Tim Spector is a Professor of Genetic Epidemiology at Kings College, London & Director of the Department of Twin Research and Genetic Epidemiology at St Thomas’ Hospital, London. Professor Spector graduated from St Bartholomew’s Hospital Medical School, London. After working in General Medicine, he completed a MSc in Epidemiology, and his MD thesis at the University of London. He founded the UK Twins Registry of 11,000 twins in 1993, which is one of the largest collections of genotype and phenotype information on twins worldwide. Its breadth of research has expanded to cover a wide range of common complex traits many of which were previously thought to be mainly due to ageing and environment. He has published over 700 research articles on common diseases and is ranked in the top 1% of world scientists. He has written several original articles on the heritability of a wide range of diseases and traits including back pain, acne, inflammation, obesity, memory, musical ability and sexuality. He has published widely on obesity, food and nutrition. He also is interested in new areas of biology such as epigenetics and recently our gut microbiome and is director of the British Gut project He has written several books, He is also author of - The Diet Myth: The real science behind what we eat by W&N 2015 and Identically different: Why you can change your genes, by W&N in 2012 and Your Genes Unzipped in 2003.
Dr. David Tuffley is a Senior Lecturer in Applied Ethics and SocioTechnical Studies at Griffith University’s School of ICT. A regular contributor to mainstream media on the social impact of technology, David is a recognized expert in his field. Before academia David worked as an IT Consultant in Australia and the United Kingdom, a role he continues to perform when not educating the next generation of IT professionals. David is an engaging science communicator of many years experience. David came to the world of technology from the Humanities, having studied Psychology, Anthropology, Classical Rhetoric and English literature at the University of Queensland. David is an accomplished professional speaker and forum moderator. David's formal qualifications include PhD (Software Engineering), Master of Philosophy (Information Systems), Grad Cert in Higher Education (all from Griffith University), Bachelor of Arts majoring in Psychology, English Literature, Anthropology (University of Queensland). David also completed an Associate Diploma in Health Surveying at the Queensland Institute of Technology (now QUT), working as a Health Surveyor in Ayr and Charleville (1978-1981).
Rebecca is an atmospheric chemist employed by CSIR since 2011, and has worked in the field of atmospheric science for 15 years. She is a senior researcher in the Climate Studies, Modelling and Environmental Health Research Group, where she is the leader on the group for Regional Air Quality Modelling and Environmental Health. Her research focus includes atmospheric chemistry and climate change, their linkages, and the resultant health impacts from poor air quality and a changing climate.
Milford Bateman is currently a freelance consultant on local economic development and visiting Professor of Economics, Juraj Dobrila University of Pula, Croatia and Adjunct Professor of Development Studies, St Marys University, Halifax, Canada
John Keane is co-founder of the Sydney Democracy Network (SDN) and Professor of Politics at the University of Sydney and the Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin (WZB). His full-scale history of democracy, The Life and Death of Democracy (2009), was short-listed for the 2010 Non-Fiction Prime Minister’s Literary Award, and recently ranked (by one of Japan's leading newspapers, Asahi Shimbun) within the top three non-fiction books published during 2013 in Japan. His new book, Democracy and Media Decadence has just been published.
