Faculty of Science

Educational Qualifications and Employment:

• PhD (UNSW)
• M.Clin.Psych. (Macquarie University)
• 2005-Current: SenioLecturer, School of Psychology, University of Sydney
• 2003-2005: Royce Abbey Postdoctoral Research Fellow. Fellowship awarded by the Australian Rotary Health Research Fund, undertaken at Macquarie University
• 2000-2002: Completed postgraduate studies part-time while working as a Clinical Research Assistant at the Macquarie University Anxiety Research Unit

Professional Affiliations and Roles

• Registered Psychologist with Specialisation in Clinical Psychology (Reg. No: PSY0001045344)
• Founding Member, Australian Clinical Psychology Association
• ACPA, Professional Standards and Membership Committee
• Australian Association of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy
• Anxiety Practitioners Network
• Former Position on APS College of Clinical Psychologists, NSW Executive Committee

I am a plant developmental biologist passionate about understanding how plants translate genetic information into complex biological structures. I am originally from Egypt, where I earned a BSc and an MSc in Agricultural Genetics from Al-Azhar University and Cairo University, respectively. My academic journey brought me to India, where I completed a PhD in Cell and Developmental Biology under the supervision of Prof. Usha Vijayraghavan at the Indian Institute of Science — one of Asia's most prestigious research institutions. Following my PhD, I was appointed as a lecturer at Al-Azhar University, Egypt, and then as a visiting assistant professor at IISc. In late 2025, I relocated to Australia to join the University of Sydney as a Postdoctoral scientist in Heisler's group.

My research focus is floral development — a field at the intersection of fundamental developmental biology and the broader questions of how plant form and function are encoded and regulated at the molecular levels. I am fascinated by the precision with which flowers develop, and by the genetic and molecular mechanisms that underpin the spatial and temporal decisions that give rise to their architecture. This curiosity drives my current work investigating the molecular mechanisms that govern floral ground plans in Arabidopsis, using genetic perturbation tools, transgenic fluorescent reporter lines, and live imaging approaches to understand how developmental decisions are dictated at the molecular and cellular levels.

Dr Adhikari began his career in plant breeding as an assistant wheat breeder in Nepal after completing a Bachelor's degree with Honours from the Harayana Agricultural University, India. He obtained his Masters from the University of Manitoba, Canada in plant breeding and a PhD from the University of Sydney in genetics of cereal rust. After his PhD, he has been committed to grain legume (lupins, field pea and faba bean) research as a breeder. Dr Adhikari worked as a plant breeder for more than 14 years in Western Australia, firstly at the University of Western Australia and later at the State Department of Agriculture and Food. He has released three varieties of lupins and the same number of varieties of faba beans in Australia. His varieteies are well received by farmers and almost all area of faba bean in northern NSW and southern Queensland is under his varieteies. Along with the increased grain yield and quality, breeding for resistance to diseases, such as rust and bean leaf roll virus; and abiotic stresses such as frost, drought and heat tolerance have been his main focus. He joined the University of Sydney in 2010 as a grain legume breeder.

BAnVetBioSc (Hons I) PhD (Science)

Dr Jessica Agius is a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the Sydney School of Veterinary Science, University of Sydney, focusing on the integration of disease ecology and epidemiology to investigate microbial spillover risk, particulalry at the wild–domestic animal interface. Previously, she held a postdoctoral appointment in Pathogen Genomics at the Centre for Infectious Diseases and Microbiology – Public Health and the Sydney Infectious Diseases Institute (Sydney ID). She served as a project lead for the invasive pneumococcal disease stream within the translational Australian Pathogen Genomics Program (AusPathoGen) and contributed to multiple foundational research initiatives within the program, spanning priority communicable pathogens including Salmonella, Shigella, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, and invasive Group A Streptococcus.

Jessica graduated with a Bachelor's degree in Animal and Veterinary Bioscience (Hons I) from the University of Sydney in 2016. She completed a PhD (Science) in 2021 which involved a collaboration with the University of Sydney, Westmead Institute for Medical Research, and the Australian Registry of Wildlife Health, Taronga Conservation Society Australia. Her research investigated and characterised a novel, emergent Enterococcus bacterium (Enterococcus lacertideformus) threatening two species of critically endangered and extinct in the wild reptiles endemic to Christmas Island, an external territory of Australia. In addition to this novel discovery, her research examined broader health issues of Christmas Island reptiles, with a particular focus on viruses and parasites. During the course of her PhD she spent extended periods undertaking laboratory-based investigations and fieldwork on Christmas Island.

Francois Aguey-Zinsou is Professor of Chemistry at the University of Sydney, where he leads the MERLin (Materials Energy Research Laboratory in nanoscale) group- School of Chemistry and with 20 years experience, he is one of the leading experts in hydrogen technologies,advising many key stakeholders.

Francois Aguey-Zinsou is Director of the Australian Association for Hydrogen Energy, Vice-President of the Australian French Association for Research and Innovation, Co-director of the Australian-French Research Network FACES and the ARC Training Centre for Hydrogen GlobH2E, and Chief Investigator of Hy-Supply. He is also the President and CTO of H2potential.

Francois Aguey-Zinsou hold 3 master degrees, in Physics, Physical Chemistry, and Material Science. After completing his PhD in 2001 in heterogeneous catalysis under the supervision of Prof Michel Che, he worked with Prof. Paul Bernhardt on bio-electrochemistry at the University of Queensland. In 2003, he joined the research centre Helmholtz-Zentrum Hereon in Germany and worked on the development of advanced materials for hydrogen storage with Prof. Thomas Klassen. In 2005, he moved to Queen Mary University London with Prof. Xiao Guo and later to University College London where he supported research projects on hydrogen, biofuel cells, and biomaterials.

He returned to Australia in 2009 and created MERLin within the School of Chemical Engineering at The University of New South Wales (Sydney). Francois Aguey-Zinsou developed several world first including hydrogen bikes and BBQ. He is co-founder and director of H2potential. H2Potential is a consulting company focused on Hydrogen. H2potential provides expert, independent advice and identify emerging technologies, innovative use-cases and appropriate partners that result in lower implementation risks and faster return on investment.

Francois Aguey-Zinsou serves/served on the editorial/advisory boards of 5 international journals, and was one of the founding members of the Energy Future Conferences. He has received many awards, including the 2018 Australia's Most Innovative Engineers award and the 2014 ICheme ChemEng365 award, and was finalist of the 2017 Make the Planet Great Again Call, the 2017 and 2015 Australian Museum Eureka Prizes in Excellence in research innovation

Publication record

> 200 publications, including 20 patents/patent applications and 2 book chapters

I am a Magma Research Associate at the Magma Group, working in combinatorics and computational algebra and their applications. My research focuses on the interaction between combinatorial structures and their geometric realisations as polyhedra. I combine theoretical approaches with extensive use of computer algebra systems, in particular Magma, as well as GAP and related tools. Alongside my research, I value student supervision and collaborative work. I enjoy operating at the interface of pure mathematics and its applications.

Dr Anna Aksamit is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Mathematics and Statistics at the University of Sydney. She completed her PhD at the University of Évry Val d’Essonne and subsequently held a postdoctoral research position at the University of Oxford. From 2020 to 2023, she was awarded an ARC Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (DECRA) to support her research in probability and mathematical finance. She is currently a Chief Investigator on an ARC Discovery Project grant and continues to develop an active research program in stochastic processes and financial mathematics.

Dhahi is a postdoctoral researcher in the School of Life & Environmental Science, the University of Sydney. Dhahi's research interests are in modelling (e.g. crop yield and crop type models) in space and time. Dhahi has completed his master's degree in science in agriculture at the University of New England (Armidale, NSW, Australia), and a PhD at the University of Sydney.

Current & Previous Appointments

2013-present, Professor,School of Psychology, University of Sydney.

2008-2012 QEII Research Fellow, School of Psychology, University of Sydney.

2005-2007 Australian Research Fellow, School of Psychology, University of Sydney.

2003-2005 Australian Research Fellow, School of Medical Sciences, University of Sydney.

2000-2002 Marie Curie Fellow, European Commission, Institute of Neurophysiology, Pisa, Italy.

1998-2000 Research Fellow, Human Frontiers Science Programme, College de France, Paris, France.

1996-1998 Postdoctoral Fellow, Vanderbilt Vision Research Center, Vanderbilt University, USA.

Dr Tristram Alexander is a Professor in the School of Physics. He is trained as a theoretical physicist, completing his PhD under Professor Yuri Kivshar at the Nonlinear Physics Centre (ANU) in the area of nonlinear wave dynamics in optics and Bose-Einstein condensations. He currently works in the fields of nonlinear dynamics and complex systems.

Ariella Arzey is a Research Associate working with the Geocoastal Research Group (GRG) in the School of Geosciences. She investigates past climates and environments of reefs, with her current focus on Hawaiian drowned reefs.

She was a PhD candidate at the University of Wollongong where she investigated the palaeoenvironment of the Great Barrier Reef over the Holocene using coral records.

A/Prof Ashe is a molecular biologist working in the areas of epigenetics and small RNA molecules. She uses a combination of genetic engineering, microscopy, bioinformatics and some structural biology techniques to understand how epigenetic gene regulation occurs in a range of species.

Rajitha Athukorala is a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the Precision Agriculture, Hydrology and Geo Information Sciences Laboratory (PAHGISL) He received his PhD through the ARC Center for Data Analytics for Resources and Environment (DARE) at the University of Sydney. His research focus is on interpretable probabilistic machine learning methods in hydrology.

Previously, he has worked as a Research Associate at Geoinformatics Center (GIC), Asian Institute of Technology (AIT) in Thailand focusing on remotes sensing and GIS applications for real world problems.

Rajitha has past involvements in projects related to climate projection, modelling, and downscaling, multi hazard risk assessment, and mapping with drones in several countries of central and southeast Asia.

He has also involved in several capacity building programs as a technical lead in remote sensing and GIS applications in agriculture, disaster risk management, and drone image processing for participants from India, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Thailand, Laos, and Tajikistan.

1999 - 2004: BSc at the Faculty of Applied Mathematics and Computer Science, Belarusian State University, Belarus

2005 - 2007: PhD at the University of York, UK

2008 - 2011: Research assistant at the University of York

2011 - 2014: Lecturer at Durham University, UK

2014 - 2017: Reader at Durham University, UK

Dr. Bailey obtained his PhD in Physics at the University of Southampton in 2019 as part of the EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in New and Sustainable Photovoltaics (CDT-PV). Following this, he became a Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) as part of the ARC Centre of Excellence in Exciton Science, where he worked on electron spin resonance and magneto-optical characterisation of novel materials. He is now a Research Fellow at the School of Physics in the University of Sydney, and his main research interest lies in the characterisation of next-generation optoelectronic materials.

• B.A. Reed College, 2010
• PhD University of Texas at Austin, 2015
• National Institutes of Health Postdoctoral Fellowship, University of California, Berkeley and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, 2016-2018
• Assistant Professor, University of Tennessee-Knoxville, 2018-2023
• Senior Lecturer, University of Sydney, 2023-Present

Dr. Constance Bailey is a Senior Lecturer and group leader in the School of Chemistry. She completed her PhD at the University of Texas at Austin investigating the enzymology and biocatalytic applications of polyketide synthases and pursued a National Institutes of Health Postdoctoral Fellowship at UC Berkeley, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and the Joint BioEnergy Institute where she investigated bioengineering and synthetic biology applications of polyketide synthases. Prior to starting at the University of Sydney she was an Assistant Professor of Chemistry at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville.

The Bailey group uses a combination of biochemical and synthetic biology approaches to better understand how to engineer the biosynthesis of natural products such as antibiotics. Her research focuses both on the enzymology of complex natural products as well as developing strategies to improve heterologous expression and accelerate "design, build, test, learn" cycles for bioengineering applications both for new medicinal applications as well as to generate new bioproducts.

Elaine is the Director of the South East Asian Marine Resources Initiative - an Australian Government funded project extending our partnership with neighbours to address global priority issues. The programme supports the sustainable development of marine resources, delivering demand driven activities in partnership with scientists and policy makers from five countries in the region (Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, the Philippines and Brunei).  

In the Pacific Professor Baker is a co­founder of the Pacific Maritime Boundaries collaboration, which includes the University of Sydney, GRID­ Arendal, SOPAC/SPC, Geoscience Australia, the Pacific Forum Fisheries Association, the Australian Attorney Generals Department, the Commonwealth Secretariat and 14 Pacific Islands States. Since 2008 scientific, technical and diplomatic personnel have been meeting twice a year at the University to prepare claims for extended continental shelf under article 76 of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and more recently to negotiate and prepare national legislation for shared maritime boundaries.

Elaine is also a director of the GRID-Arendal office at the University. GRID, an Norwegian environmental organisation, is an official collaborating centre of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

• 2016 Professor in Conservation Biology, SOLES
• 2011 Associate Professor, School of Biological Sciences, USYD
• 2010 Associate Professor, School of BEES, UNSW
• 2005 Senior Lecturer, School of BEES, UNSW
• 1999 Lecturer, School of Biological Sciences, UNSW
• 1998 Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Turku, Finland
• 1997 PhD, USYD
• 1991 BSc, USYD

I joined the University of Sydney in March 2025 as the director of the Poultry Research Foundation (PRF), a level 2 Research Centre. With a PhD in poultry nutrition and gut health, I come from a significant monogastric research background primarily on poultry species. My previous research leadership experience includes leading a research group specialised in pigs and poultry within the public sector (SARDI) while undertaking significant research in poultry as my primary role. At the PRF, my role is to lead our centre to continue its role as a world leading research centre with excellence in poultry research. In addition, I undertake research in the field of nutrition and gut health to improve performance and productivity of poultry.

Dr Kirsten Barnes is a Senior Research Fellow and ARC DECRA recipient at the School of Psychology. Her research combines experimental, neurophysiological (e.g., transcranial magnetic stimulation, electroencephalography), and applied research methods to understand how psychological factors (such as expectations and anxiety) impact health outcomes, including pain, nausea, and medication side effects.

Qualifications

PhD Psychology, University of Cambridge

MA Psychology, University of London (Distinction)

BSc Experimental Psychology, University of Bristol (First Class Hons)

Employment

Senior Research Fellow, University of Sydney (2026 - current)

Postdoctoral Research Fellow, University of New South Wales (2022 - 2026)

Postdoctoral Research Associate, University of Sydney (2017 - 2022)