Former students making their mark on the world we live in.
Our research students come from far and wide, after successfully completing, some return to new roles in their home country, others have found new horizons globally and we have been able to hold on to many here at Griffith and the CRI.
Where are they now? Profiling our Alumni
Nowar Raad has a PhD in Transport Engineering and Planning. He undertook his PhD in the Transport Research Group. Nowar's research interests relate to different transport modes and more specifically in active transport including walking and cycling, and how to contribute to promoting the planning and designing process of the transportation systems. His future research interests relate also to sustainable transportation that can enhance economic growth and improve accessibility, as well as explore the factors impacting the development of low carbon transport.
Dr Joanne Dolley continues employment at Griffith University in the roles of Executive Officer and Research Fellow and was recently awarded a commendation at the 2019 PIA QLD Awards for the book "Re-thinking Third Places - Informal Public Spaces and Community Building", which she co-edited with Associate Professor Caryl Bosman. The award was in the category of Cutting Edge Research and Teaching. Joanne is also a CI and has been successful with a Griffith University International Workshop Award (GUIWA), "Addressing UN Sustainable Development Goal 11: Creating vibrant, inclusive, resilient public places in the Anthropocene". The workshop will be held in September 2020.
Dr Boulton is an Early Career Researcher and Sessional Academic with the Environmental Planning and Management discipline in Griffith University's School of Environment and Science and Cities Research Institute. Chris has expertise in municipal government, urban greenspace management, landscape architecture, environmental planning and crime prevention. As an experienced leader, Chris offers inspiration and insight for individuals and learning communities through research and education about the values, challenges and opportunities for supporting healthy cities. Chris is also an honorary Fellow of Australia’s Institute of Landscape Architects (AILA) and an Endeavour Research Fellow (2017-18), pursuing a better approach to providing urban greenspace. In 2019, Chris founded The CityGreen Lab to inspire effective urban greenspace provision, and develop emerging domestic and international, academic and industry relationships, as well as to support research collaborations aligned with achieving Chris’ post-Doctoral research agenda.
Dr Emad Kavehei | Research Fellow Australian Rivers Institute, Griffith University, Australia | Emad Kavehei graduated his PhD degree in June 2020 at CRI. Emad’s PhD project was focused on the net carbon footprint of green storm-water infrastructure including the greenhouse gases fluxes, denitrification and carbon and nitrogen sequestration potentials in SEQ. He is currently a research fellow at the Australian Rivers Institute at Griffith University. |
Dr A H M Abdul Moudood | Graduate Teaching Assistant, Griffith University, Australia | Moudood is also writing research papers and applying for grants. |
Dr Nowar Raad Abdalmajeed | Research Fellow, Griffith University, Australia | Nowar's research interests relate to different transport modes and more specifically in active transport including walking and cycling, and how to contribute to promoting the planning and designing process of the transportation systems. |
Dr Chris Boulton | Research Fellow, Griffith University, Australia | Chris is an Early Career Researcher and Sessional Academic with the Environmental Planning and Management discipline in Griffith University's School of Environment and Science and Cities Research Institute. Chris has expertise in municipal government, urban greenspace management, landscape architecture, environmental planning and crime prevention. |
Dr Joanne Dolley | Executive Officer and Research Fellow, Griffith University, Australia | Joanne continues to work with Griffith University as an Executive Officer in the School of Arts, Education and Law and is taking on research work within the university as well. |
Dr Jian Zhang | Researcher, Atmospheric Environment Research Centre, Griffith University, Australia | Jian is working in the areas of sustainable architecture, thermal comfort and urban sustainability. His recently co-authored article titled The impact of sky view factor on thermal environments in urban parks in a subtropical coastal city of Australia, has been published in the Urban Forestry and Urban Greening Journal. |
Dr Quynh Holland | Lecturer and Researcher, Ho Chi Min University of Finance and Marketing. Research Assistant, Housing, Griffith University,Australia | Quynh states 'I have been lecturing and researching at my University of Finance & Marketing, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam (before and after my PhD at GU). Currently, I’m working with my supervisors Prof. Eduardo Roca and Dr. Benjamim Liu on their Housing projects.' |
Dr Yuan Xu | Lecturer, Structural Analysis, Griffith University, Australia | Yuan's research interest lies in Steel Structures and Steel-concrete Composite Structures, Earthquake Prevention and Reduction, as well as Prefabrication. He has been working with Griffith University as a tutor for the last four years, mainly in Structural Analysis and Mechanics of Materials. |
Dr Muhammad Atif | Lecturer in Accounting, Griffith University, Australia | Atif is working as lecturer in Accounting at the Essex Business School, University of Essex, UK. He has obtained his PhD from Griffith Business School, Griffith University, Australia. Atif's research interests lie in corporate governance, sustainability, and climate change. |
Dr Emiliya Suprun | Research Fellow, Sessional Lecturer, School of Engineering and Built Environment, Griffith University, Australia | Dr Emiliya Suprun is a Research Fellow at the Cities Research Institute and a Sessional Lecturer at the School of Engineering & Built Environment, Griffith University, Queensland, Australia. She is currently involved in a research project devoted to developing a digital asset information model framework for water sector. Her research interests include modelling and simulation using coupled system dynamics modelling, structural analysis and operational research methods. She has worked on numerous research projects with a range of interdisciplinary teams including transport management, environmental management and architectural researchers. Her PhD research was focused on modelling an innovation system in the context of the construction industry. |
Dr Hadi Zamanifard | Research Assistant, Cities Research Institute, Griffith University, Australia | Hadi has worked as an architect, urban designer, urban design project manager, and educator/researcher in urbanism for more than ten years. He has abiding passion for sustainable urban design and planning and his PhD focuses on the implications of the governance in public spaces for users’ experiential qualities. Hadi bridges research and practice in his work and his professional and academic skills span spatial analysis, master-planning, project management, built environment users' behaviour and perception analysis, writing, problem-solving, and course design. |
Dr Liese Coulter | Science Policy Fellow at BC Ministry of Agriculture, Innovation and Adaptation Service Branch, Victoria BC, Canada | After being awarded her PhD in August, Liese started a Mitacs Science Policy Fellowship with the Ministry of Agriculture in British Columbia, in September this year. She has been invited by the Center for International Climate Research (CICERO) to participate in a workshop in Oslo Norway, 24-26 April, 2019. Funded through an EU-COST action: Understanding and modeling compound climate and weather events, the workshop will develop a perspective on best-practice approaches to link physical modeling and narratives of high-impact extreme and compound events and associated risks under climate change. |
Dr Rukuh Setiadi | Senior Lecturer Dept of Urban and Regional Planning, Diponegoro University Semarang, Indonesia | Rukuh is a senior lecturer at Urban and Regional Planning Department at Diponegoro University (Indonesia). He is interested in both theory and practice of the intellectual space between urban environmental planning and governance. |
Dr Andres Pazmino Jaramillo | Director of Operations, University San Francisco de Quito (USFQ), Galapagos | Andre's responsibilities include teaching and coordinating the 23 international programs in the Galapagos campus. He is also in charge of the campus operations, and inter-institutional relationships between the USFQ and governmental and non-governmental institutions. |
Dr Lavinia Poruschi | Research Scientist: Econometric and Spatial Analysis, Land and Water, CSIRO, Australia | Lavinia is currently affiliated with the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Australia’s national science agency. She is working as a Research Economist and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) analyst. She has a demonstrated history of working in national research institutes and the higher education industry in Australia and Japan. |
Dr Abraham Leung | Research Fellow, Cities Research Institute, Griffith University, Australia | Abraham is a postdoctoral research fellow and an early career researcher at the Cities Research Institute with research interests on the interrelationship of transport, land use and energy and spatial equity problems of transport, with a strong skillset of spatial analysis and GIS. |
Dr Elnaz Torabi | Lecturer School of Environment and Science - Environmental Planning and Management, Griffith University, Australia | Elnaz specialises in the field of climate change adaptation and urban resilience from a planning and decision making perspective. |
Dr Kirandeep Sandhu | Associate Professor, School of Planning, Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, India | Kirandeep is teaching Bachelor and Masters level coursed in urban and regional planning. Kirandeep specialises in Housing and Community Development, Municipal Solid waste Management, Transportation, Urban Governance and Disaster Management |
Dr Kimberley Reis | Lecturer, School of Environment and Science, Griffith University, Australia | Kimberley's research is focused upon the prospects of green infrastructure planning and policy analysis to ameliorate potential disasters and enhance long-term climate change adaptation. |
Dr Johanna Nalau | ARC Discovery Early Career Research Fellow 2019-2021, Cities Research Institute Griffith University, Australia | Johanna is a social scientist who researches how people make decisions about climate change adaptation and what role information and leadership play in that process. Dr Nalau is also a Lead Author for the next Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 6th Assessment Report in Working Group Chapter 15 Small Islands, and also the Managing Editor for the journal Climate Risk Management. |
Dr Yan Kuang | Lecturer, Civil Engineering, School of Engineering and Built Environment, Griffith University, Australia | Yan Kuang's research is focused on transport planning, safety, efficiency, equity, and sustainability. He has done comprehensive works with regards to automated vehicles, roundabout design, crash surrogate modelling, and highway operation and management. |
Dr Bixia Xu | Senior Project Coordinator, Asia Pacific Agri-Corp (Projects) Pty Ltd, Australia | Bixia is the Senior Project Coordinator at Asia Pacific Agri-Corp (Projects) Pty Ltd. The company is developing a $260 million high-tech abattoir integrating meat processing with solar and hydrogen renewable energy in Queensland’s State Development Area in Gladstone. Queensland’s independent Coordinator-General has approved the development application. Bixia is responsible for coordinating the project’s approvals, schedules, and resources. |
Dr Michael Tanko | Post doctorate, Centre for Naval Architecture, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm Sweden | |
Dr Heather Shearer | Research Fellow, Cities Research Institute, Griffith University, Australia | Heather's interest lies in Tiny Houses and how they are being seen as an innovative and sustainable way to improve urban housing affordability. |
Dr Tony Matthews | Lecturer, School of Environment and Science, Griffith University, Australia | Tony's work focuses on planning better cities with strong environmental credentials. His interests are in adapting cities to climate change, reducing their carbon footprints, renewable energy transitions, green infrastructure uptake, housing policy and design, heritage management, public art and sustainable urban design. |
Dr Natalie Osborne | Lecturer, School of Environment and Science, Griffith University, Australia | Natalie’s work is primarily in the fields of critical human geography and environmental planning. She is focused on social and environmental justice in human settlements and the development of more just, resilient and sustainable futures. Natalie is currently engaged in work on insurgent planning and radical spatial politics with grassroots activist group Right to the City - Brisbane. |
Dr Ed Morgan | Research Fellow, Cities Research Institute, Griffith University, Australia | Ed is interested in the interface between science, policy and society with a focus on water, climate change, planning and governance. |
Dr Leila Irajifar | Lecturer, RMIT School of Architecture and Urban Design, | Leila is an interdisciplinary academic working at the intersection of urban planning, design and disaster management. Her research tackles the challenges of operationalising urban resilience, post-disaster reconstruction and her recent research focuses on the applications of crowdsourcing in urban resilience planning and developing models to better understand the complexities and interdependencies of urban systems in the face of climate change and other social and environmental hazards. |
Dr Rafaello Furlan | Assistant Professor, Qatar University, Department of Architecture and Urban Planning, College of Engineering, State of Qatar | Rafaello is the coordinator of the Master in Urban Design and Planning Program at Qatar University. He teaches Comprehensive Architectural Design to 5th year students and Urban Design to final year master students. Rafaello has been teaching Art History, History of Architecture, Project Management, Urban Design, Architecture Design and Interior Design. His areas of interest include Vernacular Architecture, Architecture and Urban Sociology, Project management, Art History. |