Partner Engagement and Conference Grant

Dr Amy Bestman

Preparing Health Graduates for an AI-Enabled Workforce: Evidence, Ethics, and Employer Perspectives on Generative AI Competencies​

The project team comprises academics from Public Health, Occupational Health and Safety, and Nutrition and Dietetics from the University of Wollongong, alongside partners from the health sector. Collectively, the team brings expertise in health workforce development, curriculum design, teaching and learning, digital health, health promotion, and stakeholder-engaged research. Team members have extensive experience working with government agencies, community organisations, and professional disciplines to translate evidence into practice. Drawing on both educational and industry perspectives, the team is investigating the knowledge, skills, and ethical capabilities required for graduates to use generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) effectively and responsibly in contemporary health workplaces. This interdisciplinary collaboration supports the development of workforce-informed approaches to curriculum and assessment innovation. 

Research team

• Dr Amy ​Bestman ​
• Dr Megan Hammersley ​
• Bushra ​Khan​
• Dr David ​Noi ​
• Dr Annabel Clancy​
• Professor Kelly Lambert ​

Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health, University of Wollongong​ and partners from the Illawarra Shoalhaven Local Health District​

Dr Elle Coleman

Dr Elle Coleman is an early career mental health and substance use researcher at the University of Wollongong. Her research focuses on improving alcohol and other drug research, treatment, and outcomes through meaningful partnership with people with lived and living experience. Elle has experience across co-designed, qualitative, quantitative and applied research, and completed her PhD in cognitive psychology at UOW in 2026. Elle is particularly interested in research translation, culturally responsive research and teaching practice, and creating more inclusive and impactful research systems.

Project Synopsis

Beyond Participation: Perspectives of Lived and Living Experience Partners in Alcohol and Other Drug Research explores what meaningful research partnership looks like for people with lived and living experience (LLE) of alcohol and other drug use who contribute as research partners. Using a qualitative co-design approach, the project examines LLE partners’ roles, expertise, and experiences of working alongside academic research teams, while building research capacity through embedded LLE researcher roles. The project aims to develop practical guidance for more ethical, inclusive and non-tokenistic partnerships in AOD research, supporting research conducted by and with people with lived experience rather than simply about or for them.

Research team

• Associate Professor Jacqui Cameron
• Associate Professor Briony Larance
• Dr Chloe Haynes
• Associate Professor Peter Kelly
• Robert and Jennifer from Nada
• Francine Campbell

Dr Yuwei Sun

Dr Yuwei (Essie) Sun is a researcher and casual Associate Lecturer at the University of Wollongong whose research focuses on human interaction with generative artificial intelligence (GenAI), particularly the individual, cultural, and behavioural factors that shape how people perceive and use AI. Her current research examines how university students from different cultural backgrounds position GenAI in their learning and how these pre-existing orientations shape their responses to AI literacy training. In a related interdisciplinary study in China, she is also investigating the neurocognitive processes associated with different patterns of GenAI engagement among postgraduate medical students using fMRI and semi-structured interviews. Across these projects, her research seeks to understand why individuals develop different relationships with GenAI and how these differences can inform more responsible, ethical, and context-sensitive approaches to AI use and education. 

Project Synopsis

This project examines how first-year undergraduate students at the University of Wollongong (UOW) from different cultural backgrounds position generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) within their learning, and how these pre-existing positions shape their responses to GenAI literacy training. Using two semi-structured interviews conducted before the training and at the end of the semester, the study explores students’ prior experiences with GenAI, the changes they expect from the training, and how their reported learning behaviours subsequently develop. The project also considers both responsible and ethical uses of GenAI and potential unintended behavioural consequences of increased GenAI literacy. The findings aim to support more responsive and context-sensitive approaches to GenAI literacy education in higher education. 

Research team

• Dr Nikolas Johnston
• Adjunct Professor Jon Billsberry
• Dr Nicholas Geraghty
• Dr Jody Gorman
• Dr Jiahe Chen 

Dr Lei Deng

Dr Lei Deng is currently an ARC DECRA Fellow and Research Fellow at the School of Engineering, EIS, UOW. He received his PhD from UOW in July 2021. Dr. Deng’s research focuses on magnetorheological technology, vibration control, EV transmission systems and robotics. He has published 55 papers in peer-reviewed journals, attracted over 1,780 citations with an h-index of 20.

Dr Deng is a recipient of one ARC DECRA grant, one ARC Discovery Project grant, and one ARC Linkage Project grant. His achievements have also been recognised by the award of Emerging Leaders in the Journal of Smart Materials and Structures, and four conference awards.

Project synopsis

This project aims to develop an innovative vibration control system that reduces the vibration of building structures subjected to earthquakes and strong winds. It outperforms existing passive, semi-active, and active control in vibration reduction performance, system simplicity, energy consumption, stability and fail-safety. The research gathers an interdisciplinary team with complementary expertise across smart materials and structures, vibration control, structural engineering, and building protection. The expected outcomes of this project include the development of a quasi-active control algorithm, a prototype quasi-active tuned mass damper, and numerical simulation and experimental evaluation of the proposed method on a lab-scale building structure. This project will enrich the vibration control theory and promote the application of building vibration control strategies in real-world settings, contributing to safer, more sustainable and more climate-resilient buildings. 

Research team

• Dr Yuekai Xie
• Dr Matthew Daniel Christie

Dr Mostafa Khatami

Dr Mostafa Khatami is a Senior Lecturer in Business Analytics at the University of Wollongong, School of Business. His research lies at the intersection of Operations Research and Computer Science, with a particular focus on optimisation, business analytics, and data-driven decision-making. He develops analytical methods to address complex scheduling, facility location, inventory, and supply chain problems, primarily in healthcare and transportation. His research has been published in leading Operations Research and Management Science journals, including Production and Operations Management, European Journal of Operational Research, and Transportation Research Part A. In recognition of his research contributions, he received the Australian Society for Operations Research (ASOR) Rising Star Award in 2023.

Project synopsis

This project develops optimisation-based blood inventory management policies tailored to the operational realities of hospitals. Blood supply chains are inherently complex due to uncertain demand, limited shelf life, and blood type compatibility constraints, with O-negative blood facing particular pressure because of its universal donor status. Existing ordering and substitution practices are often based on simple rules or historical protocols and may not fully reflect demand patterns or supply constraints. The project will design and evaluate policies for blood ordering, inventory replenishment, and substitution across all blood types, while investigating strategies to reduce unnecessary reliance on O-negative blood without compromising patient safety. The project will deliver evidence-based decision support tools and practical guidelines to improve blood inventory management, strengthen supply resilience, and support more efficient use of scarce blood resources.

Research team

• Dr Nicholas Geraghty
• Gemma McErlean (UTS)
• Neil Pennock (TLR Foundations).

Dr Narmilan Amarasingam

Dr Narmilan Amarasingam is an Associate Research Fellow with Securing Antarctica’s Environmental Future (SAEF) at the University of Wollongong. His research combines GeoAI, remote sensing, and drone and satellite imagery to address environmental monitoring challenges, with a particular focus on Antarctic vegetation. He develops multi-scale approaches that use artificial intelligence to translate detailed observations collected by drones into broader landscape-scale information from satellites. His research also spans invasive species detection, precision agriculture, hydrology, and multisensor environmental monitoring.

Project synopsis – A Spatiotemporal Analysis of Antarctic Vegetation Using GeoAI

Antarctic moss and lichen communities are highly sensitive to changes in moisture availability, snowmelt and other environmental conditions, making them important indicators of ecosystem change. This project develops an integrated GeoAI and hydrological framework to improve understanding and monitoring of Antarctic vegetation across spatial and temporal scales. High-resolution drone imagery and satellite observations are combined with deep learning to map vegetation distribution and condition, while a drone-to-satellite approach investigates how detailed ecological information can be scaled from local observations to broader landscapes. The project also examines how hydrological processes—including water availability, snowmelt, surface moisture and terrain-related water movement—influence vegetation patterns and condition. Spatial statistical modelling and independent validation are used to assess these relationships and the reliability of vegetation predictions. By bringing together GeoAI, remote sensing, hydrology, spatial statistics and Antarctic ecology, the project aims to move beyond simply mapping where vegetation occurs towards understanding the environmental processes shaping its distribution and change. Ultimately, the framework will support scalable, evidence-based monitoring of Antarctic ecosystem condition and resilience under a changing climate.

Research team

• Dr Bradley Wakefield
• Dr Kimberlee Baldry
• Dr Jane Wasley

Dr Olivia Wills

Dr Olivia Wills is an Accredited Practising Dietitian (APD), Associate Lecturer and Associate Research Fellow in the School of Medical, Indigenous and Health Sciences at the University of Wollongong.

Olivia's work integrates clinical dietetics, research and health professional education to advance evidence-based nutrition practice and support the development of future dietitians. Her research focuses on modifiable lifestyle behaviours and neurological health, with a particular emphasis on translating emerging evidence into practical, person-centred strategies that enhance health outcomes and quality of life for people living with neurodegenerative disease.

Alongside her research, Olivia is actively involved in teaching across undergraduate and postgraduate nutrition and dietetics programs and draws on more than five years of experience in private dietetic practice to connect research, clinical care and education.

Project synopsis

While nuts are recognised as an important component of brain-healthy dietary patterns and are rich in nutrients relevant to metabolic and neurological health, their intake has been difficult to quantify accurately, particularly when consumed as ingredients within mixed foods. Australia’s first nut-specific food composition database was developed by our team in 2018; however, it no longer reflected the current food supply or the expanded nutrient data available in the most recent Food Nutrient Composition Database (AUSNUT) released in September 2025. With support from a 2025 AEC Conference Small Grant, we successfully updated the Australian Nut Food Composition Database using AUSNUT 2023 and contemporary food supply information, ensuring it is fit-for-purpose for future nut intake research.

The resulting database is a ready-to-use resource that enables more accurate estimation of nut intake in both clinical and population-based research, strengthening investigations into the relationship between nut consumption, cardiometabolic health, brain health, disease burden, and wellbeing. The updated database has broad applications across nutrition and public health research, and completion of this project has already generated new opportunities for translation and impact.

Building on this work, our team was successful in securing a contract research grant with industry partners to apply the updated database in population nutrition research. In addition, we plan to submit an incubator grant to apply the database to specific clinical populations, one being multiple sclerosis, to better understand the role of nut consumption in disease outcomes. The project has also strengthened national and international collaborations among early- and mid-career researchers with expertise in nut research, clinical dietetics, coding, and statistics, establishing a strong team for future interdisciplinary research.

Research team

• Dr James Dorey
• Professor Yasmine Probst
• Dr Elizabeth Neale
• Dr Sze Yen Tan
• Dr Tyler J Titcomb
• Dr Cassandra Nikodijevic

Dr Peng Zheng

Dr Peng Zheng is a neuroscientist and Lecturer in the School of Medical, Indigenous and Health Sciences at the University of Wollongong, where he completed his PhD in 2021. His research focuses on why the brain's wiring breaks down in schizophrenia, and how do we repair it. 
He designed a molecule that reverses the loss of connections between brain cells, and is now testing a millimetre-scale wireless implant that aims to do the same job with electricity. He leads a UK Biobank project (2025–2028) testing these ideas against health data from half a million people, and has published 28 papers cited more than 1,000 times.

Project synopsis

Around a third of people with schizophrenia don't respond to antipsychotics, and current drugs don't reverse the underlying neuropathology. We validated a millimetre-scale, battery-free wireless stimulator that significantly increased neurite length in human midbrain neurons, and developed a DISC1-mutant neuronal model of treatment-resistant schizophrenia in which to test it.

Research team

• Dr Ying Zhou
• Dr Xiao Liu
• Professor Ming-Dou Ker

Dr Sarah Digan

Dr Sarah Digan is a Senior Lecturer in Science Education at the University of Wollongong. She holds a PhD in Earth Science from UNSW and has more than 12 years’ experience across secondary science teaching and university-level biodiversity education. Her research focuses on data literacy, climate change education, scientific reasoning and human–AI collaboration. She is particularly interested in how teachers and students use authentic scientific data and generative AI to evaluate evidence, address complex problems and make informed decisions. Her current research is developing curriculum-aligned approaches that prepare teachers and students for the growing role of data science and artificial intelligence in STEM education.

Project synopsis - Human–AI Collaboration in Data-Driven Complex Problem-Solving for Climate Change Adaptation

Preparing students for a data-rich, AI-enabled STEM future requires more than simply providing access to new technologies. Responding to the increased emphasis on Data Science, climate change and evidence-based decision-making in the new NSW Science 7–10 syllabus, this interdisciplinary pilot investigated how pre-service secondary science teachers collaborated with generative AI during a complex climate-change adaptation task.

Working in six groups, 16 participants used authentic species-occurrence and regional climate-projection data to assess the future survival and adaptation of locally endangered Illawarra species. The task was delivered through a specifically designed website, www.stemhub.ai. Group discussions, screen recordings, chatbot histories, interviews and student work provided insight into participants’ data practices, scientific reasoning and engagement with AI.

Preliminary findings showed that the richest reasoning occurred through peer discussion, while AI was used mainly to retrieve and clarify information rather than as a genuine reasoning partner. The project therefore highlights the importance of human-led reasoning, deliberate pedagogical scaffolding and explicit evaluation of AI outputs. These findings are now informing research with practising teachers and the future implementation of AI-supported data inquiry in secondary science classrooms.

Research team

• Dr Sarah Digan, School of Education, University of Wollongong
• Associate Professor Helen Georgiou, School of Education, University of Wollongong
• Dr Katharina Peters, School of Science, University of Wollongong
• Dr Andrew Zamecnik, Centre for Change and Complexity in Learning, University of Adelaide

Dr Wendy Cun

Wendy Yuhan Cun received her Bachelor of Medicinal Chemistry in 2019 and completed her PhD on the synthesis of novel anti-sporulation cephalomycins for the treatment of vancomycin-resistant Clostridioides difficile at the University of Wollongong in 2023. Her current research focuses on modifications of marine-derived biopolymers for tissue engineering and wound healing, as well as the development of encapsulation methods for potential applications in controlled-release treatments of spinal cord injury. She has extensive expertise in organic synthesis, biopolymer functionalisation, controlled drug release, and cell-based in vitro testing.

Project synopsis

This project aims to develop advanced wound healing biomaterials from marine-derived polysaccharides, with a particular focus on ulvan extracted from an unique Australian green seaweed. Ulvan possesses structural similarities to human glycosaminoglycans, making it a promising candidate for promoting tissue regeneration while providing inherent antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties.

The research investigates chemical modification and formulation strategies to enhance the physicochemical and biological performance of ulvan-based biomaterials. These materials are designed for use as wound dressings and drug delivery platforms that can support tissue repair, reduce inflammation, and improve healing outcomes. The project includes comprehensive material characterisation alongside in vitro evaluation of cytocompatibility, antioxidant activity, reactive oxygen species (ROS) scavenging, and immunomodulatory responses using relevant cell models.

By integrating sustainable marine resources with biomaterials engineering, this research seeks to develop clinically translatable wound care technologies that address the growing need for effective treatments for burns and chronic wounds while contributing to the advancement of marine bioproducts in regenerative medicine.

Research team

Dr Hongda Lu & team