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Urska Arnautovska is an early career clinical academic, working as a Research Fellow at the University of Queensland, Faculty of Medicine and as a general psychologist in private practice. Following her professional training in Slovenia, she focused her research on suicide which led her to receiving an appointment at the Australian Institute for Suicide Research and Prevention (AISRAP), a World Health Organization (WHO) Collaborating Centre for Research and Training in Suicide Prevention and, since 2008, a National Centre of Excellence in Suicide Prevention. In addition to her research work, she acted as a research coordinator of the Life Promotion Clinic and was involved in the management and analysis of clinical data pertaining to the patients of the clinic, which presented with complex mental health problems and suicidal thoughts and behaviour. Her subsequent research remained focused on mental health, and in more recent years, become dedicated to improving health outcomes in people with severe mental illness. Her PhD, for which she received a competitive Griffith University International Postgraduate Research Scholarship (2012-2016), investigated the motivational processes underlying physical activity in older adults and was awarded the Australian Psychology Society (APS) Award for Excellent Higher Degree Thesis in Health Psychology. She has 48 peer-reviewed publications and has over $8.5 million in competitive research funding, with leading (CIA) roles on projects related to digital health interventions for people living with schizophrenia.

The most important treatment for anxiety disorders is exposure to fear cues. Parents need to support their child to face their fears and meet challenges, yet many struggle with this fundamental process.

Dr Byrne completed a PhD and Masters of Clinical Psychology in child anxiety at Macquarie University in 2015. He has held postdoctoral positions at Yale Child Study Center, as well as psychiatry departments at Westmead Hospital and Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in Sydney, Australia. Since 2021 he has been a Lecturer in Clinical Psychology at University of Queensland.

His research focusses on unconventional use of psychiatric drugs to treat mental disorders, treatments for anxiety and treatments for children.

Dr Sasha Lynn is a registered clinical psychologist and Honorary Research Fellow at The University of Queensland. She specialises in child and adolescent development, with a particular focus on social and emotional learning (SEL), mental health, and wellbeing in educational settings. Her work spans psychology, education, and neuroscience, with an emphasis on research that is both applied and translational.

Dr Lynn’s research investigates how wellbeing and mental health influence developmental and educational outcomes, particularly in relation to emotion regulation, peer relationships, and classroom engagement. She is committed to embedding SEL meaningfully into the curriculum through developmentally informed, evidence-based strategies. A core feature of her work is the co-design of interventions with educators and students, ensuring student voice and agency are central to program design and implementation.

She has a particular interest in the use of gamification frameworks to increase engagement with SEL and mental health content, and her research spans both digital and face-to-face modes of delivery. Her work also explores how compassion-focused therapeutic approaches can be adapted to educational contexts to enhance both student and teacher wellbeing, classroom climate, and relational safety.

Dr Lynn is affiliated with the UQ Learning Lab and is a member of the Compassionate Mind Research Group. She has been involved in a number of large-scale projects across school and clinical settings, and brings nearly 20 years of direct experience in school-based clinical and mental health roles to her academic work. This practitioner perspective ensures her research remains grounded in the realities of education systems and responsive to the needs of schools.

She has contributed to the development and evaluation of interventions such as KooLKIDS and Mindfields HS, which have demonstrated promising early outcomes and attracted commercial interest. Dr Lynn’s broader goal is to support educators, families, and students by creating practical, evidence-informed approaches that foster resilience, emotional literacy, and a positive foundation for lifelong learning.

Tianyi is an Early Career Researcher in the field of Parenting and Family Psychology. His research has been recognised through over AU$100,000 in research grants and awards, 15 refereed journal articles, one book chapter, one report, one working paper, over 10 conference presentations, and various academic prizes. His earlier work investigated family-level risk and protective factors of positive child development and child mental health and their integration into the wider ecological system. He is also interested in the evaluation of evidence-based strategies to promote child mental health, such as evidence-based parenting programs. He is skilled in advanced quantitative analyses and modelling, evidence synthesis methodologies, conducting clinical trial research, as well as research project management. Tianyi leads research projects in the field and is a sought-after contributor to other research projects as a methodologist and statistician. Tianyi is currently serving on the Early-Career Editorial Board of Prevention Science, the flagship journal of the Society for Prevention Research (USA).

Fiona is a Lecturer in Clinical Psychology with research interests in grief & loss, trauma emtion regulation and anxiety. Her work is mechanism focussed. She applies experimental and longitudinal methods including experience sampling to better understand the pyschological processes that contribute to resilence and development of psychopathology. Her work is also focussed on improving supports for those struggling with grief and trauma.

Fiona completed her Master of Psychology(Clnical) and PhD at UNSW and undertook a postdoctoral fellowship in the Loss, Trauma and Emotion Lab at Teachers College, Columbia University. She also has experience working as a clinician in public health and private practice.

Dr Daniel Sullivan is a Clinical Psychologist and Adjunct Lecturer in the Child Health Research Centre, The University of Queensland. In his clinical role, Dr Sullivan leads a program of research to design Australia's first psychology extended scope of practice model of care for limited pharmacotherapy management, with an emphasis on deprescribing hypnotic medicines in the public sector sleep psychology setting (ExPEDiTe Sleep project). As a member of the Let’s Yarn about Sleep group at the University of the Sunshine Coast, Dr Sullivan is working to improve sleep health equity for First Nations Australians through community co-designed, culturally responsive sleep programs which harmonise sleep science with Indigenous Australian perspectives and knowledges about sleep.

Dr Sullivan’s research and clinical expertise is in the behavioural aspects of sleep; he is an Editor of the journal Research Directions: Sleep Psychology (Cambridge University Press) and is board certified by the US-based Board of Behavioral Sleep Medicine. Dr Sullivan completed postgraduate training in sleep at the University of Sydney (MSc), and his PhD in Clinical Psychology at Griffith University, where his doctoral research examined psychological factors involved in sleep-related headaches.