MENTAL WELLBEING IN RURAL AND REGIONAL COMMUNITIES DEALING WITH ENVIRONMENTAL CHALLENGES LIKE FIRE, FLOODS AND DROUGHT
With
Suzie Cosh, Associate Professor in Clinical Psychology,
The University of New England, New South Wales, Australia
RESEARCHER PROFILE
Filmed in Armidale, New South Wales, Australia | June 2025
Associate Professor Suzie Cosh is a psychologist and clinical researcher. Her work focuses on the intersection of climate change and mental health and she currently leads a body of work that focuses on supporting small rural communities to recover from and prepare for extreme weather events such as bushfires, floods and droughts.
In 2024, she received $6 million in funding from the Australian Government’s Medical Research Futures Fund and the National Health and Medical Research Council to trial novel interventions to protect mental health and wellbeing in diverse rural Australian communities.
In particular, she currently leads the Equip project, a multisite trial developing psychological disaster preparedness and community resilience. Having completed a Masters and PhD in Clinical Psychology, her work combines clinical experiences and insights into intervention-based research to support mental health. She completed postdoctoral research fellowships in Germany and France, before returning to Australia and establishing a program of research that aims to better understand the impacts of climate change on mental health, and how to best support mental health into the future as climate change and its impacts escalate.
She holds memberships on international societies, actively furthering the connection of science and clinical practice. Her work is based on a strong commitment to ensure that the best evidence guides and is translated into clinical practice and helps to protect and promote the mental health of individual and communities.
Source: Supplied
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8003-3704
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Infections and other lung diseases using models of human lung tissue grown from stem cells
Dr Rhiannon Werder is a Team Leader at Murdoch Children’s Research Institute leading a multidisciplinary team, combining expertise in stem cell biology and immunology, to develop new therapies for lung diseases. Her research centres around induced pluripotent stem cells to investigate respiratory diseases, spanning acute respiratory infections to chronic lung diseases. Using stem cells, Dr Werder’s team creates models of human lung tissue. With these models, Dr Werder is investigating how human-specific pathogens infect different regions of the lung, the ensuing immune responses, and how the lung repairs itself after infections, especially in people with preexisting lung diseases.
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Enhancing occupational therapy service provision with military veterans
Prof McKinstry was instrumental in the development of the occupational therapy course at the La Trobe University’s Bendigo campus and also the establishment of the Rural Health School.
Prof McKinstry’s research focus is on health workforce, particularly developing a sustainable rural health workforce through recruitment of rural students for health courses, innovative and flexible delivery of health courses, telehealth and emerging areas of practice for occupational therapists.
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Public health and research into Ear, Nose and Throat conditions
Associate Professor Paul Paddle is an Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT) surgeon, head and neck surgeon with fellowship training in Laryngology – Voice, airway and Swallowing disorders. Working at Monash Health and Monash Children’s hospital, Paul has extensive experience managing a wide range of paediatric ENT conditions, from neonates to adolescents. He is also an active researcher in paediatric obstructive sleep apnoea and sleep disorders.
