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Andrea is a Post Doctoral Fellow in Digital Cultures and Societies at the University of Queensland . She got her PhD at USC Annenberg, and is originally from Colombia. Broadly, her research interests lie at the intersection of media and Science and Technology Studies.She studies mobilities; cultures of transnational, remote work; on-demand workers and freelancers; feminized maintenance of workspaces; media tales of tech; civic social media in Latin America.

Her research can be found in New Media and Society, the International Journal of Communication, Mass Communication & Society, and in the edited volume Popular Culture and the Civic Imagination: A Casebook. She has also conducted research with the IDRC and USAID in projects about the "future of work" in the "Global South".

A/Prof Stephen Bell is a senior social scientist, advisor and international development research consultant with 23 years’ experience tackling global health challenges in settings across South-East Asia, Africa, Western Pacific and Europe. He works respectfully with not-for-profits, public institutions, businesses and community organisations, using innovative, inclusive, people-centred approaches to identify sustainable solutions to critical health challenges and accelerate health equity.

As Principal Research Fellow and ‘Theme Lead - Social Science and Global Health’ at the Burnet Institute, Steve’s role includes:

• Research on young people's sexual, reproductive and maternal health, including adolescent-responsive health services and systems, contraceptive innovation, safe abortion, enabling socio-structural environments, and the intersections of health and climate change;
• Providing methodological expertise, technical support and mentoring in social science, co-design and community-based, community-led research practice across the Institute’s global health programs and business development across working groups and programs;
• Supporting a growing regional network of youth research, advocacy and thought leadership hubs across Asia and the Pacific;
• Managing and delivering consultancy, advisory and research work for institutional partners.

Steve’s work brings together lived experience, socio-ecological systems thinking and social theory to understand what works (or not) in global health and social development. He has researched and published widely on HIV, sexual and reproductive health, maternal health, neglected tropical diseases, TB and Indigenous health. He is particularly interested in understanding the socio-structural determinants of health and social inequities, and injustices associated with marginalisation due to gender, sexuality, age and geography. He has published two edited collections on interpretive and community-led approaches in research, design, monitoring and evaluation: ‘Peer research in health and social development: international perspectives on participatory research’ (2021), and ‘Monitoring and evaluation in health and social development: interpretive and ethnographic perspectives’ (2016). With international colleagues, he is working on a third edited collection called, ‘Lived Experience: Critical Perspectives in a Changing World’. Steve is currently taking on new PhD students who are interested in undertaking research in any of these areas, so please do reach out to him for a chat!

Steve is Commissioner on The Lancet Global Health Commission on People-Centered Care for Universal Health Coverage, Technical Consultant (Strategy and Insights) with PSI, and Member of the International Editorial Board at Culture, Health & Sexuality. Steve has served as a Senior Advisor to the Boston Consulting Group, and has worked in senior research and consultancy roles with international governments, NGOs, UNAIDS, UNFPA and WHO.

Dr. Debashish Dev is a social researcher with expertise in energy transition, agricultural development, and communication & information studies. His current research explores social risks in coal seam gas waste management, local benefit-sharing models, public discourses on energy policies, social impact assessments, and the mobilization and prioritization of information for energy transition. He has also contributed to developing a participatory community-based monitoring framework for regional development in the Northern Territory, Australia.

Dr Dev's previous academic roles at the University of Queensland involved tutoring in courses such as COMU2030: Communication Research Methods, COMU1130: Data & Society, HHSS6000: Research Design, and COMU7102: Communication for Social Change—Foundations. These courses focused on research methodologies, data analysis, and the role of communication in societal transformation.

He was also involved as a sessional academic in developing a course, QUT You 003: Real Action for Real Change, for the Faculty of Health, Queensland University of Technology, Australia. Dr. Dev developed several teaching materials and a course outline focused on real-world challenges such as climate change, health epidemics, data, and food security that require system change at the institutional, community, and individual levels.

He previously 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).

Professor Daniel Franks is Director of the Global Centre for Mineral Security at the University of Queensland’s Sustainable Minerals Institute and is an Australian Research Council Future Fellow. Professor 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. He has introduced a number of key concepts in development studies including ‘mineral poverty’, ‘mineral security,’ and ‘development minerals;’ and has worked with a wide range of public and private sector partners to implement breakthrough sustainability innovations, such as OreSand to drastically reduce mine waste, and ‘social impact management plans,’ a regulatory tool now adopted throughout the world.

He is the author of more than 160 publications, including 37 publications for the United Nations. His research has appeared in journals such as Nature Sustainability and the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, and is available in 11 languages. He is an Editorial Board Member of the International Journal of Minerals Policy & Economics, as well as Impact Assessment and Project Appraisal and has field experience at more than 100 mining and energy sites and 40 countries.

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.

Dr. Amani Kasherwa is a social work lecturer in the School of Nursing, Midwifery, and Social Work at the University of Queensland (UQ), with expertise in childhood trauma. His primary research focus is on child sexual abuse, particularly among children and families exposed to adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) in complex humanitarian settings. Amani's work deeply explores the intersection of childhood trauma, including intergenerational trauma and access to support services for children and young people affected by various forms of childhood adversities. He is highly engaged in the fields of critical childhood and youth studies, peacebuilding, family violence, and mental health services.

Amani brings his extensive research, teaching and practice experiences to enrich the learning experiences of undergraduate and postgraduate students at UQ. He received his PhD in Social Work from the University of New South Wales (UNSW Sydney) in 2024, with a thesis titled "Negotiating Survival Overseas: Exploring the Help-Seeking Processes and Support Patterns of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) Survivors in African Communities with Refugee Backgrounds in New South Wales." His research agenda post-PhD focuses on developing culturally safe prevention strategies for children, young people, and families transitioning from refugee settlements and negotiating a new life in high-income countries like Australia, building on the foundation of social work and peacebuilding theories and methods.

DB’s research interest includes conflict transformation and peacebuilding, the intersection of religion and politics, and populism and nationalism in the Asia Pacific region. Currently, his research is focused on exploring the dilemmas and complexities associated with peacebuilding in authoritarian, populist and nationalist states across South and Southeast Asia. He has conducted research fieldwork across South and Southeast Asia, especially Nepal, Sri Lanka, India, and Myanmar.

He is the author of Combatants to Civilians: Rehabilitation and Reintegration of Maoist Fighters in Nepal's Peace Process (Palgrave, 2018) and co-editor of The Routledge Handbook of Populism in the Asia Pacific (Routledge, 2024) and Reconciliation in Conflict-Affected Communities: Practices and Insights from the Asia Pacific. He has also published his research in scholarly journals such as World Development, Contemporary South Asia, Religion & Politics, Asian Studies Review, Journal of Human Rights, Conflict, Security & Development and Contemporary Politics. He is a Research Member in the ‘Addressing Violent Extremism and Radicalisation into Terrorism’ (AVERT) Research Network at the Deakin University in Melbourne.

Before coming to the academia, he worked with several international organisations for more than ten years in Nepal, Sri Lanka and Viet Nam. Since 2010, he has been actively collaborating with government and non-government organizations and has provided research and consultancy service to several agencies including United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), UN Women, ActionAid Myanmar, UNICEF, International Alert UK, Care International and Mercy Corps. In 2022, he supported the Connected Communities team in NSW Department of Premier and Cabinet to develop and implement the evaluation framework and plan for NSW’s Countering Violent Extremism Programme.