About us
We’re a multidisciplinary team of researchers with expertise across public health, developmental, health and clinical psychology, exercise and nutrition, women’s and children’s health, ageing and dementia, media and communications, epidemiology, randomised controlled trials, intervention mapping, evidence synthesis, and implementation science, including evaluation of intervention effectiveness.
This wide-ranging experience allows us to work together on health, social service and educational sector improvements that can be successfully translated to better health, social and developmental outcomes for children, young people, adults and families. The knowledge we generate is crucial to transforming policy across these sectors.
Industry and community partnership is integral to our success. We’ve led more than 50 industry research consultancy projects over the last five years, each of them involving embedding our research fellows, research assistants or PhD students within the partner group to counteract siloing. In so doing we lead theoretical and methodological rigour, capacity building and change across the research-industry partnership, as opposed to just delivering a final report.
The Team
Executive Team
Professor Helen Skouteris – Head
Dr Darshini Ayton – Deputy Head, NHMRC Investigator Fellow
Dr Briony Hill – Deputy Head, NHMRC Early Career Fellow
Leaders of Industry Partnerships
| Dr Darshini Ayton | Lead, Baptcare Aged Care Industry Partnership |
| Dr Claire Blewitt | Lead, Bestchance family Child Care and Alannah Madeline Foundation Industry Partnerships |
| Dr Tatiana Corrales | Lead, Allambi Industry Partnership |
| Dr Rachael Green | Lead, HEALing Matters, Department of Department of Families, Fairness and Housing (DFFH), and Centre for Child and Family Welfare Industry Partnerships |
| Dr Briony Hill | Lead, MacKillop Family Services and Good Shepherd Health in Preconception, Pregnancy and Postpartum workplace portal Industry Partnerships |
| Jacynta Krakouer | Lead, First People’s Health & Wellbeing Industry Partnership |
| Dr Heather Morris | Lead, MacKillop Family Services Industry Partnership |
| Dr Mandy O’Connor | Lead, Queen Elizabeth Centre, Relationships Australia Victoria and Good Shepherd Industry Partnerships |
| Dr Renee O’Donnell | Lead, Baptcare Child and Family Services Industry Partnership |
Research Fellows and Research Assistants
| Julie Avery | Working across MacKillop Family Services & South Australia Industry Partnerships |
| Dr Heidi Bergmeier | Leading work in maternal and child lifestyle health across the first 2,000 days |
| Dr Danielle Berkovic | Working across Baptcare Dementia Model of Care & Health Services projects |
| Dr Lauren Bruce | Project Manager, MyCare Ageing randomised controlled trial |
| Sarah Carmody | Working across HEALing Matters industry Partnership |
| Dr Alex Chung | Leading work in childhood lifestyle health, obesity prevention and the role of policy |
| Anna Crawford-Parker | Working across HEALing Matters Industry Partnership |
| Samantha De Araugo | Working across BetterBrains randomised controlled trial |
| Emma Galvin | Working across MacKillop Family Services & South Australia Industry Partnerships |
| Caitlyn Gourlay | Working across BetterBrains randomised controlled trial |
| Hannah Gulline | Working across Health Services projects |
| Kostas Hatzikiriakidis | Working across Baptcare, MacKillop, and HEALing Matters Industry Partnerships |
| Seonad Madden | Working across the MacKillop Family Services and Good Shepherd Health in Preconception, Pregnancy and Postpartum workplace portal Industry Partnerships |
| Catriona Parker | Working across Health Services projects |
| Jess Permezel | Working across CRE HiPP LGBTIQA+ (Centre of Research Excellence Health in Preconception & Pregnancy) |
| Dr Stephanie Pirotta | Senior clinician and Research Fellow, BetterBrains randomised controlled trial |
| Melissa Savaglio | Working across Baptcare and MacKillop Industry Partnerships |
| Madelaine Smales | Working across HEALing Matters Industry Partnership |
| Yvonne Sun | Working across Our Place Voice of Children Industry Partnership |
| Ruby Tate | Working across HEALing Matters Industry Partnership |
| Jacob Thomas | Working across HEALing Matters Industry Partnership |
| Tess Tsindos | Working across Health Services projects & HSCU Short-Courses |
Individual Collaborators of the Health and Social Care Unit
Click here to read about our individual collaborators.
HSCU Business Manager Contact us
Tracy TaylorTracy.Taylor@monash.edu
Engagement Lead, Policy and Projects
Mitchell Bowden
Consumer Advocate Coordinator
Siarn Rakic
Media and Communications Advisors
Michelle Putt
Rebecca Krispin
Tia Haralabakos
PhD Students
| Julie Avery | Implementation and evaluation of a trauma responsive educational practice model for community services (MacKillop Industry PhD Scholar) |
| Emma Galvin | Implementation and evaluation of a trauma-informed practice model within a residential out-of-home care setting (MacKillop Industry PhD Scholar) |
| Michelle Gooey | Bridging the gap: translating childhood obesity prevention policy into clinical practice (NHMRC PhD Scholar) |
| Kostas Hatzikiriakidis | Healthy Eating Active Living Matters (HEALing Matters): The Development of a Healthy Lifestyle Program for People with Disability in Cared Accommodation (APA PhD Scholar) |
| Angie Jaman | The effectiveness of a psychologically informed environment in achieving outcomes in youth refuge (Salvation Army Industry PhD Scholar) |
| Pragya Kandel | Motivation and readiness for lifestyle behaviour change in preconception women (APA PhD Scholar) |
| Ann MacRae | Trauma informed care in aged care services (Part-time PhD Scholar) |
| Seonad Madden | A Workplace Digital Health Intervention to Promote Healthy Lifestyles and Wellbeing for Women across the Reproductive Years: An Intervention Mapping Approach (University of Tasmania PhD Scholar) |
| Alex Mullins | The Utility of My Health Record in the Emergency Department (GRiP Industry PhD Scholar) |
| Judith Myers | Confident and Understanding Parents (CUPs) – a child nutrition and active play intervention for vulnerable families (Part-time PhD Scholar) |
| Catriona Parker | The personal and financial burden of acute myeloid leukaemia (Monash University PhD Scholar) |
| Melissa Savaglio | Developing a community-based psychosocial intervention for young people with mental illness (NHMRC PhD Scholar) |
| Madelaine Smales | Understanding drug and alcohol use among young people within Out-of-Home Care (APA PhD Scholar) |
| Andrea Tamblyn | An intervention to optimise the physical early childhood education and care environment to support children’s social and emotional development (APA PhD Scholar) |
| Jacob Thomas | LGBTIQA+ Youth: A Global Investigation into Their Power and Wellbeing (Part-time PhD Scholar) |