Researchers have arrived in Peachester State Forest to collect environmental samples to help unlock new insights into how planned burns shape and support ecosystems.
Decades-long research in Peachester State Forest has proven planned burns can have a positive impact on environmental health if they’re conducted at intervals specific to the ecosystem.
The program, which began in 1969, is Queensland’s longest-running fire regime study, allowing researchers to analyse 55 years of data.
Following a planned burn in Peachester in December, researchers have returned to the State forest to collect soil, leaf litter and insect samples to assess chemical and biological changes.
The analysis of decades of data shows different frequencies of low intensity planned burns influence carbon storage, nutrient ratios, nutrient cycling and associated microbial and invertebrate communities.
The ongoing study facilitates the use of planned burns for landscape management – a practice used by Australia’s First Nations peoples for thousands of years and continues to be used by QPWS.
Professor Chen said as part of the study, dedicated plots of the State forest are burned approximately every two years, others burned approximately every four years with the remainder unburned since 1969.
“This study is allowing researchers to understand the long-term benefits of repeated fire frequency on ecosystem diversity and function, soil carbon and nutrient stocks and soil health,” Professor Chen said.
“This study has shown that significant fire regime improvements can be made by adjusting the frequency of these burns.
“In Peachester, planned burns every four years are highly effective in supporting healthy native wet sclerophyll forests by introducing phosphorus, calcium and potassium into the soil.
“Planned burns are important to mitigate the impacts of bushfire, but our research has shown that they can improve protected areas if they are conducted at intervals that best suit the ecosystem.”
Distinguished Professor Chengrong Chen
QPWS Maleny Senior Ranger Donna Haslam said studies like Peachester provide science-based evidence of the best time to conduct planned burns in similar environments.
“When we’re planning a burn, we consider how the area’s plants, animals and ecosystems respond to fire and we tailor our plans to suit those needs,” Senior Ranger Haslam said.
“It’s important we continue to look at how the landscapes and ecosystems we’re working in respond to fire and planned burns to ensure our work is supporting a healthy environment.”
Other fire regime research projects are taking place in Bauple State Forest near Gympie and Tagalaka National Park in Far North Queensland to paint a clearer picture of how frequent planned burns influence Queensland’s ecosystems.
Rock Art Australia, a leading philanthropic organisation dedicated to protecting and advancing research into Australia’s rock art heritage, has appointed Professor Chris Clarkson as the Rock Art Australia Professorial Chair in Rock Art and Archaeology at Griffith University.
A Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities and researcher with Griffith’s Australian Research Centre for Human Evolution (ARCHE), Professor Clarkson is known for landmark work at Madjedbebe in western Arnhem Land.
Professor Clarkson on the site of Malangangerr in the Manbuyarra area of Kakadu National Park for a smoking ceremony.
In partnership with Mirarr Traditional Owners, his team uncovered evidence of human occupation dating to about 65,000 years ago, including early axes, seed-grinding tools and ochre processing, published in Nature.
“This Rock Art Australia fellowship and joint projects in Arnhem Land bring cutting-edge archaeological science together with Indigenous knowledge to understand how people responded to extreme climate change over tens of thousands of years,” Professor Clarkson said.
“These insights are directly relevant to Australia today, as we work with Traditional Owners to protect and manage nationally significant cultural landscapes and rock art under growing environmental and social pressure.
“By combining scientific research with community-led cultural knowledge, we’re creating new and inclusive narratives of Australia’s deep history on Manilikarr Country, on the eastern edge of Kakadu National Park.
“This work strengthens Indigenous capacity to manage Country, supports heritage preservation, and ensures all Australians can better understand and value the world’s oldest continuing cultural traditions.”
Professor Chris Clarkson
In this new role, he will lead research into Australia’s early history, strengthen Indigenous partnerships in rock art protection, and train future researchers.
“Professor Clarkson’s international research experience and outstanding reputation significantly increases ARCHE’s standing, including as a place for students, including Aboriginal peoples, to study and learn from one another,” said Professor Michael Petraglia, Director of ARCHE and the ARC Centre of Excellence for Transforming Human Origins Research.
Rock Art Australia is also partnering on a new ARC Linkage Project on post-glacial sea-level rise at Red Lily, co-designed with Traditional Owners and ranger groups, integrating archaeology, environment and cultural knowledge to support heritage management.
Professor Clarkson with Dr Faisal Al-Jibrin from the Heritage Commission, Saudi Ministry of Culture, in the Rub Al Kali of Southern Saudi Arabia.
“Investing in this Professorial Chair demonstrates Rock Art Australia’s long-term commitment to advancing rigorous, world-class research alongside Indigenous-led stewardship of Australia’s rock art and cultural landscapes,” said Rock Art Australia Chair, Hon Ken Wyatt AM JP CitWA MAICD.
“At a time when these nationally significant places face growing environmental, development and social pressures, this investment helps ensure they are not only better understood, but effectively protected, responsibly managed, and sustained for future generations.
“The partnership with Griffith University and the ARC Centre of Excellence enables research at a scale, depth, and interdisciplinary reach that no single organisation could achieve alone. By bringing together cutting-edge scientific methods, Traditional Owner knowledge and on-Country collaboration, this initiative strengthens the evidence base required for informed decision-making.
“Just as importantly, it builds skills, leadership and enduring partnerships that support Indigenous authority and capacity to care for Country, ensuring cultural landscapes are safeguarded in ways that are both scientifically robust and culturally grounded.”
Dr Blake Palmer
Vehicles are increasingly functioning as mobile workspaces, prompting Griffith University researchers to conduct a deep dive to better understand how and why workers multitask while driving.
Dr Blake Palmer from Griffith’s School of Applied Psychology is investigating the premise of work-related multitasking behaviours while driving.
“The study aims to understand how and why drivers engage in work-related multitasking while driving, and how organisational expectations and safety systems may influence these behaviours,” Dr Palmer said.
“Multi-tasking includes taking or making phone calls while driving, checking or responding to work messages, reviewing schedules or job details on a device, looking up addresses and navigating between jobs, and managing time pressures by eating while driving.
“Studies of this nature are vital in addressing a gap as there is a lack of information on how common these behaviours are.”
Work tasks can be time-critical, linked to productivity or performance expectations, and may be socially expected.
This means a person’s decision to multitask while driving could be managed differently by workers depending on different roles and job requirements.
The study is seeking participants who have driven a vehicle for work purposes in the past six months, and may include driving a personal or company vehicle to and from work, between jobs or sites, visiting clients, or making deliveries.
It would involve completing a short 15-minute online survey.
Community leaders from urban, regional and remote communities in Papua New Guinea have joined Griffith University researchers in a study tour designed to strengthen knowledge and leadership in gender equality, disability and social inclusion (GEDSI).
The Australia Awards GEDSI Study Tour: Women in Leadership & Gender Equality for Papua New Guinea was delivered by the Griffith Centre for Social and Cultural Research as part of a two-year program funded through a $1.18 million grant from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
GEDSI Short Course participant Veronica Payawi.
Program participants work across community organisations and government agencies in Papua New Guinea, engaging closely with their communities through initiatives such as family services and violence prevention programs.
Embracing a traditional Papua New Guinean knowledge-sharing approach called ‘Tok Stori’, Griffith researchers previously engaged with thirty of the participants during a two-week short course in November 2025 in Port Moresby, to explore areas of education, leisure, family and work through a GEDSI lens.
Participant Veronica Payawi is the program manager for a safe house that provides emergency assistance for women, and said the GEDSI Short Course had been transformative.
“For me, GEDSI is about transforming communities so everyone can thrive, live with dignity, and seize opportunities equally,” Ms Payawi said.
“While I have spent many years advocating for women and communities, I realised I lacked formal GEDSI knowledge — a structured approach that ensures everyone, including women, people with disabilities, and marginalised groups, is included and empowered.
Griffith Centre for Social and Cultural Research Director Associate Professor Adele Pavlidis.
“My vision is to create programs that not only include women and marginalised groups but also enable them to lead, make decisions, and shape the systems that affect their lives.”
Griffith Centre for Social and Cultural Research Director Associate Professor Adele Pavlidis said the GEDSI Short Course aimed to build the foundation for lasting impact.
“The course was designed to weave an understanding of Papua New Guinean cultural worldviews and perspectives in context to GEDSI concepts and Australian perspectives,” Associate Professor Pavlidis said.
“It seeks to weave together these worldviews in a respectful, mutually beneficial, and feasible manner”.
Papua New Guinea endangered language expert Dr Samantha Rarrick, Professor Barbara Pini and Research Fellow Dr Inez Fainga’a-Manusione were central to development and delivery of the GEDSI Short Course, which was designed to embed GEDSI principles into policy and practice across Papua New Guinea’s public, private, and community sectors, to build the foundation for lasting social impact.
Some men are resorting to obtaining testosterone replacement therapy (TRT) from underground sources due to significant barriers to accessing the therapy through formal medical channels, according to new Griffith University research
PhD Candidate Ben Bonenti
PhD Candidate Ben Bonenti from Griffith University’s School of Applied Psychology explored the experiences of men using TRT in Australia with a focus on access barriers, perceived health effects, and how men self-managed and regulated their testosterone use in practice.
“What we found was a complex picture,” Mr Bonenti said.
“Men found significant barriers in accessing TRT through formal medical channels, including bureaucratic delays, financial costs, and stigma.
“Despite access challenges, TRT was widely described as transformative, with reported improvements in both physical and mental health.”
The study tracked nine men, aged 18 years or older, who used TRT and documented their experiences via videoconferencing interviews.
The results raised many key issues, particularly for men who frequently described self-regulating dosages, with some even mixing prescribed testosterone with underground products to manage access gaps.
These practices reflected active, self-managed care rather than passive medical compliance.
“While TRT was framed as a medical treatment, participants’ experiences showed access and use were strongly shaped by social, financial and regulatory constraints,” Mr Bonenti said.
“The findings suggest the current models of TRT may not align with how men actually engage with testosterone use.
“It shows a need for adaptive, participatory harm reduction approaches which move beyond narrow biomedical frameworks and better reflect real-world practices.
“Improving access and reducing stigma may reduce reliance on informal and unregulated sources.”
The paper ‘Much easier to just buy underground from a guy at the gym: The politics of accessing testosterone among men who use prescribed testosterone in Australia’ has been published in Journal of Drug Issues.
Griffith University researchers are on the cusp of a new vaccine to prevent chikungunya, a global health threat which attacks human joint tissue.
Professor Bernd Rehm
Professor Bernd Rehm, from Griffith’s Institute for Biomedicine and Glycomics, said his team wanted to test whether they could engineer E.coli to assemble biopolymer particles which displayed chikungunya antigens and performed as a vaccine.
“The synthetic biopolymer particles, adjuvant-free E2-BP-E1, closely mimicked the actual virus and induced an immune response,” Professor Rehm said.
The immune system recognised the particles as a virus but without induction of the disease.
It triggered a reaction in the body whereby immune cells very efficiently took up the biopolymer particles and engaged the immune system to mount an anti-virus response.
A person could become infected with chikungunya via an infected mosquito, causing the virus to enter the bloodstream and begin a multi-stage process affecting the immune system, joints, muscles, and sometimes the nervous system.
Symptoms included fever, chills, a feeling of intense illness, severe joint and muscle pain, headache, rash and joint swelling.
Professor Rehm said once the infection took hold, chikungunya would specifically target joint tissues, muscle fibres and connective tissue.
“Once this occurs, we start to see direct tissue damage, intense inflammation, and immune-mediated attacks resembling autoimmune responses,” he said.
“Even more concerning, is that the immune system continues to attack joint tissues even after the virus has left the body.
“Up to 60 per cent of patients experience long-lasting joint pain, which may persist for months or years, and can resemble rheumatoid arthritis.”
Following the success of the study, Professor Rehm and his team would progress to the clinical development of the vaccine.
The next stage would entail a clinical trial whereby patients would test the vaccine’s safety before moving on to efficacy trials.
The paper ‘Adjuvant-free biopolymer particles mimicking the Chikungunya virus surface induce protective immunity’ has been published in Biomaterials.
For more than a decade, a partnership between Griffith Institute for Tourism (GIFT) and global sustainability certification group EarthCheck has continued to help shape a more sustainable future for Australia’s tourism industry.
Their collaboration is now supporting the development of a new sustainability toolkit designed to help Australia’s tourism small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) transition to more sustainable business models.
The toolkit is being developed for the Australian Trade and Investment Commission as part of the national THRIVE 2030 strategy, which sets a long-term vision for a resilient and sustainable visitor economy.
Professor Sarah Gardiner
Director of GIFT, Sarah Gardiner, said the partnership reflects the value of combining academic research with industry expertise to tackle real-world sustainability challenges.
“Collaborations like this allow us to translate leading research into practical tools that tourism businesses can use every day,” Professor Gardiner said. “Working with industry partners such as EarthCheck helps ensure our research delivers tangible benefits for operators, destinations and communities.”
Supporting small tourism businesses
Tourism in Australia is dominated by small businesses, which make up around 95 per cent of the sector. While many operators are keen to adopt sustainable practices, navigating the available guidance and standards can be challenging.
The new toolkit aims to simplify this process by providing concise, practical advice to help businesses integrate sustainability into their operations.
Nigel Russell
Nigel Russell, General Manager – Consulting at EarthCheck, said the collaboration with Griffith University adds significant value to the project.
“The ability to tap into a wide range of specialist subject matter expertise at Griffith complements EarthCheck’s experience working with destinations and businesses around the world,” Mr Russell said.
The toolkit draws on internationally recognised sustainability principles from the Global Sustainable Tourism Council, including environmental management, cultural respect, social responsibility and effective sustainability governance.
Once released, it will help tourism operators improve resource efficiency, reduce energy use and carbon emissions, strengthen resilience to climate change and respond to changing visitor expectations.
The resource will also build on earlier national guidance, including the Sustainable Tourism Toolkit developed in collaboration with Tourism Australia in 2023.
A long-standing partnership
The latest collaboration reflects a relationship that has grown steadily over more than ten years.
Stewart Moore, founder and CEO of EarthCheck, has worked with Griffith tourism researchers since the institute was established and has long advocated for evidence-based sustainability frameworks across the tourism sector.
With more than three decades of experience in destination management, strategic planning and sustainability policy, Mr Moore is widely recognised as one of the Asia–Pacific’s most experienced tourism advisers. His contributions were recently acknowledged with the Marie Watson-Blake Award for Outstanding Contribution by an Individual at the Queensland Tourism Awards.
Through ongoing partnerships with industry, GIFT researchers continue to support tourism destinations and businesses seeking to transition toward more sustainable practices.
Looking ahead to the 2032 Olympic Games
The next decade presents a major opportunity for Queensland tourism as the state prepares to host the 2032 Summer Olympics.
Mr Russell said planning for the Games is already encouraging tourism operators and destinations to think more strategically about sustainability.
“It will be great to see momentum building for the 2032 Olympics and the tourism industry starting to plan what’s required to fully realise the potential benefits before, during and after the Games,” he said.
For Griffith researchers and industry partners alike, the collaboration highlights the role that strong partnerships can play in building a more sustainable visitor economy.
The new small-business sustainability toolkit, expected to be released in 2026, is set to become another practical outcome of the long-standing partnership—helping tourism operators across Australia take meaningful steps toward a more resilient and sustainable future.
A new study using Explainable Artificial Intelligence (XAI) has revealed land-use change – particularly deforestation and unplanned agricultural expansion – is dramatically intensifying heatwaves across Africa, with findings that carry direct implications for Australia’s warm climate.
While the research focused on Africa, the physical mechanisms behind this amplification were universal.
Land-use and land-cover distribution under historical and future scenarios.
“The way land use interacts with heat is not regional – it’s fundamental physics,” said co-lead researcher Dr Chris Ndehedehe, from Griffith University’s Australian Rivers Institute.
“Although our case study is Africa, the patterns we uncovered are highly relevant to Australia, especially given recent extreme heat in Queensland.”
The study, published in Communications Earth and Environment warned heatwaves were shifting from short-lived events to a “near-perennial state” in some regions.
Under high-emissions scenarios, parts of Southern Africa could experience more than 100 days of extreme heat per year.
In certain locations, heatwaves were projected to become 12 times longer and more frequent by the end of the century if current emissions and land degradation continued.
“Heatwaves are no longer just weather events; in many regions, they are becoming the climate itself,” said Dr Oluwafemi Adeyeri, a Research Fellow at the Australian National University.
“This study highlights that this is not just about temperature. In regions with dense vegetation or high soil moisture, high humidity combines with heat to create dangerous physiological stress conditions, which are often underestimated by temperature readings alone.”
By analysing climate drivers using XAI, researchers found land-use changes significantly reduced the land’s ability to cool itself.
When forests were cleared for crops or pasture, evaporation dropped, breaking down natural climatic buffers and creating a dangerous local warming feedback loop.
“We found land-use change doesn’t just alter the landscape; it effectively turns up the volume on heatwave intensity,” Dr Adeyeri said.
“Converting forests to cropland or pasture reduces the land’s ability to cool itself through evaporation.”
The study also highlighted the often-overlooked danger of heat and humidity in areas with high vegetation or moist soils, where humidity could combine with heat to produce life-threatening physiological stress not captured by temperature readings alone.
Dr Ndehedehe noted strong parallels between the study’s findings and recent climate extremes in Queensland. Rapid urbanisation and land clearing in South-East Queensland limited natural cooling in the same way observed in African regions.
“The physics identified in this paper apply globally,” Dr Ndehedehe said.
“This research shows that managing land use and protecting green infrastructure is just as critical as reducing emissions. It provides evidence that planning green infrastructure and managing land use is just as critical as reducing carbon emissions for protecting communities from extreme heat.”
Dr Chris Ndehedehe
The researchers suggested Brisbane’s recent combination of oppressive humidity, intense heat, and sudden storms mirrored the compound events identified in the study – heat interacting with high atmospheric moisture to create volatile, high-impact conditions.
Importantly, the study findings highlighted that following a moderate emissions pathway (SSP370) could dramatically reduce the duration and severity of future mega-heatwaves.
“Adaptation cannot stop at the thermometer,” Dr Adeyeri said.
“To build resilience, we must integrate climate policy with smart land management.”
People with Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS) and Long COVID experience a disruption to their brain connectivity during a mentally demanding task.
The new Griffith University research, published today, used ultra-high field MRI technology to investigate the significant reduction in brain connectivity in specific parts of the brain.
Professor Sonya Marshall-Gradisnik
Professor Sonya Marshall-Gradisnik from Griffith’s National Centre for Neuroimmunology and Emerging Diseases said there were common symptoms experienced by people with ME/CFS or Long COVID with this study focusing on neurological features.
“The symptoms include cognitive difficulties, such as memory problems, difficulties with attention and concentration, and slowed thinking,” Professor Marshall-Gradisnik said.
Lead author and PhD candidate Maira Inderyas said the study saw participants undertake a cognitive test while inside the MRI machine to gauge their brain activity.
“The task, called a Stroop task, was displayed to the participants on a screen during the scan, and required participants to ignore conflicting information and focus on the correct response, which places high demands on the brain’s executive function and inhibitory control,” Ms Inderyas said.
“The set up allowed us to precisely measure which areas of the brain were activated while the patient was performing a mentally demanding task.
“The scans show changes in the brain regions which may contribute to cognitive difficulties such as memory problems, difficulty concentrating, and slower thinking.”
The research supported what many people with ME/CFS and Long COVID experience which was that cognitive effort was not just tiring but could have real neurological impacts, and adequate rest was not optional but essential.
The ultra-high field MRI used in the study was one of only two available in Australia.
The research was funded by ME Research UK and the Stafford Fox Medical Research Foundation.
The paper ‘Distinct functional connectivity patterns in myalgic encephalomyelitis and Long COVID patients during cognitive fatigue: a 7 Tesla task-fMRI study’ has been published in the Journal of Translational Medicine.
A newly excavated archaeological site in central China is reshaping long-held assumptions about early hominin behaviour in Eastern Asia.
Led by the Chinese Academy of Sciences, an international team of researchers conducted archaeological excavations at Xigou, located in the Danjiangkou Reservoir Region in central China, uncovering evidence of advanced stone tool technologies dating back 160,000-72,000 years ago.
The explorations, co-led by Griffith University, revealed hominins in this region were far more inventive and adaptable than previously believed, at a time when multiple large-brained hominins were present in China, such as Homo longi and Homo juluensis, and possibly Homo sapiens.
Excavation of Xigou site. Credit: Guo-Ding Song
“Researchers have argued for decades that while hominins in Africa and western Europe demonstrated significant technological advances, those in East Asia relied on simpler and more conservative stone-tool traditions,” said expedition leader Dr Shixia Yang of the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology (IVPP).
“Detailed analyses from the site show hominin inhabitants employed sophisticated stone toolmaking methods to produce small flakes and tools that were then used in a diverse array of activities.”
Among the most striking finds was the discovery of hafted stone-tools – the earliest-known evidence of composite tools in East Asia.
These tools combined stone components with handles or shafts, and demonstrated complex planning, skilled craftsmanship, and an understanding of how to enhance tool performance.
Tanged borer from Xigou. Credit: Jian-Ping Yue
Lead author Dr Jian-Ping Yue of the IVPP said: “Their presence indicates the Xigou hominins possessed a high degree of behavioural flexibility and ingenuity.”
The site’s rich layers, covering a 90,000-year period, aligned with growing evidence of increasing hominin diversity in China.
Large-brained hominins identified at Xujiayao and Lingjing, sometimes referred to as Homo juluensis, provided a possible biological context for the behavioural complexity reflected in the Xigou assemblages.
“The technological strategies evident in the stone tools likely played a crucial role in helping hominin populations adapt to the fluctuating environments that characterised the 90,000-year-period in Eastern Asia,” Professor Petraglia said.
The research team said the Xigou findings reshaped our understanding of human evolution in East Asia, proving early populations possessed cognitive and technical abilities comparable to their counterparts in Africa and Europe.
Dr Yang added: “Emerging evidence from Xigou and other sites shows early technologies in China included prepared-core methods, innovative retouched tools, and even large cutting tools, pointing to a richer and more complex technological landscape than previously recognised.”
