Dr Thomas Sigler is an urban and economic geographer with a focus on how cities have been affected by globalisation.  Prior to joining the School of GPEM at UQ in 2012, he worked abroad in the number of contexts including Panama, Honduras, and the Congo. Over the past few years, his research has focussed on understanding how cities are connected through economic and social networks, and how the internal dynamics of cities is reflected through these relationships.  Part of this has been to understand the ‘Global City’ and ‘World City’ ideas as they apply to urban development, and to develop new ways of theorising contemporary cities to better reflect the position of each in a globalised economy. His has published widely across the disciplines of geography and urban studies and is increasingly working with various governmental and non-governmental stakeholders in Australia to better understand the spatial economy of Australian cities.

David Bandurski is an award-winning journalist whose work has appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and other publications. He received a Human Rights Press Award in 2008 for an investigative piece on China’s use of professional associations to enforce internet censorship guidelines. Currently analyst and editor at the China Media Project, a research program at the University of Hong Kong’s Journalism & Media Studies Centre, he also produces Chinese independent films and documentaries through his production company, Lantern Films.