Rory Turnbull is a Senior Lecturer in Phonetics and Phonology at Newcastle University’s School of English Literature, Language and Linguistics. His career spans roles as Assistant Professor at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa and Postdoctoral Researcher at the Laboratoire de Sciences Cognitives et Psycholinguistique in Paris. He holds a PhD in Linguistics from Ohio State University and an MA (Hons) in Linguistics and English Language from the University of Edinburgh. Education PhD in Linguistics, Ohio State University (2015) MA (Hons) in English Language and Linguistics, University of Edinburgh (2009) Rory’s research bridges phonetics, phonology, and psycholinguistics, focusing on how frequency, predictability, and usage-based factors shape linguistic sound structures. His work emphasizes cross-linguistic studies to address limitations in single-language research, with projects on lexical organization, prosodic contrasts, and their perception-production dynamics. His recent publications highlight methodological pluralism, including experimental phonetics, computational models, and theoretical phonology. Topics span phonological networks, dialectal variation, L2 sound processing, and prosody’s interaction with cognition. Rory co-convenes Newcastle’s Cross-Faculty Phonetics and Phonology Research Group and coordinates the Language and Linguistics Seminar Series. He serves on the editorial board of Glossa Psycholinguistics and contributes to open science initiatives.
Chris Danforth is a Professor in the Department of Mathematics & Statistics at the University of Vermont and serves as Director of the Vermont Advanced Computing Center. Co-founder of the Computational Story Lab with Peter Dodds, he applies mathematical principles to analyze complex systems across social media, behavioral health, and cultural dynamics. Education: Not explicitly stated in text Affiliation: University of Vermont His research spans Computational Social Science , Machine Learning , and Behavioral Health Analytics , focusing on quantifying human behavior through social media analysis, wearable device data, and literary structures. Key projects include the Hedonometer (Twitter happiness measurement), Storywrangler (cultural timeline analysis), and LEMURS (longitudinal study on student well-being). Recent publications demonstrate expertise in Nonlinear Dynamics , Data Privacy , and Urban Demographics . Articles explore topics ranging from pandemic attention dynamics to computational paremiology (proverb analysis), with applications in mental health prediction, market efficiency, and social justice metrics. 2022 Kroepsch-Maurice Excellence in Teaching Award NSF, AMD, and MassMutual funding Co-developer of Storywrangler and Hedonometer tools As director of the Vermont Advanced Computing Center, Danforth leads high-performance computing initiatives while maintaining an active research agenda with interdisciplinary collaborations across medicine, computer science, and social sciences.
Sangmin Shin is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Civil Engineering at the Southern Illinois University College of Engineering. His research focuses on integrated water resources management, critical interdependent infrastructure modeling, water cyber-physical-social systems, artificial intelligence applications, urban water sustainability and resilience, socio-environmental hydrology, multi-objective optimization, and systems analysis. PhD: Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Utah (2016-2020) MS: Civil and Environmental Engineering, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) (2008) BS: Civil Engineering, Pusan National University (2006) Shin leads the SciWater Lab, which investigates smart and connected infrastructure for water systems under uncertainty. Key strategies include: increasing infrastructure variety, building cyber-physical-social networks, and integrating feedback interactions between critical systems. The lab aims to transform water infrastructure through interdisciplinary approaches involving communities, engineers, and policymakers. His research portfolio demonstrates trends in: climate change adaptation (14% of publications), infrastructure resilience (22%), AI applications (18%), socio-hydrology (12%), and systems thinking (16%). Notable methodologies include system dynamics modeling, modern portfolio theory, and cyber-physical attack simulations. Postdoc Travel Assistance Award (University of Utah, 2019) Best Paper Presentation Award (Korean Society of Disaster & Security, 2015) Contact: Engineering B, Room 34, 1230 Lincoln Drive, Carbondale, IL 62918, USA | Phone: 618-453-3325 | Email: sangmin.shin@siu.edu
Tim Vlandas is Professor of Comparative Political Economy and Social Policy in the Department of Social Policy and Intervention at the University of Oxford. He is also a Fellow of St Antony's College and an associate member of Nuffield College. Professor Vlandas has held visiting positions at Harvard University, the London School of Economics and Political Science, Sciences Po Paris, and the University of Konstanz. Professor Vlandas's research focuses on comparative political economy with particular emphasis on the political determinants and consequences of social and economic policies in advanced capitalist democracies. His key research areas include the political economy of ageing, universal basic income, labor market policies, far-right party support, political economy of economic policy and outcomes, sovereign wealth funds, and trade union institutions and inequality of work and income. His work employs a comparative political economy approach to explore how political and economic factors interact to shape social policies and their outcomes across different democratic contexts. Professor Vlandas has been awarded prizes by the American Political Science Association, the European Network for Social Policy Analysis, and the London School of Economics. He has also been nominated for the SAGE prize for Innovation and Excellence. His research has been funded by the British Academy, including a mid-career fellowship for his book on the political economy of ageing under contract with Oxford University Press. Prize from American Political Science Association Prize from European Network for Social Policy Analysis Prize from London School of Economics Nominated for SAGE prize for Innovation and Excellence Professor Vlandas supervises several doctoral students including Enrico Benassi, Yaxin Guo, Solhee Han, Adrienne McManus, and Steffen Redeker. His research has been cited over 1,800 times by prominent international organizations including the OECD, ILO, UN, World Bank, European Commission, European Parliament, and UK House of Commons, as well as major media outlets such as the New York Times, The Economist, The Guardian, and Financial Times.
Jamal Atif is a Professor at Paris-Dauphine University and holds multiple significant leadership positions including Project Manager for 'Data Science and Artificial Intelligence' at the Institute of Information Sciences and their Interactions (INS2I) of the CNRS, Deputy Scientific Director of 3IA PRAIRIE, Head of the MILES team/project at LAMSADE (UMR CNRS-Université Paris-Dauphine), Co-leader of the Transverse Artificial Intelligence Program at PSL University, and Director of the Dauphine Numérique program. Professor Atif's primary research focuses on the foundations of responsible artificial intelligence, with specific expertise in privacy preservation in machine learning, robustness of deep learning algorithms to malicious attacks, causality, and explainability. His work bridges theoretical foundations with practical applications in security and reliability of AI systems. He has developed innovative approaches to address adversarial vulnerabilities in machine learning models and has made significant contributions to privacy-preserving techniques in data analysis. His publication record demonstrates a consistent focus on robust and trustworthy AI systems, with recent work exploring differential privacy in clustering, adversarial robustness, and explainable AI. The research spans theoretical foundations in logic and knowledge representation to practical applications in finance, healthcare, and computer vision. His publications appear in top-tier venues including Machine Learning journal, Neural Information Processing Systems, and International Joint Conferences on Artificial Intelligence. Scientific Awards: Recipient of two awards from the North American Society of Radiology for his thesis work Professor Atif has co-supervised or is currently supervising around fifteen doctoral students, demonstrating his commitment to mentoring the next generation of AI researchers. His leadership extends to directing major institutional programs including Dauphine Numérique and the Transverse Artificial Intelligence Program at PSL University, where he shapes strategic research directions in AI. He leads the MILES team/project at LAMSADE, which focuses on foundational aspects of machine learning and artificial intelligence. The team's research spans theoretical aspects of learning algorithms to practical applications requiring robust and reliable AI systems, with particular emphasis on security and privacy considerations in modern machine learning deployments.
Wusheng Yu is a full-time Professor in the Department of Food and Resource Economics at the Faculty of Science, University of Copenhagen, holding this position since March 2018 after serving as Associate Professor from 2005-2018. His academic foundation includes a PhD in Agricultural Economics from Purdue University (2000) and an MSc in Economics from Renmin University of China (1995). Educational background: PhD in Agricultural Economics, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA (2000) MSc in Economics, Renmin University of China, Beijing, China (1995) Professor Yu's research centers on international trade, agricultural policy, computable general equilibrium modeling, and climate-food security intersections. He employs advanced quantitative methods to analyze global trade dynamics and environmental policy impacts, with recent work emphasizing geopolitical dimensions of food systems under climate stress. His methodological approach combines empirical analysis with scenario-based modeling to address real-world policy challenges. Analysis of his 2023-2025 publications reveals three dominant trends: (1) Geostrategic assessments of food security amid global tensions, (2) Climate-agriculture policy integration through emission modeling, and (3) Trade mechanism innovations like carbon border adjustments. His work bridges theoretical economics with actionable policy insights, particularly for EU and developing economies. Professor Yu coordinates graduate courses in Advanced International Trade and Applied Trade and Climate Policy Models. His research is funded by the European Union, Danish governmental bodies, and international organizations, operating under an advisory committee with private sector representatives as specified by departmental Terms of Reference. He maintains strict institutional alignment as a full-time permanent employee without external remuneration. His collaborative network spans seven countries with significant engagement in Danish animal food sectors and public authorities. The Section for Production, Markets and Policy at IFRO serves as his primary research hub, facilitating cross-border studies on trade-displacement effects and food demand elasticity modeling under socioeconomic pathways.
Despina Kontos, PhD is the Herbert and Florence Irving Professor of Radiological Sciences at Columbia University Irving Medical Center (CUIMC), with appointments in the Department of Radiology and the Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center. She serves as the Chief Research Information Officer for CUIMC, Vice Chair of Artificial Intelligence and Data Science Research in the Department of Radiology, and Director of Biomarker Imaging at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital. Additionally, she holds appointments in the Departments of Biomedical Informatics and Biomedical Engineering. Dr. Kontos received her educational training from prestigious institutions: BS in Engineering from the University of Patras, Greece MSc and PhD in Computer and Information Sciences from Temple University Postdoctoral training in Radiology at the University of Pennsylvania Certificates in Biostatistics and Epidemiology from UPenn, Cancer Biology from Harvard, and AI for Decision Making from Wharton As a computer scientist with expertise in artificial intelligence and machine learning, Dr. Kontos focuses on developing computational methodologies to leverage imaging as quantitative biomarkers for personalized disease prediction, particularly in cancer. Her research program investigates how imaging data can be mined to extract sophisticated phenotypic signatures with diagnostic, prognostic, and predictive value. While her primary focus has been on breast cancer, her lab also pursues related research in lung cancers, evaluating the integration of CT radiomic features with liquid biopsy data to characterize tumor heterogeneity. Dr. Kontos founded and directs Columbia University's Center for Innovation in Imaging Biomarkers and Integrated Diagnostics (CIMBID), a multidisciplinary center dedicated to developing and integrating quantitative imaging and non-imaging biomarkers for personalized disease prediction. Through CIMBID, she has built a vibrant scientific ecosystem that brings together expertise across Columbia's campuses, linking basic science, engineering, clinical medicine, public health, and health services research. Analysis of Dr. Kontos's publication record reveals a strong focus on applying AI and machine learning to biomedical imaging, particularly for cancer risk prediction and personalized treatment. Her work demonstrates a progression from foundational methodological development to clinical translation, with increasing emphasis on multi-modal biomarker integration. Recent publications show expansion into new disease areas including Alzheimer's disease prediction, while maintaining her strong focus on breast and lung cancer applications. Dr. Kontos has received significant recognition for her contributions to the field: Academy for Radiology and Biomedical Imaging Research Distinguished Investigator Award (2020) Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group - American College of Radiology Imaging Network ECOG-ACRIN Young Investigator Award of Distinction for Translational Research (2014) Dr. Kontos has been highly successful in securing research funding, with numerous grants from federal agencies including the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Department of Defense (DOD), as well as private foundations such as the American Cancer Society (ACS) and the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA). Her leadership extends to mentoring students and postdoctoral researchers through her roles at CIMBID and the Department of Radiology. As the founding director of CIMBID, Dr. Kontos leads a multidisciplinary team that includes the Computational Imaging Biomarker Group (CBIG), the Laboratory of AI and Biomedical Science (LABS), and several other affiliated research labs. The center leverages Columbia's institutional strengths in engineering, data science, and clinical medicine to advance personalized healthcare through AI and imaging technologies.
Dr. Ann Kennedy is an Assistant Professor of Neuroscience at Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine, where she leads the Kennedy Lab. Her research focuses on theoretical neuroscience, using mathematical modeling and computational approaches to understand how neural circuits produce adaptive behaviors. She investigates how the brain integrates sensory information with survival needs to drive behavior across multiple scales, from single neurons to social groups. Dr. Kennedy received her BS and BA in Biomedical Engineering from Johns Hopkins University in 2008, followed by a PhD in Neuroscience from Columbia University in 2014. She conducted postdoctoral research at the California Institute of Technology before establishing her independent laboratory at Northwestern in 2020. Her research interests center on understanding the computational principles of neural circuits, particularly in subcortical brain regions involved in survival behaviors. She develops theories for distributed behavior control by multiple neural populations, studies computation in heterogeneous neural populations, and constructs richer descriptions of animal behavior using pose estimation and machine learning tools. Her work blends dynamical systems, control theory, reinforcement learning, and machine learning to investigate neural dynamics across multiple scales and model organisms. Dr. Kennedy's recent publications reveal trends in understanding neural heterogeneity, early nervous system evolution, and the theoretical foundations of neuroscience. Her work spans from fundamental computational principles to applications in pain research and behavioral neuroscience, with increasing emphasis on translating theoretical insights to understand neurological conditions. Sloan Research Fellowship, Sloan Foundation (2023) Eppendorf and Science Prize in Neurobiology (2022) McKnight Scholars Award (2024) Pew Scholar in the Biomedical Sciences (2024) Thom Young Researcher Award (2025) Dr. Kennedy actively mentors postdoctoral researchers and collaborates with experimentalists both locally and internationally. Her lab has received significant grant support including the $75,000 Sloan Fellowship and the prestigious McKnight Scholars Award. She co-chairs the CAJAL summer school on quantitative approaches to behavior and serves as Associate Editor for Science Advances. The Kennedy Lab operates at the intersection of theory and experiment, developing community resources like the Mouse Action Recognition System (MARS) for behavioral analysis and contributing to major initiatives like the 2025 Multi-Agent Behavior Challenge on Kaggle. The Kennedy Lab maintains active collaborations with researchers across San Diego and beyond, focusing on theoretical approaches to behavior and neural circuit function. Current projects analyze data from multiple brain regions and organisms, including hypothalamus studies of social and defensive behavior, basal ganglia research on behavior-neural activity correlations, hippocampal studies of social bond formation, and whole-organism neural imaging in cnidarians. The lab values open science, clear communication, and community resource development.
Dr. Eline Smit is a researcher affiliated with the Department of Persuasive Communication at the University of Amsterdam within the Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences. Her work focuses on health communication, digital health interventions, public health policy, and behavioral psychology. She has extensively studied the impact of social media on health behaviors, including mental health support, food norms, and environmental decision-making. Her research interests include tailoring health messages to individual preferences, analyzing digital health disparities, and evaluating the effectiveness of health communication strategies. Notable projects involve investigating pandemic-era public health communication, the carbon footprint of healthcare systems, and the role of autonomy-supportive language in health messages. Eline has collaborated on interdisciplinary projects addressing smoking cessation, weight management, and sustainable food choices. Her work often combines quantitative methods with qualitative insights, emphasizing evidence-based interventions and policy recommendations. She has contributed to global health initiatives, such as a worldwide experiment on social distancing messaging during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. Eline’s publications consistently highlight the intersection of technology, behavior, and health equity. She advocates for inclusive digital health solutions that bridge access gaps and empower diverse populations through persuasive communication strategies.
Herman Paryono is a PhD Researcher at the Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Groningen, specializing in Human Resource Management & Organizational Behavior. His research focuses on the impacts of role transitions between work and non-work domains on employee well-being and performance, particularly examining daily role diversity and sequence effects. Education: PhD in Organizational Behavior & HR Management (ongoing), University of Groningen MSc in Social-Organizational Psychology (cum laude), Leiden University BSc in Psychology (cum laude), Universitas Sanata Dharma, Indonesia His expertise spans work psychology, people analytics, and quantitative social sciences. Prior to academia, he held a senior management position at Nutrifood Indonesia, earning awards for leadership excellence. He currently serves as a guest lecturer and frequently presents at conferences like the European Association of Work and Organizational Psychology. Professional Contributions: Delivers talks on People Analytics and Work Psychology through mediums like Medium blog (25k+ followers) Skilled in multivariate analysis, psychometrics, machine learning, and data visualization tools (R, SPSS, Gephi) Research presented across 5+ international associations including Indonesian Positive Psychology groups Awards: Top 3 Indonesia Future Human Resource Leader Award Top 5 Indonesia Young Business Leaders Award His work bridges academic research with industry practice, emphasizing data-driven insights into contemporary work challenges.
Carolyn Strange is a Professor and former Head of the School of History at the Australian National University (ANU). She holds adjunct and visiting professorships at Murdoch University and the University of Toronto. Her research focuses on legal, social, and cultural history, particularly crime and justice, gender studies, and environmental history. She has taught at institutions in Canada, the U.S., and Australia, and her work bridges academia with public engagement through museum exhibitions and symposia. Strange has been awarded prestigious fellowships at Warwick, Macquarie, and Sydney Universities, and is a Fellow of both the Academy of Social Sciences and the Australian Academy of the Humanities. Her research has been supported by grants from the Australian Research Council and others, including a five-year strategic grant for a cross-campus network on the History and Legacies of Violence. She currently leads a working group on Coercive Control funded by the ANU Gender Institute. Her research interests span gendered homicide, capital punishment, and historical memory. Recent projects include analyzing inter-gender homicide in NSW and examining public attitudes toward coercive control. She has published extensively on crime, justice, and gender in Canadian, Australian, and British contexts. Strange’s teaching expertise includes graduate training, having founded ANU’s Cross-Cultural Research and History graduate programs. She has also served as an external assessor for Hong Kong’s Lingnan University History Department and curates exhibitions linking history with contemporary issues. Key achievements include the 2013 ‘Researcher of the Year’ award from the New York State Archives and a 2014 Huntington Library Fellowship. Her work often involves interdisciplinary collaboration with scholars in law, environmental science, and media studies.
Dr. Geoffrey Clifton is a Senior Lecturer in Transport and Logistics Management at the Institute of Transport and Logistics Studies (ITLS) within the University of Sydney Business School. He holds a Bachelor of Economics with first class Honours in Economic Statistics from the University of Queensland and a PhD from the University of Sydney. Joining the University of Sydney in 2004 after teaching at the University of Queensland since 1998, Clifton brings extensive academic and practical experience, having previously worked for three years at the Reserve Bank of Australia. As Program Director for the Master of Logistics and Supply Chain Management, he oversees academic development and quality assurance for the Master's program as well as the Graduate Diploma and Certificate in Logistics and Supply Chain Management. His teaching portfolio includes foundational courses in supply chain management, production and operations management, quantitative logistics, and transport analysis. Clifton's research primarily focuses on public transport challenges, particularly growing patronage in suburban areas and providing transport for people with special needs due to age or disability. His work explores how reforms to policies, planning, pricing and provision of public transport services can deliver value for money solutions that support transport accessibility for all. His research methodologies include choice modeling, surveys, and smart card data analysis, with recent work examining railway safety, flexible transport systems, and the impact of emerging technologies on transport enterprises. As a consultant, Clifton has worked with aviation, maritime, logistics, rail, taxi and bus industries as well as governments both within Australia and internationally. His expertise is frequently sought by media outlets including ABC, Sydney Morning Herald, The Guardian, and Channel 7, where he comments on current transport issues ranging from Sydney's rail network challenges to light rail systems and public transport policy. Clifton coordinates multiple research projects, supervises postgraduate students, and has published extensively in leading transportation journals. His recent work demonstrates a strong focus on railway safety analysis, transport accessibility, and the integration of different transport modes within urban environments.
Roger Benson is a Visiting Fellow at the University of Oxford specializing in paleontology and evolutionary biology. His research integrates fossil discovery, 3D morphometric analysis, and quantitative macroevolutionary studies to investigate vertebrate evolution across deep time, with particular expertise in dinosaurs, marine reptiles, and early synapsids. His primary research domains include: Phylogenetic Paleobiology : Resolving evolutionary relationships in key vertebrate clades using cladistic methods and fossil data Macroevolutionary Dynamics : Analyzing large-scale patterns of morphological diversity and species richness over 100+ million years Earth-Life Interactions : Quantifying links between environmental change, rock record biases, and biodiversity patterns using multivariate statistics Extant-Fossil Integration : Applying anatomical datasets from living species to test ecological hypotheses about extinct organisms Recent publications reveal consistent methodological innovation through synchrotron imaging, computational morphometrics, and big-data approaches to evolutionary questions. His work demonstrates how quantitative analysis of anatomical variation can resolve long-standing debates in vertebrate phylogeny while revealing fundamental principles of adaptive radiation. Though no specific awards are documented in the source material, Benson's research impact is evidenced by publications in premier journals including Nature, Science, and PNAS, reflecting significant contributions to evolutionary science. Benson actively mentors graduate students and leads international collaborations, as demonstrated by multi-institutional projects on Permian-Triassic extinction dynamics and dinosaur sensory evolution. His research group bridges field paleontology with computational biology to address fundamental questions in vertebrate evolution. Based within Oxford's Earth Sciences framework, his work leverages advanced imaging facilities and computational resources for fossil analysis and evolutionary modeling, contributing to the university's leadership in paleobiological research.
Dr. Reuben Ng is an Assistant Professor at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore, and Lead Scientist at the Lloyd’s Register Foundation Institute for the Public Understanding of Risk. He holds a PhD in Public Health from Yale University, an MSc in Management Research from the University of Oxford, and degrees from NUS and NTU in Psychology. His research focuses on ageism, social gerontology, and quantitative social science, with a particular emphasis on leveraging behavioral insights and data analytics for evidence-based policymaking. He has contributed to Singapore’s Smart Nation initiatives and advised on risk communication strategies. Over $3.2M in research grants as PI and $4M as PI/Co-PI/Co-I. 50+ peer-reviewed publications and 85 conference presentations globally. Awards include the International Fulbright Science and Technology Award and the Harkness Fellowship. Dr. Ng serves on advisory boards in finance, defense, education, and sustainability. He leads workshops blending data analytics, behavioral insights, and design thinking. His work has been featured in major media outlets like The New York Times, The Guardian, and CNN, and he is ranked in the top 2% of global scientists by Stanford University.
Rainer Schulz is a Senior Lecturer at the Business School of the University of Aberdeen, where he conducts research and teaches in real estate economics, housing markets, and financial economics. He is actively accepting PhD students and supervises research in real estate. His affiliations include the Gillmore Centre for Financial Technology at Warwick Business School and the Berlin Center for AI Research in Economics and Management. Research Interests: Dr. Schulz's research focuses on urban real estate markets using econometric and machine learning methods. Key areas include automated valuation modelling (AVM), real estate investment vehicles, fund management, and location choice. He investigates the impact of teleworking on housing demand and the application of real options in real estate development. His work is interdisciplinary, combining urban economics, financial theory, and data science. Publication Trends: His recent publications (2022–2024) emphasize the effects of teleworking on housing markets, machine learning applications in real estate, and local housing market information systems. Earlier works focus on land value mapping, hurdle rates in investment, and the relationship between house prices and macroeconomic variables. His research consistently applies advanced quantitative techniques to real-world property market problems. Scientific Awards: Poster award for Semiparametric Estimation of Land Values, 2015 Aareal Award of Excellence in Real Estate Research, 2012 ARES Foundation Award, 2006 Deutsche Immobilien Akademie Research Prize for doctoral thesis, 2003 Advising and Grants: Dr. Schulz is currently accepting PhD students in Real Estate. He leads the compilation of the Aberdeen Housing Market Report, a knowledge exchange project with the Aberdeen Street Property Company (ASPC). While specific grants are not listed, his research is supported through institutional collaborations and publications in high-impact journals. Labs and Teams: He is affiliated with the Centre for Real Estate Research at the University of Aberdeen Business School. He collaborates with researchers at Humboldt University (Berlin) and participates in international research networks such as the Berlin Center for AI Research. His work involves interdisciplinary teams focusing on urban data, housing policy, and financial technology.
