Associate Professor Monica Barratt is an NHMRC Emerging Leadership fellow at Australia's National Drug Research Institute (Curtin University), recognised internationally for generating policy and practice relevant insights into the reduction of health harms for people who use unregulated drugs. Barratt has published 150+ peer-reviewed articles with over 10K citations. She is the National Research Lead for The Loop Australia, a non-profit service provider of drug checking in Australia. She serves on the boards of directors of 3 harm reduction charities: Bluelight Communities Ltd (Chair), Students for Sensible Drug Policy Australia (Treasurer), and the Australian Psychedelic Society (Member).

Associate Professor Jennifer Schumann is Head of the Drug Intelligence Unit at the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine and Associate Professor in Monash University’s Department of Forensic Medicine. She is a forensic pharmacologist and toxicologist bringing over 20 years experience investigating drug-related harms in the community, spanning forensic science, public health surveillance and policy translation. She has published extensively, presented her work internationally, and received numerous awards in recognition of her research impact, including a 2019 Churchill Fellowship and the 2024 Achievement Award from The International Association of Forensic Toxicologists (TIAFT). Jennifer is President of the Forensic and Clinical Toxicology Association (FACTA), Board Member (Oceania) for TIAFT, and serves on multiple government and international advisory groups. Her research has stimulated public debate, engaged national and international media, and directly informed changes in Australian drug, alcohol and violence-prevention policy and practice.

Dr. Nabarun Dasgupta is a Gillings Innovation Fellow and Senior Scientist at the University of North Carolina (USA) and winner of the MacArthur “Genius Grant” Fellowship. He holds a PhD in Epidemiology from UNC, and was named to the 2026 TIME100 Health list of most influential people in health globally. Dr. Dasgupta is a scientist and innovator with a passion for telling true stories about health with numbers. At the UNC Street Drug Analysis Lab, over 20,000 donated drug samples from harm reduction programs have been analyzed with molecular precision to create a real-time understanding of the illicit drug supply. Through his work, Dasgupta aims to amplify community voices in public health, paired with powerful visual information displays.