Group Leader, Chemical and Biological Signatures, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory Kristin Omberg joined Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) in 2015. She is the group leader of the Chemical and Biological Signatures Group, which comprises about 60 researchers working to develop and integrate experimental and data analytics techniques spanning chemistry, biology, and advanced materials to identify and solve scientific challenges of national security importance and address emerging threats. Omberg’s technical work focuses on developing science and technology solutions that can be deployed in operational environments or used to inform policy decisions. She recently led the team that established a Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments certified high-complexity testing laboratory to process COVID-19 specimens at PNNL and worked with the Departments of Energy and Health and Human Services to evaluate methods for COVID-19 specimen analysis. She is currently supporting the National Nuclear Security Administration in developing its Bioassurance Program. Before joining PNNL, she spent more than 15 years at Los Alamos National Laboratory, where she was a program manager and principal investigator for numerous projects for the Department of Homeland Security and Defense. She led field experiments and operational deployments involving environmental sampling for biological agents, investigated the persistence, fate, and transport of chemical and bioterrorism agents in outdoor environments; and developed statistically based methods for evaluating detection protocols.
Professor of Management and Technology, University of East London Kirk Chang is a university professor, consultant, and researcher in the field of Human Resource Management and Technology. Professor Chang researches digital-management related issues and analyses the implication of technology on employees, managers, and their organizations. His research themes are linked to employee behavior (individual level), team dynamics (group level), personnel management (managerial level) and organisational competitive advantage (organisational level). He also investigates issues of personnel management and scrutinizes the implication of technology (AI, Digitalization) on employee behavior, group dynamics, teamwork, competitive advantage and organizational performance.
Professor in International Relations, University of Sussex Kevin Gray is a Professor in International Relations at the School of Global Studies, University of Sussex. His research expertise relates to the political economy of East Asian development. He is author (with Jong-Woon Lee) of North Korea and the Geopolitics of Development (Cambridge University Press, 2021), as well as Korean Workers and Neoliberal Globalisation (Routledge, 2008), Labour and Development in East Asia: Social Forces and Passive Revolution (Routledge, 2015). He is also editor of (with Barry Gills) Rising Powers and the Future of Global Governance (Routledge, 2018); (with Barry Gills) People Power in an Era of Global Crisis: Rebellion, Resistance, and Liberation (Routledge, 2013); (with Craig Murphy) Rising Powers and South-South Cooperation (Routledge, 2018); (with Barry Gills) Post-Covid Transformations (Routledge, 2022). His work has also appeared in New Left Review, Capital and Class, Journal of Contemporary Asia, Review of International Political Economy, Pacific Review, Critical Asian Studies, New Political Economy, and Third World Quarterly.
Research Fellow, Australian Rivers Institute, Griffith University Kaitlyn is an aquatic ecologist that uses tracers to study food webs and movement of fish and other aquatic organisms, working across a range of environments including estuaries, rivers and wetlands. Kaitlyn's research explores many aspects of fish nutrition, identifying food sources and environments that are important for fish to acquire the nutrients they need to grow and reproduce. Her research uses a whole-ecosystem approach, starting from nutrients, trace elements and other substances in the environment, through the food web to fish and other consumers. The outcomes of her work increase understanding of how aquatic organisms are influenced by their environment and how they will respond to change, such as new water resource developments, contamination from expanding human populations, and increased extreme events such as floods that may result from climate change. This new knowledge informs conservation and environmental management practices.
Research Fellow, Faculty of Health, Southern Cross University Karen is currently working on smoking and vaping cessation projects - particularly in the provision of training and materials to aid health professionals and organisations to support smoking cessation in pregnant Indigenous women. She is experienced in staff wellbeing, workplace health and productivity interventions and research projects. Karen is passionate about improving lives through the provision of clear, useful information combined with small changes in behaviour. She holds postgraduate qualifications in business management and marketing and enjoys outdoor activities with her family, reading, and taking long walks along the beach.
Scientia Associate Professor, Centre for Social Research in Health, UNSW Sydney Kari Lancaster is Scientia Associate Professor at the Centre for Social Research in Health at the University of New South Wales, and Honorary Associate Professor at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Kari is an interdisciplinary qualitative social researcher, with a background in law and public policy. Working at the intersection of Science and Technology Studies (STS), policy studies, and public health sociology, she leads a program of research focused on the development of critical approaches to the study of evidence-making practices and intervention translations in health. Kari is currently undertaking research on drug policy, viral elimination, and outbreak science in the governance of health.
