Professor of Experimental Psychology, University of the West of Scotland Claire is an experimental psychologist with interests in human vision, perception and cognition, with a particular focus on visual perception and cognition in healthy aging, neurodegeneration and disease. Claire is currently Professor of Psychology at the University of the West of Scotland. She has held previous academic posts at the University of Leicester, where she worked as a lecturer and Associate Professor. She has an MA (Hons) Psychology, awarded by the University of Aberdeen and a PhD in Visual Neuroscience, awarded by the University of Nottingham.
Assistant Professor of Sociotechnical Systems, Department of Psychology, National University of Ireland Maynooth I am a social psychologist and lecturer in Socio-technical systems at the National University of Ireland, Maynooth. I work on social thinking and the impact of technology and societal changes on people and organisations. This has included research on social media, artificial intelligence, misinformation, collective memory, and representations of immigration.
Senior Lecturer, Department of Media and Communication, Swinburne University of Technology César Albarrán-Torres is a Mexican-Australian scholar and film critic. He is Senior Lecturer in Media and Communication at Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne, Australia, where he teaches Global Screen Studies. He has been widely published in academic and non-academic titles as a film and literary critic, author and translator. His current research focuses on film and television, as well as the negotiations between social media and politics in Mexico, particularly concerning the drug cartels. He is the author of Digital Gambling: Theorizing Gamble-Play Media (2018) and Global Trafficking Networks on Film and Television: Hollywood's Cartel Wars (2021). He is editor at the online journal Senses of Cinema.
Professor of Immunology, Dublin City University Professor Christine Loscher completed her PhD in Immunology at NUI, Maynooth in 2000 and was awarded a Health Research Board Fellowship to pursue her postdoctoral studies at Trinity College Dublin. In 2003 she moved to the Institute of Molecular Medicine at St James Hospital to continue her research and then was appointed to a permanent academic position at Dublin City University in 2005. She leads the Immunomodulation Research Group at DCU which has a focus on translating how modulation of the immune response has health benefits. Her focus includes discovering new anti-inflammatory/anti-allergic compounds and ingredients that can be used in the pharma and food industry. She is a Principal Investigator in the Food for Health Ireland Technology Centre and served on the Scientific Advisory Council at Kerry Foods from 2015 to 2017. She has developed significant expertise in commercial research and industry engagement and has secured over €5.5M in external funding for her research. In 2014 she was named in Silicon Republics top 100 Women in STEM and in 2015 she was a speaker at InspireFest. In 2016 she delivered a TEDx talk to communicate her views on the Future of Food and in 2018 she was included in Silicon Republic’s “22 high-flying scientists making the world a better place in 2019”. In 2020 she was promoted to Full Professor of Immunology and established the DCU Covid-19 Research & Innovation Hub which currently has 16 funded projects aimed at novel solutions in the fight against Covid-19.
Assistant Professor of Anthropology, University of Notre Dame Dr. Ocobock is the Director of the Human Energetics Laboratory at Notre Dame. Her research program integrates human biology and anthropology, with a focus on the interaction between anatomy, physiology, evolution, and the environment. She explores the physiological and behavioral mechanisms necessary to cope with and adapt to extreme climate and physical activity. Ocobock works in northern Finland, in collaboration with researchers from the University of Lapland and University of Oulu. This project focuses on reindeer herders, a highly active cold climate population. Her research assesses their life ways, life history patterns, cold climate adaptations, and addresses potential health disparities. This work was funded by the National Science Foundation and the American-Scandinavian Foundation. One aspect of this work focuses on brown adipose tissue, a type of fat that burns only to keep an individual warm when cold and leads to a known increase in metabolic rate – the number of calories you burn each day. Brown fat has important implications for not only understanding cold adaptations now and throughout human evolution, but also for metabolic health and the treatment of obesity.
Lecturer, Performing Arts, UniSA Creative, University of South Australia Catherine is an actor, singer, director and educator. Catherine is a Teaching Academic at UniSA in Performing Arts, where she Coordinates and teaches Cabaret: Context & Practice, World Music Theatre, Music Performance and Live Performance Production. UniSA offers one of only four non-auditioned experiential performing arts courses in Australia and Catherine is passionate about ensuring access to Performing Arts practice. She has also taught at University of Adelaide’s Elder Conservatorium Music Theatre Course and Classical Voice Course in Acting and Stagecraft, as well as at Federation University’s Ballarat Performing Arts Academy as Director, 3rd year Cabarets. Catherine is the Vocal Lead Teacher for the Adelaide Festival Centre: OnStage children & youth holiday program and Community program for young people in care. Catherine has also taught and directed for Tutti Arts in music theatre and cabaret. Music Theatre includes A New Brain - Mimi Schwinn (Davine Productions) The Front - Matron, A Wild Party with Andrew Lippa, Take Flight with Richard Maltby and David Shire, Songs For A New World (Adelaide Cabaret Festival), Sweeney Todd (State Opera of SA),The Mikado (Adelaide Festival Centre), Les Miserables - Mme Thenadier (MS/Normie Rowe), Northern Lights/Southern Cross - Claire (Tutti/Interact USA), Conversations, P’Opera and Shouting Fence (Various People) and The Witch in the SA Premiere of Into The Woods. Cabaret includes: solo show My Blue Angel (written and directed by Frank Ford) at the Adelaide Cabaret Festival, Don’t Tell Mama (New York), and national tours in Australia; co-creator of comedy trio Gentlemen Prefer Curves (Adelaide Cabaret Festival, Adelaide Fringe, Melbourne Comedy Festival) and Berlin Cabaret – Greta (Adelaide Fringe, Weimar Room residency, Cabaret Festival). Acting credits include Mrs Linde in Doll’s House and A Streetcar Named Desire (Bakehouse Theatre), The Most Massive Woman Wins and Bruised Hearts Travelling Freak Show (Chop’t Logic) Sisters (CPA) and Equus (State Theatre Company). Catherine is thrilled to celebrate over 25 years with the Chorus of State Opera of SA, and has recently performed the roles of Mrs Mullins in Carousel, Praskovia in Graham Murphy’s The Merry Widow and Cora The Boots in BOOJUM! as well as Ensemble in two productions of Sweeney Todd (dirs. Stuart Maunder, Gale Edwards), Voss and many others including the Australian Premieres of Dead Man Walking and Parsifal. For the Adelaide Festival she has appeared in Messa da Requiem (Zurich Ballet), Golden Cockerel (dir. Barrie Kosky), Requiem (dir. Romeo Castellucci), SAUL (dir. Barrie Kosky), Hamlet (dir. Neil Armfield) and Flamma Flamma (dir Nigel Jamieson). Shows with local companies include Iolanthe (Fairy Queen) & HMS Pinafore (Hebe) for G&S Society of SA, and COLE for Therry. Other performances include two international tours with Adelaide Chamber Singers, numerous corporate functions and various Country Arts SA Tours. She holds 4 Fringe awards, including the Advertiser Award for Excellence for Gentlemen Prefer Curves. Catherine sang backing vocals for Split Enz with the ASO and has never quite gotten over it. Directing: The Hipster (development) Fringe 2020; Why Muriel Matters, Adelaide Cabaret Fringe; Dido & Aeneas, 3 Graces, Adelaide Fringe (Winner, Best Music); Assistant Director, Elixir Of Love, State Opera of SA; Stravinsky’s A Soldier’s Tale, SOL Summer Series; Echoes of the Underworld, Saving Abigial and RAW, UniSA Performing Arts. Training: AC Arts (Acting); Hons Drama (Music Theatre), Flinders Uni; Cabaret at Yale (USA). Catherine has two children and lives in Adelaide with her partner Paul.
