Professor Kowal’s expertise in anthropology, ethics, genomics, precision medicine, and the field of interdisciplinary collaboration, is highly sought after to foster collaboration, develop policy, connect communities and transform conversations about the future.

Her undergraduate degrees in Arts and Medicine initiated work as a doctor and public health researcher in Indigenous health in the Northern Territory. Her doctoral research on non-Indigenous people working in Indigenous health led to her book Trapped in the Gap: Doing Good in Indigenous Australia, and her short course, Race, Culture, Indigeneity and the Politics of Disadvantage. Over the past decade the course has trained more than 400 people working in Indigenous policy and program delivery.

Emma joined Deakin in 2014 and is Professor of Anthropology in the Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation. She was central to the creation of Australia’s National Centre for Indigenous Genomics (NCIG) at the Australian National University, the world’s first Indigenous-governed genome facility. In 2018, the Federal Health Minister appointed Emma to the Steering Committee to develop an operational plan for the 500 million dollar Genomics Health Futures Mission. In 2019 she was appointed to the Expert Advisory Committee of the 10-year Mission.

She continues to advise globally on complex ethical questions including the potential for genomics to assist with the repatriation of Indigenous remains, the impact of Indigenous ancestry testing, and the inclusion of Indigenous people in precision medicine. In 2019 she led the development of the first Indigenous genomics training program in Australia, training 30 Indigenous scholars in a field where there is only one qualified Indigenous person in Australia.

In 2017 Emma founded the Deakin Science and Society Network (SSN) attracting more than 50 of the University’s top researchers. In 2018 she developed the SSN’s flagship programs: Interdisciplinary Project Incubator and Interdisciplinary Establishment Scheme to provide early and mid-career researchers with seed funding, mentorship and support for 15 interdisciplinary projects that address environmental, health and data challenges. At Deakin she has also supervised seven interdisciplinary postdoctoral researchers and mentors many others.

Professor Baogang He is Alfred Deakin Professor and Chair in International Relations since 2005, at Deakin University, Australia. Graduated with PhD in Political Science from Australian National University in 1994, Professor He has become widely known for his work in Chinese democratization and politics, in particular the deliberative politics in China.

Professor He has published 7 single-authored books, 63 international refereed journal articles resulting in total Google citation count of 3075 (as of 20 Nov 2016) and Hirsch index of 27. His publications are found in top journals including British Journal of Political Science, Journal of Peace Research, Political Theory, and Perspectives on Politics. In addition, he published 3 books, 15 book chapters and 63 journal papers in Chinese.

Professor He has also held several honorary appointments and research fellowships at renowned universities including Stanford University, University of Cambridge, Columbia University, Leiden and Sussex University.