Study level

  • PhD

Faculty/School

Faculty of Health

School of Public Health and Social Work

Topic status

We're looking for students to study this topic.

Research centre

Centre for Healthcare Transformation

Australian Centre for Health Services Innovation

Supervisors

Professor Ioni Lewis
Position
Professor
Division / Faculty
Faculty of Health
Associate Professor Kelly Purser
Position
Associate Professor
Division / Faculty
Faculty of Business & Law
Professor Kirsten Vallmuur
Position
Professor & Chair of Trauma Surveillance and Data Analytics
Division / Faculty
Faculty of Health

Overview

Older persons as a cohort are at high risk of consumer product-related injury and death. The most recent Australian research into product safety issues for older persons was conducted over 25 years ago, yet the marketplace and product technology have changed dramatically and the population at risk has grown.

This Australian Research Council funded Discovery Project aims to generate contemporary knowledge of the role of consumer products in injuries and deaths for older persons. It is a 3-year collaborative academic research project with an interdisciplinary investigatory team from the Queensland University of Technology, Australian Catholic University, Flinders University and Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (USA).

Research activities

The SafeAge Project will collect product safety data for the 50+ year cohort from various sources including international regulatory responses, consumer complaints, online product reviews and administrative health records. The data will be interrogated with public health, behavioural risk, and human rights lenses to generate contemporary knowledge of product safety risks and hazards.

The successful candidate will be a key member of the project team involved in the following activities:

  • quantitative and qualitative analysis of large datasets
  • investigation of product safety issues from a public health, behavioural risk and/or human rights perspective (depending on skillset)
  • collaboration with chief investigators, researchers, and an Advisory Committee of Experts
  • publishing research findings in reputable journals and presenting at relevant conferences and stakeholder forums.

Outcomes

The SafeAge Project will generate contemporary knowledge of leading product-related injuries and classes of hazardous products, risk factors and high-risk behaviours, and human rights issues associated with unsafe products.

This knowledge benefits:

  • older Australians and carers by informing purchasing decision-making and product use
  • industry by informing safer product design
  • government and health professionals by informing injury prevention strategies and regulatory responses such as recalls and safety standards.

Skills and experience

Given the interdisciplinary nature of the SafeAge Project, a range of skills and experience will be considered including:

  • a background in health, data science, law, gerontology, occupational therapy, or psychology
  • strong quantitative and qualitative skills
  • experience in handling large datasets in R, Stata or similar software for data cleaning and analysis
  • excellent communication skills, both written and verbal, for presenting research findings and collaborating with interdisciplinary teams
  • demonstrated publication record (or potential) in peer-reviewed journals.

Scholarships

You may be eligible to apply for a research scholarship.

Explore our research scholarships

Keywords

Contact

For more information, contact Dr Catherine Niven via email at nivenc@qut.edu.au