Bernard Saliba (he / him)

Bernard Saliba is an early career academic researcher and lecturer of Public Health in the School of Public Health within the Faculty of Health, University of Technology Sydney. As a Lecturer, Bernard's main role is subject designer, developer, and coordinator across a number of disciplines in the Bachelor of Public Health (formerly Health Science) program. He teaches across topics ranging from health promotion, communication and diversity, global human rights and health inequity, to technology and culture in health. Bernard has been involved in a number of research publications and conference presentations both locally and globally. 

Bernard is completing his PhD at the Kirby Institute, which aims to explore the ways in which culture impacts health. Specifically, he is looking at how the intersectionality of ethnicity, religion, and sexuality, influences community connectedness and access to HIV and other health services for gay, bisexual, queer, and other men who have sex with men (GBQMSM) from Arab backgrounds. 

James Seow (he / him)

James is a passionate program and events manager with extensive experience in group facilitation, community development, cross-cultural leadership, positive psychology, and LGBTIQA+ advocacy. He is a graduate of the Williamson Community Leadership Program at Leadership Victoria, and holds a Graduate Certificate with Distinction in Positive Psychology from Central Queensland University. He facilitates human connections, intercultural understanding and intergroup empathy to improve societal well-being.

James has worked in the government, non-profit, arts and culture, tourism, tertiary education, and health sectors. He specialises in project management, marketing communications, partnership development, stakeholder management, adult learning, well-being interventions, community empowerment, and social innovation. He facilitates the Ending HIV Network at Monash University, and chairs City of Port Phillip's Multicultural Advisory Committee. As a committee member of organisations such as the Victorian Multicultural Commission, Victorian Pride Centre, Access Health and Community, LGBTIQ+ Health Australia, and ACON, he provides advice and insights on multicultural, intersectional and disadvantaged communities to promote social inclusion, diversity, human flourishing, and positive ageing.

Sekneh Beckett (she / her)

Sekneh (she/her) is coloured by her Lebanese-Muslim heritage. She was born on the unceded land of the Dahrug people and currently resides in the Gadigal people's country, part of the mighty Euro nation. As a senior registered psychologist with over two decades of clinical experience, she not only practices but also teaches at universities nationally and internationally.

Sekneh is passionately dedicated to her work with people navigating diverse aspects of their identities, including bodies, cultures, religions, genders, sexes, and sexualities. Her innovative approach involves the concept of 'inviting people to come-in,' offering an alternative narrative to the universal notion of 'coming-out.'

Beyond her professional pursuits, Sekneh finds joy in playing competitive team sports, exploring foreign films, and immersing herself in books and nature. She can be contacted via https://linktr.ee/Sekneh

Gene Lim (he / him)

Gene Lim is a Research Officer with the Australian Research Center for Sex, Health and Society, and has worked with the center since 2018 across a range of projects. Gene's debut project, Understanding LGBTIQ+ Lives in Crisis, was an investigation into LGBTIQ+ peoples' engagement with Crisis Counseling services which went on to win the university-wide Excellence in Research Impact Award in 2021. Since then, Gene has been involved in projects and publications on topics ranging from Family, Domestic and Sexual Violence, Homelessness, Mental Health, Sexual Health, Community Connection among LGBTIQ+ people, Suicide and Self-Harm, Sex Education and most recently, Alcohol and Other Drugs. 

Gene is a qualitative and quantitative researcher who is a PhD graduate from the School of Social Sciences at Monash University. His PhD thesis utilized a sexual fields framework to explore the lingering impact of intimate discrimination and lateral violence on the sexual habitus of Overseas-born Asian Men who have sex with Men (MSM) residing in Australia. His reflections on both his and his participants' encounters with racialised intimate prejudice, and the subsequent projects undertaken to counteract the internalization of these prejudices have been collated into a chapter in Sexual Racism and Social Justice, a forthcoming collection featuring the reflections of lead researchers in this field.