2027 AMSI-ANZIAM Lecture Tour - Research and Higher Education

Posted 21 July 2026

2027 ANZIAM Lecturer

The AMSI-ANZIAM Lecture Tour invites a distinguished international academic in an applied mathematical field to speak at universities across Australia after the conclusion of the ANZIAM conference. It includes a series of talks including specialist and public lectures. The tour is organised biennially by AMSI and is supported by ANZIAM.

Speaker

Professor Bindi Brook

Mathematical Medicine and Biology, University of Nottingham

Professor Bindi Brook is a Professor of Mathematical Medicine and Biology in the School of Mathematical Sciences at the University of Nottingham.

Her interest in applying mathematical models to biological problems began during her PhD at the University of Leeds, under the supervision of Professor Tim Pedley. Her doctoral research focused on blood flow in giraffe jugular veins, particularly flow–structure interactions in compliant vessels.

She subsequently undertook postdoctoral research at the University of Sheffield, modelling mechanically ventilated lungs and drug delivery within the airways. For more than 20 years, Professor Brook and her research group have developed integrative, multiscale mathematical models of respiratory biomechanics and mechanobiology.

Their work draws on a range of approaches, including discrete stochastic models of cell–matrix interactions, vertex-based cell and spring-network models, continuum fluid and soft-tissue mechanics, and multiphase models of tissue growth in airway remodelling.

The group aims to connect cellular-level processes with the structure, function and (patho)physiology of tissues. Its research has a particular focus on asthma and, more recently, destructive lung diseases such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Professor Brook works closely with biologists and clinicians to develop interdisciplinary models that improve understanding of the emergence and progression of respiratory disease, with the ultimate goal of predicting personalised disease trajectories for individual patients.

Schedule

AMSI is inviting expressions of interest from member universities interested in hosting an event as part of the 2027 AMSI–ANZIAM Lecture Tour.

Held biennially, the Lecture Tour brings a distinguished international academic in an applied mathematical field to universities across Australia following the ANZIAM Conference. The tour includes a program of specialist and public lectures, providing opportunities for researchers, students and the wider community to engage with leading international work in applied mathematics.

The tour is organised by AMSI with the support of ANZIAM. Member universities are invited to express their interest in hosting one of the scheduled lectures and contributing to this important national program.

Prior to the lecture tour, Professor Bindi Brook will deliver a plenary talk at the ANZIAM Conference held in Auckland, NZ from 1-5 February 2027. The AMSI-ANZIAM lecture tour will be hosted in Australia from 8-19 February 2027.

Expressions of interest closed on Monday 7 September.

AMSI will notify all parties of the outcome of their bids by Monday 28 September.

Talk abstract

Can we predict the future of your lungs?

How mathematics, biology and medical imaging are helping us understand, predict and treat lung disease.

Why does lung disease develop in some people and not others? Why does it progress rapidly in one person but remain stable in another? And can we predict what will happen next?

Advances in medical imaging, biological measurement and artificial intelligence are giving us unprecedented amounts of information about the lung. But identifying patterns in data is only part of the challenge. If we want to understand how disease will evolve, and how it might respond to treatment, we also need to uncover the mechanisms driving those changes.

Mathematics provides a powerful way to do this. By translating our understanding of lung biology, mechanics, and physics into equations and computational models, we can explore how processes operating at scales from individual cells to the whole lung interact over time. Combined with patient data, these models may ultimately allow us to build personalised “digital twins”: virtual representations of an individual that can be used to explore possible futures and test the effects of different treatments in a computer.

In this lecture, we will journey inside the lung to discover how mathematics can help us understand what drives lung disease, explore how it may progress, and ultimately ask whether one day we really will be able to predict the future of your lungs.