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Dr Tamara Butler is an Aboriginal woman of the Undumbi people from the Sunshine Coast region of Queensland, Australia and a NHMRC Emerging Research Fellow at the University of Queensland. She works withing the First Nations Cancer and Wellbeing Research Program. Her work is focused on women’s cancers with the goal of improving cancer outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, families, and communities. Broadly Dr Butler’s research interests also include First Nations research methods and process, co-design, wellbeing, and psychosocial aspects of cancer care.

Carl (Saibai Koedal) is a PhD Candidate studying the epidemiology of rheumatic heart disease in Queensland using linked hospital and administrative data. Currently, Carl holds an academic appointment (Lecturer, Physiotherapy) in the School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, the University of Queensland, and maintains a clinical role as a Staff Physiotherapist at The Prince Charles Hospital. Alongside research, Carl is also working to strengthen relationships between remote Torres Strait Islander communities and UQ to explore opportunities for education, student clinical placement and research partnerships.

Dr Penny Haora (Ngāti Pūkenga, Ngāti Māhanga) is a Research Fellow in the UQ Poche Centre for Indigenous Health.

Penny researches innovations and system transformation for better maternity care with a focus on First Nations families. She uses qualitative, mixed methods, community-based participatory, and realist approaches. As a First Nations Māori researcher, Penny is learning Kaupapa Māori and Indigenist research approaches and works to see the revaluing of Indigenous knowledges and science. The overall aim of her research is to support healthy families through better births. She does this by conducting and facilitating research that places the lived experiences of mums and bubs, families and community front and centre.

Penny aims for her work to incentivise action to address entrenched inequities in maternity care, such as care quality/safety (including cultural safety) and access. She has worked in partnership with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Community organisations, internationally with remote communities and in post-conflict settings with local and international non-government organisations, and within diverse organisational contexts.

Penny is leading projects with a view to better understanding and evaluating First Nations-led maternity and family care and wellbeing. From 2019 to 2022, she managed the Building on Our Strengths (BOOSt) project based on the beautiful Lands of the Yuin Nation (NSW) embedded with Waminda South Coast Aboriginal Women’s Health and Wellbeing Organisation. Penny completed a Doctor of Philosophy in 2013 enrolled at the ANU working on a project based in Thailand. Her Master of Public Health research was undertaken in Rasuwa District, Nepal, and she has around six years of experience working in research/evaluation/management and clinical roles in Thailand, Nepal, Afghanistan, Cambodia, Bangladesh, and Papua New Guinea.

Penny is available to supervise PhD students, Honours and Master of Public Health projects.

Stephen Harfield is a Narungga and Ngarrindjeri man from South Australia. He is a public health researcher and epidemiologist. His research focuses on centring the health and wellbeing needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people and their communities through Indigenous-led research.

Stephen’s research employs mixed methods that combine both quantitative and qualitative approaches, grounded in Indigenous methodologies. His research privileges the knowledges of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and adopts a strength-based approach to ensure that the research positively impacts and benefits Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and communities.

Stephen has more than 10 years of experience conducting research in partnership with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities and health services. His work focuses on the health and wellbeing of adolescents and young people, sexual health, men’s health, health services research, and enhancing research quality.

In March 2025, Stephen submitted his PhD thesis, titled "Strengthening Primary Health Care for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Young People Living in Urban Southeast Queensland”. In recognition of his PhD work, he was awarded the Lowitja Institute’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Student Award at the 4th International Indigenous Health and Wellbeing Conference 2025.

Stephen holds a Master of Philosophy in Applied Epidemiology from The Australian National University (2019), a Master of Public Health from Flinders University (2013), a Graduate Certificate in Health Services Research and Development from The University of Wollongong (2012), and a Bachelor of Health Sciences (Public Health) from The University of Adelaide (2008).

Dr Stuart Leske is a Senior Research Fellow and Program Manager of a Centre of Research Excellence in Urban Indigenous Health at UQ Poche Centre for Indigenous Health.

Stuart currently endeavours to support Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait researchers by seeking to provide more in technical (e.g., literature review, writing, editing, data interpretation and visualisation) and leadership skills than he takes in cultural knowledge from Indigenous staff.

Stuart has reviewed 41 times for the Lancet Group journals.

Stuart enjoys two-way learning with all people he works with.

Dr Ming Li commenced with UQ’s School of Public Health in Jan 2024 as a Senior Research Fellow in cancer research under Prof Gail Garvey leading The First Nations Cancer and Wellbeing Research (FNCWR) program after a 16-year research in chronic disease epidemiology at University of South Australia. Her research is focused on understanding the impact of social and environmental factors on health-related behaviours and health conditions such as overweight and obesity, metabolic disorders, and cancer in children and adolescents and adults from different cultures in both developing and developed countries.

Ming has worked on projects on diabetes and cancer among the first nations peoples in the spectrum of prevention, treatment, complications and survival using linked data at national, state, and local level. Her research has a profound impact on developing guidelines, clinical practice, health policy, and health education. Ming has established sustained international and national collaborations and successful completion of master’s and PhD programs.

Ming is an overseas trained medical doctor and a high achiever at her PhD program and has received extensive training in epidemiological research methodology, nutritional epidemiology, clinical epidemiology, biostatistics, health education and promotion, social medical science at the University of Newcastle. Her multidisciplinary training provides the foundation for exploring the pathways of cancer and other chronic diseases and for developing effective approaches in tackling these health risks and improving the wellbeing of First Nations peoples.

Ming is working on funded projects including Healthy Hearts, CostMod, Canco, Synergy, and Blood Cancer with a growing passionate team comprised of PhD students and early to mid-career researchers.