September 23, 2024

UOW expert commentary (23 September)

UOW academics provide expert commentary, opinion and analysis on a range of ongoing and breaking news stories

---

Interest rates

Associate Professor Alfredo Paloyo can provide commentary on interest rates, ahead of tomorrow’s announcement by the Reserve Bank of Australia. Associate Professor Paloyo is an economist in the School of Business. He is an expert in issues related to human capital, particularly in the fields of labour, health, and education economics.

---

PFAS in water sources

Professor Faisal Hai can discuss PFAS and forever chemicals being found in water sources in NSW. Professor Hai says the toxicity, mobility, persistence and bioaccumulation potential of PFOS and PFOA pose potential concerns for the environment and for human health. Professor Hai is a civil engineering expert and director of the Strategic Water Infrastructure Lab.

---

Conflict in the Middle East

Associate Professor Markus Wagner can provide commentary on the conflict in the Middle East. Associate Professor Wagner is an expert in international law and former clerk at the Supreme Court of Israel for then-President Aharon Barak. He is the Director of the Transnational Law and Policy Centre at UOW. His research and teaching are in the areas of international and comparative law. During his former position on the Supreme Court, Professor Wagner has witnessed first-hand the complexities of the situation in the Middle East and dealt with similar questions that the current outbreak of violence raises. 

---

US election

Dr Daniel Fleming can talk about the latest developments in the US presidential election. Dr Fleming is a historian with expertise in the US civil rights movement, US history and politics, race, gender and class. He is a lecturer in the School of Humanities and Social Inquiry.

---

Microplastics

Dr Karen Raubenheimer can discuss new research which calls for global action to address pollution from plastics and microplastics. Dr Raubenheimer says microplastics were once considered to be confined to the ocean, but that was no longer true.

“Traditionally, we have thought of plastic pollution as a marine problem. And it is. But it doesn’t stop there. Plastic pollution is everywhere now. It doesn’t stop at the boundary between land and ocean, and it is now in our bodies. We urgently need a harmonised approach to address the problem at source.”

Dr Raubenheimer is from the Australian National Centre for Ocean Resources and Security. She has worked extensively on design options for the plastics treaty to inform negotiations mandated by the United Nations Environmental Assembly, the world's highest-level decision-making body on the environment.

---

UOW academics exercise academic freedom by providing expert commentary, opinion and analysis on a range of ongoing social issues and current affairs. This expert commentary reflects the views of those individual academics and does not necessarily reflect the views or policy positions of the University of Wollongong. 

---

FIND AN EXPERT

The University of Wollongong boasts world-leading experts across a range of disciplines. Visit our Find an expert page for a selection of our experts who can speak to current ongoing and breaking news stories, or contact the Media and Public Relations Unit for help finding relevant experts, organising interviews and providing answers to specific questions.