Meet our school staff
Find out more about our staff, read their profiles and see their publication history and research interests.
Meet the teamOur School of Behavioural and Health Sciences offers a range of courses designed to improve health outcomes. Learn cutting-edge techniques from leading practitioners, clinicians, scientists and researchers. Then put those lessons into practice through real-world placements completed locally, nationally or internationally.
We have an extensive industry partner network across biomedical and nutrition science, psychology, public health, and exercise and sports science, enabling students and staff to engage with relevant industry and community partners. Our courses incorporate real-world practical experience locally, nationally and internationally so you can put lessons learnt into practice, and better understand how to improve outcomes within your chosen field.
Create a world of wellness and develop healthy minds, bodies and even health policies. Whatever your specialisation, you can make a positive impact on the lives of individuals and communities.
We offer a range of dynamic undergraduate and postgraduate programs in biomedical science, exercise physiology, exercise science, nutrition science, public health and psychology. Want more? You can also complement your undergraduate course with a teaching, business management or criminology degree.
Access first-class facilities, including specialised learning labs, that give you a chance to gain hands-on practice – before treating real patients. Then complete valued practical experience in our state-of-the-art clinics that serve the needs of the local community.
Our on-campus psychology clinics in Melbourne and Strathfield offer low-cost counselling and psychological assessments to staff, students and the general public. Counselling is provided by provisional psychologists doing a Master of Psychology and supervised by registered psychologists. Exercise Lifestyle Clinics at our Brisbane, Melbourne and Strathfield campuses offer Medicare-rebated and low-cost support to people with acute and chronic illness and injury under the supervision of accredited exercise physiologists.
Find a psychology clinicOur research explores crucial issues in the areas of psychology, body image, disability and rehabilitation. It informs policy, improves practice and positively impacts the lives of individuals. The school has two institutes undertaking extensive research within their specialities – The Healthy Brain and Mind Research Centre (HBMRC) and The Sports Performance Recovery Injury and New Technologies (SPRINT) Research Centre.
Take your professional coaching and training skills to the elite level with a postgraduate qualification in high performance sport.
Choose to performProfessor David Greene completed a Bachelor of Human Movement degree and Diploma in Education at the Australian Catholic University (ACU) in 1994 and a Master of Sport Science degree from University of New South Wales in 1998. After 7 years of teaching (Personal Development, Health and Physical Education), David was awarded a fulltime scholarship to commence his PhD. David was based at the Children's Hospital at Westmead where he investigated the musculoskeletal health of elite, adolescent middle-distance runners. During his PhD, David completed sessional teaching in the Bachelor of Exercise Science program at ACU. In 2003, David was awarded the John Sutton Award for Best Young Investigator (Basic Science) at the Australian Conference of Science and Medicine in Sport. He was also awarded the New South Wales Most Outstanding New Research Talent in Applied Sports Medicine at the New South Wales Sport Safety Awards in 2003. Having graduated in 2005, David commenced full time employment in the School of Exercise Science. David was recently awarded the F.E.Johnson Fellowship for Outstanding Achievement by an established NSW researcher in the field of Sports Medicine at the annual NSW Sport Safety Awards. David has fulfilled the role of Course Co-ordinator, Assistant Head of School (NSW), Deputy Head of School and is currently the National Head, School of Behavioural and Health Sciences.
Find out more about our staff, read their profiles and see their publication history and research interests.
Meet the team
Get in touch with the School of Behavioural and Health Science, and see where our offices are based on campuses across Australia.
Find us hereJoane Lampe came to ACU feeling worried about finding a job. Now, she's planning a career as a female leader in sport.
Student-led Constraint Induced Movement Therapy (CIMT) Boot Camps held at the ACU Health Clinic in Brisbane have empowered dozens of stroke survivors to rediscover thei...
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Future students and their families can get a taste of life on campus at Australian Catholic University’s Open Days.
Professor James Franklin will explore how we can use abstract principles to navigate policy, law and ethics in this year's PM Glynn Lecture.
Graduating from Australian Catholic University to a school classroom would mean more precious hours out of the pool for Paris Olympics-bound Sienna Hearn.
Jayme Dreise, the son of our first Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander graduates, proudly graduates from ACU
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Our $5 million state-of-the-art human metabolic chamber – the only one of its kind in the southern hemisphere – has opened on the Melbourne campus.
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If your research passion is in child wellbeing and prevention of abuse, neglect and maltreatment, the Institute of Child Protection Studies could supervise your studies...
"The ACU course has exceeded my expectations... the university is a welcoming place."
Before started his ACU degree, Dhravil completed the Foundation Studies course - and it prepared him for life at university.
ACU Canberra health students can now apply for cost of living and placement grants under a new ACT program to attract and retain students.
The highest achievers from the pool, football field, hockey pitch, athletics track and film stage were among a distinguished student cohort honoured at the 2023 Austral...
Creating, not just a pathway, but a home for ADF personnel at Australian Catholic University is the calling for Aaron Cornwall, who has won Veteran Employee of the Year...
International graduate Roneil Bacang brings ACU’s caring and ethical culture into his work as a nurse.
"Students who graduate from ACU have a higher chance of being hired... if you get a chance to study there, it must be your top priority."
ACU researchers will develop a program to enhance pedestrian safety among older adults, thanks to funding from the Australian Automobile Association (AAA).
More than 2000 health science students have completed an innovative, interprofessional, ward-based prac simulation across six of Australian Catholic University's campus...
Assoc. Prof. Valentina Lorenzetti has been awarded a place in a highly competitive program designed to increase representation of women leaders in STEM.
ACU medical researcher Dr Kim Loh has been awarded a highly competitive Australian Research Council (ARC) Future Fellowship.
Australian Catholic University (ACU) has welcomed the release of the Universities Accord Panel’s interim report today.
Leading UK sport science academic Professor Ben Jones joins ACU
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Ageing expert Jenneke Foottit says there is a lot we can do to help older people with loneliness and social isolation.
Australian Catholic University (ACU) in association with the Low Choy Family have established a memorial award to honour respected Professor of Physiotherapy Nancy Low ...
A partnership between Australian Catholic University and RSL Queensland will see the lives of veterans and their families transformed through education and opportunity.
A $6.9m grant will allow an ACU-led consortium to deliver a program that will empower, support and connect caregivers raising children with developmental concerns or di...
ACU Ballarat's mass casualty disaster exercise is the largest in the country with more than 300 people involved.
The interplay between older people’s wealth and health will be the focus of ACU's Aquero Lecture Series on Thursday 8 September.
ACU has partnered with the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide on a mapping project designed to improve the Commission’s understanding of the nature of th...
ACU continues to make its mark globally in world rankings.
Open Day season has started at ACU with seven of our campuses welcoming visitors.
Kookaburra Jacob Anderson is one of of seven current ACU students who will compete at the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games in July
A number of ACU researchers have been recognised on international and national Research.com lists as top scientists in their fields.
ACU’s Allied Health Clinic has delivered hope, and a launchpad towards Commonwealth Games success, for Vanuatu’s women’s beach volleyball team.
Gerontology expert Laurie Buys joins ACU as it strengthens its commitment to deliver innovative research and a skilled workforce for the aged care sector.
Young Australians have the highest incidence of knee injury with five to 14-year-old girls recording the sharpest rise in anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries, acc...
The world’s strongest person might not be who you think according to an ACU researcher who has challenged society to reimagine how strength is perceived.
Standardised testing for one of sport’s most prized commodities – speed – is a step closer thanks to a research partnership between Australian Catholic University and p...
Internationally-renowned health ethics expert Dr Brian Kane will launch Australian Catholic University’s Faculty of Health Sciences new lecture series, Aquero.
Slinger, a leading connected sports technology company, announced a successful test of its tennis app conducted at the SPRINT Research Centre at Australian Catholic Uni...
ACU and the Australian Embassy to the Holy See have signed a memorandum of understanding to offer ACU students a prestigious internship in Rome.
More than 4500 new students were welcomed to ACU’s seven campuses this week for vibrant Orientation Week festivities.
ACU psychologist Dr Michael Noetel has given a great deal of thought to why we donate, and how our goodwill can have the greatest impact.
ACU neuroscientist Valentina Lorenzetti has been awarded the prestigious 2022 Al & Val Rosenstrauss Fellowship.
Dr Evelyn Parr from the Mary MacKillop Institute for Health Research has been honoured for her research into chrono-nutrition.
Australian Catholic University will launch ACU Online, a fully online education portfolio, on 8 December 2021.
A valid, affordable and portable system capable of analysing running gait is the objective for an Australian Catholic University project that was among 15 recipients aw...
Students from Queensland's South Burnett have at least two pathways to careers in sport and exercise science after a visit from ACU.
Concussed athletes should commence moderate intensity exercise within two days of injury according to new Australian Catholic University research that challenges tradit...
A six-week internship with the Australian men’s rugby union team was a money-can't-buy experience for Curtis Reck who is nearing completion of a Bachelor of High Perfor...
Leading ACU neuroscientist Valentina Lorenzetti was one of 25 international expert researchers to develop a new global toolkit that can measure cannabis use.
Statement from Vice-Chancellor and President Professor Zlatko Skrbis on the safe return of international students to Victoria
Pitching and storytelling masterclass.
Digital marketing essentials. The five stories of social change and identifying your customer avatar.
Education experts at Australian Catholic University say teachers should bring back a sense of joy to student learning and extend lunch breaks when schools resume in Oct...
A telehealth exercise program for palliative cancer patients with the muscle wasting syndrome cachexia is improving their quality of life, physical function, and streng...
Children whose parents have mental illness are two to 13 times more likely to develop a mental illness themselves which is why prevention and early intervention is crit...
A new study from researchers at ACU’s School of Behavioural and Health Sciences will investigate how resistance training and other activities impact vascular function d...
When all else is equal the difference between Olympic gold and silver may come down to something as seemingly simple as what an athlete eats.
Standing up and moving for three minutes every half hour may lessen the health impacts of sitting too much, a new study shows.
The NSW Government’s COVID-19 TechVoucher program is now open for applications.
New findings from ILSTE research discusses Teaching Performance Assessments as cultural disruptors in Initial Teacher Education.
For the Australian Catholic University students and alumni elite athletes, indelible memories were carved into their minds as they contemplate what comes next in their ...
ACU's five Paralympians have returned home from Tokyo having unearthed previously undiscovered strengths.
Australian Catholic University (ACU) and the Order of Malta have signed a memorandum of understanding that details partnering on a range of life-changing engagement ini...
Staff and students on ACU's Brisbane campus will be able to borrow a human book in a scheme designed to increase understanding through human contact.
Meet Australian Catholic University alumnus Rob Howells, the ex-crane operator who is living proof you don't have to be a bookworm to be a scientist.
Sleep-deprived athletes risk poor performances, with almost three-quarters falling short of desired slumber targets by at least an hour, a new study has found.
ACU and Nudgee College have partnered on a research project aimed at better understanding and releasing the pressures on elite student athletes.
The ketogenic diet may turn elite Olympic athletes into fat-burning machines but new ACU research has found it does not improve endurance.
The Hon Justice Martin Daubney AM and Ms Virginia Bourke have been appointed to the positions of Chancellor and Pro-Chancellor of Australian Catholic University (ACU).
Leading ACU hamstring expert David Opar will be involved in a $4 million National Football League (NFL) funded study that will investigate the prevention and treatment...
The research team behind an innovative program tackling cardiovascular disease risk in children has been recognised with one of the Council of Academic Public Health In...
Four-time Paralympic swimmer Brenden Hall and Rio sevens rugby gold medallist Emma Tonegato are among 11 current and former students who will represent ACU in Japan at ...
Australian Catholic University’s Dr Grant Duthie, from the Sports Performance, Recovery, Injury and new Technologies Research Centre (SPRINT), is part of a team helping...
Eating isn’t cheating, according to an Australian Catholic University study that found inadequately fuelled cyclists could be sabotaging their most important rides.
Valentina Lorenzetti's work has led the top US federal health agency to announce a new standard dose of THC in cannabis research.
Green space around primary schools may improve students’ academic performance.
Head of the School of Philosophy Dr Richard Colledge writes on the importance of providing general education through systems such as ACU’s Core Curriculum.
The long, hard path to a paramedicine degree from ACU is worth all the sacrifices for rower Rowena Meredith who has qualified for the Tokyo Olympic Games.
ACU has awarded its highest honour, an honorary doctorate, to Marionne MacRitchie and a posthumous award to the Hon John Fahey AC, GCSG during graduation ceremonies in ...
Time-restricted eating could be a game changer for more than one million Australians with type 2 diabetes.
A former soldier is helping other veterans find peace through university study.
Coaches may be rummaging through their Spotify playlists after Australian Catholic University research found - for the first time in team sport - that high-tempo music ...
Australian research, proven to improve children’s heart health and fitness, has been published by JAMA Pediatrics, the top-ranked paediatrics journal in the world.
Professor Suzanne Chambers AO has been appointed to the role of Executive Dean Health Sciences at Australian Catholic University (ACU).
A country as innovative as the USA doesn't expect to receive cutting-edge advice in slashing soft tissue injuries in its NFL from halfway across the world yet leading A...
A six-week exercise program of either high-intensity interval training (HIIT) or resistance training can build and maintain muscle mass and strength in middle-aged men,...
Australian Catholic University Professor Jim Sallis, has called for a heightened focus on exercise as a pandemic control after his research revealed physically inactive...
ACU collaborated with Catholic Health Australia to to review the lessons learned from the pandemic for health and aged care operators.
ACU aged care experts say the final report of the Royal Commission into Aged Care and Safety needs to be the tipping point required to ensure the needs of vulnerable ol...
ACU's Sports Performance Recovery Injury and New Technologies (SPRINT) Research Centre is helping elite footballers stay on the field.
An exciting partnership between Australian Catholic University and the Sacramento Kings will expose the NBA club to world leading researchers and timely advances in per...
The Melbourne Storm are more likely to win away from home than any of their opponents, according to a new study.
New world-leading physical benchmarks have been set for Australia’s men’s and women’s rugby union players who will be tested as part of an alliance with ACU’s Sports Pe...
Mental health nurses report staff shortages, unsustainable high workloads, acutely unwell patients, and verbal and physical aggression as top causes of work stress impa...
A new program launched by Australian Catholic University (ACU) and Metro North Hospital and Health Service is helping Australian seniors with lung disease get back to d...
ACU’s Institute of Child Protection Studies is part of a new Global Safeguarding Alliance (GSA) that will promote knowledge and worldwide exchange on safeguarding and t...
When it comes to metabolic health, it's not just what you eat, it's when you eat it. New ACU research has added to the growing body of evidence showing how time-restric...
Physiotherapists can play a central role in helping their patients quit smoking with a simple three-step intervention model, according to new ACU research from cardiore...
Carb loading in the week before a marathon is an old school approach and not the ideal way to prepare for an endurance event according to exercise physiologist Andy Kin...
There’s good news for more than one million Australians who have type 2 diabetes with new ACU research starting to tease apart how changing the time you eat might benef...
ACU clinical exercise physiologist Dr Phil Chapman supervised a simulation demonstrating how heat affects classroom learning for ABC series Big Weather (and how to surv...
Living within the strict confines of Queensland's biosecurity hub has not prevented NSW Swifts midcourter Tayla Fraser from meeting her Bachelor of Exercise and Sports ...
New ACU research is showing how busting a move via silent disco technology can boost the wellbeing of residential aged care residents with dementia.
It's been a tough year on the field for Alex Twal and Oliver Clark but the Wests Tigers duo have succeeded off it by completing degree at ACU.
Like so many Victorian teenagers, a young Tom Crameri just wanted to work for an AFL club.
Both elite and amateur athletes would get better performance bang for their buck using traditional carbohydrate drinks/sports foods rather than costly hydrogel drinks, ...
ACU students Shannon Chilman and Sam Parker have embarked on a unique prac assignment - an internship at V8 Supercars powerhouse the Red Bull Holden Racing Team.
Prac placement at a hospital in western Sydney has provided thrower Alex Hulley with a timely distraction to her disrupted mission to compete at the Tokyo Olympics.
A life-changing new program is giving young people of all abilities the confidence to develop an everlasting love of physical activity.
Ester Cerin, program leader of the Behaviour, Environment and Cognition Research Program at the Mary MacKillop Institute for Health Research (MMIHR) at ACU, has been aw...
A three-day turnaround is sufficient for soccer players to rebound as football administrators around the globe race to compress fixtures to complete seasons disrupted b...
Staff in ACU's School of Nursing, Midwifery and Paramedicine celebrate International Nurses Day on Tuesday May 12th by giving a shout out for the profession of Nursing ...
ACU researcher Imre Kouw has received the British Nutrition Foundation's prestigious 2020 BNF Drummond Early Career Scientist Award which recognises early career excell...
Bigger, better and stronger is the silver lining by-product of COVID-19 isolation for Sydney Roosters winger Brydie Parker.
Separated or divorced parents normally grapple with countless issues, but the COVID-19 crisis means they face new difficulties negotiating shared care of children with ...
Seven new research centres will enhance ACU’s reputation in the arts, education, health, and theology and philosophy.
Potential Olympians will hit and field virtual balls as part of an innovative partnership between Australian Catholic University and Baseball Queensland.
It's no secret that being in nature is good for your health. Something as simple as a walk in the park can boost well-being and deliver benefits ranging from better sle...
ACU researcher Evelyn Parr will explore if delaying breakfast and consuming an early dinner – known as time-restricted eating – can improve the symptoms of lifestyle-re...
Older Australians who sneak exercise into the day with a regular morning workout significantly improve decision-making for the next eight hours of the day.
Research excellence at ACU has been further recognised by the Australian Research Council (ARC) for its significant impact in advancing health, education and social out...
Exercise is being teamed up with drug therapy to see if it can become a potent weapon against prostate cancer.
Michael Baker has been awarded a prestigious ESSA Fellowship recognising his contribution to the exercise and sport science industry, support and dedication to the asso...
ACU’s Jack Hickey has been awarded the prestigious 2018 Exercise & Sports Science Australia (ESSA) medal for his ground-breaking work in hamstring injury.
Performance recovery expert Dr Shona Halson hopes her recognition as one of Exercise and Sports Science Australia’s top female leaders in 2019 will inspire a new genera...
The size of the brain’s pleasure and reward processing sensors could be behind increased body fat in adolescents and obesity later in life, new research has found.
Inspired by maestros like Ballon d’Or winners Luka Modric and Lionel Messi, sport scientists are investigating whether they can measure and teach one of football’s grea...
Australian Catholic University’s Doseena Fergie and Bruce Kemp have received some of the nation’s highest honours in this year’s Australia Day awards.
Time-poor parents are creating a “backseat generation” of children who don’t walk to school even when they live close by.
Women who eat a diet filled with unhealthy junk food have higher rates of the hallmark Alzheimer’s protein beta-amyloid in their brains - putting them at greater risk o...
As tennis demands more from its players, an Australian Catholic University study has revealed it is women who pay a greater physical toll at the Australian Open.
ACU Senate has further renewed the contract for Vice-Chancellor and President Professor Greg Craven until December 2022, University Chancellor the Honourable John Fahey...
Quantifying belief, wrangling data and rapid rehabilitation were among the burning issues for improving athlete performance and wellbeing as leading minds in Olympic an...
Professor Sandy Middleton, Director of ACU’s Nursing Research Institute, was recently inducted as a Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing...
Imagine what it would be like to not have to worry about the financial side of university.
ACU researchers are trialling a program to address thoughts and behaviours about eating and weight before they develop into an eating disorder.
Learn more about overseas study opportunities such as faculty-led study tours, intensive study periods at our Rome campus, or exchanges.
See the worldAre you a current or former domestic ACU student wanting to enrol in a postgraduate health program? You may be eligible for a 10% discount.
Get a rebateLearn about our health research institutes, academies and centres, including the Centre for Disability and Development Research.
Learn moreDiscover how much your course will cost, learn about options for financing your studies and find out which scholarships you may be eligible for.
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