About the School of Health
The School of Health is UniSC’s largest and most diverse school, home to over 8,500 students and 200 academic staff. Our expert researchers and educators are shaping the future of health across 12 disciplines, from nursing and midwifery to psychology, paramedicine, physiotherapy, biomedicine, public health and more.
Our research spans five dynamic clusters, tackling cancer, mental health and wellbeing across the lifespan, healthy ageing, musculoskeletal conditions, and transformative health professions education. We are deeply connected to our communities and industry, with areas of focus designed around regional, national and global health priorities. Through strong partnerships with hospitals, local, state and federal government, national organisations and global agencies, our researchers are driving real-world solutions for healthier people and a healthier planet.
The School is led by Foundation Dean Professor Tony Perkins, Deputy Dean Professor Fiona Bogossian, and Associate Deans Professor Robert Harvey (Research) and Associate Professor Nicole Masters (Learning and Teaching).
2025: Growth, innovation and impact
2025 was an exceptional year for research in the School. Research outputs grew by 32 percent to 427 publications, including 95.4 percent in top quartile journals. The School’s HDR program continued to flourish, with HDR enrolments growing by 19 percent to 152 students and completions doubling to 20 students. Our researchers also secured $5.63 million in funding across 47 projects, supporting a diverse portfolio of impactful health research.
Professor Fiona Bogossian, Dr Lochlan Fennell and Dr Mitchell Sullivan were awarded SERTF-Wishlist funding to improve the healthcare of newborn babies, examine the recurrence of liver cancer and understand the causes of diabetic kidney disease, while Professor Nicholas Ralph and colleagues (in partnership with Datawe and the Fortius Institute of Musculoskeletal Research) received grants under the Regional University Industry Collaboration Program, further strengthening our industry links and student placement opportunities.
School researchers also had outstanding success obtaining funding via internal funding schemes and charitable donations, including $707,251 in internal grants, and a total of $957,468 obtained via philanthropic funding with UniSC Advancement. The latter allowed us to maintain the UniSC School of Health Impact awards, with two schemes provided funding for 10 research projects: Pilot Grants (up to $25,000 each) for new research collaborations and Partnership Grants (up to $50,000) aimed at strengthening established research collaborations with local, national or international partners.
In 2025, the School established new research collaborations with a wide range of partners, including Australian Red Cross Lifeblood, Victoria’s Department of Transport and Planning, Queensland’s Department of Transport and Main Roads, the New Zealand Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, the Queensland Academy of Sport, and the World Bank.
Highlights
- Professors Victoria Traynor and Stephen Neville were awarded more than $2 million in funding for research to evaluate the implementation of gerontological nursing competencies as part the Australian Government’s Aged Care Transition to Practice Program, while Professor Traynor received an additional $511,195 for delivery of the Aged Care Nursing Clinical Placements Program.
- Dr Michelle Maugham-Macan and Dr Grace Rose received $584,291 from the Department of Health Medical Research Future Fund to investigate the aetiology of early-onset osteoporosis in individuals with Down syndrome.
- Dr Will Harrison received an Australian Research Council Discovery Grant for a project to uncover how the brain learns physical world properties from images.
- Professor Gemma Read was also awarded an ARC Discovery Grant of $557,471 to develop a dynamic model of safety migration in road transport.
- The Ian Potter Foundation – Medical Research awarded Dr Lochlan Fennell (pictured right) more than $200,000 to develop a high-resolution imaging platform to support the modelling of complex diseases.
Making a difference: Our research in action
Saving legs and lives: Improving mobility, rehabilitation, and survival in patients with peripheral artery disease
Peripheral artery disease (PAD) involves blockages of the arteries in the lower limbs, leading to leg pain, loss of mobility and increased risk of cardiovascular death. Worldwide, PAD impacts more than 230 million people, which is expected to increase to 360 million by 2050. Despite PAD’s prevalence and severity, treatment options are limited, and often fail to restore movement or reduce associated mortality. With the global population ageing rapidly, there is a critical need to identify new therapeutic targets to improve mobility and quality of life.
Since 2005, a research program led by Professor Chris Askew and the School’s VasoActive team has worked with patients with PAD to investigate what causes exercise intolerance and develop of new models of exercise rehabilitation. This work has involved laboratory-based physiological studies, advanced cardiovascular imaging, and clinical trials, and has been undertaken in partnership with local clinical partners (including the departments of cardiology and vascular surgery at Sunshine Coast University Hospital), and national and international collaborators.
Early findings revealed that patients with PAD showed marked differences in capillary structure and function, including reduced density of capillaries in the legs, thickened capillary walls, and a reduction in blood flow capacity. These discoveries shifted scientific and clinical thinking beyond a narrow focus on large artery blockages. Building on these findings, Professor Askew’s clinical research focused on developing new models of rehabilitation that target the muscle microvasculature to induce capillary growth. The research demonstrated that supervised exercise therapy, when combined with surgical revascularisation, lead to greater improvements in symptoms and exercise capacity than surgery alone. The research also generated new therapeutic insights by demonstrating that passive movement can stimulate vascular growth to a similar extent as active, painful exercise, challenging long-held ‘no-pain, no-gain’ assumptions about PAD treatment.
The VasoActive team’s work has been supported by more than $12 million in research funding – including grants from the Heart Foundation and the Medical Research Future Fund– and has produced over 130 peerreviewed publications. Findings have informed Australian and international guidelines and contributed to the development of the European Association of Preventative Cardiology’s widely used Exercise Prescription in Everyday Practice and Rehabilitative Training (EXPERT) clinical tool. Through extensive partnerships with health services and industry, Professor Askew’s work has been translated into rehabilitation programs that have improved outcomes for hundreds of patients across Queensland.
The work has also contributed to the latest developments in microcirculatory research in other conditions – including obesity, hypertension, cardiovascular ageing, and cognitive impairment – with potential for a wider range of pain-free interventions that promote microvascular health, and improve mobility, independence, and survival for a growing patient population.
Seaweed research partnerships: Future-proofing Australia’s most important ecosystems against warming
Seaweeds form vast underwater forests that are critical to marine ecosystems and the economy, supporting biodiversity, drawing down carbon and helping to keep seawater clean and clear. Golden Kelp is Australia’s most ecologically and economically significant seaweed, but recent predictions suggest that Golden Kelp forests will decline by around 70 percent in coming decades, with populations in warmer Queensland waters most at risk.
To help safeguard these vulnerable ecosystems – and the high-value industries they support – a team from the School’s Seaweed Research Group is working with the Sea World Foundation to investigate genetically distinct Golden Kelp populations in southeast Queensland. Led by Associate Professor Alexandra Campbell, the team has discovered that deepwater kelp populations off southeast Queensland are thriving, and has identified Golden Kelp populations previously believed to be lost in shallow waters off the Gold Coast. These discoveries are providing valuable insights into how kelp may survive under future climate conditions.
In 2025, the project led to the establishment of Golden Kelp Action Group at Sea World, including a dedicated laboratory and aquarium space to receive stranded Golden Kelp for rehabilitation and data collection. Since then, the team has rescued kelp stranded by Tropical Cyclone Alfred, with early rehabilitation successes helping to shape restoration techniques and citizen science initiatives.
The research is also generating data on the carbon and nitrogen content of these kelps to help inform, develop and evaluate scalable, cost-effective Golden Kelp restoration approaches for southeast Queensland. These findings will contribute to a planned Golden Kelp restoration framework for use by the Sea World Foundation and other tourism operators around Australia. By assessing the effectiveness, affordability and community engagement potential of different restoration methods, the framework will help guide future restoration activities and support broader industry adoption.
Over the coming decade, this research will help inform strategies to protect Australia’s iconic Golden Kelp forests while creating opportunities for communities and visitors to contribute to marine conservation through sustainable tourism and citizen science.With support from a $300,000 innovation grant from the Singaporean Government, the team transformed SCREENii from a basic prototype into a commercially viable product.
Looking ahead: 2026 and beyond
In 2026, the School will continue in its mission to conduct world-class health research at scale, becoming a global leader in applied research and addressing key challenges to improve lives, communities and the environment. As in previous years, our five research clusters will serve as the focal point for driving research activities, identifying opportunities for funded projects and strategic partnerships, and showcasing our research at key internal and external research events.
In 2026, the focus will be on collaborative cross-centre and cross-institute opportunities. Key initiatives include securing strategic support and funding for an additional PC2 laboratory at the Thompson Institute; installation/commissioning of microscopy equipment funded in 2025 by the Ian Potter Foundation – Medical Research Equipment Grant and UniSC DVC(R&I) GROW scheme; and obtaining funding for additional equipment to support core research activities, including a Dakewe Slide staining system, Leica Vibrating Blade Microtome, Agilent Tapestation, and Genie III LAMP instrument.
Other priorities for 2026 include:
- Enhancing researcher capability through targeted staff training and mentoring activities, including the introduction of the LabArchives electronic lab notebook tool and dedicated masterclasses on stakeholder engagement, responsible use of generative AI in research, and more.
- Continuing to encourage high-quality category 1 grant applications, as well as highlighting alternative funding sources such as philanthropic or charitable donations, and opportunities for projects aligned with industry challenges.
- Contributing to the UniSC Strategic Research Infrastructure Planning Working Group, shaping UniSC’s approach to infrastructure as a strategic enabler of our research outputs, scale, and impact.