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 Humanities, Arts and Social 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.
Dr. Andre A. Pekerti is an Associate Professor in International Management within the International Business Discipline at The University of Queensland Business School. He is an n-Cultural: a Christian of Indonesian-Chinese heritage who grew up in Jakarta, Southern California, and New Zealand, and is a naturalised New Zealander and Australian. Andre’s multicultural background complements his research interest and teaching in international management.
His primary research topics are attributions, acculturation, cultural intelligence, cross-cultural communication, multi-method assessment on n-Culturals and cognitive complexity, ethics, family business, human factors, n-Culturals, servant leadership, social justice, trustworthiness, and wellbeing.
Andre consistently publishes in international journals including, International Journal of Cross-Cultural Management, International Journal of Human Resource Management, Journal of Business Ethics, International Journal of Intercultural Relations, and Journal of International Business Studies.
He served as Vice President of the Australia New Zealand International Business Academy for two terms. He consistently serves as an ad hoc reviewer for several international journals. Currently, he is on the following editorial review boards: Asia-Pacific Journal of Management; Cross-Cultural and Strategic Management; Human Resource Management Review; International Journal of Intercultural Relations; Journal of International Business Studies; Journal of World Business; and Honorary Editor of Andalas Management Review.
Andre initiated the Rapid Acculturation Mateship Program (RAMP) at UQBS. A precursor to Global Mates and BEL Buddies, RAMP is a 19-week program connecting local students with incoming international students. RAMP “Serves to facilitate adjustment to UQ, Australia and the reciprocal learning of cultures”, and has positively affected the experiences of domestic and international students.
Dr. Pekerti has taught in MBA Programs at The University of Auckland, Bond University and UQ Business School. He consulted for Diner’s Club, Singapore; the Department of Transport Victoria, Australia; and the Ministry of Trade, Indonesia. Most recently, I collaborated with BiasSync, a science-based solution designed to help organisations more effectively assess and manage unconscious bias in the work environment.
Author of n-Culturalism in Managing Work and Life: A new within individual multicultural model.
Faculty of Health, Medicine and Behavioural Sciences
Availability:
Available for supervision
Media expert
Dr Eugene Poh is a Research Fellow in the School of Human Movement and Nutrition Science. He holds a PhD in Sensorimotor Neuroscience from the University of Queensland, with a multi-disciplinary background in physical education, exercise and sports science, cognitive science and neurophysiology. Prior to joining the University of Queensland, he pursued postdoctoral studies in the Department of Psychology at Princeton University and was a lecturer in motor control and learning in the Department of Health Sciences at Macquarie University. Dr Poh's research is dedicated to advancing our understanding of human motor control and learning through innovative research projects. He integrates research expertise in motor psychophysics, computational modelling, non-invasive brain stimulation and neuropsychological techniques to reveal fundamental principles of how the brain learns new motor skills and represents what it learns.
Nicolas Pontes is a Senior Lecturer in Marketing at the UQ Business School and he holds a PhD and a MSc in Marketing, both with a focus in Branding. His industry experience include roles such as marketing research coordinator, marketing manager, and marketing consultant. He has a large experience in teaching and research at leading universities in Australia, where he has had the role of Program Coordinator for Advertising and IMC majors at both Undergraduate and Post-Graduate levels. Dr Pontes is also the Founder and Academic Advisor at Newish Communications Inc., the first student-run communications agency in Australia. His research interests are in the area of consumer decision-making and information processing with a particular interest in online consumer behaviour, social media engagement, price and promotion advertising, and branding. His research has been published in the European Journal of Marketing, Psychology & Marketing, Computers in Human Behavior, Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, Journal of Services Marketing, Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Journal of Product & Brand Management, and Journal of Brand Management. His work has also been presented at international advertising and marketing conferences such as Association for Consumer Research [North America], American Marketing Association, and American Academic of Advertising.
Research Supervision I am not accepting new HDR (Mphil or PhD) students.
Faculty of Health, Medicine and Behavioural Sciences
Availability:
Available for supervision
Dr Dana Pourzinal is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Dementia & Neuro Mental Health Research Unit within the UQ Centre for Clinical Research, Faculty of Medicine. From her PhD (2023) and continued research, she has gained extensive expertise in neuroimaging, advanced statistical analysis, and clinical trials, with a particular focus on identifying dementia risk in Parkinson's disease and related therapeutic interventions and biomarkers. Dr Pourzinal's current work aims to improve current clinical practice for people living with Parkinson's disease (MRFF-funded PDCogniCare project) by developing guidelines for the diagnosis and management of cognitive disorders in Parkinson’s disease.
Dr Pourzinal's primary research interests are focussed on cognition in Parkinson's disease (PD) and include:
Defining and profiling PD cognitive subtypes using advanced data-driven methods.
Neuroimaging biomarkers to predict cognitive decline and dementia risk in PD.
Evaluating pharmacological treatments for dementia risk in PD.
Longitudinal tracking of cognitive trajectories to inform early intervention strategies in PD.
Deputy Director (Training) of Institute for Social Science Research
Institute for Social Science Research
Faculty of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences
Principal Research Fellow
Institute for Social Science Research
Faculty of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences
Availability:
Available for supervision
Media expert
Jenny leads the Inclusive Education and Employment research group at the Institute for Social Science Research at the University of Queensland. She is a Psychologist and obtained her BA Honors, MA and PhD from the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University in South Africa. Before coming to ISSR, Jenny worked as a Chief Researcher at the Human Sciences Research Council in South Africa in the area of Education effectiveness.
Jenny’s research on social justice and inclusion takes an intersectionality and life course perspective, focusing on inclusive education and labour force outcomes among individuals from a range of marginalised groups e.g., individuals with disabilities, individuals with foster/kinship/residential care experience, individuals with refugee experience, individuals with mental health challenges, and individuals living in socioeconomic disadvantage circumstances. Jenny's work takes a systems approach and includes understanding structural disadvantages and the support systems (e.g., parents/carers, service providers, school staff) that can be used to improve the life outcomes of individuals with complex needs. Jenny's work predominantly focuses on achieving an impact on policy and practice. She has extensive experience in large-scale mixed methods evaluations, using administrative data complemented with survey and qualitative data.
Jenny has worked closely with Government Departments and Ministries both in Australia (e.g., Tasmania DHHS; Australian DoE; Qld DoE; CESE NSW; Australian DSS; Qld DCSSD; Department of Home Affairs) and internationally (e.g., South Africa, Eritrea, Cambodia and the Solomon Islands) to gather research evidence from a wide range of disadvantaged communities to inform policy. Jenny is a Chief Investigator on an ARC Linkage project which investigates how Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and non-Indigenous children experience Out-of-Home Care (OOHC) using elicitation methods and a longitudinal qualitative research design to provide evidence to improve service agencies’ understanding of children’s experiences in OOHC and how agencies can best support families, carers and communities to promote the social, emotional, and cultural well-being of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and non-Indigenous children in OOHC. This research will improve service provider capability and test Government reform interventions. Jenny leads large-scale complex commissioned evaluations and is currently leading the following evaluations: Evaluation of the Community Refugee Integration and Settlement Pilot; Evaluation of the Extended Post Care Support Program; and FamilyLinQ Evaluation.
In addition to leading a research group, and teaching professional short courses, Jenny contributes as an Associate Investigator to research for the ARC Centre of Excellence on Families and Children over the Life Course (the Life Course Centre), and supervises HDR and placement students.
Faculty of Health, Medicine and Behavioural Sciences
Availability:
Available for supervision
Sarah is an occupational therapist with over 20 years clinical experience delivering specialised brain injury and complex neurological intervention across the continuum of care in Australia and the UK. Sarah is passionate about conducting research which enables improved rehabilitation outcomes and quality of life for people with brain injury. Her PhD, completed in 2018, investigated client-centred goal setting in the rehabilitation of community dwelling clients with acquired brain injury. The PhD provides insight into how clinicians may implement the client-centred goal setting process in practice to ensure that the meaningful and personally relevant goals of people with brain injury can be formulated, despite known barriers such as memory and self-awareness impairment.
Sarah is a Post-doctoral Research Fellow in Brain Injury Rehabilitation, Surgical Treatment and Rehabilitation Service (STARS) Education and Research Alliance, the University of Queensland. She also works in her private practice, to provide specialised brain injury rehabilitation services in Queensland, Australia.
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
Affiliate of Child Health Research Centre
Child Health Research Centre
Faculty of Health, Medicine and Behavioural Sciences
Availability:
Available for supervision
Peter is a Research Fellow in Applied Statistics at the Science of Learning Research Centre, Queensland Brain Institute. His research focuses on understanding the mechanisms that enable or limit children’s life chances. He plays a crucial role in designing well-structured studies, analysing data, and interpreting results to provide valid and reliable conclusions on how to improve children's opportunities and outcomes.
As an applied statistician, Peter collaborates with an inter-disciplinary team to integrate statistical analyses with qualitative research and contextual knowledge. He brings expertise in identifying and analysing key factors and variables that influence children's life chances. Further, he develops research methodologies, including sampling strategies, data collection methods, and statistical analyses of small- and large-scale data, to understand the complex interplay of factors that contribute to children's opportunities and outcomes. He distills the link between experiences and children’s life chances using an array of statistical methods, including longitudinal and multilevel modelling, measurement and psychometrics, causal inference, data science, structural equation modelling, and data visualization. Additionally, he has expertise in uncovering the mediating and moderating factors that influence the relationship between early life experiences and later life chances. By leveraging expertise in statistical analysis and research methodology, Peter’s work provides evidence-based insights into the mechanisms that shape children's life chances. This evidence informs research, policy, and interventions aimed at improving children's opportunities and outcomes.
Faculty of Health, Medicine and Behavioural Sciences
Availability:
Available for supervision
Nicole is a Research Fellow at the RECOVER Injury Research Centre, working within the Improving Health Outcomes after Musculoskeletal Injury program. Her current research focuses on the design and implementation of single-case experimental design studies to evaluate multidisciplinary interventions for whiplash and other musculoskeletal injuries sustained in road traffic incidents. Nicole completed her PhD in Psychology at The University of Queensland, where she investigated the effectiveness and mechanisms of mind-body therapies for pain management in injured athletes. This work advanced understanding of psychological predictors of pain, injury perception, and recovery in sporting contexts. Nicole has published in leading journals including Journal of Sports Sciences and Clinical Journal of Sport Medicine, and presented at national and international conferences such as the Australian Pain Society Annual Scientific Meeting. She holds a Master of Clinical Research from The University of Melbourne and a Bachelor of Psychological Science (Honours) from UQ, and is committed to developing personalised, evidence-based approaches to injury rehabilitation.
Faculty of Health, Medicine and Behavioural Sciences
Availability:
Available for supervision
Dr Amanda Robinson investigates the neural mechanisms underlying visual perception, face and object recognition, and the dynamic representation of information in the human brain using advanced neuroimaging techniques and computational methods.
Affiliate of Centre for Motor Neuron Disease Research
Centre for Motor Neuron Disease Research
Faculty of Health, Medicine and Behavioural Sciences
Affiliate of Centre for Health Outcomes, Innovation and Clinical Education (CHOICE)
Centre for Health Outcomes, Innovation and Clinical Education
Faculty of Health, Medicine and Behavioural Sciences
Professorial Research Fellow
Queensland Brain Institute
Faculty of Health, Medicine and Behavioural Sciences
Professor
School of Psychology
Faculty of Health, Medicine and Behavioural Sciences
Availability:
Available for supervision
Professor Gail Robinson holds a joint Queensland Brain Institute and the School of Psychology appointment. She has been a clinical neuropsychologist and researcher for ~25 years in Australia and in London (UK), where she spent 14 years at the dynamic and historic National Hospital of Neurology and Neurosurgery, Queen Square, London. In 2010, she transitioned from a clinical role to an academic position at The University of Queensland where was Director of the Clinical Neuropsychology Doctoral programme (2010-2018), taking up this lead role again in 2023. Her clinical research is focused on both theoretical questions about brain-behaviour relationships like the crucial mechanisms for the executive control of language, and clinical questions regarding cognitive assessment and management of various pathologies including neurodegenerative disorders, neurodevelopmental disorders, brain tumours and stroke. Professor Robinson has attracted internal and national funding; she Leads the Neuropsychology Core of a large-scale longitudinal and multidisciplinary NHMRC Dementia Team Research grant (Prospective Imaging Study of Ageing: Genes, Brain and Behaviour - PISA). She was the recipient of an ARC Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (DECRA) in 2012 and a NHMRC Boosting Dementia Research Leadership Fellowship in 2018 in which she has been focused on early neurocognitive diagnostic indicators for dementia.
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
Research Fellow
Child Health Research Centre
Faculty of Health, Medicine and Behavioural Sciences
Availability:
Available for supervision
Dr Kalina Rossa is currently a Research Fellow at the Child Health Research Institute and with the ARC Centre of Excellence for Children and Families Across the Lifecourse. She has an interest in the behavioural and psychological consequences of sleep loss, and in the design, development and implementation of behavioural interventions that aim to support sleep and wellbeing in a range of populations and settings. She has direct experience in clinical trials design and implementation (both clinical and 'in community'), and applied phychophysiological measurement across controlled experimental settings and in the field.
Faculty of Health, Medicine and Behavioural Sciences
Availability:
Available for supervision
Media expert
Ingrid Rowlands’ research is broadly focused on women’s reproductive health, with a particular interest in adverse events and diseases including miscarriage, infertility, endometriosis and gynaecological cancer.
Dr Rowlands' current program of work is conducted in partnership with community and focuses on:
Multidisciplinary care needs of people with endometriosis - QENDOCare
Supportive care interventions in cancer - PROMISE trial
Co-designed, integrated, person-centred models of care for people with innate variations of sex characteristics - Interconnect Health Research
Dr Rowlands is a mixed methods researcher and combines her training in health psychology with her epidemiological skills to understand people's health and wellbeing. Her previous research has focused on:
The causes and consequences of endometriosis in Australia - GELLES
Women’s quality of life following a diagnosis of endometrial (uterine) cancer ANECS. In this role, she also led a qualitative study exploring young women’s fertility concerns following a diagnosis of gynaecological cancer.
Women’s adjustment to miscarriage using data from more than 14,000 young women participating in the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women’s Health - Coping with miscarriage study.
Faculty of Health, Medicine and Behavioural Sciences
Affiliate Professor
Medical School (Greater Brisbane Clinical School)
Faculty of Health, Medicine and Behavioural Sciences
Availability:
Not available for supervision
Lay detail
Emeritus Professor of Psychology; Affiliate Professor, Medical School
Former Professor of Cognitive Engineering and Human Factors (Joint appointment: School of Psychology, School of ITEE, School of Clinical Medicine) and Leader, Cognitive Engineering Research Group (CERG)
Responsible for development and operation of the University of Queensland Usability Laboratory (UQUL).
Director of ARC Key Centre for Human Factors and Applied Cognitive Psychology, 2004-2007.
Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia (ASSA).
Fellow of the USA-based Human Factors and Ergonomics Society (HFES).
Fellow of the International Ergonomics Association (IEA)
Background:
Adjunct Professor, Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1997-2006.
Professor of Computer Science (HCI), Swinburne University of Technology, 1997-2001.
Assistant and then tenured Associate Professor of Psychology, M&IE, and Aviation, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1985-1996.
Editorial responsibilities
Associate Editor, Human Factors in Healthcare, 2021-2023
Regional Editor, Cognition Technology and Work, 2000-present.
Consulting Editor, Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, 2005-2011, 2013-2018
Editorial Board, Journal of Cognitive Engineering and Decision Making, 2005-present.
Editorial Board, Human Factors, 1986-1997, 2005-2013, 2016-present.
Associate Editor, Human Factors, 2014-2015.
Associate Editor, Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied: 2012-2013.
Associate Editor, International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, 2002-2005.
Faculty of Health, Medicine and Behavioural Sciences
Availability:
Not available for supervision
Media expert
Dr. Theresa Scott, Associate Professor and former NHMRC Dementia Research Development Fellow, specialises in researching functional outcomes for older people and people living, or caring for a person, with dementia in various settings. Her NHMRC fellowship focused on dementia-related driving issues, leading to the co-development of CarFreeMe, a driving cessation program delivering support to people with dementia, adapted for telehealth delivery through additional NHMRC funding.
Dr. Scott's recent NHMRC MRFF-funded project collaborates with stakeholders to create resources for driving safety assessment with persons with dementia in primary care settings, including an innovative video-based fitness to drive test. She is Chief Investigator (CIA Prof Barbara Masser) on an Australian Research Council Linkage Grant that is generating new knowledge in recruiting, retaining, and deferring older blood donors.
Her research spans qualitative and quantitative methods and emphasises participatory research, co-design, and the integration of lived experiences. Her mixed methods research aims to improve the mental health, emotional well-being, quality of life and quality of care of older Australians and people living with progressive brain diseases such as dementia and their family care partners, through innovative research and knowledge translation activities. Her work addresses ageism, dementia stigma, mental health outcomes of psychosocial interventions, for example the mental health benefits of nature connection, significantly impacting dementia care, and loneliness and isolation.
Research interests:
Ageing
Aged care
Co-design
Dementia and quality of life
Driving cessation and driving safety assessment
Mental health outcomes of psychosocial interventions
Research Projects:
Video-based Medical Fitness to Drive assessment (MRFF) http://researchers.uq.edu.au/research-project/55955
Driving cessation intervention for persons with dementia (NHMRC) http://researchers.uq.edu.au/research-project/32115
Engaging the over 50s to ensure the sustainability of our blood supply (ARC) http://researchers.uq.edu.au/research-project/61705
Affiliate of Centre for Research in Social Psychology (CRiSP)
Centre for Research in Social Psychology
Faculty of Health, Medicine and Behavioural Sciences
Affiliate of Social Identity and Groups Network (SIGN) Research Centre
Social Identity and Groups Network
Faculty of Health, Medicine and Behavioural Sciences
Senior Lecturer
School of Psychology
Faculty of Health, Medicine and Behavioural Sciences
Availability:
Available for supervision
Media expert
Hema was born and raised in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. She completed her PhD in Social Psychology, with a concentration in the Psychology of Peace and Violence, at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst (2019). She then joined the University of Queensland as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow and is now a Senior Lecturer in the School of Psychology.
Hema's research is guided by a central theme: both social change and the maintenance of the status quo are often achieved through sustained group-based efforts. To this end, Hema conducts research around ongoing social and political issues using a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods in laboratory, online, and field settings across diverse regions of the world. This research is only possible through close collaboration with mentors, colleagues, and students.
Hema's research interests encompass social change and intergroup relations, social movements and collective action, collective resistance, intergroup solidarity, intergroup conflict and reconciliation. Her work has been published in leading journals, such as the Leadership Quarterly, British Journal of Social Psychology, Group Processes & Intergroup Relations, and Political Psychology. She has received awards for her research, including the 2023 Early Career Research Award by the Society of Australasian Social Psychologists. Hema currently serves as an Associate Editor for the British Journal of Social Psychology, and is on the Editorial Boards of Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, Personality and Social Psychology Review, and Social and Personality Psychology Compass as Consulting Editor.
Faculty of Health, Medicine and Behavioural Sciences
Availability:
Available for supervision
Media expert
Dr Shekari completed her PhD with Queensland University of Technology in 2016, and her postdoctoral fellowship with Alertness CRC at Monash University and Austin Health in January 2019. Shamsi is currently a Research Fellow with the Institute for Social Science Research (ISSR) at UQ. Her research interests are key socio-psychological issues such as drowsy / fatigued driving and risky driving behaviours. Shamsi is one of the investigators of the NHMRC project “Reducing crash risk for young drivers: A randomized control trial to improve sleep”.
Dr Chase Sherwell is a Research Fellow at the UQ Learning Lab and the Principal Research Technician for the Compassionate Mind Research Group in the School of Psychology. His research combines neuroscientific, psychological, and educational perspectives to provide tools for enacting learning, well-being, and behavioural change in real-world contexts. With a focus on application, Dr Sherwell’s work aims to identify metrics of internal psychological mechanisms that can be easily interpreted and integrated by professionals and end-users to facilitate skill development and mental health in everyday life.
With a background in cognitive neuroscience, psychology, and education research, Dr Sherwell leads projects that aim to explain learning, development, and mental health across disciplinary lines: from the level of neural networks through to everyday experience. Integrating multi-modal techniques including digital interaction, biometrics, and neurophysiology, Dr Sherwell develops tools, user experiences, and analytics that provide actionable metrics and insights for professionals and researchers.
Dr Sherwell is a Research Fellow in the UQ Learning Lab: a team of multi-disciplinary researchers, educators, and industry partners who collaborate to transform learning, teaching, and training in diverse school and post-school environments through the science of learning. In this role, Dr Sherwell lends his expertise in cognitive neuroscience and psychology to develop projects aimed at understanding and measuring the barriers, facilitators, and mechanisms of self-regulation in professional contexts. He leads projects designing digital tools providing educators with real-time feedback on learner states and skill development integrating smartphone apps and biometrics from wearable devices.
Dr Sherwell is also the Principal Research Technician for the Compassionate Mind Research Group – the leading research hub for Compassion Science in Australia, based at the UQ School of Psychology. In this role, he oversees research design and development across projects investigating the mechanisms of prosocial behaviour in everyday life, barriers to clinical interventions, and the efficacy of online interventions for mental health.