Faculty of Health, Medicine and Behavioural Sciences
Availability:
Available for supervision
A/Prof Stephen Bell is a senior social scientist, advisor and international development research consultant with 23 years’ experience tackling global health challenges in settings across South-East Asia, Africa, Western Pacific and Europe. He works respectfully with not-for-profits, public institutions, businesses and community organisations, using innovative, inclusive, people-centred approaches to identify sustainable solutions to critical health challenges and accelerate health equity.
As Principal Research Fellow and ‘Theme Lead - Social Science and Global Health’ at the Burnet Institute, Steve’s role includes:
Research on young people's sexual, reproductive and maternal health, including adolescent-responsive health services and systems, contraceptive innovation, safe abortion, enabling socio-structural environments, and the intersections of health and climate change;
Providing methodological expertise, technical support and mentoring in social science, co-design and community-based, community-led research practice across the Institute’s global health programs and business development across working groups and programs;
Supporting a growing regional network of youth research, advocacy and thought leadership hubs across Asia and the Pacific;
Managing and delivering consultancy, advisory and research work for institutional partners.
Steve’s work brings together lived experience, socio-ecological systems thinking and social theory to understand what works (or not) in global health and social development. He has researched and published widely on HIV, sexual and reproductive health, maternal health, neglected tropical diseases, TB and Indigenous health. He is particularly interested in understanding the socio-structural determinants of health and social inequities, and injustices associated with marginalisation due to gender, sexuality, age and geography. He has published two edited collections on interpretive and community-led approaches in research, design, monitoring and evaluation: ‘Peer research in health and social development: international perspectives on participatory research’ (2021), and ‘Monitoring and evaluation in health and social development: interpretive and ethnographic perspectives’ (2016). With international colleagues, he is working on a third edited collection called, ‘Lived Experience: Critical Perspectives in a Changing World’. Steve is currently taking on new PhD students who are interested in undertaking research in any of these areas, so please do reach out to him for a chat!
Steve is Commissioner on The Lancet Global Health Commission on People-Centered Care for Universal Health Coverage, Technical Consultant (Strategy and Insights) with PSI, and Member of the International Editorial Board at Culture, Health & Sexuality. Steve has served as a Senior Advisor to the Boston Consulting Group, and has worked in senior research and consultancy roles with international governments, NGOs, UNAIDS, UNFPA and WHO.
Faculty of Health, Medicine and Behavioural Sciences
Lecturer
Centre for Health Services Research
Faculty of Health, Medicine and Behavioural Sciences
Availability:
Available for supervision
Media expert
I am an early career researcher with <3 years post-PhD and estimated research time relative to opportunity of 20 months. Currently, I am a Research Fellow and Lecturer at The University of Queensland’s (UQ) Centre for Online Health (COH). I have years of study and work experience, including consumer and community involvement, in various healthcare settings in Brazil (2009-2019), the UK (2003-2008) and Australia (2019-present). I came to Australia in December 2019 for a 12-month PhD research placement at UQ after winning a highly competitive scholarship from the Brazilian Government. I have a Bachelor of Pharmacy, a Graduate Certificate in Project Management, a Master of Philosophy in Public Health, a Diploma of Higher Education in Youth and Community Studies and an OCN Level 3 Certificate in Community Development. I completed my PhD in Public Health in 2021.
I have a proven track record for delivering high-quality projects, with national significance, including policy change and integration into the national strategy in Brazil, and the implementation of a digital model of care developed in Australia. My track record demonstrates a rising career trajectory. My research interests are telehealth, virtual care and digital health, including digitally disrupted models of care for chronic conditions, trust and confidence in telehealth and digital health, digital health literacy, health services research, including implementation and evaluation strategies, mixed-methods, cross-sectional studies, co-design and qualitative inquiry, community and consumer involvement in research and service redesign.
Affiliate of UQ Poche Centre for Indigenous Health
UQ Poche Centre for Indigenous Health
Faculty of Health, Medicine and Behavioural Sciences
HDR Scholar
School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences
Faculty of Health, Medicine and Behavioural Sciences
Lecturer
School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences
Faculty of Health, Medicine and Behavioural Sciences
Availability:
Available for supervision
Carl (Saibai Koedal) is a PhD Candidate studying the epidemiology of rheumatic heart disease in Queensland using linked hospital and administrative data. Currently, Carl holds an academic appointment (Lecturer, Physiotherapy) in the School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, the University of Queensland, and maintains a clinical role as a Staff Physiotherapist at The Prince Charles Hospital. Alongside research, Carl is also working to strengthen relationships between remote Torres Strait Islander communities and UQ to explore opportunities for education, student clinical placement and research partnerships.
Faculty of Health, Medicine and Behavioural Sciences
Availability:
Available for supervision
Dr Alana Gall is a proud Pakana (Tasmanian Aboriginal) woman whose ancestral heritage links to the north-east coast of Lutruwita (Tasmania), and more recently, the Bass Strait Islands of Cape Barren and Flinders Island.
Alana is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the First Nations Cancer & Wellbeing Research team, and the Project Manager of the What Matters 2 Adults Implementation project. Alana’s research focusses on wellbeing and holistic health for Indigenous peoples globally. The aim of the WM2A-I study she is managing, is to test the most appropriate and effective methods for implementing the newly developed WM2Adults Wellbeing measure - the first nationally-relevant wellbeing measure developed specifically for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adults.
Alana has a background in nutritional medicine and has more than 10 years’ experience in research, research translation, community engagement, health education and clinical consultation. Alana’s PhD thesis, titled Exploring Wellbeing from Indigenous Perspectives, centres primarily on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’ wellbeing but also includes a focus on the domains of wellbeing for Indigenous peoples in Canada, Aotearoa (New Zealand) and the United States.
On a personal note, Alana is passionate about empowering others to take control of their own health and believes better health and wellbeing can be achieved at a population level through transdisciplinary approaches that adhere to holistic models of health and wellbeing. Alana is also passionate about education, understanding on both an academic and personal level, that this is one significant way to lift individuals, families and communities out of poverty – having hope for the future is imperative to good health and wellbeing. Due to this passion, Alana produced a free worksheet for children during the COVID-19 pandemic, in collaboration with Wingaru Kids about antimicrobial bush medicines and would love to collaborate in this space more.
Faculty of Health, Medicine and Behavioural Sciences
Availability:
Not available for supervision
Paul specialises in Assessment and Management of Risk and Impact of Socio-Environmental determinants on the Wellbeing of our younger generations across their life span.
His overall vision is about how we use Environmental Health Intelligence to improve decision-making towards delivering more efficient Environmental Health Practices, Services and Solutions for local and regional communities in remote and disadvantaged socio-economic settings.
Within the complex interdisciplinary domains that hold the socio-environmental determinants of wellbeing, Paul’s operational research focuses on how / what interventions would best support communities to prevent, mitigate and adapt to EH risk and impact in rapidly changing environments and climate.
Affiliate of Centre for Research on Exercise, Physical Activity and Health
Centre for Research on Exercise, Physical Activity and Health
Faculty of Health, Medicine and Behavioural Sciences
Affiliate of Centre for Online Health
Centre for Online Health
Faculty of Health, Medicine and Behavioural Sciences
Senior Research Fellow
Centre for Health Services Research
Faculty of Health, Medicine and Behavioural Sciences
Availability:
Available for supervision
I am a consultant Accredited Practising Dietitian and Senior Research Fellow in the Centre for Online Health. I have a PhD in technology-supported lifestyle interventions and delivering dietary education to improve people’s dietary self-management. My research program focuses on technology-enabled health systems and interventions for improving patient-centred care in chronic disease and simplifying nutrition communication for clinicians and people living with chronic conditions. I work in private practice, primarily providing professional consultancy services for kidney nutrition. I also provide consultation for cardiovascular disease and diabetes. You can learn more about my private practice here - https://www.mynutritionclinic.com.au/renal-dietitian/
RESEARCH INTERESTS
My research interests are in 1) Nutrition & Dietetics – primarily diet quality and focusing on methods to improve diet quality in people with chronic kidney disease and other complex chronic conditions; 2) Health Service Delivery & 3) Digital Health – specifically focused on preparing to workforce, codesigning and testing technology-assisted interventions to deliver lifestyle interventions. My current work focuses on technology-enabled health systems and interventions for improving patient-centred care in chronic disease and simplifying nutrition communication for clinicians and people living with chronic conditions.
I am an applied linguist specialized in studying intercutlural communication and public health communication. I am deeply engaged in using multimodal discourse analysis to understand how language, gestures, eye gaze, and material objects co-create meaning in social life. I investigate the processes of language and cultural learning during studying abroad and in classroom settings.
My recent work focuses on communication during the COVID-19 pandemic and food-safety discourses. I have published in international journals on pandemic topics including wearing masks, reporting the first pandemic death, and narrating a pandemic. The COVID-19 project received the 2021 Humanities Traveling Fellowship from the Australian Academy of the Humanities. I have a forthcoming book titled Health Crisis Communication: Multimodal Classification for Pandemic Preparedness. The book uncovers features of multimodal (mis)communication and provides practical advice and evidence-based recommendations for strengthening health crisis preparedness.
My new project explores the communication of food safety crises, such as the mushroom poisoning in Australia and the rice-noodle poisoning in Taiwan. I aim to use my research to help health professionals effectively communicate public health and update health communication guidelines.
I am available to supervise PhD/MPhil/Honours projects on the following topics: health discourses, intercultural communication, and language learning and teaching. Please contact me to discuss your proposal.
Faculty of Health, Medicine and Behavioural Sciences
Availability:
Available for supervision
Media expert
Dr. Bushra Nasir is the Director of the Medical Research Futures Fund in Primary Health Care Digital Innovations - ID-INSPIRED 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.
Affiliate of Australian Women's and Girls' Health Research Centre
Australian Women's and Girls' Health Research Centre
Faculty of Health, Medicine and Behavioural Sciences
Research Program Manager
School of Public Health
Faculty of Health, Medicine and Behavioural Sciences
Availability:
Available for supervision
Maiden name: Ellen Maree Leslie
Dr Ellen Wessel is a Research Fellow in the School of Public Health, with backgrounds in both public health and criminology. Her research interests include women's health, alcohol and other drug use, and policing.