The impact of the global COVID-19 pandemic has changed the way we work and live. The practice of social distancing will undoubtedly have consequences to our mental health, wellbeing and the way we socialise.
Our panel of research experts will share their insights on how to manage your mental wellbeing, tips for keeping socially connected and advice for living under physical distancing restrictions.
Join us from the comfort of your own home for the first Research Impact Series webinar, brought to you by Development and Alumni Relations and the Office of Research Enterprise.
Professor Johanna Badcock
Adjunct Professor, UWA Faculty of Science, School of Psychological Science
Johanna is a psychological scientist and Fellow of the Association for Psychological Science. She is also the Research Director of the Perth Voices Clinic and deputy chair of the board of the Australian initiative ‘Ending Loneliness Together’. She is passionate about psychological science and its value in everyday life. She believes the diverse skills of academic and professional psychologists are essential to tackling global, local and individual human problems and building stronger, more socially connected communities.
Michael Rosenberg
Head of School, UWA Faculty of Science, School of Human Sciences
Michael has 20 years’ experience in community-based health and exercise research. He has a broad range of research interests focused around public health epidemiology and health promotion, health program evaluation, children’s physical activity measurement and improvement and the use of integrative technologies to measure and improve human health.
Michael has led research measuring the prevalence of health behaviours at state and national level amongst children and adults. He was the lead evaluator of state wide physical activity, healthy weight, youth tobacco control, and workplace health community-wide campaigns. Recently, he was a co-author on the Thailand children’s physical activity report card.
A key program goal of Michael’s is “to have every child ready to move by the time they start primary school and moving regularly and proficiently by the time they leave.”
Douglas MacFarlane
PhD Candidate, UWA School of Psychological Science, Faculty of Science, School of Human Sciences
Doug is a final year PhD Candidate in the School of Psychological Science. His research focuses on health-related misinformation, particularly why consumers fall for fraudulent health claims and how best to protect them.
His work is motivated by the need to reduce demand for products made from endangered animals, especially products claimed to have miracle health benefits such as rhino horn, tiger bone, or bear bile. He recently spent 18-months at Cambridge University working on summarising the evidence for effective consumer-focused interventions.
Moderator: Dr Sam Illingworth
Senior Lecturer, UWA Faculty of Science, School of Biological Sciences
Dr Sam Illingworth is a Senior Lecturer in Science Communication at the University of Western Australia, where he helps to lead the science communication undergraduate and postgraduate programmes. An internationally-renowned expert in interdisciplinary studies, Sam’s research involves developing dialogue between scientists and non-scientists and in particular giving voice to audiences that are otherwise underserved and underheard
