Assistant Professor of Geriatric Medicine, University of Pittsburgh Aditi U. Gurkar is an Assistant Professor in the Aging Institute, Division of Geriatric Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh. I believe that aging is one true mystery that surrounds us. Aging is inescapable and unfortunately the principal risk factor for a number of diseases including cancer, heart disease and Alzheimer disease (AD). If we can therefore unlock this mystery at a molecular level, we could uncover the Fountain of Youth and live healthier, fuller lives.
PhD Candidate, UNSW Sydney My research explores the diet and foraging behaviours of the Tasmanian devil, a specialist mammalian scavenger, and the delicate balance they strike with human society. I am interested in how scavenging behaviours have evolved and how the behaviours of species that predominantly scavenge their food may resemble or diverge from those that are primarily predators.
Professor of Climate Design & Sustainability, Delft University of Technology Andy van den Dobbelsteen is full professor of Climate Design & Sustainability with the Faculty of Architecture & the Built Environment at TU Delft, and Principal Investigator for the Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Metropolitan Solutions (AMS). He chairs the scientific advisory board of NL Greenlabel and sits on the general board of the Dutch Green Building Council. He advises the government on energy transition. Andy has led and conducted many research projects on energy, climate and sustainability in the built environment, among which the City-zen (on energy transition), Climate Proof Cities (on climate adaptation), and Better Airport Regions (on circularity). He was faculty advisor to the TU Delft team for the Solar Decathlon Europe competition in Versailles, 2014, which won five prizes; the team's Prêt-à-Loger house is the world's most sustainable terraced house. Andy lectures nationally and internationally and conducts research in sustainability, most notably on sustainable energy solutions, adaptation to climate change and approaches to circularity. His approach in education and research founds on using the full potential from local circumstances and renewable sources. In 2019, he was awarded the KIVI Academic Society Award. The award honors professors who conduct research of major social importance, and who make efforts to generate discussions with society. Andy van den Dobbelsteen is the winner of the 2020 edX Prize for Exceptional Contributions in Online Teaching and Learning, with his online course "Zero-Energy Design: an approach to make your building sustainable".
Adjunct professor, Flinders University Professor Anne-Marie Grisogono is a complex systems scientist and Adjunct Professor in the College of Science and Engineering at Flinders University. She holds a PhD in Mathematical Physics, and has worked in experimental and theoretical atomic and molecular physics, and lasers and nonlinear optics in various universities, followed by 20 years of applied R&D in the Defence Science and Technology Organisation (now DST Group), working on systems design, modelling and simulation, and future concept development and experimentation. Professor Grisogono led the development of DSTO’s Synthetic Environment Research Facility. Subsequently appointed Research Leader, she raised an enabling research program into complex systems science for defence, winning a prestigious DSTO Long Range Research Fellowship for 3 years. She worked closely with Army leaders to incorporate research results into their doctrine, operations, organisational design and reframing of their approach to strategic research and development planning. Professor Grisogono has held several national and international leadership roles within DSTO, in NATO and in The Technical Cooperation Program, in the fields of simulation, systems engineering and systems science, human sciences and complexity science. Professor Grisogono has delivered many keynotes, conducted workshops for the US Office of the Secretary of Defense (Personnel and Readiness), lectured at the US Army’s School of Advanced Military Studies, the Institute of Defense, the US Marine Corps Training and Education Command and the Potomac Institute. She was invited join the US Strategic Multilayer Assessment program, which supports the development of the US strategy in Afghanistan. Professor Grisogono has regularly taught at the Australian Defence College’s Command & Staff College, and the Centre for Defence and Strategic Studies, as well as many Army units. Professor Grisogono was appointed to the Australian Research Council’s College of Experts in 2013. In 2015 she joined the faculty of SigmaCamp, a unique US maths and science summer camp for gifted students, organised by researchers from SUNY (Stony Brook), Brookhaven National Laboratory and Harvard Medical School, teaching a course on wicked problems. Her current research interests include fundamental questions of complexity science and improving the methodologies and tools that can be applied to dealing with complex problems. She holds a Bachelor of Science (Hons) and a PhD from the University of Adelaide.
Associate Professor, Media Arts & Production, University of Technology Sydney Alex Munt is a screenwriter/director and academic. He leads the Creative Practice Research Group in the Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences at UTS.
Postdoctoral Researcher, Linguistics, Simon Fraser University I am a linguist who writes about the intersections of language, social identity, and film and media. I’m particularly interested in the linguistics of humor, language and accents in film, and representations of race and sexuality. I’ve published in The Chronicle of Higher Education and Babel: The Language Magazine, in addition to academic journals (including Daedalus, Amerasia Journal, and American Speech).
