Sean Bay is an environmental microbiologist, lecturer, and ARC DECRA fellow since 2023. He heads The Bay Group at La Trobe University, Melbourne. Dr. Bay's pioneering research focuses on how soil bacteria utilize atmospheric trace gases such as hydrogen, carbon monoxide, and methane to survive in energy-limited ecosystems, including deserts, glaciers, and caves. He earned his PhD from Monash University in 2020, investigating soil microbial diversity under the mentorship of Professor Chris Greening. Dr. Bay gained post-doctoral experience with a position at Securing Antarctica's Environmental Future (SAEF). 

Bob Leung leads the Microbial Ecophysiology and Genomics Group in the Biomedicine Discovery Institute at Monash University. His group studies how diverse microorganisms survive, interact, and in turn modulate their hosts, environments, and Earth’s climate, with a primary focus on environmental change implication. He obtained a PhD (Mollie-Holman medallist) in 2023 under the supervision of Prof. Chris Greening at Monash University, investigating the metabolic basis of microbial growth and survival in oligotrophic ecosystems. He then led the Greening lab’s Environmental Microbiology team as a FMNHS fellow. In 2025, Bob was awarded an ARC DECRA Fellowship to establish his own group within the Climate and Microbiology Research Unit at Monash. He is also a Chief Investigator of ARC Research Hub for Carbon Utilisation & Recycling, an Associate Investigator in the ARC Special Research Initiative Securing Antarctica's Environmental Future, and an ECR Investigator of Joint Genome Institute.