Biography

In the early 1970s, I completed the first environmental psychology research masters at the University of Hawaii examining human-environment interaction in the context of Japanese perceptions and use of residential space. My doctoral fieldwork (community/clinical psychology) in Southeast Asia critically analysed the role of western-oriented psychiatric institutions in the context of non-western cultural values and healing practices and pioneered the concept of culture-accommodation of mental health care (Third World Challenge to Psychiatry (1984)). The theme of linking individual human action with broader social, cultural and political-economic contexts has dominated the inter-disciplinary and transdisciplinary research programs and publications I have developed over the past 21 years at the Centre for Clinical Epidemiology & Biostatistics. With a 5-year NH&MRC program grant in the 1990s, I designed a community development strategy aimed at reducing the epidemic of heart disease in the Upper Hunter coalfields. This experience taught us that cross-disciplinary perspectives are required to gain a comprehensive understanding of health problems in a dynamic bio-social ecosystem. Working through the Coalfields material, Albrecht, Freeman and I constructed the first transdisciplinary analysis of heart disease, informed by complexity theory, which became a central case study in our pioneering 2001 research text, Health Social Science (Oxford Uni) and a companion volume, Applying Health Social Science (Zed Books). All of the 26 research theses that I have supervised over the past 18 years integrate inter-disciplinary design components linking human action with the dynamics of context. The ARC Discovery Grant (Open Cuts to Land and Culture, 2005-2007) has furthered my extensive collaboration with Connor and Albrecht in which my career-long experience in developing and empirically testing models of human action is being applied to explain Upper Hunter community members responses (perceptions, appraisal, social behaviour) to massive environmental transformation.

Furthermore, I have taken substantial responsibility internationally for establishing the newly emerging perspective of transdisciplinary health social science. I authored the first two textbooks published in this field and have delivered a number of keynote lectures outlining the fields theoretical and methodological underpinnings, including: 2005 World Congress, International Forum for Social Sciences & Health, Istanbul, Turkey; 5th Asia Pacific Social Science & Medicine Conference, Kunming, China, 2002; INCLEN 18th Global Scientific Meeting, Sharm-El-Sheikh, Egypt, 2002; 4th Asia Pacific Social Science & Medicine Conference, Yogyakarta, Indonesia, 1998; 3rd Asia Pacific Social Sciences & Medicine Conference, Perth, 1996; International Conference on Capacity Enhancement for the Social Sciences in Health, Ontario, Canada, 1995; INCLEN Twelfth Annual Scientific Meeting, Chiang Mai, Thailand, 1994; 2nd Asia Pacific Social Sciences & Medicine Conference, Manila, 1994; International Epidemiology Association Global Conference, Sydney, 1993.

In order to develop research capacity in health social science, I have contributed to the following international organisations:

• Founder & Coordinator, INCLEN (International Clinical Epidemiology Network) Social Science Committee
• Member, INCLEN Pharmaco-Epidemiology Committee
• Member, INCLEN Capacity Building Committee
• Founder & Steering Committee Member, International Forum for Social Sciences in Health
• Founder & Secretary, Asia Pacific Network of International Forum for Social Sciences in Health
• Associate Editor, Kluwer Book Publishers Series, International and Cultural Psychology: Topics, Issues and Directions.

Qualifications

• PhD, University of Hawaii - USA
• Bachelor of Arts, United States International University
• Master of Arts, University of Hawaii - USA

Research

Research keywords

• environmental distress
• environmental psychology
• survey design methods

Research expertise

The theme of linking individual human action with broader social, cultural and political-economic contexts has dominated the inter-disciplinary and transdisciplinary research programs and publications I have developed over the past 21 years at the Centre for Clinical Epidemiology & Biostatistics. With a 5-year NH&MRC program grant in the 1990s, I designed a community development strategy aimed at reducing the epidemic of heart disease in the Upper Hunter coalfields. This experience taught us that cross-disciplinary perspectives are required to gain a comprehensive understanding of health problems in a dynamic bio-social ecosystem. Working through the Coalfields material, Albrecht, Freeman and I constructed the first transdisciplinary analysis of heart disease, informed by complexity theory, which became a central case study in our pioneering 2001 research text, Health Social Science (Oxford Uni) and a companion volume, Applying Health Social Science (Zed Books). All of the 26 research theses that I have supervised over the past 18 years integrate inter-disciplinary design components linking human action with the dynamics of context. The ARC Discovery Grant (Open Cuts to Land and Culture, 2005-2007) has furthered my extensive collaboration with Connor and Albrecht in which my career-long experience in developing and empirically testing models of human action is being applied to explain Upper Hunter community members responses (perceptions, appraisal, social behaviour) to massive environmental transformation.

Fields of Research

Centres and Groups

Centre

• Centre for Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics
• Hunter Medical Research Institute

Group

• Hunter Medical Research Institute - Public Health

Administrative

Administrative expertise

I served as a senior member of the Centre for Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Medicine and Public Health, University of Newcastle taking on such roles as: Head of Discipline; Deputy Director of the Centre for Clinical Epidemiology & Biostatistics; Chair, Postgraduate Education Program; Member of School of Medicine & Public Health Executive; Member, Faculty of Health Board.

In order to develop research capacity in health social science, I have contributed to the following international organisations:

• Founder & Coordinator, INCLEN (International Clinical Epidemiology Network) Social Science Committee
• Member, INCLEN Pharmaco-Epidemiology Committee
• Member, INCLEN Capacity Building Committee
• Founder & Steering Committee Member, International Forum for Social Sciences in Health
• Founder & Secretary, Asia Pacific Network of International Forum for Social Sciences in Health
• Associate Editor, Kluwer Book Publishers Series, International and Cultural Psychology: Topics, Issues and Directions

Teaching

Teaching keywords

• health psychology
• health social science
• program evaluation

Teaching expertise

For over twenty years I taught postgraduate courses in health social science, health survey design, transdisciplinary approaches to public health research, and social program evaluation and planning.

I have taken substantial responsibility internationally for establishing the newly emerging perspective of transdisciplinary health social science. I authored the first two textbooks published in this field and have delivered a number of keynote lectures outlining the fields theoretical and methodological underpinnings, including: 2005 World Congress, International Forum for Social Sciences & Health, Istanbul, Turkey; 5th Asia Pacific Social Science & Medicine Conference, Kunming, China, 2002; INCLEN 18th Global Scientific Meeting, Sharm-El-Sheikh, Egypt, 2002; 4th Asia Pacific Social Science & Medicine Conference, Yogyakarta, Indonesia, 1998; 3rd Asia Pacific Social Sciences & Medicine Conference, Perth, 1996; International Conference on Capacity Enhancement for the Social Sciences in Health, Ontario, Canada, 1995; INCLEN Twelfth Annual Scientific Meeting, Chiang Mai, Thailand, 1994; 2nd Asia Pacific Social Sciences & Medicine Conference, Manila, 1994; International Epidemiology Association Global Conference, Sydney, 1993.