Prof Ferguson is the Director of the Appleton Institute and a Research Professor at CQUniversity’s Adelaide campus. Prof Ferguson’s background is circadian biology and understanding how the body clock helps keep us synchronised to the world around us and what happens when we work against our clocks. Sally has spent the last fifteen years investigating the influence of circadian rhythms on human activities. Her particular focus is the interaction between work hours, sleep and wake patterns and what that means for people’s safety, health and well-being. Sally publishes, supervises students and gets out of the office as often as possible In the last 10 years this key research interest has led to Prof Ferguson asking questions about the relationship between sleep, wake and work patterns, particularly for those working shiftwork. She has worked with industry partners in mining, rail, healthcare, marine pilotage, aviation and the emergency services. Her program of research has received funding support from the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC), the Australian Research Council (ARC), the Bushfire CRC and the CRC for Rail Innovation.

Dr Anup Desai is a Specialist Sleep Physician with many years of broad clinical experience across a range of sleep disorders, from snoring and obstructive sleep apnoea, to insomnia, parasomnias, narcolepsy and other non respiratory sleep disorders. He is a Senior Staff Specialist at Prince of Wales Public Hospital in Randwick. He has a PhD in Sleep Medicine through the University of Sydney. He is a Medical Assessor for Respiratory and Sleep Disorders at The NSW Motor Accidents Authority and serves on their Review Panels. This complements his extensive medicolegal work, predominantly in assessing Sleep Disorders in the context of driving and fall asleep road accidents. Dr Desai maintains an active clinical private practice, reviewing patients at Sydney Sleep Centre in the city and in Randwick consulting rooms.

I am a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Queensland’s School of Veterinary Science. My PhD research focused on describing the evolution and spread of bird malaria parasites. I have since broadened my interests to investigate large-scale patterns in the spread and exchange of a variety of parasites of human and animal health significance. As a disease ecologist with expertise in genetics, bioinformatics, epidemiology and invasive species, my research intersects with a range of collaborators across a variety of disciplines. Currently I am leading projects to trace the spread of parasites between domestic pets and wildlife in Australia.

Simon Chapman AO PhD is Emeritus Professor in Public Health at the University of Sydney. Across 45 years, he has been a prominent researcher and advocate for tobacco control, gun control and renewable energy. He was foundation deputy editor (199297) and editor (19982008) for the British Medical Journal’s specialist journal Tobacco Control. In 1997 he was awarded the World Health Organization’s World No Tobacco Day Medal and in 2003 the American Cancer Society’s Luther Terry Award for outstanding individual leadership in tobacco control. In 2008 he was awarded the NSW Premier’s Cancer Researcher of the Year medal and in 2013 he was made an Officer in the Order of Australia for his contributions to public health, and named Australian Skeptic of the Year. The Sydney Morning Herald named him in 2008 and 2012 as one of Sydney’s 100 most influential people.