CSIRO Showcase & Networking Event

Iadine is also a Chief Investigator with NHMRC Centre for Research Excellence SPECTRUM (Supporting Participatory Evidence generation to Control Transmissible diseases in our Region Using Modelling).

More recently, Iadine is investigating when and how to integrate social sciences and machine learning.

Dr Janet Reid is the CSIRO BioFoundry Facility Manager. Janet is an experienced molecular and cell biologist who previously worked for the Community for Open Antimicrobial Drug Discovery (CO-ADD), a not-for-profit initiative at the Institute for Molecular Bioscience (IMB), at the University of Queensland. In this group she developed high-throughput human cell screening protocols, using laboratory automation, to assess effects of anti-microbial and anti-inflammatory compounds.

Now, in her current role, Janet manages a team of molecular biologists and a data engineer assisting researchers and industry with adapting standard bench molecular biology approaches into high-throughput, automated alternatives. The purpose of the work is to generate and test DNA materials and engineered microbial strains useful for research and industry.

Dr Justine Lacey leads CSIRO’s Responsible Innovation Future Science Platform; a research program examining the interface between science, technology innovation and the associated ethical, social and legal consequences of new and disruptive science and technologies. CSIRO’s Future Science Platforms aim to develop the early-stage science that underpins disruptive innovation and has the potential to reinvent and create new industries for Australia.

Prior to taking up this role, Justine led a research group of social and economic scientists developing and supporting adaptive solutions for Australian communities and industries. She is trained as a philosopher and her own research has focused on examining the aspects underpinning the minerals industry’s social licence to operate, and how this concept is used in other resource management contexts, such as forestry and agriculture.

Meet your panel:

Professor Bronwyn Harch was appointed the interim Queensland Chief Scientist in October 2022.

With a background in statistics and data science, Professor Harch has significant research and innovation leadership experience. She comes to the position having recently held the role of the Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Vice-President (Research and Innovation) for The University of Queensland.

Professor Harch has also held key leadership roles at both QUT and CSIRO. She holds a Bachelor's Degree in Science (with Honours) in Australian Environmental Studies, a Graduate Diploma in Secondary Teaching and a PhD in biometrics.

Born in Queensland, Professor Harch is passionate about scientific and innovation endeavours that make our communities more secure, resilient and sustainable.

Professor Harch currently serves on several Australian and Queensland boards and advisory committees relating to science and innovation including the Federal Government Co-operative Research Centre Advisory Committee and the Queensland Government Innovation Advisory Council and was elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering in 2015.

Dr Jill Freyne is Deputy Chief Scientist at CSIRO, Australia’s national science agency.

CSIRO solves the greatest challenges through innovative science and technology.

A highly experienced leader in digital health service delivery, Jill is recognised in Australia and internationally for her work in transformative health technology solutions. She is passionate about improving equity and accessibility in the healthcare industry and has extensive experience in leading teams to devise sustainable health innovations.

Jill joined CSIRO in 2013 and has held a number of leadership roles in digital health research, working extensively with government and industry partners. She received her PhD in Computer Science from University College Dublin in Ireland and has held positions at the Clarity Center for Sensor Web technologies and IBM Research, USA.

Professor Kerrie Wilson is the Pro Vice-Chancellor (Sustainability and Research Integrity) at Queensland University of Technology (QUT). Kerrie joined QUT in January 2019 and was the Executive Director of the Institute for Future Environments. Before joining QUT Kerrie was the Director of the Australian Research Council (ARC) Centre of Excellence for Environmental Decisions and an ARC Future Fellow at The University of Queensland. She is also an Affiliated Professor in Conservation Science at The University of Copenhagen, the Australian Natural Sciences Commissioner for UNESCO, a member of the Australian Heritage Council and member of the Reef 2050 Plan Independent Expert Panel. Kerrie has previously held leadership positions with NGOs, including Director of Conservation for The Nature Conservancy Australia.

Kerrie has two decades of experience leading and conducting research into the science, strategy and policy of conservation. She is particularly interested in applied resource allocation problems, such as how to invest limited resources to protect or restore biodiversity and what sociopolitical and institutional factors influence investment success in conservation.

Her research has been published in high impact journals such as Nature and Science and involves collaborations with government agencies and NGOs at local, national and global levels. Kerrie has received numerous national awards, including the Prime Minister's Prize for Life Scientist of the Year, the Australian Academy of Science Nancy Millis Medal for Women in Science, two ARC Research Fellowships and an Australian Museum Eureka Prize for Outstanding Young Researcher.

Kerrie holds a Bachelors in Environmental Science (First Class Honours, awarded in 1999) from UQ and a PhD from The University of Melbourne (2004), undertaken in collaboration with the UN Environment Programme’s World Conservation Monitoring Centre, based in Cambridge.

Professor Kate Schroder has studied the good, bad and ugly of our immune system for 20 years, focusing on how immune responses protect us from infection, but also causes several serious human diseases. Kate is an IMB Laboratory Head, and Director of the IMB Centre for Inflammation and Disease Research.

Kate’s discovery research has revealed how our body mounts an inflammatory response. She is passionate about ensuring her research findings are applied clinically, to ensure patients suffering from inflammation-related diseases can access disease-modifying therapies. Kate and her collaborators developed new anti-inflammatory drug candidates that formed the basis for a University of Queensland biotech start-up company, Inflazome. In 2020, in a landmark deal for academic intellectual property, the pharmaceutical giant Roche acquired Inflazome for AUD$620 million plus milestones. Two drug candidates are now poised for Phase 2 human clinical trials as novel anti-inflammatory therapeutics.

Kate regularly works with industry to guide commercial programs, serving on the Scientific Advisory Boards for biotech and pharmaceutical companies.

Kate is a passionate advocate for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion in academia and helped establish the IMB Women in Science and Technology Fund to assist women in overcoming the barriers to their career progression.

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