The School of Public Health’s research arm, located within the Centre for Health Research is one of the leading public health research centres in Australia. Situated within the School of Public Health, Queensland University of Technology, the general aim of work in the Centre is to foster excellence in research and consultancy in public health.
The Centre has developed research excellence in a number of areas and encourages collaboration with key stakeholders in government and non government agencies as well as private and industry sectors. On a yearly basis the Centre attracts more than $1.5 million in research grants, fellowships and scholarships. High-quality research training is provided to students in the Master of Applied Science, Doctor of Philosophy and Doctor of Health Science programs with around 60 current enrolments.
The staff of the Centre are highly qualified leaders in all aspects of public health. Each year, the staff continue to be recognised with prestigious fellowships, scholarships and awards.
The students come from a wide range of professional areas ranging from the more specific occupational health and safety and nutrition and dietetic backgrounds to those from a more generalist public health, behavioural or social science background. Researchers in the Centre also reflect a wide range of backgrounds including strengths in biostatistics and epidemiology.
The mission of the Centre is to conduct both basic and applied research that promotes the development, delivery, evaluation and dissemination of innovative and effective public health interventions and practice, for the benefit of the community.
The objectives of the Centre are to:
- promote and further the Queensland , national and international research effort with respect to the development, implementation and application of innovative public health research and evaluation;
- develop and enhance collaborative research;
- increase quality research funding and output, with a specific emphasis on analytic research and intervention studies in community settings.
- promote research training opportunities in public health for postgraduate students, staff and other public health professionals.
Research collaborations which involve commercialisation of QUT intellectual property, technology transfer or other QUT intellectual property transactions are managed by qutbluebox, the commercialisation company for QUT.
Areas of Research
- Promoting child and adolescent health and well-being (topics such as abuse, resilience, mental health and nutrition, using frameworks of health promoting schools, longitudinal studies and epidemiology)
- Investigating social and economic inequalities in health (multilevel studies in food purchasing and physical activity, Indigenous health and health in rural communities
- Preventing and managing chronic diseases and disabling conditions (including self management of chronic disease, cancer screening, breast cancer recovery, health economics and prevention of injury in older people)
- Advancing sustainable development and environmental health (effects of climate on health and disease)
Health issues of particular interest include socioeconomic inequality, nutrition and diet, cancer, palliative care, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, smoking, alcohol use, physical inactivity, sexual health, social and mental health, environmental health, indigenous health, occupational health and safety, Parkinson's disease, neural tube defects in children and genetic epidemiology.