understand standards of responsible behaviour, transparency and accountability in a wide range of settings. To date, Amrita has applied the SLO concept to understand community expectations in the context of renewable energy technologies such as hydrogen and biogas under a project funded by the Future Fuels CRC using familiar methods in social sciences such as surveys, interviews, focus groups and participatory research.

Amrita's wider research interests include sustainable cities, urban infrastructure, planning and place-making. These interests are rooted in the Amrita’s early career and experience in architecture and design.

Amrita’s PhD research included a review of influential topics in context of ‘sustainable’ architecture - ‘regenerative’ design and development, biophilic design, ecosystem services, ‘Geodesign’, biomimicry, green infrastructure, positive development, net-zero design and so on.

Jiwon Kim is an Associate Professor in Transport Engineering and the Director of Higher Degree by Research in the School of Civil Engineering at the University of Queensland. She was a DECRA Fellow (2019-2022) sponsored by the Australian Research Council. She joined UQ in 2014 after completing her PhD research at Northwestern University. Prior to joining Northwestern, she worked at Samsung C&T (Engineering & Construction Group). She received Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in civil engineering from Korea University.

Her research interests broadly encompass the application of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning (AI/ML) to enhance prediction, automation, and insight generation in transportation and urban mobility. She is passionate about developing intelligent autonomous systems that facilitate real-time traffic management and control, mobility service optimization, and traveller support. Her current research explores the potential of deep learning, reinforcement learning, and other cutting-edge AI/ML approaches to achieve these objectives.

Dr. Lieske’s overarching research theme is spatial decision support. Topics include city analytics, the costs of sprawl, planning support system theory and implementation as well as regional environmental change. Additional areas of expertise include the effective use of geographic visualisation as a communication and decision support tool.

John Macarthur is Professor of architecture at the University of Queensland where he conducts research and teaches in the history and theory of architecture, and in architectural design. John graduated from the University of Queensland with Bachelor (Hons 1st) and Master of Design Studies degrees (1984) before taking a doctorate at the University of Cambridge (1989). He is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Humanities and a Fellow of the Queensland Academy of Arts and Sciences. He was the founding Director of the research centre for Architecture, Theory, Criticism and History (ATCH) and remains an active member of the Centre. He has previously served as Dean and Head of the School of Architecture at UQ and as a member of the Australian Research Council’s College of Experts. He is a past President and a Life Member of the Society of Architectural Historians, Australia and New Zealand.

His research in the intellectual history architecture has focused on the conceptual framework of the interrelation of architecture, aesthetics and the arts. His book The Picturesque: architecture, disgust and other irregularities, was published by Routledge in 2007. John has edited and authored a further tenbooks and published over 150 papers including contributions to the journals Assemblage, Transition, Architecture Research Quarterly, Oase and the Journal of Architecture. John's book Is Architecture Art? an introduction to the aesthetics of architecture, was published in December 2024..

Memberships

Fellow, Australian Academy of Humanities Fellow; Queensland Academy of Arts and Sciences; Life Member, Society of Architectural Historians, Australia and New Zealand

Professor Paul Memmott is an anthropologist and architect and for some decades was the Director of the Aboriginal Environments Research Centre at the University of Queensland (School of Architecture and Institute for Social Science Research). This has now become the Aboriginal Environments Research Collaborative (AERC) within the School of Architecture, Design and Planning. The AERC has provided and continues to provide an applied research focus on a range of topics in relation to Indigenous populations, including institutional architecture, vernacular architecture, housing, crowding, governance, well-being, homelessness, family violence and social planning for communities.

Paul was the first full-time architectural-anthropological consultant in Australia, being principal of a research consultancy practice in Aboriginal projects during 1980 to 2008. His research interests encompass Aboriginal sustainable housing and settlement design, Aboriginal access to institutional architecture, Indigenous constructs of place and cultural heritage, vernacular architecture, social planning in Indigenous communities, cultural change and architectural anthropology.

Paul’s scholarly research output includes over 300 publications (including 11 books and monographs), 215 applied research reports and 40 competitive grants. He has supervised over 50 postgraduate and honours students and has won a number of prestigious teaching awards in Indigenous education (including an Australian Award for University Teaching – AAUT). One of his books, titled 'Gunyah, Goondie + Wurley: Aboriginal Architecture of Australia', received three national book awards in 2008 (Edition 1), including the prestigious Stanner Award from the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies, and then upon the publication of an expanded edition 2 in 2022, another three national book awards.

Paul also has extensive professional anthropological experience in Aboriginal land rights claims, Native Title claims and associated court work since 1980. He has presented evidence and been examined in a variety of Australian courts as an expert witness on a cross-section of Indigenous issues, in addition to the Native Title work.

Awards

• AIA Neville Quarry Award, 2015
• Best Exhibit, Australian Architectural Exhibit, Venice Biennale 2018 (Team led by Baracco + Wright Architects, Melbourne)

Memberships

• Life Member, Academy of Social Sciences (Australia)
• Life Fellow, Australian Institute of Architects
• Fellow, Australian Anthropological Society

Tim O’Rourke's research investigates past and present applications of cross-cultural design across different building types and settings. Such projects often require multi-disciplinary approaches to the study of architectural problems, informed by the histories of buildings and the people who use them. A Discovery Project on healthcare architecture combined different research methods to ask if design can improve the experience and participation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in hospitals and clinics.

Tim's current research focuses on the design and social histories of Indigenous housing from the 1950s assimilation era to the 2000s. These studies seek to answer questions about design intentions and the origins, development and evaluation of architectural methods that improved public housing for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. His PhD examined the history and use of Aboriginal building traditions in the Wet Tropics Region of Queensland. He has contributed to a range of research projects related to Indigenous housing, settlements and landscapes. Research topics include self-constructed dwellings and vernacular building technologies, cultural tourism, adaption to climate change and housing sustainability. Results from these studies have been published in technical reports, conference proceedings, journals and book chapters.

Tim is a registered architect, having worked in architectural practices in Brisbane and Sydney, and he maintains an interest in timber construction and joinery. As a sole practitioner, he has designed residential projects and worked on a range of building types for Aboriginal communities. He teaches architectural technology and design and has offered a range of research topics in the Master of Architecture program.

Memberships

Fellow Australian Institute of Architects

Society of Architectural Historians Australia and New Zealand

Environmental Design Research Association,

I am an Associate Professor of urban planning. Since joining the University of Queensland in 2015, my research has focused on various aspects of the built environment, including urban design, transport, and housing - in both the Global North and South. I approach my work from a feminist perspective, considering the role of gender in the city.

My personal and academic journey has been international in nature. I am a native of Albania. Over the years I have held guest teaching and/or research positions in Austria (UWien), Canada (UBC), Chile (PUC), Italy (IUAV), the Netherlands (UvA), Oman (GUTech), and Vietnam (UTC), and I have provided consultancy services to various United Nations agencies including the UNDP, UNESCAP, and UN Habitat. I speak Italian, Spanish, and French in addition to English and Albanian.

My latest books are Trophy Cities: A Feminist Perspective on New Capitals (Edward Elgar, 2021) and Alternative Planning History and Theory (Routledge, 2023). For three years in a row (2022-2024), I have been included in the 'Stanford/Elsevier World’s Top 2% Researchers' list, and have ranked among the top-ten 'urban and regional planning' researchers in Australia. Alongside my academic research, I also publish broadly in non-academic outlets and regularly give interviews on national and international media. My articles in The Conversation have reached nearly half a million readers. Prior to joining academia, I worked in urban design and planning in California.

My research has been funded by domestic and international granting bodies, including the Australian Research Council. Overall, I have attracted $500,000 in external funding and $100,000 in internal funding. For a full list of my publications, click the 'Works' tab, which displays results live from UQ eSpace, or visit my external profiles listed on the left panel.

Qualifications

• Postdoctoral Residency, Delft University of Technology, Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment, Delft, the Netherlands. 2012-2014.
• PhD in Urban Planning, Polytechnic University of Tirana, Faculty of Architecture and Urban Planning, Tirana, Albania. 2007-2010.
• Visiting PhD student, University of California at Los Angeles, Luskin School of Public Affairs, Los Angeles, Ca, USA. 2009.
• Master in Urban Planning, University of Cincinnati, College of Design, Art, Architecture, and Planning, Cincinnati, Oh, USA. Full scholarship award. 2003-2005.
• Visiting Master student, Catholic University of Leuven, Faculty of Architecture (St Lucas), Brussels, Belgium. Recipient of US government FIPSE grant. 2004.
• Professional Degree in Architecture, Polytechnic University of Tirana, Faculty of Architecture and Urban Planning, Tirana, Albania. 1998-2003.

Marguerite Renouf BSc(Hons)/BA, PhD (Env Man) UQ is a Research Fellow at the School of Chemical Engineering's Water-Energy-Carbon Research Group (www.chemeng.uq.edu.au/water-energy-carbon).

She has worked in environmental research at UQ for 20 years, with a particular interest in the environmental evaluation of production systems and urban systems using environmental life cycle assessment (LCA), urban metabolism evaluation and eco-efficiency analysis. She is interested how we can produce and consume with less drain on the environment.

Since completing a PhD in 2011, she has driven a stream of research that evaluates the environmental performance of agri-based product supply chains and products (bio-fuels, bio-materials, food, beverages) using LCA. She has collaborated with industries and researchers in Australia and overseas to develop LCA tools for industry to support the identification of more environmentally-friendly production practices and processes.

Prior to this, her research was concerned with eco-efficiency in manufacturing industries (food processing, metal industries, retail and tourism sectors) and was a long-term contributor to UQ’s Working Group for Cleaner Production (now operating as the Eco-Efficienc Group), and its Director for three years (2009-2012).

Currently, Marguerite is a lead researcher with the CRC for Water Sensitive Cities, develop methods and metrics for quantifiying the water water-sensitive performance of Australian cities, using urban metabolism approaches. In this work she collaborates cloesely with urban planners, water manager and architects.

Sonia Roitman is an urban sociologist and planner by training. Her contributions to the field of development planning and urban sociology include influential research on urban inequalities and how they manifest in cities. Her research interests include housing and poverty alleviation policies; the role of grassroots organisations in urban planning; disaster planning and informal practices; and, gated communities, segregation and planning instruments in Global South cities. Her main research locations are Indonesia, Samoa, Uganda, Argentina and Australia. Her most recent book is: Roitman, S. and Rukmana, D. (Eds), 2023, Routledge Handbook of Urban Indonesia, Routledge, New York and London.

Teaching responsibilities

PLAN1101 Teamwork and negotiation for planners (Course coordinator and lecturer - 2021 and 2022)

PLAN3005/7121 Community planning and participation (Course coordinator and lecturer - 2019 to date)

PLAN3200/7200 Understanding development complexities: Indonesia fieldtrip course (Course coordinator and lecturer - 2015 to date)

PLAN4001/7120 Planning theory (Guest lecturer 2014-2019)

PLAN4130/7130 Planning practicum (Course coordinator - Summer 2018)

PLAN7010 Planning project (Course coordinator and lecturer - 2015-2016)

PLAN7612 Global South Cities (Course coordinator and lecturer - 2014 to date)

PLAN7614 Urban management and governance (Guest lecturer 2013-2016)

PLAN7638 Assessment of development projects (Course coordinator and lecturer 2013-2015 and lecturer 2016)

SOSC7140 Development effectiveness (Lecturer 2017)

ENVM2100/7100 Sustainable Development (Guest lecturer 2013)

GEOS3102 Global change: Problems and prospects (Guest lecturer 2022-2023)

Service and Engagement

UQ Academic Board (2025-to date)

Planning Program Convenor Bachelor of Regional and Town Planning and Master of Urban and Regional Planning (2023- 2024)

Planning Program Lead, UQ (2019-2023)

Student Advisor Bachelor of Urban and Regional Planning (BRTP) and Master of Urban and Regional Planning (MURP), UQ (Jan 2019- Dec 2020)

Planning Institute of Australia UQ Representative (since 2019)

Full Member of Planning Institute of Australia

Board Member RC21 Committee (Research Committee of the Sociology of Urban and Regional Development) International Sociological Association (2014-2023)

Scientific Committee Member of Prospectiva Journal (Revista Prospectiva, Universidad del Valle, Colombia) (since 2015)

Scientific Committee Member of Bitácora Urbano-Territorial Journal (Revista Bitácora Urbano-Territorial, Universidad Nacional de Colombia (since 2012)

Editorial Member of Journal of City and Regional Development (Jurnal Penbangunan Wilayah & Kota, Universitas Diponegoro, Indonesia) (since 2018)

Vigya is a Principal Research Fellow at the Centre for Social Responsibility in Mining (CSRM), part of the Sustainable Minerals Institute at The University of Queensland, Australia

Vigya has degrees in engineering and social science, and she applies this interdisciplinary training to research complex social, institutional and economic aspects of the modern energy and mining sectors globally. Specifically, her interest is in understanding how the presence (or absence) of resources impacts development outcomes in host communities and regions. Her current research projects examine this complexity across the energy transition chain: from fossil fuel transition in coal-dependent regions to energy transition mineral mining and large-scale renewable energy production systems (including the role of Indigenous co-ownership).

Vigya also has a part-time appointment with the School of Chemical Engineering, where she coordinates a course on Humanitarian Engineering. She co-designed the course in 2020 and has been its primary instructor since. The course is offered to students from across UQ's Faculty of Engineering, Architecture and Information Technology (EAIT).

She also advises several PhD students on energy transitions, just transitions, mine closure, and energy and development.

Vigya has an active service profile both within and outside UQ. She is the Deputy Chair of the EAIT Faculty Low and Negligible Risk (LNR) Ethics Committee. She serves on the Editorial Boards of Energy Research and Social Science and Sustainability Science. Since 2023, she has been a member of the UN Council of Engineers for the Energy Transition (CEET), established at COP27. CEET is an Independent Advisory Council to the UN Secretary-General, to contribute to their goal to build a coalition to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, and to support the United Nations to achieve global decarbonisation goals by mid-century.

Prior to joining CSRM, she was based at the Energy Poverty Research Group (EPRG), an interdisciplinary pan-UQ initiative established to support positive social, environmental and health outcomes vital for sustainable and productive livelihoods in energy-impoverished communities globally.

Dr Short has undertaken sociological research in a range of fields including impacts of natural disasters, health behaviour, formal and informal welfare relations, public-private partnerships, vulnerability, gender and development. Increasingly, her research has been focused upon household vulnerabilities and the political economy of livelihoods – around housing access in the Australian context, and microcredit and migration as major livelihood strategies in the developing world. Her recent research highlights the importance of understanding the impacts of shifting market-state-community relations in changing policy environments of the first world and globalising contexts of the developing world.

Dr Short has led a number of Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute (AHURI) projects, focused principally upon the housing experiences of vulnerable households in the private rental sector in Australia, and, working with postgraduate and research higher degree students, has supervised a range of projects focused upon gender, vulnerability and economic change in development contexts. These include, for example, studies of ethnic minority women’s participation in development projects in Central Vietnam, graduate transitions to new work environments in post Doi Moi Vietnam, the impacts of microcredit upon women’s empowerment and poverty in Bangladesh, and a study of the drivers and outcomes of international migration and remittances in two villages in Bangladesh.

Throughout her career, Dr Short has engaged in applied research with a policy focus, including major studies commissioned by the Commonwealth Government Social Welfare Commission, the Queensland Department of Transport, the Commonwealth Department of Education, Science and Training (DEST), and for the Commonwealth Department of Families, Housing and Community Services and Indigenous Affairs (FaHCSIA). She has a wealth of experience in supervising and mentoring early career academics, including research higher degree candidates, and in managing teams of junior and mid-career research staff in multi-site projects.