PhD Candidates

Each year the Melbourne Social Equity Institute gives Australian Government Research Training Program Scholarships and other scholarships to students whose interest in social equity issues aligns closely to our research agenda.

Recipients of these scholarships are given automatic entry into our Doctoral Academy once they have completed confirmation.

Students currently undertaking their PhD aligned to the Institute are:


Rashika Bahl

Understanding Migrants' Misinformation Behaviour

Supervisors:
Professor Shanton Chang, School of Computing and Information Systems
Dr Dana McKay,  RMIT University
Associate Professor George Buchanan, School of Computing and Information Systems



Surriya Baloch

Antenatal screening for family violence with migrant south Asian women in Australia

Supervisors:
Professor Kelsey Hegarty, Department of General Practice
Dr Elizabeth McLindon, Department of General Practice



Georgia Burn

Understanding the features of communication access for people with communication difficulties

Supervisors:
Professor Keith McVilly, School of Social and Political Sciences
Dr Jerome Rachele, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health



Salsawi Feleke Debela

Settling well: a longitudinal study of refugees in regional Australia

Supervisors:
Associate Professor Karen Block, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health
Associate Professor Celia McMichael, School of Geography, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences
Dr Ankur Singh, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health



Philippa Duell-Piening

The right to be counted for people with disabilities who are refugees and/or from refugee backgrounds

Supervisors:
Professor Michelle Foster, Melbourne Law School
Associate Professor Anna Arstein-Kerslake, Melbourne Law School



Vrinda Edan

Consumer and clinicians experiences of Advance Statements under the Victorian Mental Health Act (2014)

Supervisors:
Associate Professor Bridget Hamilton, Centre for Mental Health Nursing
Professor Lisa Brophy, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health
Professor Bernadette McSherry, Melbourne Law School



Sara Guest

Examining the Informal, social and political networks utilised by international students to tackle food insecurity in the context of the neoliberal university in Victoria

Supervisor:
Associate Professor Jane Dyson, School of Geography, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences



Mireille Kayeye

Empowerment of women seeking asylum

Supervisors:
Associate Professor Celia McMichael, School of Geography, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences
Associate Professor Bina Fernandez, School of Social and Political Sciences



Meghan Lee

'The little things': young people from migrant and refugee backgrounds co-creating wellbeing in regional and rural Victoria

Supervisors:
Professor Cathy Vaughan, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health
Dr Zubaida Mohamed Shaburdin, Department of Rural Health
Associate Professor Debra McDougall, School of Social and Political Sciences



Micheline Lee

Disability, law, and all that romance: a cross-disciplinary approach to equality rights for people with disabilities

Supervisors:
Dr Eddie Paterson, School of Culture and Communication 
Professor Bernadette McSherry, Melbourne Law School
Professor Beth Gaze, Melbourne Law School



Erika Martino

From shelter to security: affordable housing for intimate partner violence survivors

Supervisors:
Professor Rebecca Bentley, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health
Dr Ilan Wiesel, School of Geography, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences



Thomas McGee

The displacement-statelessness nexus – Syrians in limbo

Supervisors:
Professor Michelle Foster, Melbourne Law School
Professor Susan Kneebone, Melbourne Law School



Dominica Meade

Gender dynamics in community volunteering practices

Supervisors:
Dr Brendan Churchill, School of Social and Political Sciences
Professor Jo Barraket, Melbourne Social Equity Institute



Hala Nasr

Safe spaces as a response to gender-based violence in refugee settings: possibilities and limitations

Supervisors:
Professor Cathy Vaughan, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health
Associate Professor Karen Block, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health
Dr Elise Klein, School of Social and Political Sciences



Jacqui Parncutt

The social determinants of health of people with disability

Supervisor:
Professor Anne Kavanagh, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health
Dr Tania King, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health



Helena Roennfeldt

Crossing the threshold: a study of the lived experiences of people in mental health crisis who have accessed mental health crisis care

Supervisors:
Associate Professor Bridget Hamilton, Centre for Mental Health Nursing
Dr Nicole Hill, Department of Social Work
Dr Louise Byrne, RMIT University



Alana Roy

Mental health & wellbeing of people who are deaf-blind

Supervisors:
Professor Keith McVilly, School of Social and Political Sciences
Professor Beth Crisp, Deakin University



Claire Sullivan

Syrian refugees adoptions, adaptions and rejections of legal responses to experiences of family violence and SGBV

Supervisors:
Professor Cathy Vaughan, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health
Associate Professor Karen Block, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health



Juan Jose Tellez

Representations of chemical restraint: a case study of the Oakden Older Persons Mental Health Service

Supervisors:
Professor Bernadette McSherry, Melbourne Law School
Professor John Tobin, Melbourne Law School
Professor Lisa Brophy, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health



Maharti Triharta

Investigation of sustainable female engineers’ career development – mitigating impacts of gender biological reproductive inequities

Supervisors:
Professor Elaine Wong,  School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering
Professor Sally Male,  Teaching And Learning Lab
Dr Victor Sojo Monzon, Department of Management and Marketing



Dominic Troughton

Grounded theory research into best context for consumer leadership and capacity development within the Australian lived experience mental health consumer movement

Supervisors:
Associate Professor Bridget Hamilton, Centre for Mental Health Nursing
Dr Alexandra Devine, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health



Amita Tuteja

Reproductive health and contraceptive needs of migrants from Burma: practitioner and patient perspectives in the Australian context

Supervisors:
Associate Professor Meredith Temple-Smith, Department of General Practice
Professor Lena Sanci, Department of General Practice
Dr Lester Mascarenhas, Department of General Practice



Stephanie Weir

The relationship between communication autonomy, behaviours of concern and restrictive interventions in children who have little to no functional speech

Supervisors:
Dr Shiralee Poed, Melbourne Graduate School of Education
Professor Keith McVilly, School of Social and Political Sciences



Alicia Yon

Enabling sociospatial justice: an integrated local planning approach to addressing the disability-gender violence nexus

Supervisors:
Professor Brendan Gleeson, Melbourne School of Design
Professor Cathy Vaughan, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health


Students Awarded Doctorates

Aviva Beecher Kelk

Diversity in decision-making: co-designing informed choice under the National Disability Insurance Scheme

Supervisors:
Professor Lynette Joubert, Department of Social Work 
Professor Helen Dickinson, School of Business, University of New South Wales (Canberra)

Completed in 2020



Dr Jaz Dawson

Queering constructivist international relations: analysing norm implementation in sexual orientation based refugee law

Supervisors:
Professor Michelle Foster, Melbourne Law School 
Professor Sarah Maddison, School of Social and Political Sciences

Completed in 2019



Dr Liz Gill-Atkinson

How do women with disability in the Philippines understand and experience participatory research practice?

Supervisors:
Associate Professor Cathy Vaughan, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health
Professor Marilys Guillemin, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health

Completed in 2022



Dr Lauren Kosta

Parenting after a disaster: experiences since Black Saturday

Supervisors:
Professor Louise Harms, Department of Social Work
Professor Lisa Gibbs, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health 
Dr David Rose, Department of Social Work

Completed in 2019



Dr Katie Lamb

Embedding the voices of children and young people in the development of programs for violent fathers

Supervisor:
Professor Cathy Humphreys, Department of Social Work

Completed in 2017



Dr Kelvin Lau

Understanding mental distress in young people from a migrant background in Australia through photo-interviewing

Supervisor:
Dr Victoria Palmer, Department of General Practice

Completed in 2018



Samantha Mannix

Gender equity, social transformations and education

Supervisors:
Professor Julie McLeod, Melbourne Graduate School of Education
Professor Cathy Vaughan, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health

Completed in 2022



Dr Gemma McKibbin

Sexually abusive behaviour by young people: supporting Victoria's prevention response

Supervisors:
Professor Cathy Humphreys, Department of Social Work
Associate Professor Bridget Hamilton, Centre for Mental Health Nursing

Completed in 2017



Dr Melissa Murphy

From social connectedness to equitable access: An action research project illuminating the opportunities and the barriers to accessing music for young people with disability transitioning from school to adult life.

Supervisors:
Professor Katrina Skewes-McFerran, National Music Therapy Research Unit
Dr Nick Hagiliassis, Scope Victoria

Completed in 2017



Dr Carol O'Dwyer

The gender-sensitive care project: exploring sexual violence in psychiatric inpatient units

Supervisors:
Professor Kelsey Hegarty, Department of General Practice
Dr Laura Tarzia, Department of General Practice
Dr Sabin Fernbacher, North West Mental Health

Completed in 2021


Dr Naomi Pfitzner

Engaging new fathers: learning from Baby Makes 3

Supervisors:
Professor Kelsey Hegarty, Department of General Practice 
Professor Cathy Humphreys, Department of Social Work

Completed in 2017