Study with us

When you undertake a research project with us, your findings help prioritise prevention over cure, an approach that saves and improves lives, and reduces health expenditure.

We offer supervision in a wide range of projects at the following levels:

Determinants of health are couched in a complex network of factors that influence – and are influenced by – one another, including socioeconomic, educational, gender, cultural, commercial, genetic and environmental. We therefore welcome students from a diverse range of backgrounds, who can bring unique knowledge and skills into the public health realm; health sciences, biomedicine, pharmacy, psychology, urban planning, education, economics, anthropology, sociology, allied health, sports science, medicine and nursing are just some of the fields we’d be happy to consider.

Our role – and our passion – is to provide students with a well supported, practical research experience, so you can integrate your knowledge into public health settings. Under our guidance, and together with relevant community, government and industry partners, you’ll gain the skills, confidence and knowledge to improve health and wellbeing of entire communities.

Our current projects are listed on Monash's Supervisor Connect platform; click on the names below to find their available projects. Or you can contact Danijela.Gasevic@monash.edu to discuss your ideas.

Hear from our students

Holly Wild, Honours and PhD

Holly returned to further study after several years working in nutrition, undertaking an Honours project with us that has blossomed into a fully-fledged PhD exploring protein intake among healthy older people.

Dr Roshini Balasooriya Lekamge, SIP and PhD

As part of her medical studies with Monash, Dr Lekamge first met our team when she undertook a final year research placement (SIP) with our team, exploring the benefits of integrating mindfulness into medical education. She’s now taking a deeper dive through a PhD with us, looking at whole-school approaches to improving mental health and wellbeing in Australian secondary schools.

Sana Bader, Master of Public Health

International student Sana used hospital data and patient interviews from the United Arab Emirates to undertake a systematic review and case-control study, both of which explored associations between diabetic neuropathy and smoking, as well as other factors including age and physical activity levels.

Here’s just a few of the many projects our students have undertaken recently.

PhD projects

  • Optimism and implications for healthy ageing
  • The relationship between sleep disordered breathing and cognitive decline, neuro and retinal imaging
  • Body weight and mortality risk in community-dwelling older adults
  • How stress and trauma across the lifespan influences later-life cognition
  • Health-related quality of life in later life: predictors, trajectories, and health outcomes

Honours projects

  • The association between protein intake and kidney function
  • The association between protein intake and cancer incidence and mortality
  • Physical activity and sedentary behaviour in older Australian adults during the COVID-19 pandemic
  • The association between socioeconomic status and frailty in community-dwelling older adults
  • Psychological distress and ‘locus of control’ during a pedometer workplace program
  • Social isolation and cardiovascular disease risk factors among healthy older adults
  • Social isolation and cognition/dementia among healthy older adults
  • Alcohol consumption among older Australians
  • The association between tobacco, alcohol and depression among older adults

Masters projects

  • The association between physical activity and macrovascular complications in adults with diabetes mellitus
  • The association between physical activity and depression in people living with type 1 and type 2 diabetes
  • The association between self-reported meal skipping and dementia
  • The correlates of commensal eating in community-dwelling older adults
  • The association between egg consumption and incident dementia
  • Optimal recruitment strategies for the Love Your Brain digital platform