Faculty of Health, Medicine and Behavioural Sciences
Availability:
Available for supervision
Media expert
Dr Dillon Landi is a Lecturer in Health and Education in the School of Human Movement and Nutrition Sciences. His research and teaching focuses on equity in sport, health education, sexuality education and physical education. He is internationally recognised for his contributions to these areas and has published extensively in leading journals and edited volumes across health, wellbeing, sport and education. His research has been cited in and informed policy documents, government reports and national position statements in Aotearoa New Zealand, Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States.
Dillon's research has been recognised and won major awards from prestigious organisations such as the American Educational Research Association (AERA), the British Educational Research Association (BERA), the Association Internationale des Écoles Supérieures d'Éducation Physique (AIESEP) and SHAPE America. He has also co-edited three Special Issues in high-impact journals on topics that reflect his commitment to inclusive scholarship: (a) Equity and Diversity in Health, Physical Activity and Education; (b) LGBTQIA+ Research in Physical Education; and (c) LGBTQIA+ Research in Sport, Human Movement and Education.
At the University of Queensland, Dillon teaches courses related to health, research methods, and education. He is also actively engaged in mentoring students and early-career researchers in research related to health, wellbeing, and education. He holds a PhD from the Waipapa Taumata Rau - The University of Auckland (Aotearoa New Zealand) and two postgraduate degrees from Columbia University (New York, USA). Prior to joining UQ, he held academic appointments in Aotearoa New Zealand, Maryland (USA), and Scotland (UK). He currently serves as the Senior Editor of Physical Education and Sport Pedagogy (Q1, Taylor & Francis) and sits on the editorial board of Sport, Education and Society (Q1, Taylor & Francis).
Faculty of Health, Medicine and Behavioural Sciences
Availability:
Not available for supervision
Sheleigh Lawler is a health psychology expert, with research interests in understanding and intervening on health behaviours, particularly the psychosocial sequelae in relation to disease and intervention outcomes. Her breadth of knowledge across public health, health promotion and health psychology allows for a unique perspective, particularly on understanding the importance of communication. Her work involves multi-disciplinary teams of researchers, industry partners, and government organisations.
Core Member of Centre for Community Health and Wellbeing
Centre for Community Health and Wellbeing
Faculty of Health, Medicine and Behavioural Sciences
Senior Lecturer
School of Languages and Cultures
Faculty of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences
Availability:
Available for supervision
Media expert
I am a linguist specialising in intercultural and public health communication, with a focus on the intersections of language, culture, and migration in healthcare. My research centres on co-designing accessible health communication resources with culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) communities across Asia and Australia. Drawing on linguistic ethnography and co-design approaches, I work to improve community health, infectious disease prevention, and health equity for underserved populations. I am also passionate about collaborating with colleagues across the health and social sciences to address complex public health challenges, and I convene an interdisciplinary health communication research group at the School.
My publications focus on public health communication. A central aim of these publications is to distill complex health communication data into accessible and actionable strategies that deliver tangible benefits to communities and practitioners. In 2025, I published a single-authored book, Health Crisis Communication: Multimodal Classification for Pandemic Preparedness, which examines effective public health communication and offers practical strategies for communicating complex epidemiological concepts to the public.
I am currently leading and collaborating on three major research projects addressing health communication with vulnerable populations across gender, race, migration, and socioeconomic status. These projects aim to develop tailored communication strategies and resources for conveying critical health information effectively.
I co-create a community health outreach program with Myanmar migrant workers in Thailand.
I co-lead an international project that examines clinician–patient communication across Australia, Switzerland, and Thailand.
I lead a travel medicine project in Australia that investigates how health professionals communicate infectious disease risks to vulnerable groups, including children, pregnant women, and older adults with underlying health conditions.
My research has been recognised with several awards, including the 2021 Humanities Travelling Fellowship from the Australian Academy of the Humanities, the 2025 Young Scholar Research Award from the North America Taiwanese Professors’ Association (NATPA), and the 2025 High Distinction Award from the Taiwan Association of Medical History.
I welcome enquiries from prospective PhD, MPhil, and Honours students interested in health discourse, intercultural communication, and migration studies. Please feel free to contact me to discuss potential research projects.
Dr Kieren Lilly is a social psychologist and Research Fellow at the Institute for Social Science Research (ISSR), University of Queensland. Kieren’s research examines experiences of inequality and discrimination, with a particular focus on the relationships between social identity, relative deprivation, political ideology, and collective action. For instance, his doctoral research explored the causes, consequences, and trajectories of relative deprivation among the general public, while his more recent work examines the factors shaping support for right-wing reactionary movements, typologies of authoritarianism, and perceptions of reverse discrimination among advantaged groups.
Kieren is also deeply committed to supporting LGBTQIA+ research and equity. He leads and collaborates on projects investigating (a) the relationships between identity, health, and well-being among LGBTQIA+ populations and (b) attitudes towards LGBTQIA+ people and social policy. Kieren’s research aims to challenge dominant, binary views of sexuality and gender, including via studies of sexual fluidity and transnormativity. In 2025, Kieren was awarded the UQ Ally Award in recognition of his commitment to promoting inclusion and community for transgender and gender-diverse staff and students.
At ISSR, Kieren works as part of the URBANiQ: Urban Intelligence for Healthy & Equitable Places @ The University of Queensland team, contributing to high-impact research related to urban liveability and community well-being. He also works on several commissioned projects monitoring and evaluating public programs related to substance use, criminal justice, and primary care. Kieren specialises in advanced quantitative research methods, including longitudinal, multilevel, person-centred, and quasi-experimental approaches, and has expertise in managing large-scale panel and administrative data sets.
Affiliate of Centre of Research Excellence on Achieving the Tobacco Endgame
Centre of Research Excellence on Achieving the Tobacco Endgame
Faculty of Health, Medicine and Behavioural Sciences
Affiliate of National Centre for Youth Substance Use Research
National Centre for Youth Substance Use Research
Faculty of Health, Medicine and Behavioural Sciences
NHMRC Emerging Leadership Fellow
School of Psychology
Faculty of Health, Medicine and Behavioural Sciences
Availability:
Available for supervision
Carmen is an NHMRC Emerging Leadership Fellow at the National Centre for Youth Substance Use Research. Her research seeks to understand why young people start using substances and develop strategies that advance public health.
Her work spans three key areas:
(1)Youth vaping and social media, where she examines trends and the influence of social media on youth vaping; (2) Cannabis and regulation, investigating industry marketing practices and compliance with regulatory guidelines; (3)International comparisons and equity - developing culturally appropriate prevention and harm reduction strategies to address substance use in diverse contexts;
Through her research, Carmen aims to generate evidence that informs policy, guides prevention and harm reduction efforts, and support healthier futures for young people. She has published over 100 peer-reviewed papers in addiction and mental health (Google Scholar: >10K citations, h-index = 43, 31% output in top 10% citation percentile).
Carmen holds qualifications in biostatistics, public health and epidemiology. She has experiences in teaching and mentoring students from diverse demographic and cultural background, and welcomes self-driven, curious students with interest in public health, psychology, epidemiology, or statistics to join her team.
Faculty of Health, Medicine and Behavioural Sciences
Availability:
Available for supervision
Annika Luebbe is an early career researcher with interests in rural mental health in Australia and abroad. Her works focus on strengths-based approaches to understanding the many contributions to mental health in rural, regional, and remote locations. Annika has experience in mixed-methods research, framework development, and mental health service evaluation. Her ongoing research in rural health contributes to the growing rural mental health literature, informing relevant rural solutions, policy, and practice.
Program Lead, Innovation Pathways (FaBA) of UQ Business School
School of Business
Faculty of Business, Economics and Law
Professor
School of Business
Faculty of Business, Economics and Law
Availability:
Available for supervision
Media expert
Janet R. McColl-Kennedy is Professor of Marketing, UQ Business School, and Lead, Innovation Pathways Program, FaBA, Trailblazer Universities program, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia.
Multi-award winner Professor McColl-Kennedy is an Honorary Visiting Professor and Fellow, Cambridge Service Alliance, Institute for Manufacturing, Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge, UK. Research Collaborators | Cambridge Service Alliance.
Janet embodies scholarly excellence. She is an elected Fellow of the prestigious Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia (ASSA) from 2022 for her distinguished contribution to social sciences. She is also a Distinguished Fellow of the Australian and New Zealand Marketing Academy (ANZMAC) having "demonstrated outstanding contributions to the Academy and also demonstrated eminence in the Marketing discipline through research, scholarship, education and leadership". Fellows — ANZMAC. Given her expertise in Service Innovation, Professor McColl-Kennedy is an appointed Ambassador for the International Society of Service Innovation Professionals (ISSIP) https://www.linkedin.com/company/international-society-of-service-innovation-professionals-issip-/posts/?feedView=all
In 2024 Professor McColl-Kennedy was appointed to the Australian Research Council (ARC) College of Experts based on her exemplary sustained track record of obtaining and leading her teams to the successful completion of their programs of research. https://www.arc.gov.au/about-arc The ARC College of Experts plays a very important role for the ARC and the research community more broadly. Appointees assign external assessors and help rank and moderate ARC grant applications that have been submitted under the National Competitive Grants Program (NCGP). They also assist with recruitment of new assessors and provide advice for peer review reforms to the ARC. This appointment is recognition of her international standing and contributions to research both in Australia and internationally.
In 2025 she was awarded the Christopher Lovelock Career Contributions to the Services Discipline Award. This highly prestigious award is presented annually by AMA SERVSIG to the individual whose teaching, research and service have had the greatest long-term impact on the development of the services discipline. Contributions to the services discipline should be significant, frequent, and include recent contributions. 2025 Christopher Lovelock Award Winner – SERVSIG
Professor McColl-Kennedy was recognised in the "Highly Cited Researcher Awards for 2021", released by Clarivate™. This outstanding achievement is for those who are pioneers in their field, demonstrated by the production of multiple highly cited papers that rank in the top 1% by citations for the field and year in the Web of Science™. In 2023 and 2024 she was ranked in the World's Best Business and Management Scientists by Research.com. https://research.com/scientists-rankings/business-and-management/au
Professor Janet McColl-Kennedy has made a significant research contribution to the discipline of Marketing, specifically in her research area of “Services”. With over 240 publications (98 international refereed journal articles, 22 book chapters/books, 26 industry articles, white papers and reports, 14 workbooks and 80 international conference papers), Professor McColl-Kennedy is not only a leading senior marketing academic in Australia, she is internationally recognised as a leading researcher in Service Science. Her research interests focus on customer experience management and measurement, the role of digital technology, AI, customer insights and choice preferences. She has particular expertise in health care services. Professor McColl-Kennedy is dedicated to nurturing the next generation of researchers mentoring over 20 PhD and honours students.
Janet leads several cross disciplinary and international research teams, obtaining over $93.7 million in competitive research grants, including 20 years of continuous funding from the prestigious Australian Research Council (ARC).
She has a H index of 64 (Google scholar) 43 (Scopus) and over 23,183 citations (Google Scholar).
Professor McColl-Kennedy has held several senior leadership positions in the UQ School of Management and UQ Business School, including Marketing Discipline Leader for 10 years from 1996 to 2005, Research Director, UQ Business School from January 2006 to June 2008 and from April 2009 to January 2010, Director International in the School of Business from January to December 2010 and Associate Director, Research (Engagement and Impact) in 2019, the Founding Co-Lead of the Service Innovation Alliance Research Hub from 2018-2025 and appointed Director of Research again in January 2020 until January 2023.
Professor McColl-Kennedy has held Visiting Professorships at Indiana University, USA, Bocconi University Milan, Italy, University of New South Wales, Sydney, and University of Cambridge, UK.
Professor McColl-Kennedy’s work consistently appears in prestigious journals in her field such as the Journal of Retailing, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Leadership Quarterly, Journal of Service Research, Harvard Business Review, European Journal of Marketing, Journal of Business Research, Journal of Service Management, Psychology and Marketing, Journal of Services Marketing, Journal of Marketing Management and Industrial Marketing Management.
In recognition of her international research reputation she is an inaugural member of the Advisory Board of the Cambridge Service Alliance, University of Cambridge, UK, a global alliance between leading businesses and universities. Founded by Cambridge University Institute for Manufacturing and Judge Business School, the Cambridge Service Alliance was formed in 2010 and is designed to bring together some of the world’s best firms and researchers devoted to delivering today the insights, education and approaches needed for the Complex Service Solutions of tomorrow. For more information on Cambridge Service Alliance see http://www.ifm.eng.cam.ac.uk/research/service/.
Her latest work focuses on measuring and managing customer experience (CX) See https://managementink.wordpress.com/2018/12/21/gaining-customer-experience-insights-that-matter/
Appointed to the Advisory Board of CTF Service Research Center, Karlstad University, Sweden from 2012 ongoing. Global companies on the board include Ericsson, Tetra Pak, Volvo and IKEA.
Appointed to the Internationally Scientific Advisory Board (ISAB), Norwegian School of Economics (NHH), Norway from 2014 -2022.
Appointed as Academic Scholar, Cornell Institute for Healthy Futures, Cornell University, New York, USA, 2016 -2019.
Appointed Research Faculty in the Center for Service, Arizona State University, USA in 2018 ongoing.
RESEARCH AWARDS
* April 2024 – Ranked in 2024 World's BestBusiness and Management Scientists. (See World's Best Business and Management Scientists: H-Index Business and Management Science Ranking in Australia 2024 | Research.com). Ranked second top Marketing Professor in all of Australia.
* June 2023 - Received the inaugural Bo Edvardsson Industry Impact in Services award, QUIS18, VinUniversity, Hanoi, Vietnam.
* November 2022 – Elected Fellow of the Academy of The Social Sciences in Australia (FASSA) https://socialsciences.org.au/
* June 2020 – Awarded highly commended paper. Finalist (with two others) for the 2019 Journal of Service Research best paper award.
[McColl-Kennedy, J.R., M. Zaki, K. Lemon, F. Urmetzer and A. Neely (2019), “Gaining Customer Experience Insights that Matter”, Journal of Service Research, 22, 1, pp.8-26.]
* December 2019 awarded the 2019 University of Queensland Business School's “Research Team Engagement Award" for outstanding achievement in research - Service Innovation Alliance (SIA) interdisciplinary research group.
*July 2019 – “Robert Johnston Highly Commended Paper award of 2018”. “Awarded for your outstanding research” by the Journal of Service Management Editorial Review Board. Award presented at Frontiers in Service Conference, 19 July 2019, Singapore.
[Bolton, R., J.R. McColl-Kennedy, L. Cheung, A.S. Gallan, C. Orsingher, L. Witell, M. Zaki (2018), “Customer Experience Challenges: Bringing Together Digital, Physical and Social Realms”, Journal of Service Management, 29, 5, pp. 776-808.]
* November 2018 - Awarded the Cross-Discipline Research Award by the UQ Business School for outstanding achievement in research (29 November 2018).
* September 2018 - "the most influential marketing academic in Australia". Professor McColl-Kennedy is named "the leading researcher in the field of Marketing in Australia", "Australia’s Research Field Leaders” The Australian, 26 September, 2018, page 12.
* June 2017 - Best Article Finalist – “Highly Commended Paper of 2016” Journal of Service Research article.
[Patterson, P. G., M. K. Brady and J.R. McColl-Kennedy (2016), "Geysers or Bubbling Hot Springs? A Cross-cultural Examination of Customer Rage From Eastern and Western Perspectives, Journal of Service Research, 19, 3, pp. 243-259.]
* February 2016 – “Highly Commended Paper of 2015”. Short listed for the Journal of Service Management (JOSM) - 2015 - Robert Johnston Award with two others).
[McColl-Kennedy, J.R., P.G. Patterson, M.K. Brady, L. Cheung and D. Nguyen (2015), “To Give or Not to Give Professional Services to Non-paying Clients: Professionals’ Giving Backstory”, Journal of Service Management, 26 (3): 426-459.]
* October 2015 our paper Bolton, R.N., Gustafsson, A., McColl-Kennedy, J.R., Sirianni, N.J. and Tse, D.K. (2014), “Small Details that Make Big Differences: a Radical Approach to Consumption Experience as a Firm's Differentiating Strategy”, Journal of Service Management, Vol. 25, No. 2, pp. 253-274 made it into the top 20 most cited Marketing articles since 2011 list.
* March 2015 - Highly Recommended paper - Short listed (in the top four best papers) for the best 2014 article in Journal of Service Management."As of November / December 2014 , this highly cited paper received enough citations to place it in the top 1% of the academic field of Economics & Business based on a highly cited threshold for the field and publication year." Source: ISI Web of Science.
[ Bolton, R.N., Gustafsson, A., McColl-Kennedy, J.R., Sirianni, N.J. and Tse, D.K. (2014), “Small Details that Make Big Differences: a Radical Approach to Consumption Experience as a Firm's Differentiating Strategy”, Journal of Service Management, Vol. 25, No. 2, pp. 253-274.]
* March 2013 - Highly Recommended - Short listed (in the top five best papers) for the best 2012 article in Journal of Service Research. [McColl-Kennedy, J.R., Vargo, S.L., Dagger, T.S., Sweeney, J.C. and van Kasteren, Y. (2012). “Health Care Customer Value Cocreation Practice Styles”, Journal of Service Research, Vol.15, No. 4, pp. 370-389 – the lead article.]
* 2011 Appointed Fellow of ANZMAC (Australian and New Zealand Marketing Academy) since 2011, having “demonstrated outstanding contributions to the Academy and also demonstrated eminence in the Marketing discipline through research, scholarship, education and leadership”. https://anzmac.org/fellows/
* 2011 Winner of the Distinguished Researcher Award (Australian and New Zealand Marketing Academy). “This is an annual award for a member of the ANZMAC community judged to have made the most significant contribution to advancing our knowledge of marketing through their research”.
* 2011 Short listed (with two other papers) for the Accenture Award. The award is given each year to the author(s) of the article published in the California Management Review in 2009 that has "made the most important contribution to improving the practice of management". [Patterson, P.G., McColl-Kennedy, J.R., Smith, A.K. and Lu, Z. (2009), “Customer Rage: Triggers, Tipping Points and Take-Outs”, California Management Review, Vol. 52, No. 1, pp. 6-28.]
* 2011 “Outstanding author contribution” winner, Emerald Literary Network, Award for Excellence for 2010 chapter "Service encounter needs theory: A dyadic, psychosocial approach to understanding service encounters". [Bradley, G.L., McColl-Kennedy, J.R., Sparks, B.A., Jimmieson, N.L. and Zapf, D. (2010), “Service Encounter Needs Theory: A Dyadic, Psychosocial Approach to Understanding Service Encounters”, in Zerbe, W.J., Härtel, C.E.J., and Ashkanasy, N.M. (Eds.) Research on Emotion in Organizations, Volume 6: Emotions in Creativity, Learning, and Change, Emerald Group Publishing/JAI Press, Bingley, UK, pp. 221-258.]
* 2010 Honorable mention - Short listed for best "Services" article published in 2009 by AMA SERVSIG [McColl-Kennedy, J.R., Patterson, P.G., Smith, A.K. and Brady, M. (2009). “Customer Rage Episodes: Emotions, Expressions and Behaviors”, Journal of Retailing, Vol. 85, No. 2, pp. 222-237.]
* 2010 Awarded best paper in AMJ [Tombs, A.G. and McColl-Kennedy, J.R. (2010), “Social and Spatial Influence of Customers on Other Customers in the Social-servicescape”. Australasian Marketing Journal, Vol. 18, No. 3, pp. 120-131.]
* 2009 Best paper award 2009 EIASM Naples Forum on Service, Capri Italy (McColl-Kennedy et al 2009)
* 2008 Best paper award 2008 ANZMAC conference (McColl-Kennedy and Patterson 2008)
* 2003 Best paper award European Marketing Conference (EMAC) 2003
* 2001 Best paper award AMA SERVSIG Conference 2001
MAJOR GRANTS – Leads cross disciplinary international research teams
*2022-2024 ARC Linkage Projects Grant [LP2102000586] [$1,258,024 including $596,349 cash ($496,349 cash from ARC and $100,000 cash from partner organisations)] “Transforming Primary Healthcare Service Delivery: A Digital-Human Approach” Team: (Professor Janet McColl-Kennedy (Lead CI), UQ Emeritus Professor Mieke van Driel Kalwun Health Service, Associate Professor Lisa Hall UQ School of Public Health, Professor Damian Hine UQ GCI/QAAFI, Dr Mohamed Zaki Cambridge Service Alliance, The University of Cambridge, Dr Christoph Breidbach UQ Business School, Ms Tracey Johnson CEO Inala Primary Care and Adjunct Professor Paresh Dawda)
*2016-2022 ARC Discovery Projects Grant [DP160100421] [$330,000] “Modelling Multidimensional Multiparty Decisions to Improve Outcomes for Customers and Service Providers: New Theory and Measurement Tools” (Professor Janet McColl-Kennedy (Lead CI), Assoc. Professor Len Coote, Professor Claire Wainwright, (UQ Medical School) Professor Scott Bell (UQ Medical School), Professor Michael Brady, Florida State University)
*2015-2021 ARC Linkage Projects Grant [LP150100629] [$1.1 million including $180,000 from ARC] “Examining the Effectiveness of Patient-centred Practices on Health Outcomes” (Professor Pennie Frow Uni of Sydney (Lead CI), Professor Janet McColl-Kennedy, UQ, Professor Adrian Payne UNSW, Dr Rahul Govind UNSW)
*2011-2015 ARC Discovery Projects Grant [DP110102312] [$350,000] 'Pro Bono Service: Drivers, Delight, Dark Side and Downside for the Professional' (Professor Janet McColl-Kennedy (Lead CI), Professor Paul G. Patterson UNSW, Professor Michael K. Brady Florida State University and Dr Doan Nguyen The University of Queensland.)
*2008-2010 ARC Discovery Projects Grant [DP0879469] [$220,000] 'Balancing the needs of customers and employees following service failure: A dyadic psychosocial approach' (with Graham Bradley and Beverley Sparks, Griffith University; Nerina Jimmieson, University of Queensland; and Dieter Zapf , Frankfurt University.)
* 2007-2012 ARC Linkage Projects Grant [LP0775220] [$116,000] "Customer Co-production in Ongoing Health Service Delivery: A Longitudinal Study' (Professor Janet McColl-Kennedy UQ (Lead CI), Dr Tracey Dagger, University of Queensland, Professor Jill Sweeney, University of Western Australia, Bev Mirolo and Maryanne Hargraves, Haematology and Oncology Clinics of Australasia Pty Ltd).
* 2006-2008 ARC Discovery Projects Grant [DP0664410] [$240,000] "Customer Rage Spectrum Emotions in Service Failure Encounters: Linking Experience, Expression, Behaviour and Organisational Responses" Professor Janet McColl-Kennedy UQ (Lead CI), Professor P.G. Patterson, University of New South Wales, Associate Professor A.K. Smith George Washington University, USA, Professor M.K. Brady (Florida State).
* 2004-2007 ARC Discovery Projects Grant [DP0450736] [$210,000] "'The Impact of Customer-Focused Business Strategies on Organisational Performance in a Professional Service Context" (Assoc Professor J. Sweeney University of Western Australia (Lead CI), Professor G. Soutar, University of Western Australia and Professor Janet McColl-Kennedy UQ).
TEACHING
Professor McColl-Kennedy brings a wealth of experience from over 30 years of teaching at university level. She has taught classes at both the undergraduate level and postgraduate level, as well as undertaking executive training, across all modes of delivery including intensive, weekend, and weekly modes. She has taught in Australia, Singapore, Beijing, China, Seoul, Korea, Milan, Italy and in the USA.
Awards: 2020 Excellence Award in Blended Learning – Team Award UQ Business School
Awarded to: Master of Leadership in Service Innovation Team comprising of Assoc Professor David Solnet, Ryan Waters, Darren Mead, Carrie Finn, Anna Black, Elizabeth Sara Dominguez, Buddy Nuku, Michelle Goward, Professor Janet McColl-Kennedy, Dr Teegan Green, Assoc Prof Tim Kastelle, Assoc Professor Pierre Benckendorff, Dr Russell Manfield, Dr Ida Asadi Someh, Assoc Professor Nicole Hartley, Ms Daniela Berg, and Dr Richard O'Quinn.
She has a sustained track record of high teaching evaluations in executive teaching and masters courses including MBA.
Professor McColl-Kennedy has supervised 50 masters dissertations and 15 PhD students to successful completion. Professor McColl-Kennedy has examined PhD theses from the University of Melbourne, University of New South Wales, University of Sydney, University of Auckland, Macquarie University, Sydney, and Griffith University, among others.
Faculty of Health, Medicine and Behavioural Sciences
Availability:
Not available for supervision
Media expert
Dr Lisa McHugh is a perinatal and infectious diseases epidemiologist at the UQ School of Public Health (SPH). A Level C Senior Research Fellow and NHMRC Emerging Leader (EL1) Investigator Grant recipient, Lisa leads her own small team of researchers through her 5-year program ‘VaxiMums’, which is evaluating the uptake, effectiveness and equity of maternal vaccinations and respiratory infections.
Lisa is a CI on a national study evaluating RSV hospitalisations in children <5yrs of age, and a CI on a Qld Health project looking at the acceptability of new RSV strategies among parents.
Lisa is currently leading a pilot study investigating pregnancy loss after receiving influenza and COVID-19 vaccinations in early pregnancy-the first of its kind in Australia, and one of only a few internationally. Lisa’s extensive collaborations involve Primary Health Care Networks, First Nations midwives, maternal and child health nurse immunisers, consumers, Queensland Health, and national and international experts in the field.
Lisa has supervised 3 MEpi students to completion-all with the highest GPA of 7. She is currently the primary advisor of 2 PhD students, 2 MEpi students and a MBiostats student.
Projects currently being investigated by her and her students include:
Effectiveness of influenza, pertussis & COVID vaccinations in pregnancy against adverse maternal-infant outcomes
RSV hospitalisations among First Nations children aged <2yrs (Lisa is leading this collaboration with UQCCR)
Adverse birth outcomes among NT mother-infant pairs after maternal vaccinations
Pertussis vaccine effectiveness among preterm infants
Vaccine failures after influenza + pertussis vaccination in pregnancy
Lisa is the Academic Integrity Officer for SPH, and mentors 2 academics in the SPH Mentoring Program. Her research expertise and interests include clinical midwifery, First Nations health, infectious diseases, pregnancy and birth outcomes, and maternal vaccination. She has been a member of the Public Health Association of Australia since 2014, and Immunisation Special Interest Group working group member, contributing to the latest Immunisation Policy Review (2026).
Lisa is also member of the Australasian Epidemiological Association and Editor for the Aust and New Zealand Journal of Public Health.
She reviews for NHMRC grant applications.
When not working Lisa can be found (or not found) trail running, hiking in the middle of nowhere and swimming.
Faculty of Health, Medicine and Behavioural Sciences
Associate Professor in Nursing
School of Nursing, Midwifery and Social Work
Faculty of Health, Medicine and Behavioural Sciences
Availability:
Not available for supervision
Amy is an Associate Professor in the School of Nursing, Midwifery and Social Work and affiliate of the Parenting and Family Support Centre at UQ. She is the recipient of consecutive Children's Hospital Foundation Early Career Fellowships (2018-2021, 2021-2022). Amy is a paediatric nurse and completed her PhD (Health) in 2011, for which she received the Executive Dean's Commendation for Higher Degree Research. Amy's productive program of interdisciplinary research draws on health and behavioural science methodologies to understand the role of parents and parenting in child health and development, identify targets for intervention, and develop and test evidence-based parenting support interventions to improve children’s health and developmental outcomes. Current areas of focus include the use of evidence-based parenting support to improve outcomes for children with chronic health conditions (e.g., asthma, eczema, type 1 diabetes, PKU) and neurodevelopmental differences (e.g., autism), supporting families to develop healthy habits from early childhood (e.g., oral health, nutrition, screen use), and supporting parents in the transition to parenthood (e.g., perinatal mental health, breastfeeding). Amy is also the Program Lead for the Master of Nursing (Graduate Entry) and a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (HEA).
Affiliate Senior Research Fellow of Institute for Molecular Bioscience
Institute for Molecular Bioscience
Senior Research Fellow
School of Public Health
Faculty of Health, Medicine and Behavioural Sciences
Availability:
Available for supervision
Dr Sally Mortlock is a genetic epidemiologist and NECST Research Fellow who leads the Genetic Epidemiology stream at the Australian Women and Girls Health Research (AWaGHR) Centre, University of Queensland. Her research integrates genomics with life course epidemiology to understand how genetic, environmental, and lifestyle factors shape women’s health across the lifespan.
Her work focuses on reproductive and menstrual health, particularly endometriosis and related conditions, with the aim of improving understanding of disease mechanisms, risk, diagnosis, and personalised approaches to care.
Research areas include:
Genetic epidemiology and reproductive genomics
Women’s health across the life course
Endometriosis and reproductive disorders
Longitudinal cohort studies and life course epidemiology
Genetic risk prediction and causal inference methods (including Mendelian randomisation)
Multi-omics and biological pathway analysis
Dr Mortlock previously spent seven years as lead computational biologist within the Genomics of Reproduction Disorders group at the Institute for Molecular Bioscience, contributing to internationally recognised research in reproductive genomics. She now combines this expertise with large-scale longitudinal health data, including genetic resources within the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women’s Health, to investigate women’s health trajectories over time.
Faculty of Health, Medicine and Behavioural Sciences
Availability:
Available for supervision
Beatrice is a Postdoctoral Researcher with a special interest in behaviour change and digital health promotion. She has extensive experience in clinical trial management and evaluation. Following on from a Master’s Degree in Medical Science, her PhD was dedicated to the development of a mobile app that targeted adults’ physical activity and sleep health. The body of work she has contributed to has incorporated a wide range of research methods and study designs and her research outputs have added important knowledge to the field of multiple behaviour change and non-clinical sleep interventions. In more recent roles, Beatrice has worked on wide-scale implementation projects targeting the health and wellbeing of young children. Beatrice’s work is about maximising impact, both in the scientific field and out in the community by way of generating high quality data and improving equity of access to evidence-based resources.
Faculty of Health, Medicine and Behavioural Sciences
Availability:
Available for supervision
Media expert
Dr. Bushra Nasir is the lead researcher on multiple large-scale, national studies, and a mid-career researcher with a substantial career trajectory in health research. Her expertise and instrumental involvement in multiple large-scale grants are demonstrated through numerous top-tier publications, media and news citations, and recognition in national and international policy documents. She has contributed to developing several global health policy recommendation publications, including a World Health Organisation review investigating the retention of the health workforce in rural and remote areas. Her contribution to this discipline is further substantiated by her peer-review activities and international and national collaborations with wide outreach and engagement initiatives.
Her collaborative networking qualities contribute to numerous roles in various research committees, including as a previous Chair of the Faculty of Medicine Early Career Researcher Committee. Her work has also resulted in increased research capacity building in regional and rural South East Queensland, supporting clinicians, medical students and educators, and other healthcare service providers conducting clinical and epidemiological research projects. She is also a research mentor and member of several national organisations. Her ongoing leadership, management, networking, and knowledge expertise contribute to the progress of research practices with academics, experts, and clinical scientists.
Dr Jon Olsen is an Associate Professor & Deputy Director (Research) at the Institute for Social Science, The University of Queensland. He serves as Director of URBANiQ: Urban Intelligence for Healthy & Equitable Places @ The University of Queensland, the AURIN UQ-Node, and leads research focused on place and health inequalities. His work explores how the built and natural environments, along with urban planning policies, influence health outcomes and disparities. Jon is also committed to advancing understanding of the intersections between human health and planetary health.
He is Co-I of the NIHR Global Health Research Unit in Social and Environmental Determinants of Health Inequalities (SEDHI) and the NIHR Public Health Research (PHR) Programme-funded Orienting Policy Towards Inequality Minimising Actions (OPTIMA) project, a systems science approach to 20-minute neighbourhood policy and evaluation.
Jon is Senior Editor of the new journal Urban Transitions, Editorial Board Member of Wellbeing, Space and Society. He is an Honorary Senior Research Fellow at the University of Glasgow, UK and Honorary Professor at Chulalongkorn University, Thailand.
Affiliate of Centre for the Business and Economics of Health
Centre for the Business and Economics of Health
Faculty of Business, Economics and Law
Affiliate of Queensland Digital Health Centre
Queensland Digital Health Centre
Faculty of Health, Medicine and Behavioural Sciences
Senior Research Fellow
School of Business
Faculty of Business, Economics and Law
Availability:
Available for supervision
Dr Anton Pak is a Senior Research Fellow in the Centre for the Business and Economics of Health, The University of Queensland. Anton is an applied economist by training and his research interests focus on the behaviour of patients and their choices, utilisation of emergency department services, waiting time modelling, and the economics of digital health. Anton examines empirical questions by utilising health economics theory and concepts and by analysing large panel and cross-sectional datasets (including linked data) using classical econometrics techniques, as well as machine learning methods.
Anton is currently co-leading an Emergency Medicine Foundation funded project “ED waiting time predictions in real-time: development of data acquisition system and performance evaluation of advanced statistical models.”, which is being undertaken in partnership with Princess Alexandra Hospital. Anton has worked extensively on interdisciplinary research with statisticians, mathematical modellers, clinicians, epidemiologists, and public health experts.
Prior to joining the Centre, Anton worked as a Research Fellow in Applied Economics and Data Scientist at James Cook University. His previous experience also includes working as a management consultant and university lecturer.
Anton has a PhD (Economics) from The University of Queensland.
Affiliate of Centre for Innovation in Pain and Health Research (CIPHeR)
Centre for Innovation in Pain and Health Research
Faculty of Health, Medicine and Behavioural Sciences
Research Fellow
School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences
Faculty of Health, Medicine and Behavioural Sciences
Availability:
Available for supervision
Dr Chris Papic is a Research Fellow in musculoskeletal injury at the RECOVER Injury Research Centre (University of Queensland) and a Clinical Exercise Physiologist (ESSA) with 10 years of experience in rehabilitation hospital settings. Chris co-leads the 'Knowledge translation, education and implementation' theme for the Centre for Innovation in Pain and Health Research (CIPHeR); CIPHeR unites groups of pain researchers across The University of Queensland to work collaboratively toward the single end of cracking the code on pain. Chris is an Early Career Network Collaboration Committee member for the International Association for the Study of Pain.
Chris' research and clinical passion is to optimise care for people with pain after traumatic injury. His research focusses on translation and implementation science projects including: development and implementation of Australian whiplash clinical guidelines with health professionals and insurers; upskilling physiotherapists in delivering integrated psychological and physical care for people after road traffic injury (https://cre-rfrti.centre.uq.edu.au/clinical-trials/picot-clinical-trial); adapting an integrated intervention for stress and pain management from primary care settings to hospital orthopaedic wards; development and evaluation of a simple text message intervention to support recovery after whiplash injury.
Faculty of Health, Medicine and Behavioural Sciences
Availability:
Not available for supervision
Zoe is a Honorary Research Fellow with the School of Human Movement and Nutrition Sciences. She also currently holds an appointment as a Senior Research Officer with the Mental Health Evaluation Research Stream at Queensland Centre for Mental Health Research (QCMHR), where she leads and manages large-scale evaluation projects that seek to enhance mental health services within Queensland. During her time at QCMHR, she has worked on several state-wide evaluations for Queensland Health - including of their Crisis Support Spaces, Adolescent Day Program and Youth and Adult Step-Up-Step-Down Programs.
Zoe's research work largely focuses on the development, implementation and evaluation of interventions that seek to promote positive health behaviours and which improve social and mental health outcomes. Previously, she developed and trialled a behavioural support program (Active Choices) for the Department of Veterans Affairs, with the aim of increasing self-managed physical activity and social connectedness in Australian Defence Force veterans. Zoe has also designed and evaluated a brief motivational intervention for cannabis users (iAx), which is now in routine use at the Princess Alexandra Hospital.
In addition to her work as a researcher, Zoe has held roles in health consulting where she assisted State and Federal Government agencies, PHNs and peak bodies to design, implement and review health services, programs and policies.
Zoe's educational background in psychology, having completed a Bachelor of Psychological Science (2013) and Doctor of Philosophy (2020) in this discipline.
Faculty of Health, Medicine and Behavioural Sciences
Affiliate of ARC COE for the Digital Child (UQ Node)
ARC COE for the Digital Child
Faculty of Health, Medicine and Behavioural Sciences
Affiliate of ARC COE for Children and Families Over the Lifecourse
ARC COE for Children and Families Over the Lifecourse
Faculty of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences
Availability:
Available for supervision
Media expert
Dr Cassandra Pattinson research centres around exploring the effects of sleep and circadian rhythms on health, wellbeing, and recovery across the lifespan. Dr Pattinson is a Senior Research Fellow at the Child Health Research Centre (CHRC), an ARC Discovery Early Career Award (DECRA) Fellow, and a Senior Research Fellow as part of the the ARC centre of Excellence for the Digital Child. Her work has been supported by the ARC, NHMRC, NIH and the DSTG, as well as the Australian Federal Government and Queensland Government.
Her research has involved a range of populations from children and adolescents, through to military personnel and athletes. Dr Pattinson's research spans a range of study designs and methodologies, including longitudinal studies tracking large child cohorts (>2000 children), standard observation techniques, survey and individualised standard child assessment, as well as studies employing physiological (actigraphy, spectrometry) and biological (hormones, proteomic, genomic) designs. Dr Pattinson also has a strong track record in research translation, these have included manuscripts in top scientific journals, reports for government and non-government organisations, development of professional development programs, as well as designing and presenting vodcasts and resources (e.g. fact sheets, workshops) to parent groups, young adults, government departments and the early childhood sector.
At CHRC Dr Pattinson is a part of the Community Sleep Health Group. This group collaborates with many other groups around broader issues of sleep and technology, sleep and the environment (including disasters), mental health and wellbeing, pain, disability, and new technologies and approaches.
Faculty of Health, Medicine and Behavioural Sciences
Availability:
Not available for supervision
Yang is currently a Adjunct Research Fellow at Prince Charles Hospital Northside Clinical Unit, UQ Faculty of Health, Medicine and Behavioural Sciences. He has extensive experience in analysing large-scale national and international health surveys and hospitalisaiton datasets with complex statistical models. He is interested in answering a couple of research questions in the population level (e.g. the associations between modifiable behaviors and chronic diseases; the inequalities in chronic disease risk).
Faculty of Health, Medicine and Behavioural Sciences
Availability:
Available for supervision
Dr Erin Pitt is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the area of Childhood Allergy and Epidemiology within the Child Health Research Centre (CHRC). Erin possesses a Bachelor of Health Science (Nutrition); a Master of Public Health (Epidemiology and Research Methods); and a PhD, which was conferred in March, 2020. Her doctoral research investigated the influence of local food environment and socio-ecological determinants on early childhood dietary intake using a mixed methods research approach, which had a strong focus on nutritional epidemiology in the context of public health nutrition.
Prior to pursuing an academic career, Erin worked as a Public Health Nutritionist with Queensland Health where she managed, designed, implemented, and evaluated community-based public health nutrition interventions in a range of settings and locations including rural/remote and metropolitan regions. Erin collaborated and engaged with a range of diverse government and non-government organisations and industry bodies to address priority areas including rural and remote food supply issues, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health and nutrition, children’s food literacy and local government nutrition-related policy and planning.
Erin is currently working on a diverse range of projects including determinants of developing cow’s milk allergy in infancy; the role of migration in allergy prevalence; and the potential co-occurrence of allergy with neurodevelopmental conditions. She has a particular interest in the role of maternal and child dietary diversity as well as socio-economic determinants and their association with the development of allergy in children.
Faculty of Health, Medicine and Behavioural Sciences
Availability:
Available for supervision
Media expert
Dr Stacey Pizzino is a global health expert specialising in the intersection of conflict, disasters, and climate change. She is a Fellow with the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR) Conventional Weapons Programme, contributing to international policy dialogue on the humanitarian impacts of weapons systems. Her research examines the health and environmental impacts of armed conflict, explosive ordnance and climate-driven extreme events - issues that increasingly shape the global public health landscape.
She led the world’s largest epidemiological study on casualties from landmines and explosive remnants of war, analysing data from over 100,000 individuals across 17 countries. This landmark research contributes to global strategies aimed at mitigating the health consequences of explosive ordnance.
Dr Pizzino brings a unique perspective shaped by frontline experience as a paramedic alongside her academic expertise. She is the co-editor of a textbook on Disaster Health Management, contributing to the education and training of the next generation of disaster health professionals.
She is Co-Lead of CliMigHealth Asia Pacific, part of a global network advancing research, education, and policy on the intersections of climate change, migration, and health to build resilient, inclusive, and responsive health systems.
She has extensive experience in public health partnerships and policy translation, working collaboratively with diverse stakeholders to inform research and transform findings into actionable policies that enhance population health outcomes.
Dr Pizzino is a skilled communicator and advocate, and regularly presents in global policy forums such as the United Nations. Her ability to engage policymakers, humanitarian agencies and global audiences ensures that her research drives real-world impact.