MEET THE
SPEAKERS
PLENARY SPEAKERS
KAY DOUBLE
Professor of Neuroscience, The University of Sydney
ANS ELSPETH MCLACHLAN PLENARY LECTURE
PRESENTATION TITLE: Alchemy and the brain - biometals, molecules and disease
MARTA GARRIDO
Professor in Psychology, Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences
ANS LAWRIE AUSTIN PLENARY LECTURE
PRESENTATION TITLE: THE INSIGHT OF BLINDSIGH: brain shortcuts for (e)motion perception
BARRY DICKSON
NHMRC Leadership Fellow, Queensland Brain Institute
ANS PLENARY LECTURE
PRESENTATION TITLE: Neural circuits for spatial navigation in Drosophila
JOHN CRYAN
Professor & Chair, Anatomy & Neuroscience, University College Cork
Principal Investigator, APC Microbiome Institute
ANS INTERNATIONAL PLENARY LECTURE
PRESENTATION TITLE: Gut Feelings: The Microbiome as a Key Regulator of Brain & Behaviour Across the Lifespan
John F. Cryan is Professor and Chair of the Department of Anatomy & Neuroscience at University College Cork (UCC) and has served as Vice President for Research & Innovation since 2021. He is also a Principal Investigator at the APC Microbiome Institute. He holds a BSc in Biochemistry and a PhD in Pharmacology from the University of Galway, Ireland. He was a visiting fellow at the University of Melbourne. In 1996/1997 and completed postdoctoral training at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia and The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla. He spent four years as a Group Leader at Novartis in Basel before returning to Ireland and UCC in 2005.
His research focuses on the microbiome-gut–brain axis and its role in stress, psychiatric, and immune-related disorders across the lifespan. He is co-author of the bestselling book The Psychobiotic Revolution and serves on more than 15 different editorial boards.
Prof. Cryan has received numerous international awards and was elected to the Royal Irish Academy in 2017. A past president of the European Behavioural Pharmacology Society, he is currently Treasurer of European College of Neuropsychopharmacology. An avid science communicator he has delivered TEDMED and TEDx talks and was featured in the Netflix documentary Hack Your Health: The Secrets of the Gut.
BRONWYN GRAHAM
Professor in Psychology, UNSW Sydney
Director, Centre for Sex & Gender Equity in Health & Medicine at the George Institute for Global Health
BPA ISAAC SCHWEITZER LECTURE
PRESENTATION TITLE: TBC
Bronwyn Graham is a Professor in the School of Psychology at UNSW Sydney and the inaugural Director of the Centre for Sex & Gender Equity in Health & Medicine at the George Institute for Global Health. A clinical psychologist and behavioural neuroscientist, Bronwyn has dedicated her career to improving women’s mental health by researching how the female brain regulates emotions and translating the findings to clinical settings and beyond. Her work has led to new practice guidelines for treating anxiety disorders in women, and RACGP-accredited training programs for mental health care professionals. At the Centre, Bronwyn’ team has led policy changes to improve the integration of sex and gender considerations in medical research and healthcare, and raised awareness of sex and gender differences in health and disease amongst researchers, health practitioners, and the general public. Bronwyn is funded by the Australian Research Council, the National Health & Medical Research Council, the Welcome Trust, and she has held numerous national and international fellowships. She has published over 90 research articles and chapters, and has supervised over 40 honours and postgraduate students.
TREVOR STEWARD
Associate Professor, University of Melbourne
Director, Brain and Mental Health Hub
BPA AUBREY LEWIS AWARD
PRESENTATION TITLE: TBC
Trevor Steward is an Associate Professor at the University of Melbourne and Director of the Brain and Mental Health Hub, where he leads interdisciplinary research on the brain mechanisms that contribute to transdiagnostic mental health symptoms. His work has a strong focus on eating disorders, with a track record of designing and directing large research programs, mentoring emerging scientists, and building collaborative research networks that bridge psychology, psychiatry, and neuroscience. He is the co-author of over 110 publications, including in leading journals such as Molecular Psychiatry, Nature Mental Health, and Biological Psychiatry.
