Researcher biography

I am a clinical psychologist and family researcher working in the area of childhood adversity. My work aims to ensure all children have safe, loving, non-violent childhoods they need to thrive. This has spanned clinical intervention development and evaluation of evidence-based behavioural family interventions (Triple P), specific work with families in different contexts (e.g., working parents, parents across different cultures), and epidemiological work most notably on the Australian Child Maltreatment Study which generated the first national prevalence estimates of child abuse and neglect in Australia.

As an academic I have over >70 published peer-reviewed papers primarily in Q1 journals and invited chapters. I have also published a number of clinical resources including clinical and research instruments and the Workplace Triple P Program. I have received $>1.7 million in external research funding. My work aims to have a direct impact on policy and practice and I have substantial experience in consulting with various governments (eg Australia, Canada, the Netherlands, the UK) about the implementation of evidence-based parenting programs and more recently about the identification and prevention of child maltreatment and other childhood adversity. In 2023 I was appointed by the Attorney General to serve on the Queensland Family and Child Commission's Child Death Review Board which is tasked with making recommendations to the government on systematic change to improve child safety across the state.