Associate Professor Belinda Cash

Postdoctoral Fellow Manna Institute.

Senior Lecturer, Social Work and Gerentology, Charles Sturt University

Belinda is a social worker with clinical and academic expertise in mental health and social gerontology. Her work primarily focuses on understanding and addressing psychosocial and systemic issues impacting the health and wellbeing of older adults and their caregivers in rural Australia.

Belinda is a Senior Lecturer in Social Work and Gerontology at Charles Sturt University, Chair of the Charles Sturt Ageing Well Research Group, and co-lead of the Ageing Well in Rural and Regional Australia research program. She also oversees research governance for Equally Well, a national consortium working to improve the physical health of people living with mental illness. These roles all support her primary objective of working with likeminded people who are passionate about improving access and opportunities for better health and wellbeing for rural Australians.

Belinda is a Distinguished Member of the Australian Association of Gerontology, awarded for her extensive contributions to supporting student and early career researchers. She is an active supervisor of research students across multiple programs, has led several international programs exploring social welfare and wellbeing, and continues to support students completing field-based learning in social work.

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Dr Jasleen Chhabra

Postdoctoral Fellow Manna Institute.

Lecturer, Institute of Health and Wellbeing, Federation University

Jasleen is a Lecturer in Psychology at Federation University who was born and raised in New Delhi, India. She studied medicine at Ovidius University of Constanta, Romania, with a special interest in perinatal mental health, and interned as a GP in the UK, USA and Canada. It was during these internships that Jasleen discovered another passion – research.

Jasleen received her PhD in Psychology from James Cook University and her research interests are within the area of paternal perinatal mental health. This is a critical area of research because untreated depressed fathers have a high chance of negatively influencing the mental health of their partners and children. As well as benefitting individuals, Jasleen endeavours to influence clinicians and policy-makers on the importance of early diagnosis and treatment.

Jasleen is perhaps best known for her systematic review and meta-analysis on the risk factors for depression and anxiety in fathers in the perinatal period. Through the Manna Institute, she plans to widen this focus to include regional and rural communities, with the aim of advocating for better funding and support.

Additional areas of interest for Jasleen include masculinity; psychological disorders; the identity of young men; adolescent and childhood psychology; maternal perinatal mental health; gender and intercultural psychology.

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Ms Laura Grattidge

Postdoctoral Fellow Manna Institute.

PhD candidate at the Centre for Rural Health, University of Tasmania

Laura is a project manager and PhD candidate at the Centre for Rural Health, University of Tasmania, with experience in research and evaluation for mental health, wellbeing and suicide prevention programs. Laura is in the final year of her PhD, where she is exploring the role of community-based suicide prevention in rural areas, as well as developing ‘Best Practice Guidelines for Youth Suicide Prevention in Rural Australian Communities’. When looking at transitioning programs from a national to a regional level, Laura believes the role of community is paramount. That a coordinated, lifespan approach is needed to prevent suicide in our rural communities, with lived experience at the centre of all efforts. Programs at a rural level need to empower community-level action, using community-led initiatives to address the issues and needs of communities, identified by the communities themselves.

Laura draws on lived experience in regional Tasmania to serve as an advocate for mental health and suicide prevention. This includes sitting on the joint committee for Suicide Prevention Australia for Tas/Vic, representing Australia through the Global Mental Health Peer Network, and recently through her appointment as a lived experience representative on the Manna Institute's Project Management Group.

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Dr Govind Krishnamoorthy

Postdoctoral Fellow Manna Institute.

Senior Lecturer, Psychology and Wellbeing, University of Southern Queensland

Govind is a clinical psychologist and Senior Lecturer at the University of Southern Queensland. He has more than 15 years’ experience in child and youth mental health services in both private and public settings and his research lab focuses on improving equity and access to mental healthcare for children, youth and their families.

Govind is the author of Trauma Informed Behaviour Support – a novel mental health program that promotes trauma-informed care in education and healthcare settings. A resident of Ipswich, he coordinates several innovative industry partnerships to promote mental health in regional communities.

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Dr Dylan Poulus

Postdoctoral Fellow Manna Institute.

Course Coordinator: Bachelor of Psychological Science, Southern Cross University

Dylan is a Senior Lecturer at Southern Cross University who specialises in esports psychology, focusing on the mental health of competitive and casual video gamers.

His research delves into esports players' resilience and coping strategies, emphasising the development of online interventions for mental health awareness.

Dylan uses esports as a platform to connect with rural, regional, and remote communities to address mental health disparities and promote positive mental health among diverse and under-served populations.

As a member of Manna Institute, he aims to foster his leadership to guide research students and collaborate with mental health experts to expand his contributions.

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Dr Vicki Pascoe

Postdoctoral Fellow Manna Institute.

Lecturer, Indigenous Studies (Arts) Discipline Lead, Central Queensland University

Vicki is an Arrernte woman, Lecturer and Indigenous Studies (Arts) Discipline Lead at Central Queensland University who teaches and co-ordinates the First Nations minor within the Bachelor of Arts. Her awareness of social justice dates back to childhood and inspires her qualitative research where disadvantage, inequity and injustice occur and she can perhaps make a difference.

Vicki’s research areas include mature-aged women returning to education; systemic racism within universities; First Nations student experiences within educational institutions and the prison system; First Nations Queenslanders and impaired decision-making capacity; international medical graduates and their experience of medical dominance in Australia; and decolonising university curricula. She is involved in a research project that explores young people talking with young people, which includes workshops for disengaged youth.

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Dr Kristy Robson

Postdoctoral Fellow Manna Institute.

Senior Research Fellow, Three Rivers Department of Rural Health, Charles Sturt University

Kristy is an allied health professional and senior research fellow at Three Rivers Department of Rural Health, Charles Sturt University. Kristy has significant experience working as a clinician, academic and researcher in rural and regional areas for the past 28 years contributing to improving health outcomes for community members living in rural and regional Australia.

Kristy has undertaken extensive research in the areas of healthy ageing, chronic disease, mental health in ageing, and allied health workforce. She regularly collaborates with public, private, and non-for-profit organisations to evaluate health service programs, particularly for rural communities.

Kristy is a member of Charles Sturt Ageing Well Research Group and has a keen interest in health policy through her appointed role on the NSW Ministerial Advisory Council for Ageing. She also sits on several boards and committees at a local, state, and national level to advocate for quality health and wellbeing outcomes for rural and regional communities.

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Dr Marg Rogers

Postdoctoral Fellow Manna Institute.

Senior Lecturer, Early Childhood Education, University of New England

Dr Marg Rogers is a Senior Lecturer in the Early Childhood Education team within the School of Education. Marg has taught across all areas of education: early childhood, primary, secondary and tertiary. Marg researches marginalised voices within families and education especially in regional, rural and remote communities. Specifically, she researches ways to support the wellbeing of military, first responder and remote worker families and early childhood educators.

Marg is the lead researcher for the funded Child and Family Resilience Programs (formerly Early Childhood Defence Programs). This team, along with their Steering Committee of stakeholders, has developed award-winning, research-based, free, online, evaluated resources for early childhood educators, parents and family/social workers to better support young children from Australian military families. Many of these resources are currently being culturally adapted for Canadian families in collaboration with the Canadian Institute of Military Health Research and other partners.

Marg also leads a transnational study called 'Early Childhood Educators work within a highly regulated environment' with colleagues from Denmark, Italy, Georgia and Canada. Marg is a co-investigator in a multi-university study with Southern Cross University and Macquarie University, about Covid-19 and remote-learning in early childhood services. She is also a co-investigator in a study 'Empowering Educators Program' with Southern Cross University. The study is piloting a Canadian Peer Mentoring Program in Australia's childcare desert areas and has pilot funding from the Australian Childcare Alliance (Qld Branch).

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Dr Daniel Wadsworth

Postdoctoral Fellow Manna Institute.

Lecturer, Applied Science and USC Early/Mid-Career Academic Network Lead, The University of the Sunshine Coast

Dan is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Health at the University of the Sunshine Coast, where his research is grounded in the healthy ageing of older adults and wellbeing across the lifespan.

Throughout his research, he works to promote accessible physical activity in older adults, incorporating social connection and creative practice through a multi-disciplinary, mixed-methods approach. He holds a particular interest in the health and wellbeing of older adults in rural and regional areas, and in the co-creation of accessible and appropriate supports and services in such settings in partnership with community and service providers; this approach extends to supporting healthy lifestyle behaviours of young adults.

Dan has a passion for supporting other emerging research leaders, and currently supervises HDR students across health, wellbeing and clinical practice/education. He leads the Manna Institute HDR Student Community of Practice, connecting and supporting rural and regional postgraduate students across Australia, and also co-leads the Early- and Mid-Career Academic Network at UniSC, planning and delivering training, mentorship, and development opportunities and resources to >180 members and engaging with University Executive and national policymakers (Regional Universities Network). His leadership roles extend to Manna's Health and Wellbeing in Later Life research stream, and UniSC School of Health research themes in Active Ageing; Mental Health in rural, regional, and remote communities; and Creativity and Connectedness in Healthy Ageing.

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