People
The Executive
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Professor Charles Abraham
Director
+61 3 9035 8545
charles.abraham@unimelb.edu.au
Professor Charles Abraham
B.A., D.Phil., C.Psychol., FBPsS., FEHPS., FHEA.
Professor Charles Abraham PhD is Director of the Melbourne Centre for Behaviour Change. He is an applied social and health psychologist specialising in behaviour change and translational health research. He employs a range of quantitative, qualitive and review methods to research many behaviour-change challenges. His research focuses on the design and evaluation of behaviour-change interventions, including those using digital and group-based components. Areas of application include preventive behaviour patterns (e.g., weight loss), health service usage (e.g., increasing engagement with relevant health services) and management of long-term illnesses (e.g., diabetes, heart failure and persistent pain). He has held scientific advisor positions with the UK Department of Health, the UK National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) and the UK House of Lords. He was one of 7 psychologists included in a list of the leading 100 practising scientists in the UK (produced by the UK Science Council in 2014). He has published more than 220 peer-reviewed journal articles, has a Google Scholar h-index of 69 and, in 2018, was listed as a "world-class researcher selected for exceptional research performance, demonstrated by production of multiple highly cited papers that rank in the top 1%, by citations for field and year, in Web of Science". He is also a practising Health Psychologist, registered by the UK Health and Care Professionals Council. For an introduction to his research see below.
https://pursuit.unimelb.edu.au/articles/empowering-everyone-to-improve-their-own-health -
Professor Ron Borland
Deputy Director
rborland@unimelb.edu.au
Professor Ron Borland
Professor Ron Borland joined MCBC in July 2019. Prior to that he was the Nigel Gray Distinguished Fellow in Cancer Prevention at Cancer Council Victoria where he worked for over 30 years. He has published more than 400 peer-reviewed papers and has a Google Scholar h-index of 80. He is recipient of the 2020 John Slade Award, honoring members of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco who have made outstanding contributions to public health and tobacco control through science-based public policy and public advocacy. Ron is listed in the Web of Science list of the World's most influential scientists. He is one of the Principal Investigators of the International Tobacco Control Policy Evaluation Project, an international collaboration that is analysing the impact of policies on smoking. This project has led to better understanding of the challenges of preventing relapse. He has developed a range of mass-disseminable, smoking-cessation interventions, including the automated-online QuitCoach, which he has shown to be effective in randomized trials. He has a special interest in harm minimisation strategies and strategies to assist highly disadvantaged, high risk prevalence groups. He has a special interest in systems approaches and in theorising that integrates factors influencing individual level change and population focussed change. He is the developer of CEOS theory: a comprehensive theory of Hard to Maintain Behaviour Change. -
Dr Camille Short
Senior Research Fellow
camille.short@unimelb.edu.au
Dr Camille Short
Dr Camille Short is a senior behavioural scientist with experience and training in health psychology, digital, and public health. Her research focuses on the use of technology for improving access to high quality, personalised, and multidisciplinary health services, especially for behaviour change and improved mental health among individuals with chronic and complex health issues. She was recruited to the University of Melbourne in 2019 to drive cross-disciplinary research in digital health and cancer control. She has an affiliate position in the cancer experiences research group at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, the School of Medicine at the University of Adelaide, and the NHMRC Centre for Research Excellence in Prostate Cancer Survivorship. She is the current chair of the International Society of Behavioural Nutrition and Physical Activity's e-&mHealth special interest group, an ambassador for Open Digital Health, and serves on the scientific advisory committee for PoCoG, the psycho-oncology clinical trials group funded by Cancer Australia. Her research is highly cited internationally, including in clinical guidelines, with significant contributions to understanding engagement in digital behaviour change interventions, the role of personalisation in effective behaviour change support, and the development and evaluation of several digital behaviour change interventions for chronic disease control, including cancer. -
Dr Michelle Jongenelis
Director of Centre Operations
Senior Research Fellow
+61 3 9035 4979
michelle.jongenelis@unimelb.edu.au
Dr Michelle Jongenelis
Dr Michelle Jongenelis has expertise in health promotion, intervention development and evaluation, behavioural psychology, and clinical psychology. She works across multiple and diverse health-related behaviours including alcohol and tobacco control (including use of e-cigarettes), nutrition, physical activity, and sun protection. She also has an interest in body image disturbances and eating disorders. Michelle works as a researcher and consultant for a broad range of organisations covering the not-for-profit and government sectors. She sits on the Australian Council of Smoking and Health and is a member of the Alcohol Advertising Review Board. She is an accredited Clinical Psychologist and has been a committee member of the Australian Association for Cognitive and Behaviour Therapy since 2008. Michelle previously worked at Curtin University, where she held joint positions of Deputy Director of the WA Cancer Prevention Research Unit and Research Fellow.
Members
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Professor Jane Pirkis
Professor Jane Pirkis
Affiliation:
- Centre for Mental Health
- Melbourne School of Population and Global Health
- University of Melbourne
Interests and expertise:
- Mental health
- Suicide prevention
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Professor Melanie Wakefield
Professor Melanie Wakefield
Affiliation:
- Centre for Behavioural Research in Cancer, Cancer Council Victoria
- Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences
- University of Melbourne
Interests and expertise:
- Tobacco control
- Alcohol control
- Diet and healthy weight
- Skin cancer prevention
- Cancer screening
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Professor Andrew Day
Professor Andrew Day
Affiliation:
- School of Social and Political Sciences (Criminology Discipline)
- University of Melbourne
Interests and expertise:
- Behavioural change, specifically in relation to criminal justice matters
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Associate Professor Anish Nagpal
Associate Professor Anish Nagpal
Affiliation:
- Department of Management and Marketing
- Faculty of Business and Economics
- University of Melbourne
Interests and expertise:
- Consumer Behaviour
- Food and Eating Decisions
- Food Package Labels
- Health
- Approach and Avoidance Goals
- Decision Making
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Associate Professor Jing (Jill) Lei
Associate Professor Jing (Jill) Lei
Affiliation:
- Department of Management and Marketing
- Faculty of Business & Economics
- University of Melbourne
Interests and expertise:
- Judgment and decision making
- Consumer food consumption decisions
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Associate Professor Douglas Boyle
Associate Professor Douglas Boyle
Affiliation:
- Department of General Practice
- Melbourne Medical School
- University of Melbourne
Interests and expertise:
- Learning health systems
- Health data science
- Record linkage
- Primary care informatics
- Data acquisition for research
- Data quality and common data models
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Dr Greg Wadley
Dr Greg Wadley
Affiliation:
- School of Computing and Information Systems
- University of Melbourne
Interests and expertise:
- Technology design
- Emotion regulation
- Addiction
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Associate Professor Helen Dixon
Associate Professor Helen Dixon
Affiliation:
- Principal Research Fellow, Centre for Behavioural Research in Cancer, Cancer Council Victoria
- Honorary Principal Fellow, Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences, The University of Melbourne
- Adjunct Associate Professor, School of Psychology, Faculty of Health Sciences, Curtin University
Interests and expertise:
- Health communication
- Public health campaigns
- Mass media & marketing
- Nutrition, alcohol, skin cancer prevention
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Professor Brock Bastian
Professor Brock Bastian
Affiliation:
- Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences
- Ethics & Wellbeing Research Hub
- University of Melbourne
Interests and expertise:
- Behavioural ethics
- Moral psychology
- Wellbeing
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Professor Yoshihisa Kashima
Professor Yoshihisa Kashima
Affiliation:
- Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences
- University of Melbourne
Interests and expertise:
- Cultural dynamics
- Social influence
- Behaviour change
- Sustainability
- Climate change mitigation
- Adaptation
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Professor Kim Bennell
Professor Kim Bennell
Affiliation:
- Centre for Health, Exercise and Sports Medicine
- University of Melbourne
Interests and expertise:
- Musculoskeletal conditions particularly osteoarthritis
- Exercise and physical activity
- Weight loss
- Adherence
- Clinician behaviour change
- Telerehabilitation
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Professor Louisa Flander
Professor Louisa Flander
Affiliation:
- Centre for Epidemiology & Biostatistics
- Melbourne School of Population and Global Health
- University of Melbourne
Interests and expertise:
- Risk judgments under uncertainty
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Professor Mark Jenkins
Professor Mark Jenkins
Affiliation:
- Centre for Epidemiology and Biostatistics
- Centre for Cancer Research
- Melbourne School of Population and Global Health
- University of Melbourne
Interests and expertise:
- Precision prevention
- Early detection of bowel cancer
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Dr Mark Merolli
Dr Mark Merolli
Affiliation:
- Centre for the Digital Transformation of Health
- University of Melbourne
Interests and expertise:
- Digital models of healthcare
- Technology in allied health
- Self-management support
- Chronic pain
- Physiotherapy
- Shared decision-making supported by technology
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Professor Rana Hinman
Professor Rana Hinman
Affiliation:
- Centre for Health Exercise & Sports Medicine
- Department of Physiotherapy
- University of Melbourne
Interests and expertise:
- Osteoarthritis
- Chronic pain management
- Musculoskeletal health
- Exercise
- Physical activity
- Telerehabilitation
- eHealth
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Associate Professor Stefan Bode
Associate Professor Stefan Bode
Affiliation:
- Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences
- University of Melbourne
Interests and expertise:
- Decision-making
- Preference formation
- Information seeking
- Neuroimaging (functional magnetic resonance imaging, electroencephalography)
- Multivariate pattern analysis
- Health decisions
- Change-of-mind decisions
- Performance monitoring
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Associate Professor Jo-Anne Manski-Nankervis
Associate Professor Jo-Anne Manski-Nankervis
Affiliation:
- Department of General Practice
- Melbourne Medicial School
- University of Melbourne
Interests and expertise:
- Chronic disease management
- Antimicrobial stewardship
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Professor Stuart Ross
Professor Stuart Ross
Affiliation:
- School of Social and Political Sciences
- Faculty of Arts
- University of Melbourne
Interests and expertise:
- Procedural justice for victims of crime
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Dr Thorlene Egerton
Dr Thorlene Egerton
Affiliation:
- Physiotherapy Department
- Centre for Health, Exercise & Sports Medicine
- Melbourne School of Health Sciences
- University of Melbourne
Interests and expertise:
- Knee osteoarthritis self-management support
- Patient education
- Implementation of new models of service delivery
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Professor Vassilis Kostakos
Professor Vassilis Kostakos
Affiliation:
- School of Computing and Information
- University of Melbourne
Interests and expertise:
- Human Computer interaction
- Behaviour sensing
- Ubiquitous
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Professor Wendy Chapman
Professor Wendy Chapman
Affiliation:
- Centre for Digital Transformation of Health
- Faculty of Medicine Dentistry and Health Sciences
- University of Melbourne
Interests and expertise:
- Natural language processing
- Informatics
- Digital transformation of health
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Associate Professor Wally Smith
Associate Professor Wally Smith
Affiliation:
- Computing & Information Systems
- Melbourne School of Engineering
- University of Melbourne
Interests and expertise:
- Digital systems
- Civic engagement
- Education
- Deception
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Professor Paschal Sheeran
Professor Paschal Sheeran
Affiliation:
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Interests and expertise:
- Health behaviour change
- Emotion regulation
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Professor Aleksandra Luszczynska
Professor Aleksandra Luszczynska
Affiliation:
- CARE-BEH Center for Applied Research on Health Behavior and Health
- SWPS University of Social Sciences and Humanities Wroclaw, Poland
Interests and expertise:
- Development, implementation, and evaluation of in health behavior change interventions and policies
- Social cognitive resources facilitating recovery in contexts of severe illness and exposure to trauma
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Professor Linda Denehy
Professor Linda Denehy
Affiliation:
- Melbourne School of Health Sciences
- University of Melbourne
Interests and expertise:
- Physiotherapy
- Acute cardiorespiratory care
- Rehabilitation
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Professor Jane Hocking
Professor Jane Hocking
Affiliation:
- Sexual Health Unit
- Centre for Epidemiology and Biostatistics
- Melbourne School of Population and Global Health
- University of Melbourne
Interests and expertise:
- Sexual health
- Epidemiology and control of sexually transmitted infections
- Evaluation of complex interventions in primary care
- Randomised controlled trials
- Implementation research
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Associate Professor Mark Taylor
Associate Professor Mark Taylor
Affiliation:
- Health, Law and Emerging Technologies (HeLEX)
- Melbourne Law School
- University of Melbourne
Interests and expertise:
- Regulation of personal information
- Health data governance
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Professor Rik Crutzen
Professor Rik Crutzen
Affiliation:
- Maastricht University, The Netherlands
- Care and Public Health Research Institute (CAPHRI)
- Department of Health Promotion
Interests and expertise:
- Behaviour change
- Prevention
- Digital health
- Intervention use
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Professor Ralph Maddison
Professor Ralph Maddison
Affiliation:
- Institute for Physical Activity and Nutrition
- School of Exercise and Nutrition Sciences
- Deakin University
Interests and expertise:
- Digital and mobile health (mHealth)
- Lifestyle risk factors
- Digital health
- Prevention and management of non-communicable disease