Associate Professor and Entomologist, University of Saskatchewan My research interests are in the broad topic of insect ecology. Within that context, I conduct both fundamental and applied research on a variety of arthropod taxa. My primary fundamental interests are in the ecology and evolution of adaptive traits. I am particularly curious about traits that are associated with choices. This research has examined topics such as social polymorphisms, oviposition behaviors, mate choice, and host choice of parasitioids and herbivores. My applied research generally focuses on ecologically sustainable and sound methods of managing insect pests, especially disease vectors. In that context, I often focus on implications for Integrated Pest Management. Ideally, I strive to combine my two lines of inquiry and apply knowledge of ecological traits to develop management strategies.
Affiliated researcher, University of Amsterdam Dr Susanne Täuber is a social psychologist and expert in gender equality, harassment and power abuse in higher education. She is affiliated with the University of Amsterdam. She investigates factors that affect the decoupling of practice from policy, for instance in the context of gender quotas and diversity, considering in particular power, intersectionality and inequality regimes. Dr Täuber further is interested in social identity processes during societal and organizational change, particularly where trajectories of culture, norm and value change are concerned. Her research has received substantial funding, for instance from the Dutch Research Foundation and the Dutch and German Ministries of Defense. Her work has been published in leading journals of social psychology (e.g., Personality and Social Psychological Bulletin), organization and management science (e.g., Journal of Management Studies, Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes) and multidisciplinary science journals (e.g., The Lancet, Nature, Climate Change). Dr Täuber serves as a member of the Advisory Committee Diverse and Inclusive Higher Education and Research, which provides advice to the Dutch government on promoting an inclusive, diverse and safe learning and working environment within the field of higher education and in scientific research. She further volunteers at the Academic Parity Movement and the Network Against Power Abuse in Science, non-profit organizations aiming to fight harassment and power abuse in academia.
Professor of Regenerative Neuroimmunology, University of Cambridge My team studies whether the accumulation of neurological disability observed in patients with progressive forms of multiple sclerosis (PMS) can be slowed down using stem cell therapies. In particular, our aim is to understand the basic mechanisms that allow exogenously delivered neural stem cells (NSCs) to create an environment that preserves damaged axons or prevents neurons from dying. Using stem cells as a model to identify the critical factors that prevent neurodegeneration is an exciting new frontier of regenerative medicine, which is just being tested in humans. I have been first or senior author in seminal papers that have established the potential of somatic NSC-based experimental therapies for PMS. My early studies identified a critical role around the route of cell injection4 and the mechanisms of NSC accumulation in the chronically inflamed CNS, as well as revealing an unexpected ability of NSC therapies to provide neurotrophic support and inhibit detrimental host immune responses in vivo. My team has also focused on defining the nature and function of intercellular signalling mediated by extracellular membrane vesicles (EVs) from NSCs. Using a series of computational analyses and high-resolution imaging techniques, we have demonstrated that EVs deliver functional IFN-g/Ifngr1 complexes to target cells. We have also discovered that EVs harbour L-asparaginase activity catalysed by the enzyme Asparaginase-like protein 1. While the translation of EV therapies into clinical regenerative therapies is still some way from being fully achievable, both these studies on NSC EVs serve as complementary models of how stem cell grafts might signal to the host to mediate repair through a range of complementary actions. Our most recent work describes a delayed accumulation of the pro-inflammatory tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle intermediate succinate in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of mice with experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE), a model of chronic MS. We have identified a new complementary mechanism by which directly induced NSCs (iNSCs) respond to endogenous inflammatory metabolic signals to inhibit the activation of type-1 mononuclear phagocytes (MPs) in vivo after transplantation. Transplanted iNSCs respond to the succinate released by type-1 inflammatory macrophages and microglia in the CSF, which then signals to iNSCs via succinate receptor 1 (SUCNR1) and initiates the secretion of prostaglandin E2 and the scavenging of extracellular succinate. Our research has therefore recalibrated the classical view that neural grafts only function through structural cell replacement and opened up a new therapeutic avenue by which to use exogenously delivered NSCs. By understanding the mechanisms of intercellular (stem cell) signalling, diseases of the central nervous system (CNS) may be treated more effectively, and significant neuroprotection may be achieved with new tailored NSC therapeutics.
Professor of Human Development, University of Delaware Dr. Sara Goldstein is a professor in the Department of Human Development and Family Sciences at the University of Delaware, specializing in lifespan human development. She teaches courses related to lifespan development, child and adolescent development, and research methodology. Dr. Goldstein’s research takes a social justice informed approach to understand social and social-cognitive factors associated with youths’ psychological, behavioral, and social adjustment. Most of Dr. Goldstein’s research has focused on the predictors and consequences of gendered aggression, bullying, and peer-based harassment. She also examines other aspects of adjustment including academic motivation and achievement, mental health, and problem behavior broadly defined. Dr. Goldstein is especially interested in the development of these constructs during periods of developmental transition such as early adolescence (as youth move from primary to secondary school), and emerging adulthood (as youth transition to independence from family of origin). Because parents, peers, and schools play especially significant roles during these periods of youth transition, Dr. Goldstein’s program of research also explores the roles of these socialization agents in development. Recent projects focused on cyberbullying and sexual harassment during adolescence, and links with parental socialization and school experiences. Her current project explores how parenting during emerging adulthood (e.g, mindful parenting, parental psychological control) is linked with parent-youth relationship characteristics and with youth social and psychological adjustment.
Programme Director, Higher Degree Research, Pathshala South Asian Media Institute Shehab Uddin is a Brisbane based visual artist, educator, and documentary photographer. He completed his Doctor of Visual Arts at the Queensland College of Art, Griffith University in 2017 and teaches photography at universities and media organisations in Australia, Bangladesh, India, and Nepal. Uddin’s images are held in public collections in Australia and overseas and have been published regularly in major international news magazines including The New York Times and Der Spiegel. He has held exhibitions around the world and won numerous grants and awards, including Magnum Foundation Emergency Fund, National Geographic, and the World Health Organization (WHO). Uddin has global experience in street, travel, documentary photography and family archive and has conducted numerous community projects in Australia and overseas. Uddin’s work is in the collections of Kiyosato Museum of Photographic Arts (Japan), State Library of Queensland (Australia) Dhaka Nagar Jadughar (Dhaka City Museum) and Liberation War Museum (Bangladesh).
Professor of Hebrew, Biblical and Jewish Studies, University of Sydney Suzanne Rutland is Professor in the Department of Hebrew, Biblical and Jewish Studies in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at the University of Sydney. Her research focuses on Jewish education in Australia, Judaism and Islam in Australia, Australia and the Struggle for Soviet Jewry, Jews from the Former Soviet Union in Australia and Australia, the Holocaust and its aftermath.
