Overview
Background
Associate Professor Fiona Charlson holds dual appointments as an Associate Professor at the University of Queensland’s Institute for Social Science Research (ISSR) and as a Principal Research Fellow at the Queensland Centre for Mental Health Research (QCMHR). She is internationally recognised for her expertise in mental health, with a particular focus on the impacts of climate change on vulnerable and conflict-affected populations. Her research explores the psychological effects of environmental change, including climate anxiety and resilience, especially in regions such as the Pacific Islands. She leads several major initiatives, including the Connecting Climate Minds project (funded by the Wellcome Trust) and an ARC Discovery Project examining how families respond to climate anxiety. A/Prof Charlson is a trusted advisor to Australian and international stakeholders, including the World Health Organization, United Nations Development Program, US National Institutes of Health, and numerous government and non-government organizations. Her work spans systems modelling, epidemiology, and policy analysis, and aims to support policymakers, healthcare providers, and communities with the knowledge and tools they need to adapt to the changing climate and support the mental health and well-being of individuals and communities.
In addition to her research, she is a dedicated educator and mentor, coordinating postgraduate courses and supervising PhD students in global mental health and public health. Her work is driven by a commitment to equity, collaboration, and innovation, bridging the fields of mental health and planetary health.
Availability
- Dr Fiona Charlson is:
- Available for supervision
- Media expert
Fields of research
Research interests
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Global Mental Health and Climate Change
Associate Professor Fiona Charlson’s research applies interdisciplinary and systems-based approaches to examine the mental health impacts of climate change. Her work integrates a range of methods, including psychiatric epidemiology, system dynamics modelling, and policy analysis, to investigate climate-related psychological phenomena such as anxiety, ecological grief, and resilience. She leads several funded projects aimed at generating actionable evidence for global mental health policy and service reform within planetary health frameworks.
Works
Search Professor Fiona Charlson’s works on UQ eSpace
2021
Conference Publication
Excess mortality in severe mental disorders: a systematic review and meta-regression
Ali, Suhailah and Charlson, Fiona (2021). Excess mortality in severe mental disorders: a systematic review and meta-regression. IEA World Congress Of Epidemiology 2021, Online, September 2021. Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press. doi: 10.1093/ije/dyab168.031
2021
Journal Article
Global estimates of service coverage for severe mental disorders: findings from the WHO Mental Health Atlas 2017 - Addendum
Jaeschke, Kara, Hanna, Fahmy, Ali, Suhailah, Chowdhary, Neerja, Dua, Tarun and Charlson, Fiona (2021). Global estimates of service coverage for severe mental disorders: findings from the WHO Mental Health Atlas 2017 - Addendum. Global Mental Health, 8, e28-e28. doi: 10.1017/gmh.2021.30
2021
Journal Article
Global estimates of service coverage for severe mental disorders: findings from the WHO Mental Health Atlas 2017
Jaeschke, Kara, Hanna, Fahmy, Ali, Suhailah, Chowdhary, Neerja, Dua, Tarun and Charlson, Fiona (2021). Global estimates of service coverage for severe mental disorders: findings from the WHO Mental Health Atlas 2017. Global Mental Health, 8 e27, e27. doi: 10.1017/gmh.2021.19
2021
Journal Article
Climate change and mental health: a scoping review
Charlson, Fiona, Ali, Suhailah, Benmarhnia, Tarik, Pearl, Madeleine, Massazza, Alessandro, Augustinavicius, Jura and Scott, James G. (2021). Climate change and mental health: a scoping review. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18 (9) 4486, 1-38. doi: 10.3390/ijerph18094486
2021
Journal Article
Multimorbidity and vulnerability among those living with psychosis in Indigenous populations in Cape York and the Torres Strait
Charlson, Fiona, Gynther, Bruce, Obrecht, Karin, Waller, Michael and Hunter, Ernest (2021). Multimorbidity and vulnerability among those living with psychosis in Indigenous populations in Cape York and the Torres Strait. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 55 (9), 000486742098483-902. doi: 10.1177/0004867420984832
2021
Journal Article
Incarceration among adults living with psychosis in Indigenous populations in Cape York and the Torres Strait
Charlson, Fiona, Gynther, Bruce, Obrecht, Karin, Heffernan, Ed, David, Michael, Young, Jesse T. and Hunter, Ernest (2021). Incarceration among adults living with psychosis in Indigenous populations in Cape York and the Torres Strait. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 55 (7), 1-9. doi: 10.1177/0004867420985247
2020
Journal Article
Author Correction: Modeling COVID-19 scenarios for the United States (Nature Medicine, (2020), 10.1038/s41591-020-1132-9)
Reiner, Robert C., Barber, Ryan M., Collins, James K., Zheng, Peng, Adolph, Christopher, Albright, James, Antony, Catherine M., Aravkin, Aleksandr Y., Bachmeier, Steven D., Bang-Jensen, Bree, Bannick, Marlena S., Bloom, Sabina, Carter, Austin, Castro, Emma, Causey, Kate, Chakrabarti, Suman, Charlson, Fiona J., Cogen, Rebecca M., Combs, Emily, Dai, Xiaochen, Dangel, William James, Earl, Lucas, Ewald, Samuel B., Ezalarab, Maha, Ferrari, Alize J., Flaxman, Abraham, Frostad, Joseph Jon, Fullman, Nancy, Gakidou, Emmanuela ... Murray, Christopher J. L. (2020). Author Correction: Modeling COVID-19 scenarios for the United States (Nature Medicine, (2020), 10.1038/s41591-020-1132-9). Nature Medicine, 26 (12), 1950-1950. doi: 10.1038/s41591-020-01181-w
2020
Journal Article
Five insights from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019
Murray, Christopher J L, Abbafati, Cristiana, Abbas, Kaja M, Abbasi, Mohammad, Abbasi-Kangevari, Mohsen, Abd-Allah, Foad, Abdollahi, Mohammad, Abedi, Parisa, Abedi, Aidin, Abolhassani, Hassan, Aboyans, Victor, Abreu, Lucas Guimarães, Abrigo, Michael R M, Abu-Gharbieh, Eman, Abu Haimed, Abdulaziz Khalid, Abushouk, Abdelrahman I, Acebedo, Alyssa, Ackerman, Ilana N, Adabi, Maryam, Adamu, Abdu A, Adebayo, Oladimeji M, Adelson, Jaimie D, Adetokunboh, Olatunji O, Afarideh, Mohsen, Afshin, Ashkan, Agarwal, Gina, Agrawal, Anurag, Ahmad, Tauseef, Ahmadi, Keivan ... Lim, Stephen S (2020). Five insights from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019. The Lancet, 396 (10258), 1135-1159. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(20)31404-5
2020
Journal Article
Global burden of 87 risk factors in 204 countries and territories, 1990–2019: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019
Murray, Christopher J L, Aravkin, Aleksandr Y, Zheng, Peng, Abbafati, Cristiana, Abbas, Kaja M, Abbasi-Kangevari, Mohsen, Abd-Allah, Foad, Abdelalim, Ahmed, Abdollahi, Mohammad, Abdollahpour, Ibrahim, Abegaz, Kedir Hussein, Abolhassani, Hassan, Aboyans, Victor, Abreu, Lucas Guimarães, Abrigo, Michael R M, Abualhasan, Ahmed, Abu-Raddad, Laith Jamal, Abushouk, Abdelrahman I, Adabi, Maryam, Adekanmbi, Victor, Adeoye, Abiodun Moshood, Adetokunboh, Olatunji O, Adham, Davoud, Advani, Shailesh M, Agarwal, Gina, Aghamir, Seyed Mohammad Kazem, Agrawal, Anurag, Ahmad, Tauseef, Ahmadi, Keivan ... Lim, Stephen S (2020). Global burden of 87 risk factors in 204 countries and territories, 1990–2019: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019. The Lancet, 396 (10258), 1223-1249. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(20)30752-2
2020
Journal Article
Five insights from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019
Abbafati, Cristiana, Abbas, Kaja M., Abbasi, Mohammad, Abbasifard, Mitra, Abbasi-Kangevari, Mohsen, Abbastabar, Hedayat, Abd-Allah, Foad, Abdelalim, Ahmed, Abdollahi, Mohammad, Abdollahpour, Ibrahim, Abedi, Aidin, Abedi, Parisa, Abegaz, Kedir Hussein, Abolhassani, Hassan, Abosetugn, Akine Eshete, Aboyans, Victor, Abrams, Elissa M., Abreu, Lucas Guimaraes, Abrigo, Michael R. M., Abu Haimed, Abdulaziz Khalid, Abualhasan, Ahmed, Abu-Gharbieh, Eman, Abu-Raddad, Laith Jamal, Abushouk, Abdelrahman I., Acebedo, Alyssa, Ackerman, Ilana N., Adabi, Maryam, Adair, Tim, Adamu, Abdu A. ... Murray, Christopher J. L. (2020). Five insights from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019. Lancet, 396 (10258), 1135-1159.
2020
Journal Article
Global burden of 369 diseases and injuries in 204 countries and territories, 1990–2019: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019
Vos, Theo, Lim, Stephen S, Abbafati, Cristiana, Abbas, Kaja M, Abbasi, Mohammad, Abbasifard, Mitra, Abbasi-Kangevari, Mohsen, Abbastabar, Hedayat, Abd-Allah, Foad, Abdelalim, Ahmed, Abdollahi, Mohammad, Abdollahpour, Ibrahim, Abolhassani, Hassan, Aboyans, Victor, Abrams, Elissa M, Abreu, Lucas Guimarães, Abrigo, Michael R M, Abu-Raddad, Laith Jamal, Abushouk, Abdelrahman I, Acebedo, Alyssa, Ackerman, Ilana N, Adabi, Maryam, Adamu, Abdu A, Adebayo, Oladimeji M, Adekanmbi, Victor, Adelson, Jaimie D, Adetokunboh, Olatunji O, Adham, Davoud, Afshari, Mahdi ... Murray, Christopher J L (2020). Global burden of 369 diseases and injuries in 204 countries and territories, 1990–2019: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019. The Lancet, 396 (10258), 1204-1222. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(20)30925-9
2020
Journal Article
Mental health in the Pacific: Urgency and opportunity
Ali, Suhailah, Williams, Owain, Chang, Odille, Shidhaye, Rahul, Hunter, Ernest and Charlson, Fiona (2020). Mental health in the Pacific: Urgency and opportunity. Asia Pacific Viewpoint, 61 (3) apv.12286, 537-550. doi: 10.1111/apv.12286
2020
Journal Article
The burden of mental disorders across the states of India: the Global Burden of Disease Study 1990–2017
Sagar, Rajesh, Dandona, Rakhi, Gururaj, Gopalkrishna, Dhaliwal, R. S., Singh, Aditya, Ferrari, Alize, Dua, Tarun, Ganguli, Atreyi, Varghese, Mathew, Chakma, Joy K., Kumar, G. Anil, Shaji, K. S., Ambekar, Atul, Rangaswamy, Thara, Vijayakumar, Lakshmi, Agarwal, Vivek, Krishnankutty, Rinu P., Bhatia, Rohit, Charlson, Fiona, Chowdhary, Neerja, Erskine, Holly E., Glenn, Scott D., Krish, Varsha, Mantilla Herrera, Ana M., Mutreja, Parul, Odell, Christopher M., Pal, Pramod K., Prakash, Sanjay, Santomauro, Damian ... Dandona, Lalit (2020). The burden of mental disorders across the states of India: the Global Burden of Disease Study 1990–2017. The Lancet Psychiatry, 7 (2), 148-161. doi: 10.1016/S2215-0366(19)30475-4
2020
Journal Article
Modeling COVID-19 scenarios for the United States
Reiner, Robert C., Barber, Ryan M., Collins, James K., Zheng, Peng, Adolph, Christopher, Albright, James, Antony, Catherine M., Aravkin, Aleksandr Y., Bachmeier, Steven D., Bang-Jensen, Bree, Bannick, Marlena S., Bloom, Sabina, Carter, Austin, Castro, Emma, Causey, Kate, Chakrabarti, Suman, Charlson, Fiona J., Cogen, Rebecca M., Combs, Emily, Dai, Xiaochen, Dangel, William James, Earl, Lucas, Ewald, Samuel B., Ezalarab, Maha, Ferrari, Alize J., Flaxman, Abraham, Frostad, Joseph Jon, Fullman, Nancy, Gakidou, Emmanuela ... Murray, Christopher J. L. (2020). Modeling COVID-19 scenarios for the United States. Nature Medicine, 27 (1), 94-105. doi: 10.1038/s41591-020-1132-9
2019
Journal Article
Mental health in conflict settings – Authors' reply
Charlson, Fiona and van Ommeren, Mark (2019). Mental health in conflict settings – Authors' reply. The Lancet, 394 (10216), 2238-2238. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(19)32548-6
2019
Journal Article
A comprehensive analysis of mortality-related health metrics associated with mental disorders: a nationwide, register-based cohort study
Plana-Ripoll, Oleguer, Pedersen, Carsten Bøcker, Agerbo, Esben, Holtz, Yan, Erlangsen, Annette, Canudas-Romo, Vladimir, Andersen, Per Kragh, Charlson, Fiona J., Christensen, Maria K., Erskine, Holly E., Ferrari, Alize J., Iburg, Kim Moesgaard, Momen, Natalie, Mortensen, Preben Bo, Nordentoft, Merete, Santomauro, Damian F., Scott, James G., Whiteford, Harvey A., Weye, Nanna, McGrath, John J. and Laursen, Thomas M. (2019). A comprehensive analysis of mortality-related health metrics associated with mental disorders: a nationwide, register-based cohort study. The Lancet, 394 (10211), 1827-1835. doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(19)32316-5
2019
Journal Article
Burden of non-communicable diseases in sub-Saharan Africa, 1990–2017: results from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017
Gouda, Hebe N., Charlson, Fiona, Sorsdahl, Katherine, Ahmadzada, Sanam, Ferrari, Alize J., Erskine, Holly, Leung, Janni, Santamauro, Damian, Lund, Crick, Aminde, Leopold Ndemnge, Mayosi, Bongani M., Kengne, Andre Pascal, Harris, Meredith, Achoki, Tom, Wiysonge, Charles S., Stein, Dan J. and Whiteford, Harvey (2019). Burden of non-communicable diseases in sub-Saharan Africa, 1990–2017: results from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017. The Lancet Global Health, 7 (10), e1375-e1387. doi: 10.1016/s2214-109x(19)30374-2
2019
Journal Article
New WHO prevalence estimates of mental disorders in conflict settings: a systematic review and meta-analysis
Charlson, Fiona, van Ommeren, Mark, Flaxman, Abraham, Cornett, Joseph, Whiteford, Harvey and Saxena, Shekhar (2019). New WHO prevalence estimates of mental disorders in conflict settings: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Lancet, 394 (10194), 240-248. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(19)30934-1
2019
Journal Article
Erratum: Global, regional, and national comparative risk assessment of 84 behavioural, environmental and occupational, and metabolic risks or clusters of risks for 195 countries and territories, 1990–2017: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017 (The Lancet (2018) 392(10159) (1923–1994), (S0140673618322256), (10.1016/S0140-6736(18)32225-6))
Stanaway, Jeffrey D., Afshin, Ashkan, Gakidou, Emmanuela, Lim, Stephen S., Abate, Degu, Abate, Kalkidan Hassen, Abbafati, Cristiana, Abbasi, Nooshin, Abbastabar, Hedayat, Abd-Allah, Foad, Abdela, Jemal, Abdelalim, Ahmed, Abdollahpour, Ibrahim, Abdulkader, Rizwan Suliankatchi, Abebe, Molla, Abebe, Zegeye, Abera, Semaw F., Abil, Olifan Zewdie, Abraha, Haftom Niguse, Abrham, Aklilu Roba, Abu-Raddad, Laith Jamal, Abu-Rmeileh, Niveen M.E., Accrombessi, Manfred Mario Kokou, Acharya, Dilaram, Acharya, Pawan, Adamu, Abdu A., Adane, Akilew Awoke, Adebayo, Oladimeji M., Adedoyin, Rufus Adesoji ... Murray, Christopher J.L. (2019). Erratum: Global, regional, and national comparative risk assessment of 84 behavioural, environmental and occupational, and metabolic risks or clusters of risks for 195 countries and territories, 1990–2017: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017 (The Lancet (2018) 392(10159) (1923–1994), (S0140673618322256), (10.1016/S0140-6736(18)32225-6)). The Lancet, 393 (10190). doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(19)31429-1
2019
Journal Article
Implementation of the mental health Gap Action Programme (mhGAP) within the Fijian Healthcare System: a mixed-methods evaluation
Charlson, Fiona, Chang, Odille, Kubuabola, Ilisapeci, Schess, Jaclyn, Latu, Catherine, Hunter, Ernest, Tukana, Isimeli, Qaloewai, Sefanaia and Shidhaye, Rahul (2019). Implementation of the mental health Gap Action Programme (mhGAP) within the Fijian Healthcare System: a mixed-methods evaluation. International Journal of Mental Health Systems, 13 (1) 43, 43. doi: 10.1186/s13033-019-0301-z
Supervision
Availability
- Dr Fiona Charlson is:
- Available for supervision
Before you email them, read our advice on how to contact a supervisor.
Supervision history
Current supervision
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Doctor Philosophy
Exploring links between social determinants of mental health, the impact of a climate driven flood event, and mental health outcomes.
Principal Advisor
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Doctor Philosophy
Beyond Recovery: Developing A Decision Making Framework For State and Provincial Level Governments To Design And Deliver Mental Health and Wellbeing Services That Promote Resilence and Foster Growth To Communites Impacted By Climate Risk Disasters
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Kristiana Ludlow
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Doctor Philosophy
Mental health stigma in refugee and migrant communities: co-designing a mental health promotion framework
Principal Advisor
Completed supervision
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2023
Doctor Philosophy
Understanding the contribution of psychosis and bipolar disorder to premature mortality
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Professor Harvey Whiteford, Dr Alize Ferrari, Dr Damian Santomauro
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2024
Doctor Philosophy
Weathering the Storm: How Young People Respond to and Cope With Climate Change
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Professor James Scott, Dr Hannah Thomas
Media
Enquiries
Contact Dr Fiona Charlson directly for media enquiries about:
- climate change
- mental health
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