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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 Carys Chainey is a postdoctoral research fellow in parenting and family science with The University of Queensland Parenting and Support Centre and the ARC Centre of Excellence in Children and Families Across the Life Course (Life Course Centre). She holds the Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Parenting and Family Science from the Growing Minds Australia Clinical Trials Network (GMA; www.growingmindsaustralia.org), and is Social Engagement Strategist for the GMA Early and Mid-Career Researcher Network. Dr Chainey is the clinical trials manager for Family Life Skills Triple P, and operations manager for the Parenting and Family Research Alliance (PAFRA; www.pafra.org).

Dr Chainey's research investigates the links between adverse childhood experiences, parenting, and wellbeing, over the life course and across generations; and applying human centred design to improving the usability of supports available to parents, and the researchers and practitioners working in parenting and family science. She has expertise in the design, implementation, and analysis of quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods research.

Her current research projects include analyses of large survey datasets (e.g. the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children, National Health Survey) and novel survey datasets to explore how intergenerational adversity and parenting influence the wellbeing of children, adolescents and emerging adults. She is leading initiatives to support the next generation of parenting and family researchers, and contributed to the "Every Family 2" Triple P population trial of Triple P. Dr Chainey is an accredited facilitator of the Triple P Positive Parenting Program and has contributed to a range of evaluations for the government including the development of the evaluation framework for the Queensland Government "Not Now, Not Ever" Domestic and Family Violence Prevention Strategy.

My research interests are in social and developmental psychology, focusing on connectedness, participation, and the development of gender and social cognition. I was a dancer with the Queensland Ballet before completing my Bachelor of Psychological Science and PhD at the University of Queensland. Hence, I am also interested in the role of The Arts in mental health and well-being for all. My research is primarily conducted within the Social Identity and Groups Network and The Early Cognitive Development Centre.

I am a Research Fellow at the University of Queensland and an Honorary Fellow at the University of Melbourne. My research examines how societal structures and economic inequalities influence psychological and behavioral outcomes, with a particular emphasis on social cohesion and tolerance of moral differences. My work investigates how economic inequality may impact social cooperation and contribute to polarization, aiming to identify ways to foster tolerance within pluralistic societies. My approach is interdisciplinary, drawing from social, developmental, political, and moral psychology, as well as economics. Collaborating with colleagues worldwide, I apply a range of methods including experimental and correlational studies, analysis of large-scale multinational data, social media data, qualitative research, and social simulation studies. This diverse methodology enables a comprehensive understanding of human behavior and societal dynamics.

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.

Dr Tianyi Ma is a Research Fellow (Academic Level B) in the field of Parenting and Family Psychology. His developing program of research examines how family and school contexts interact to shape children’s learning and wellbeing, with a particular focus on parental self-efficacy and self-regulation. His work brings together advanced quantitative modelling, evidence synthesis, and intervention research to better understand for whom, under what circumstances, and through which mechanisms parenting supports are effective. He has published 23 refereed journal articles (including 10 as first author) and secured over AU$340,000 in competitive funding as a lead or contributing investigator. He leads projects within a coordinated program of research, working with a team of 22 honours students and research assistants under his supervision. He also contributes to large-scale collaborative research programs. Tianyi serves as Associate Editor for the Journal of Psychologists and Counsellors in Schools and Journal of Child and Family Studies, and sits on multiple editorial boards. His work aims to advance theory development and improve the scalability of evidence-based parenting support.

Dr Martin O’Flahertyis a research fellow in the ARC Centre of Excellence for Children and Families over the Life Course located in the Institute for Social Science Research. Martin has made important contributions to the evaluation of nationally significant social policy, often working with the Department of Social Services. Notable highlights include designing the impact evaluation for the $90 million Try, Test, and Learn Fund and leading the evaluation of the Building Capacity in Australia’s Parents trial and the National Community Awareness Raising initiative. He is the quantitative lead for recently announced Community Refugee Integration and Sponsorship Pilot, funded by the Department of Home Affairs, which is investigating the feasibility of alternative settlement pathways for unlinked humanitarian migrants.

Martin’s broader research centres on the intersection of family, health, and disadvantage over the life course, using advanced quantitative methods to unlock causal and longitudinal perspectives on important social problems. Recent work has investigated patterns and determinants of children’s and adolescents’ time-use, including for adolescents with disability and LGBTQ adolescents. He has also led research using state-of-the-art machine learning methodology to study heterogeneous effects of teenage motherhood on later life mental health. Martin’s current research is primarily focussed on understanding the nature, causes of, and solutions to, poverty and financial insecurity among children with disabilities and their families. His work has appeared in leading international journals including Demography, Child Development, and The Lancet Child and Adolescent Health among others.