Careers

MIRI has gained a worldwide reputation for excellence in injury prevention. This mark of respect has been hard won through more than two decades at the forefront of research across the full spectrum of the field.

It is a mark of excellence graduates of our PhD program carry with them into the world.

Because the quality of our researchers and supervisors is well known, so to is the calibre of our graduates.

Our PhD candidates are highly sought after and have moved in to successful careers in injury prevention in industry, government and research centres. Our candidates contribute to the reduction in road fatalities, play a role in workplace safety and improve home and recreational safety.

Former PhD students

Dr Eve Mitsopoulos-Rubens
Conducting research in the area of human factors.

Dr Eve Mitsopoulos-Rubens achieved her PhD at MIRI and now works with us. Eve said her research degree has assisted her in a number of different ways.

"My degree gave me the opportunity to go back to basics and to develop a good understanding of the theories and methods that form the foundation for many of the projects that I am asked to work on in my current role," she said.

"My PhD also helped me to develop my problem solving, analytical and organisational skills - all of which are critical in the applied research setting."

Eve said the application of research to real life situations was the best part about completing her research degree at MIRI.

"For me, the best thing was to be in a research environment where you get to see and hear directly about good research being translated into practice."

Current PhD candidates

Linda Watson
BSc(Hons)

Dog bite injury: An investigation into the effectiveness of regulation

In recent years many state regulations in Australia have focused on restricting particular breeds of dog, despite there being little scientific evidence to suggest that the targeted breeds feature disproportionally in dog bite injury statistics. Current regulations may encourage a dangerous perception that dogs not included will not show aggression. Linda's work examines the breed specific regulatory interventions within a conceptual framework based on established injury prevention and health promotion principles.

Miranda Cornelissen
MSc (App Cog Psych), BSc (Psychology) Maastricht University, Netherlands.

How can they do it? A structured approach to capturing performance variability.

Varying performance is part of everyday activities and work. Performance variability was believed to be erroneous and thus a negative phenomenon but is now regarded to be a positive phenomenon as well. Therefore a shift is needed from restraining all variability to supporting and encouraging performance variability leading to positive outcomes, and discouraging performance variability leading to negative outcomes.

Currently there are no structured methods to determine the outcomes of performance variability a priori, and therefore it cannot be supported effectively. The aim of this PhD is to propose and evaluate such method based on Human Factors principles. Currently this method is being developed and tested studying performance variability of road users.

The resulting method will be a theoretical contribution to the Human Factors domain, but will also be a practical contribution to road safety providing insight into performance variability of road users which consequently allows supporting performance variability for a safer road system.

Trang Vu
MPH, MHSc

Fall prevention in community-living older people affected by co-morbidity: a targeted approach.

Trang is examining the effects of co-morbidity on hospital resource use by older people living in community housing after suffering a fall. Co-morbidity is the presence of one or more other disorders in addition to the primary disorder. Trang is investigating the excess economic burden people incur beyond treatment of their primary disorder. Her work will seek to demonstrate the potential value of a targeted risk reduction approach focussing on older people with co-morbidity.