Faculty of Health & Behavioural Sciences

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Staff Profiles

School of Health Sciences
Associate Professor Karen Charlton Associate Professor Karen Charlton, PhD, is an Accredited Practising Dietitian who teaches epidemiology and public health nutrition in the Public health stream of the School of Health Sciences. Her research expertise is in nutrition and chronic diseases of lifestyle across the lifespan, most recently dietary interventions in the management and prevention of hypertension. She has worked for many years in academic positions in South Africa, where she collaborated closely with the food industry to develop population-based strategies to lower salt in the food supply. These findings have been taken up by multinational food companies to improve staple foods in the country, particularly bread. Karen is interested in the role of food and dietary patterns on ageing and is conducting studies on nutrition screening and the impact of malnutrition on clinical and cognitive outcomes in older patients discharged from hospital, as well as investigating the role of fruit flavonoids on cognition in older adults with dementia. Karen continues to work in international nutrition and has ongoing projects on food security and the determinants thereof in older people in developing countries. Since relocating to Australia in 2007, she has been involved in a 12-month NHMRC-funded clinical trial on the impact of long chain omega 3 PUFA (fish oil) intake on weight loss and other metabolic outcomes, and has conducted a series of studies investigating the iodine status of various high risk groups. Karen has published widely in scientific journals (over 80 publications) and authored chapters in books and serves on international professional bodies. More information about Karen»
Associate Professor Vicki Flood Associate Professor Vicki Flood is the academic leader of the Public Health stream, and co-director of the Food and Health Research Initiative at the School of Health Sciences. Vicki has expertise in public health nutrition and nutritional epidemiology, and teaches research skills and public health nutrition in the Public Health Stream. Vicki has research interests which include: interventions to reduce chronic disease, including obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease; nutrition and healthy ageing, with special interest in food security, diet quality, and health outcomes; food and nutrition monitoring, with consideration to collecting dietary intake and food behaviours in population-based studies; improving food environments to increase the availability of healthy foods; and supporting aboriginal health research. Since 2006 she has been a chief investigator on studies which have received more than $3.2 million in external peer-reviewed funding and has over 60 peer-reviewed publications. Vicki has been an investigator with a longitudinal cohort of older people, known as the Blue Mountains Eye Study (BMES), and has been responsible for the development of a comprehensive nutrient database for use with the BMES, and has published extensively on the nutrients of folate, vitamin B12, omega-3 fatty acids and Glycemic Index. Additionally, Vicki has researched the association between nutrition and eye disease, for example the work from this cohort has demonstrated that those who consume higher intakes of omega 3 fatty acids (particularly long-chain) have a 60% reduced risk of age-related macular degeneration, the leading cause of blindness among older Australians. Other recent work includes an investigator role with NHMRC partnership grant to reduce sodium in the Australian food supply (with the George Institute, NSW Health, NSW Food Authority and Deakin University). Vicki is also a chief investigator on the NHMRC-funded Healthy Beginnings Project, follow-up study, an intervention study of children 0-2 years in South West and Central Sydney, aimed to reduce the risk of obesity by providing at-home support to first time parents. Vicki supervises numerous Higher Degree Research students on various public health topics ranging from food security, salt reduction, lifestyle interventions, healthy food environments and aboriginal health research to reduce the risk of diabetes. More information about Vicki»
Professor Xu-Feng Huang Professor Xu-Feng Huang is the Director of the Centre for Translational Neuroscience and the Schizophrenia Research Institute (Wollongong Centre). Xu-Feng is also the Scientific Director for the Metabolic Conditions Research Theme in the Illawarra Health and Medical Research Institute.The Centre for Translational Neuroscience (CTN) is a facility that undertakes medical research. The vision of the CTN is to find the means to prevent and treat schizophrenia, obesity and obesity-related colon cancer. Our approach is to study the pathological mechanisms of the diseases using human brain tissue, animal models and cell culture. New findings are then translated into novel pharmacological and dietary interventions for human diseases. More information about the research into Neuropathology of Schizophrenia, Obesity and Obesity-associated Colon Cancer More information about Xu-Feng»
Associate Professor Barbara Meyer Associate Professor Barbara Meyer is a biochemist and Director of the Metabolic Research Centre (MRC, link to website), member of the Illawarra Health and Medical Research Institute (IHMRI) and President Elect of the Nutrition Society of Australia (NSA, website link here). She is recognised nationally and internationally for her expertise in lipid and omega-3 fatty acid research. A/Prof Meyer investigates the role of lipids in a wide range of disease states (RIS publications weblink here) and has shown that Australians on the whole do not consume enough omega-3 fats for optimal health (web link here to these key publications: Meyer et al 2003, Howe et al 2006, Meyer & Kolanu 2010). In addition to the biochemical assessments, she has also developed an electronic validated food frequency questionnaire to measure polyunsaturated fatty acid intakes (web link here to these key publication: Swierk et al 2010) and her research has had an impact on nutrition policy of the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC). Barbara has extensive research experience in randomised controlled trials including multi-centre trials (web link here to these key publication: Makrides et al 2010). Research funding covers both discovery (NHMRC) and applied research (Industry and ARC Linkage) and she has published in top ranking international scientific journals. More information about Barbara»
Dr Todd Mitchell Dr Todd Mitchell is a Senior Research Fellow in the School of Helath Sciences and the Lipidomics group leader in the Illawarra Health and Medical Research Institute. His research focuses on the role of lipids in the development of various pathologies including insulin resistance, obesity and cardiovascular disease, with a particular interest in ophthalmic disorders (cataract, presbyopia and dry eye). In collaboration with Associate Professor Stephen Blanksby (Chemistry) he is also developing new mass spectrometry based methods for the characterisation and measurement of molecular lipids. More information about Todd»
Professor Linda Tapsell, PhD FDAA Professor Tapsell is recognised nationally and internationally for her expertise in conducting dietary trials to expose effects of food on metabolic outcomes. Her work focuses on the evidence base for food and nutrition practice, in healthcare, nutrition policy development and food innovation. She blends her studies with those of food choices in a social and environmental context to support translation to practice. Professor Tapsell contributes to a number of high level national and international committees related to food and nutrition research and policy. She has a strong track record of category 1 grants and peer reviewed publications. She has supervised many PhD graduates, mentors researcher-practitioners and continues to act as a role model for developing researchers in her discipline. She is the Editor-in-Chief of the journal Nutrition and Dietetics and a Fellow of the Dietitians Association of Australia. More information about Smart Foods Centre» More information about Linda»
School of Nursing Midwifery and Indigenous Health
Professor Sandra Jones Professor Sandra Jones is the Director of the Centre for Health Initiatives, a Research Strength at the University of Wollongong. From 2004 to 2009 she was also Associate Dean (Research) in the Faculty of Health & Behavioural Sciences. Her research focuses on the relationship between media and health, including the impacts of advertising in the print and electronic media on health behaviour, and the use of social marketing to improve population health. She also conducts research in the area of advertising and marketing regulation, particularly in relation to alcohol marketing. Sandra has published more than 100 refereed papers and been awarded in excess of $4 million in research funding. Sandra is the Chair of the National Breast & Ovarian Cancer Centre Information Advisory Group; a Member of the Advisory Committee of the Community Alcohol Action Network (CAAN); member of the International Review Panel for social marketing programs at the Alberta Health Service in Canada; and a Director of the Cram Foundation. More information about The Centre for Health Initiatives » More information about Sandra»
Professor Kenneth D Walsh RPN, RGN, BNurs (UNE) PhD (Adelaide), Fellow of the Joanna Briggs Institute Dr Walsh is the inaugural Professor of Nursing Practice Development with the University of Wollongong and South Eastern Sydney and Illawarra Area Health Service. He is also a Fellow of the Joanna Briggs Institute and a Visiting Professor, Department of Nursing and Applied Clinical Studies, Canterbury Christchurch University, Canterbury UK. Ken has over 30 years experience as a nurse and has a clinical background in psychiatric and general nursing including work in counselling and group therapy. He completed his PhD at the University of Adelaide in 1996. Ken has worked in joint university and health service positions in Australia and New Zealand. His research activities and interests revolve around health services research, especially clinical practice research, knowledge translation and implementation research and the implementation and evaluation of practice development initiatives. Currently Ken and colleagues from Wollongong hospital and Monash University are researching the social construction of the role of the Clinical Nurse Consultant. This research uses a method known as Situational Analysis which is an offshoot of Grounded Theory. This research is funded by a URC Partnership grant between SESIAHS and UOW. Another recent project was a commissioned investigation into avoidable admissions to emergency departments from residential aged care facilitates. This research developed and utilized a blended research methodology adapted from social science research and practice development. This blended approach proved to be very useful in working collaboratively with clinicians to find answers to clinically relevant research questions. Ken is a member of CHI and the Initiative in Health Education, Leadership and Practice Development (IHELPD). He is also associated with the Australasian Collaborative for Evidence in Practice Development (ACE-PD), a joint initiative of the School of Nursing Midwifery and Indigenous Health, University of Wollongong and the School of Nursing, Monash University. More information about Ken»
School of Psychology
Dr Emma Barkus Dr Emma Barkus is interested in the interplay between psychosis proneness and cognition in predicting people's vulnerability to psychotic experiences after cannabis. We know there are multiple risk factors involved in conferring vulnerability towards psychotic disorders. What we hope to do is determine how some of these variables interact to lead to produce negative experiences after recreational cannabis use. To do this we have set up a website to collect information using both questionnaires and tasks which tap into cognitive processes of interest. This can be found here: http://www.ywedo.com/experiments/generalbarkus.asp More information about Emma»
Associate Professor Joe Ciarocchi A longitudinal study into the development of personal vulnerabilities and well-being in adolescence. Why are some adolescents at risk for poor mental health, physical health, and social adjustment? This project will collect four years of data (Waves 2-5) of a multi-state longitudinal study. The study will identify the temperamental and environmental variables that predict the development of character in adolescence and, in turn, the role that developing character plays in promoting social, emotional, and productive well-being. The study is unique in its comprehensiveness and its assessment of adolescents at multiple levels using measures taken from different disciplines (e.g., social, education, biology).This research will identify the risk factors for declining adolescent well-being and behavioural adjustment. More information about Joseph»
Professor Rodney Croft Professor Rodney Croft graduated with a PhD in Psychology from University of Wollongong in 2000. Following a postdoctoral position at Imperial College in London and Chair of Cognitive Neuroscience at Swinburne University in Melbourne, he returned to University of Wollongong to take up the Chair of Health Psychology in 2010, within the School of Psychology. Croft’s research interests cover 2 main areas, Biological Psychiatry and Bioelectromagnetics. Croft’s Biological Psychiatry research is focused on improving treatment response in patients, through individualised impairment profiling. For example, in an NHMRC-funded trial, his team is determining whether neurophysiological measures of glutamate function (in schizophrenia) can predict who will benefit from adjunct glycine treatment. This research is being supplemented with acute drug administration trials in healthy controls in order to better understand the relation between pharmacology and psychological function more generally, with the focus on pharmacological treatments currently used in psychiatry. Other clinical populations being researched include Huntington’s Disease and Depression. In terms of Bioelectromagnetics, Croft is actively researching relations between electromagnetic radiation (such as those emitted by mobile phones and base stations) and biological function. This is funded through NHMRC and industry grants, and includes epidemiological research to assess relations between mobile phone use and cognitive function in children; neurophysiological research to determine the mechanisms responsible for low level radiofrequency effects on brain function (including resting and sleep EEG changes); and the engineering of radiofrequency electroporation techniques for medical applications such as drug delivery. Croft is currently a member on the Main Commission of the International Commission of Non-Ionising Radiation Protection (ICNIRP), and its Biology Standing Committee, the IEEE International Committee on Electromagnetic Safety, TC95, and he was Executive Director (and Human Neurophysiology Research Director) of the Australian Centre for Radiofrequency Bioeffects Research from 2004 to 2011 (the former NHMRC Electromagnetic Emissions Centre for Research Excellence). More information about Rodney»
Professor Frank Deane Dr. Frank Deane is a Professor in the School of Psychology and Director of the Illawarra Institute for Mental Health. He trained as a clinical psychologist and has worked in New Zealand, the USA and Australia. Most of his research is conducted in applied clinical settings. Broad research interests relate to assessing factors related to improving treatment effectiveness in mental health and drug and alcohol services. This has involved studies that test specific methods for conveying what positive treatment effects constitute. For example, the use of clinically significant change metrics through to clarifying the meaning of “recovery” in different contexts. Specific components of treatment include the effects of between-session therapeutic homework tasks on treatment outcomes and the relationship between length of treatment and outcomes. I also have research interests related to determining why people do not seek help for mental health problems when they need it. Specific questions include; What factors determine whether someone will actively seek help for mental health problems (e.g., levels of distress, sources of social influence, emotional awareness)? Why do people who are suicidal not seek help from others? What are the factors that make men relatively poor help seekers? More information about Frank» More information about the Illawarra Institute for Mental Health»
Dr Simone Favelle Dr Simone Favelle is a Lecturer in the School of Psychology at the University of Wollongong and a member of the Perception & Cognition Laboratories. Her published research is in the area of visual information used in the perception and recognition of objects and faces. Projects in her lab include investigations of (i) the role of various viewing conditions (e.g., lighting and viewpoint) in face recognition, (ii) holistic processing in own-race and other-race faces (in collaboration with HKU), (iii) the signals involved in human facial expressions (ARC funded) and (iv) the role of attention in object and face recognition. More information about Simone»
Associate Professor Craig Gonsalvez Craig Gonsalvez is Associate Professor in the School of Psychology. He served as Senior Clinical Psychologist and Director of The Anxiety Disorders Clinic, Westmead Hospital, Sydney, before transferring to academia. His research contributions are in two separate areas. Over the past decade, he has been actively engaged in clinical psychology training. At a national level, he has served as Chair of Course Approvals for the Clinical College of the Australian Psychological Society (2006-2010), was the recipient of the 2009 APS Clinical College Award of Distinction for significant contributions to clinical psychology, and has several publications on training and clinical supervision. He is currently leading an eSupervision initiative that endeavours to give supervisees across the country, including those in regional and remote areas, access to the very best of clinical supervision expertise through a web-based platform. His second area of interest is in clinical psychophysiology, especially in the use of event-related brain potentials (ERPs) and autonomic measures (e.g., heart rate and electrodermal measures) as indices of information processing in anxiety and obsessive-compulsive spectrum disorders. More information about Craig»
Professor Brin Grenyer Professor Brin Grenyer is a Professor of Clinical Psychology in the School of Psychology and Scientific Director, Neorscience and Mental Health Research Theme, Illawarra Health and Medical Research Institute. Professor Grenyer’s primary area of expertise is the treatment of chronic and complex psychological problems, particularly depression and associated problems of aggression, personality disorders, and substance abuse. Over the past six years he has led psychotherapy clinics both for depression and borderline personality disorder, with over 500 patients enrolled in treatment and research. His original research is published in leading international journals and he is single author of the book 'Mastering Relationship Conflicts: Discoveries in Theory, Research and Practice'. More information about Brin»
Dr Stuart Johnstone Dr Stuart Johnstone is an Associate Professor in the School of Psychology and member of the Brain & Behaviour Research Institute (BBRI), the Illawarra Health and Medical Research Institute (IHMRI) and the Interdisciplinary Educational Research Institute (IERI). His research focuses on cognitive processes, mainly inhibition and attention, in healthy children and those with problems in these areas, such as children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (AD/HD). Generally, his research involves having children or adults complete cognitive tasks, with subsequent consideration of both task performance and concurrent brain electrical activity (e.g. EEG and/or event‐related potentials, or ERPs) to understand the behaviour in terms of its neural correlates. Stuart’s current research program centres around these following key areas: (1) the development of inhibition and attention through childhood and into adulthood, (2) the role that energetic and other factors play in the effective use of these processes, (3) how these processes are best measured via brain electrical activity, and (4) the use of cognitive and neurocognitive training to improve impulse control, memory and attention. More information about Stuart»
Dr Stephen Palmisano Dr Stephen Palmisano is an Associate Professor in the School of Psychology at the University of Wollongong and a member of the Perception & Cognition Laboratories. His published research falls into two main areas - the visual perception/control of self-motion and the visual perception of 3-D environments. Over the last 4 years he has attracted over 1 million dollars in research funding. Recently completed ARC funded projects have examined: (1) the out-of-cockpit cues that expert and trainee pilots use to control visual aircraft landings; and (2) the perceptions of stereoscopic depth and slant at very large distances. Currently funded ARC projects examine: (1) the effects of “bob, sway and lunge” on visual self-motion perception and motion sickness (with Associate Prof Robert Allison at Centre for Vision Research, Toronto, Canada); and (2) the role of monocular regions in stereoscopic depth perception (with Scientia Professor Barbara Gillam at UNSW). In addition, he is currently a team member on a Canadian Space Agency research project examining the visual perception of smooth and perturbed self-motion in microgravity. More information about Stephen»
Dr Nadia Solowij Dr Nadia Solowij is a Senior lecturer in the School of Psychology and a member of the Illawarra Institute for Mental Health, and an affiliated scientist with the Schizophrenia Research Institute. Nadia’s research interests are in the long term drug effects on cognitive function, in particular the relationship between cannabis and schizophrenia.Cannabis is a beguiling drug in that it possesses both harmful and therapeutic compounds. For many years it was considered a benign drug, but now many harms are associated with its use, not least of which is cognitive decline and the triggering of psychotic symptoms, particularly in the adolescent brain which is more susceptible to insult from substance use as it is a critical period of neurodevelopment. The program of research in my laboratory investigates the effects of cannabis on cognition, psychological symptoms, brain structure and function, in adults and adolescents, with the aim of understanding the cognitive impairment that develops, how cannabis might trigger psychosis, what makes a person vulnerable to these sequelae, and how the beneficial compounds within cannabis might ameliorate these. To this end we use neuropsychological,psychophysiological, brain imaging and genetic methods. More information about Nadia»

School of Health Sciences

Associate Professor Karen Charlton

Associate Professor Karen Charlton, PhD, is an Accredited Practising Dietitian who teaches epidemiology and public health nutrition in the Public health stream of the School of Health Sciences. Her research expertise is in nutrition and chronic diseases of lifestyle across the lifespan, most recently dietary interventions in the management and prevention of hypertension. She has worked for many years in academic positions in South Africa, where she collaborated closely with the food industry to develop population-based strategies to lower salt in the food supply. These findings have been taken up by multinational food companies to improve staple foods in the country, particularly bread. Karen is interested in the role of food and dietary patterns on ageing and is conducting studies on nutrition screening and the impact of malnutrition on clinical and cognitive outcomes in older patients discharged from hospital, as well as investigating the role of fruit flavonoids on cognition in older adults with dementia. Karen continues to work in international nutrition and has ongoing projects on food security and the determinants thereof in older people in developing countries. Since relocating to Australia in 2007, she has been involved in a 12-month NHMRC-funded clinical trial on the impact of long chain omega 3 PUFA (fish oil) intake on weight loss and other metabolic outcomes, and has conducted a series of studies investigating the iodine status of various high risk groups. Karen has published widely in scientific journals (over 80 publications) and authored chapters in books and serves on international professional bodies.
More information about Karen»

Associate Professor Vicki Flood

Associate Professor Vicki Flood is the academic leader of the Public Health stream, and co-director of the Food and Health Research Initiative at the School of Health Sciences. Vicki has expertise in public health nutrition and nutritional epidemiology, and teaches research skills and public health nutrition in the Public Health Stream. Vicki has research interests which include: interventions to reduce chronic disease, including obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease; nutrition and healthy ageing, with special interest in food security, diet quality, and health outcomes; food and nutrition monitoring, with consideration to collecting dietary intake and food behaviours in population-based studies; improving food environments to increase the availability of healthy foods; and supporting aboriginal health research. Since 2006 she has been a chief investigator on studies which have received more than $3.2 million in external peer-reviewed funding and has over 60 peer-reviewed publications. Vicki has been an investigator with a longitudinal cohort of older people, known as the Blue Mountains Eye Study (BMES), and has been responsible for the development of a comprehensive nutrient database for use with the BMES, and has published extensively on the nutrients of folate, vitamin B12, omega-3 fatty acids and Glycemic Index. Additionally, Vicki has researched the association between nutrition and eye disease, for example the work from this cohort has demonstrated that those who consume higher intakes of omega 3 fatty acids (particularly long-chain) have a 60% reduced risk of age-related macular degeneration, the leading cause of blindness among older Australians. Other recent work includes an investigator role with NHMRC partnership grant to reduce sodium in the Australian food supply (with the George Institute, NSW Health, NSW Food Authority and Deakin University). Vicki is also a chief investigator on the NHMRC-funded Healthy Beginnings Project, follow-up study, an intervention study of children 0-2 years in South West and Central Sydney, aimed to reduce the risk of obesity by providing at-home support to first time parents. Vicki supervises numerous Higher Degree Research students on various public health topics ranging from food security, salt reduction, lifestyle interventions, healthy food environments and aboriginal health research to reduce the risk of diabetes.
More information about Vicki»

Professor Xu-Feng Huang

Professor Xu-Feng Huang is the Director of the Centre for Translational Neuroscience and the Schizophrenia Research Institute (Wollongong Centre). Xu-Feng is also the Scientific Director for the Metabolic Conditions Research Theme in the Illawarra Health and Medical Research Institute.The Centre for Translational Neuroscience (CTN) is a facility that undertakes medical research. The vision of the CTN is to find the means to prevent and treat schizophrenia, obesity and obesity-related colon cancer. Our approach is to study the pathological mechanisms of the diseases using human brain tissue, animal models and cell culture. New findings are then translated into novel pharmacological and dietary interventions for human diseases.
More information about the research into Neuropathology of Schizophrenia, Obesity and Obesity-associated Colon Cancer
More information about Xu-Feng»

Associate Professor Barbara Meyer

Associate Professor Barbara Meyer is a biochemist and Director of the Metabolic Research Centre (MRC, link to website), member of the Illawarra Health and Medical Research Institute (IHMRI) and President Elect of the Nutrition Society of Australia (NSA, website link here). She is recognised nationally and internationally for her expertise in lipid and omega-3 fatty acid research. A/Prof Meyer investigates the role of lipids in a wide range of disease states (RIS publications weblink here) and has shown that Australians on the whole do not consume enough omega-3 fats for optimal health (web link here to these key publications: Meyer et al 2003, Howe et al 2006, Meyer & Kolanu 2010). In addition to the biochemical assessments, she has also developed an electronic validated food frequency questionnaire to measure polyunsaturated fatty acid intakes (web link here to these key publication: Swierk et al 2010) and her research has had an impact on nutrition policy of the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC). Barbara has extensive research experience in randomised controlled trials including multi-centre trials (web link here to these key publication: Makrides et al 2010). Research funding covers both discovery (NHMRC) and applied research (Industry and ARC Linkage) and she has published in top ranking international scientific journals.
More information about Barbara»

Dr Todd Mitchell

Dr Todd Mitchell is a Senior Research Fellow in the School of Helath Sciences and the Lipidomics group leader in the Illawarra Health and Medical Research Institute. His research focuses on the role of lipids in the development of various pathologies including insulin resistance, obesity and cardiovascular disease, with a particular interest in ophthalmic disorders (cataract, presbyopia and dry eye). In collaboration with Associate Professor Stephen Blanksby (Chemistry) he is also developing new mass spectrometry based methods for the characterisation and measurement of molecular lipids.
More information about Todd»

Professor Linda Tapsell, PhD FDAA

linda_tapsell06 Professor Tapsell is recognised nationally and internationally for her expertise in conducting dietary trials to expose effects of food on metabolic outcomes. Her work focuses on the evidence base for food and nutrition practice, in healthcare, nutrition policy development and food innovation. She blends her studies with those of food choices in a social and environmental context to support translation to practice. Professor Tapsell contributes to a number of high level national and international committees related to food and nutrition research and policy. She has a strong track record of category 1 grants and peer reviewed publications. She has supervised many PhD graduates, mentors researcher-practitioners and continues to act as a role model for developing researchers in her discipline. She is the Editor-in-Chief of the journal Nutrition and Dietetics and a Fellow of the Dietitians Association of Australia.
More information about Smart Foods Centre»
More information about Linda»

School of Nursing Midwifery and Indigenous Health

Professor Sandra Jones

Professor Sandra Jones is the Director of the Centre for Health Initiatives, a Research Strength at the University of Wollongong. From 2004 to 2009 she was also Associate Dean (Research) in the Faculty of Health & Behavioural Sciences. Her research focuses on the relationship between media and health, including the impacts of advertising in the print and electronic media on health behaviour, and the use of social marketing to improve population health. She also conducts research in the area of advertising and marketing regulation, particularly in relation to alcohol marketing. Sandra has published more than 100 refereed papers and been awarded in excess of $4 million in research funding. Sandra is the Chair of the National Breast & Ovarian Cancer Centre Information Advisory Group; a Member of the Advisory Committee of the Community Alcohol Action Network (CAAN); member of the International Review Panel for social marketing programs at the Alberta Health Service in Canada; and a Director of the Cram Foundation.
More information about The Centre for Health Initiatives »
More information about Sandra»

Professor Kenneth D Walsh

RPN, RGN, BNurs (UNE) PhD (Adelaide), Fellow of the Joanna Briggs Institute
Dr Walsh is the inaugural Professor of Nursing Practice Development with the University of Wollongong and South Eastern Sydney and Illawarra Area Health Service. He is also a Fellow of the Joanna Briggs Institute and a Visiting Professor, Department of Nursing and Applied Clinical Studies, Canterbury Christchurch University, Canterbury UK. Ken has over 30 years experience as a nurse and has a clinical background in psychiatric and general nursing including work in counselling and group therapy. He completed his PhD at the University of Adelaide in 1996.
Ken has worked in joint university and health service positions in Australia and New Zealand. His research activities and interests revolve around health services research, especially clinical practice research, knowledge translation and implementation research and the implementation and evaluation of practice development initiatives.
Currently Ken and colleagues from Wollongong hospital and Monash University are researching the social construction of the role of the Clinical Nurse Consultant. This research uses a method known as Situational Analysis which is an offshoot of Grounded Theory. This research is funded by a URC Partnership grant between SESIAHS and UOW.
Another recent project was a commissioned investigation into avoidable admissions to emergency departments from residential aged care facilitates. This research developed and utilized a blended research methodology adapted from social science research and practice development. This blended approach proved to be very useful in working collaboratively with clinicians to find answers to clinically relevant research questions.
Ken is a member of CHI and the Initiative in Health Education, Leadership and Practice Development (IHELPD). He is also associated with the Australasian Collaborative for Evidence in Practice Development (ACE-PD), a joint initiative of the School of Nursing Midwifery and Indigenous Health, University of Wollongong and the School of Nursing, Monash University.
More information about Ken»

School of Psychology

Dr Emma Barkus

Dr Emma Barkus is interested in the interplay between psychosis proneness and cognition in predicting people's vulnerability to psychotic experiences after cannabis. We know there are multiple risk factors involved in conferring vulnerability towards psychotic disorders. What we hope to do is determine how some of these variables interact to lead to produce negative experiences after recreational cannabis use. To do this we have set up a website to collect information using both questionnaires and tasks which tap into cognitive processes of interest. This can be found here: http://www.ywedo.com/experiments/generalbarkus.asp
More information about Emma»

Associate Professor Joe Ciarocchi

A longitudinal study into the development of personal vulnerabilities and well-being in adolescence.
Why are some adolescents at risk for poor mental health, physical health, and social adjustment? This project will collect four years of data (Waves 2-5) of a multi-state longitudinal study. The study will identify the temperamental and environmental variables that predict the development of character in adolescence and, in turn, the role that developing character plays in promoting social, emotional, and productive well-being. The study is unique in its comprehensiveness and its assessment of adolescents at multiple levels using measures taken from different disciplines (e.g., social, education, biology).This research will identify the risk factors for declining adolescent well-being and behavioural adjustment.
More information about Joseph»

Professor Rodney Croft

Professor Rodney Croft graduated with a PhD in Psychology from University of Wollongong in 2000. Following a postdoctoral position at Imperial College in London and Chair of Cognitive Neuroscience at Swinburne University in Melbourne, he returned to University of Wollongong to take up the Chair of Health Psychology in 2010, within the School of Psychology. Croft’s research interests cover 2 main areas, Biological Psychiatry and Bioelectromagnetics.
Croft’s Biological Psychiatry research is focused on improving treatment response in patients, through individualised impairment profiling. For example, in an NHMRC-funded trial, his team is determining whether neurophysiological measures of glutamate function (in schizophrenia) can predict who will benefit from adjunct glycine treatment. This research is being supplemented with acute drug administration trials in healthy controls in order to better understand the relation between pharmacology and psychological function more generally, with the focus on pharmacological treatments currently used in psychiatry. Other clinical populations being researched include Huntington’s Disease and Depression.
In terms of Bioelectromagnetics, Croft is actively researching relations between electromagnetic radiation (such as those emitted by mobile phones and base stations) and biological function. This is funded through NHMRC and industry grants, and includes epidemiological research to assess relations between mobile phone use and cognitive function in children; neurophysiological research to determine the mechanisms responsible for low level radiofrequency effects on brain function (including resting and sleep EEG changes); and the engineering of radiofrequency electroporation techniques for medical applications such as drug delivery. Croft is currently a member on the Main Commission of the International Commission of Non-Ionising Radiation Protection (ICNIRP), and its Biology Standing Committee, the IEEE International Committee on Electromagnetic Safety, TC95, and he was Executive Director (and Human Neurophysiology Research Director) of the Australian Centre for Radiofrequency Bioeffects Research from 2004 to 2011 (the former NHMRC Electromagnetic Emissions Centre for Research Excellence).
More information about Rodney»

Professor Frank Deane

Dr. Frank Deane is a Professor in the School of Psychology and Director of the Illawarra Institute for Mental Health. He trained as a clinical psychologist and has worked in New Zealand, the USA and Australia. Most of his research is conducted in applied clinical settings. Broad research interests relate to assessing factors related to improving treatment effectiveness in mental health and drug and alcohol services. This has involved studies that test specific methods for conveying what positive treatment effects constitute. For example, the use of clinically significant change metrics through to clarifying the meaning of “recovery” in different contexts. Specific components of treatment include the effects of between-session therapeutic homework tasks on treatment outcomes and the relationship between length of treatment and outcomes. I also have research interests related to determining why people do not seek help for mental health problems when they need it. Specific questions include; What factors determine whether someone will actively seek help for mental health problems (e.g., levels of distress, sources of social influence, emotional awareness)? Why do people who are suicidal not seek help from others? What are the factors that make men relatively poor help seekers?
More information about Frank»
More information about the Illawarra Institute for Mental Health»

Dr Simone Favelle

Simone Favalle Dr Simone Favelle is a Lecturer in the School of Psychology at the University of Wollongong and a member of the Perception & Cognition Laboratories. Her published research is in the area of visual information used in the perception and recognition of objects and faces. Projects in her lab include investigations of (i) the role of various viewing conditions (e.g., lighting and viewpoint) in face recognition, (ii) holistic processing in own-race and other-race faces (in collaboration with HKU), (iii) the signals involved in human facial expressions (ARC funded) and (iv) the role of attention in object and face recognition.
More information about Simone»

Associate Professor Craig Gonsalvez

Craig Gonsalvez is Associate Professor in the School of Psychology. He served as Senior Clinical Psychologist and Director of The Anxiety Disorders Clinic, Westmead Hospital, Sydney, before transferring to academia. His research contributions are in two separate areas. Over the past decade, he has been actively engaged in clinical psychology training. At a national level, he has served as Chair of Course Approvals for the Clinical College of the Australian Psychological Society (2006-2010), was the recipient of the 2009 APS Clinical College Award of Distinction for significant contributions to clinical psychology, and has several publications on training and clinical supervision. He is currently leading an eSupervision initiative that endeavours to give supervisees across the country, including those in regional and remote areas, access to the very best of clinical supervision expertise through a web-based platform. His second area of interest is in clinical psychophysiology, especially in the use of event-related brain potentials (ERPs) and autonomic measures (e.g., heart rate and electrodermal measures) as indices of information processing in anxiety and obsessive-compulsive spectrum disorders.
More information about Craig»

Professor Brin Grenyer

Professor Brin Grenyer is a Professor of Clinical Psychology in the School of Psychology and Scientific Director, Neorscience and Mental Health Research Theme, Illawarra Health and Medical Research Institute. Professor Grenyer’s primary area of expertise is the treatment of chronic and complex psychological problems, particularly depression and associated problems of aggression, personality disorders, and substance abuse. Over the past six years he has led psychotherapy clinics both for depression and borderline personality disorder, with over 500 patients enrolled in treatment and research. His original research is published in leading international journals and he is single author of the book 'Mastering Relationship Conflicts: Discoveries in Theory, Research and Practice'.
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Dr Stuart Johnstone

Dr Stuart Johnstone is an Associate Professor in the School of Psychology and member of the Brain & Behaviour Research Institute (BBRI), the Illawarra Health and Medical Research Institute (IHMRI) and the Interdisciplinary Educational Research Institute (IERI). His research focuses on cognitive processes, mainly inhibition and attention, in healthy children and those with problems in these areas, such as children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (AD/HD). Generally, his research involves having children or adults complete cognitive tasks, with subsequent consideration of both task performance and concurrent brain electrical activity (e.g. EEG and/or event‐related potentials, or ERPs) to understand the behaviour in terms of its neural correlates. Stuart’s current research program centres around these following key areas: (1) the development of inhibition and attention through childhood and into adulthood, (2) the role that energetic and other factors play in the effective use of these processes, (3) how these processes are best measured via brain electrical activity, and (4) the use of cognitive and neurocognitive training to improve impulse control, memory and attention.
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Dr Stephen Palmisano

Dr Stephen Palmisano is an Associate Professor in the School of Psychology at the University of Wollongong and a member of the Perception & Cognition Laboratories. His published research falls into two main areas - the visual perception/control of self-motion and the visual perception of 3-D environments. Over the last 4 years he has attracted over 1 million dollars in research funding. Recently completed ARC funded projects have examined: (1) the out-of-cockpit cues that expert and trainee pilots use to control visual aircraft landings; and (2) the perceptions of stereoscopic depth and slant at very large distances. Currently funded ARC projects examine: (1) the effects of “bob, sway and lunge” on visual self-motion perception and motion sickness (with Associate Prof Robert Allison at Centre for Vision Research, Toronto, Canada); and (2) the role of monocular regions in stereoscopic depth perception (with Scientia Professor Barbara Gillam at UNSW). In addition, he is currently a team member on a Canadian Space Agency research project examining the visual perception of smooth and perturbed self-motion in microgravity.
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Dr Nadia Solowij

Dr Nadia Solowij is a Senior lecturer in the School of Psychology and a member of the Illawarra Institute for Mental Health, and an affiliated scientist with the Schizophrenia Research Institute. Nadia’s research interests are in the long term drug effects on cognitive function, in particular the relationship between cannabis and schizophrenia.Cannabis is a beguiling drug in that it possesses both harmful and therapeutic compounds. For many years it was considered a benign drug, but now many harms are associated with its use, not least of which is cognitive decline and the triggering of psychotic symptoms, particularly in the adolescent brain which is more susceptible to insult from substance use as it is a critical period of neurodevelopment. The program of research in my laboratory investigates the effects of cannabis on cognition, psychological symptoms, brain structure and function, in adults and adolescents, with the aim of understanding the cognitive impairment that develops, how cannabis might trigger psychosis, what makes a person vulnerable to these sequelae, and how the beneficial compounds within cannabis might ameliorate these. To this end we use neuropsychological,psychophysiological, brain imaging and genetic methods.
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