Professor of Paediatric Infection and Immunity, University of Oxford Current research activities include clinical trials of new and improved vaccines for children and adults, surveillance of invasive bacterial diseases and penumococcal vaccine impact in children in Nepal, studies of cellular and humoral immune responses to glycoconjugate and typhoid vaccines, and development of a serogroup B meningococcal vaccine. ANDREW J POLLARD, FRCPCH PhD FMedSci, is Professor of Paediatric Infection and Immunity at the University of Oxford, Director of the Oxford Vaccine Group, Fellow of St Cross College and Honorary Consultant Paediatrician at the Children’s Hospital, Oxford, UK. He obtained his medical degree at St Bartholomew’s Hospital Medical School, University of London in 1989 and trained in Paediatrics at Birmingham Children’s Hospital, UK, specialising in Paediatric Infectious Diseases at St Mary’s Hospital, London, UK and at British Columbia Children’s Hospital, Vancouver, Canada. He obtained his PhD at St Mary’s Hospital, London, UK in 1999 studying immunity to Neisseria meningitidis in children and proceeded to work on anti-bacterial innate immune responses in children in Canada before returning to his current position at the University of Oxford, UK in 2001. He received the Bill Marshall award of the European Society for Paediatric Infectious Disease (ESPID) in 2013 for his contribution to the specialty and the ESPID Distinguished Award for Education & Communication in 2015. He chaired the UK’s National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) meningitis guidelines development group, and the NICE topic expert group developing quality standards for management of meningitis and meningococcal septicaemia. He chairs the UK Department of Health’s Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation and the European Medicines Agency scientific advisory group on vaccines and is a member of WHO’s SAGE. His research includes the design, development and clinical evaluation of vaccines including those for meningococcal disease and enteric fever and leads studies using a human challenge model of (para)typhoid. He has a particular interest in the development of B cell immunity in early childhood. He runs surveillance for invasive bacterial diseases and studies the impact of pneumococcal vaccines in children in Nepal and leads a project on burden and transmission of typhoid in Nepal, Bangladesh and Malawi. He has supervised 23 PhD students and his publications include over 300 manuscripts and books on various topics in paediatrics and infectious diseases.
Research Fellow, University of Salford Dr Steve Preece has worked as a researcher in human movement biomechanics for over 10 years. During this period he has carried out a range of studies relating to different aspects of footwear design and also worked on projects focused on knee osteoarthritis and the use of using body mounted sensors to monitor activity patterns. Recently he has performed a study looking at the biomechanical characteristics of elite runners. This has enabled him to establish a successful running performance clinic at the University of Salford which now attracts runners from all over the UK.
PhD candidate in Japanese studies, University of Sheffield I received a BA in Asian and African Studies from Russia's Institute of Practical Oriental Studies in 2012 and a MA in Japanese Studies from the School of East Asian Studies at the University of Sheffield in 2015. In 2010-2011, I spent a year at Hosei University in Tokyo as an exchange student. I am currently conducting PhD research on the transformation of Japan's grand strategy towards China and contemporary US-China-Japan trilateral security relations. My articles on Japan's history and foreign policy have been published in Russian and English.
University Senior Lecturer in International Macroeconomics at Cambridge Judge Business School, University of Cambridge Michael Kitson is an Assistant Director of the Centre for Business Research (CBR), Cambridge, and is Hub Director of the UK-Innovation Research Centre. He has undertaken research for: the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC); the Department of Business Innovation and Skills (BIS); the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC); the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC); and the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts (NESTA). Michael Kitson was Assistant Director of the National Competitiveness Network (NCN) of the Cambridge-MIT Institute (CMI) between 2000 and 2003, and Director of NCN between 2003 and 2007. CMI was a joint venture between Cambridge University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to improve competitiveness, innovation and entrepreneurship in the UK. He has provided evidence and advice to: the EU; the House of Lords enquiry into globalisation; and various regional and local governments. He is currently advising the Northern Ireland Government about its innovation policy.
Post-doctoral Fellow; Reproductive Epigenetics, University of Adelaide Dr Hannah Brown is a researcher at the Robinson Research Institute and Centre for Nanoscale Biophotonics, at the University of Adelaide, Australia. Her research explores the mechanisms underlying how stress during early pregnancy alters the epigenome of the embryo, and causes detrimental, long-term outcomes.
Professor of Economics, University of Canberra Prof Phil Lewis is the Director of the Centre for Labour Market Research (CLMR) and Professor of Economics at the University of Canberra. Phil is among the best-known economists in the area of employment, education and training in Australia and is the author of over 100 journal articles, books and book chapters. Apart from a distinguished academic career he has worked in government and has produced a number of major reports for the private and public sectors. He has an extensive track record of economic analysis and econometric analysis. He has over 30 years experience of management of research projects in universities and in government research organisations such as BLMR and ABARE. He is Past National President of the Economic Society of Australia, Past President of the Western Australian and Canberra branches of the Society and in 2008 was made Honorary Fellow of the Society for his contribution to the economics profession.
