Lecturer, Faculty of Health, Southern Cross University Diarmuid Hurley is a lecturer in leadership in healthcare and sporting settings, based at Southern Cross University. He holds a PhD in Psychology and a Masters in Sport and Exercise Psychology. His research interests include sport, exercise, and performance psychology, health psychology, and novel methods of mental health promotion and prevention in communities.
Professor Emeritus, Religious Studies, Indiana University I am interested in a wide range of South Asian religious traditions and concentrate on the medieval and modern movements of northern India. Much of my work has focused on the culture of Braj, an active Krishna pilgrimage site known for its lively temple festivals, performative traditions, and literary creations. More recently I have shifted my research interests to include the ancient city of Banaras, a pilgrimage center and temple town located on the bank of the Ganges River. My approach combines both textual research and anthropological fieldwork. Acting as a Way of Salvation: A Study of Rāgānugā Bhakti Sādhana (Oxford University Press, 1988) is an investigation of religious reality construction based on a close examination of a meditation technique devised by the theoreticians of Braj. I have published a book on the circular pilgrimage around Braj, entitled Journey Through the Twelve Forests: An Encounter with Krishna (Oxford, 1994). This book contemplates the complexities of circular wanderings and different strategies for dealing with the tumultuous nature of desire as it takes the reader on a spatial and mythological journey.
Postdoctoral Fellow in Space Physics, University of Saskatchewan Dr Daniel Billett is a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Saskatchewan, studying the effects of space weather on Earth's upper atmosphere. He mainly works with the Super Dual Auroral Radar Network (SuperDARN), a collection of high-frequency radars - located all over the world - that measure the dynamics of the ionosphere.
Adjunct Senior Researcher in the Division of Social and Behavioural Sciences, School of Public Health at the University of Cape Town, University of Cape Town Deborah Constant is an Adjunct Senior Researcher in the Division of Social and Behavioural Sciences, School of Public Health at the University of Cape Town (UCT). She joined the academic staff of the Women’s Health Research Unit at UCT in 2010, and was Director of the Unit from 2018-2021. Her main research interests are in the field of sexual and reproductive health and female cancers, and her research is aimed at influencing policy, improving service delivery, and strengthening women’s autonomy with respect to their reproductive health, with a special focus on abortion care.
Senior Visiting Research Fellow, Department of War Studies, King's College London David Loyn is an author, journalist and analyst who specialises in Afghanistan, South Asia and imperial history. He is currently on an advisory panel to the FCDO on South Asia policy, and co-convenor of a mid-career course for diplomats for the FCDO International Academy on South Asia and Afghanistan. He writes regularly on Afghanistan for the Spectator. As a BBC correspondent for more than three decades, David won awards in both Radio and Television reporting, including Journalist of the Year from the Royal Television Society for his reporting of the Kosovo conflict in 1998. His last posting as correspondent was in Afghanistan, a country he has been visiting since 1994, including several trips during Taliban control. From 2017-2018 David worked as Strategic Communications adviser in the office of Afghan President Ashraf Ghani. He holds an MA degree in Modern History from Oxford University, and is a qualified barrister. He joined the War Studies Department at King’s in September 2016. David is a board member of Peace Direct, and an Associate of the Imperial War Museum. Areas of expertise • Afghanistan and South Asia • Strategic communications • History of war reporting • International development • Intervention doctrine • Imperial history Publications Books • The Long War—the Inside Story of America in Afghanistan since 9/11; (St Martin’s Press, New York 2021) • Butcher and Bolt – Two Hundred Years of Foreign Engagement in Afghanistan; (London: Hutchinson, 2008) • Frontline – Reporting from the World’s Deadliest Places; (Michael Joseph, 2005; updated edition Summersdale, 2011) Shortlisted for the Orwell Prize.
Associate Professor, The University of Melbourne Duane Hamacher is Associate Professor of Cultural Astronomy in the ASTRO-3D Centre of Excellence and the School of Physics at the University of Melbourne. His research focuses on the role of astronomy in history, culture, and society. Born in the United States, Duane earned a degree in physics at the University of Missouri before moving to Australia to complete a Masters degree (by research) in astrophysics at UNSW, followed by a PhD in Indigenous studies at Macquarie University with a thesis on Australian Aboriginal astronomy. He was awarded a DECRA Fellowship to work for Meriam Elders in the eastern Torres Strait to document their star knowledge and from October 2022 to July 2023 worked as a CAPAS Fellow in the Käte Hamburger Centre for Apocalyptic and Post-Apocalyptic Studies at Universität Heidelberg in Germany. He authored the book "The First Astronomers: how Indigenous Elders read the stars" (Allen & Unwin, 2022) with six Elders. 100% of author royalties go to charity. He is President and Founder of the Australian Association for Astronomy in Culture, Vice President of the International Society of Archaeoastronomy and Astronomy in Culture, a member of the International Astronomical Union (IAU). He serves in the IAU Working Group on Star Names, is an associate editor of the Journal of Astronomical History & Heritage, and appeared on documentaries with Morgan Freeman, Warwick Thornton, Clive Oppenheimer, and Werner Herzog.
