“The Honours Program was really well-rounded, so after I finished I really prospered.”

Rachel Clark

Psychology Honours student

Honours research

Extend your study by another year and explore your research potential.

Why study Honours?

An Honours year is designed for undergraduate students to develop skills and interests in independent research. Your research thesis will allow you to contribute original knowledge to your discipline and may be published in peer-reviewed journals and presented at academic conferences.

Plus, you’ll join the Faculty of Health's renowned research community and work alongside researchers who are making a difference to people’s health and wellbeing.

An Honours degree can also launch your career in research and academia. It is also the stepping stone to a PhD.

When it comes to a career in psychology, Honours is the necessary preparation for entry into further training for professional practice. The Psychological Science with Honours program, in particular, provides students with advanced and integrated knowledge in psychology, experience and competence in conducting research.

 

Honours degrees available

There are two Honours degrees available:

 

How to apply

1. Read the Honours program handbook and direct any questions to the Honours Coordinator.

2. Approach a supervisor and complete a Supervision Agreement Form to submit with your application.

3. Write a one-page project proposal to be submitted with your application.

[Joshua Toope – Registered Nurse Honours Student]

 So one of the reasons I’ve chosen to do the honours grad program is the opportunities that I know it is going to open up in the future. I’d like to perhaps look at doing my masters one day and I think it is a good stepping stone on the way to getting there.

[Jana Joveljic- Registered Nurse Honours Student ]

I thought it was a great opportunity to pursue further studies whilst undertaking my graduate year and being supported by both the University and NSW Health in doing so.

[Joshua] Besides that, it also puts me in a good position to take on leadership roles in the future like CNS or nurse unit managing.

[Jana] I’d always known I wanted to pursue further studies. I’m interested in moving into critical care or education.

[Joshua] It gives me a two-year contract within the NSW Health Department and I really like the stability that kind of brings to my life.

[Jana] With the honours program you don’t have to attend university in person. It’s all online, which makes it a lot more flexible, but I prefer to go in person.

[Joshua] The workload has been extremely manageable because I’m sure as a lot of uni students are aware of we do tend to work quite a bit while doing our undergraduate studies. I’ve actually found that I’m working less now than while I was doing my undergraduate registered nursing degree.

 [Jana] One of the best things about this honours program is all the support that’s involved. We get a lot of support from our supervisors.

[Ryan Armstrong – Nurse Unit Manager] Support for me within the honours program, I guess, that’s the exciting thing. It interacts very much so with clinical leadership. So, for me I can pass on what I’ve found works in projects that I’ve been involved in. I think it’s a great transition for the student to work with them, utilising a structure from a clinical perspective and also an academic background and moulding that together to get the best outcomes for our patients.

[Jana] I would definitely recommend the program to any future student. It’s just a great opportunity to dip your toes into further study whilst also being supported.

Honours scholarships

Honours scholarships are on offer specifically for the Faculty of Health. Visit Honours scholarships on the Scholarships website for more information.

Honours supervisors

Admission to the Honours program is also subject to the availability of appropriate supervision. These academic staff members, their research interests and contact information are listed here as potential supervisors. Other academic staff may also be available, see faculty researcher profiles.

Associate Professor Christina Aggar

Associate Professor

Research interests: Primary health care, transition programs for new graduate nurses, clinical skills education, chronic care and rehabilitation, carers and caregiving, international students and nurses

Dr Kachina Allen

Lecturer

Research interests: Cognitive psychology, attention, perception, speech and language processing, psychophysiology

Dr Jacinta Arellano

Lecturer (Teaching Scholar)

Nutritional biochemistry, herbal medicine and plant constituents, and biomedical science

Dr Alex Barwick

Course Coordinator, Lecturer

Research interests: Chronic foot disease, diabetes, screening for peripheral arterial disease, footwear, lower limb biomechanics

Dr Kyle Bennett

Lecturer

Research interests: Skill acquisition, expertise, talent, development, esports, performance analysis, sport science

Dr Jessica Browne

Lecturer

Research interests: Respiratory infectious disease, otitis media, clinical microbiology, antimicrobial resistance, microbe-host relationships, immunology

Dr Paul Butterworth

Senior Lecturer

Research interests: Obesity and foot pain, foot surgery, chronic disease

Professor Andrew Cashin

Professor

Research interest: Autism Spectrum Disorders

Dr Yingyan (Lisa) Chen

Lecturer (Teaching Scholar)

Research interests: Knowledge translation, process evaluation, change management, cardiovascular nursing research

Dr Mike Climstein

Senior Lecturer

Research interests: Water-based research (surfing, stand-up paddle boarding, etc.), DXA (segmental body composition)

Associate Professor Rosanne Coutts

Associate Professor

Research interests: Sport and exercise psychology, exercise physiology, sport science, exercise science, exercise interventions, teaching and learning in health

Dr Zachary Crowley-McHattan

Lecturer

Research interests: Motor control, motor learning, neuromuscular control, skill acquisition, skill analysis

Dr Elizabeth Emmanuel

Senior lecturer

Research interests: Women’s health, motherhood, domestic violence, learning, quality of life

Professor Marie Hutchinson

Professor

Research interests: Nursing; nursing workforce; safety and quality; child and family nursing; patient participation; workplace bullying; domestic and family violence

Dr Elaine Jefford

Senior Lecturer

Research interests: Maternity, women’s health, education/curriculum, clinical reasoning & decision-making, perinatal mental wellbeing, unregulated health workers (Doulas)

Associate Professor Deb Massey

Associate Professor and Group Lead Nursing

Research interests: Midwifery, midwifery education, interprofessional education, women’s health, maternal and infant heath

Associate Professor Gayle McLelland

Associate Professor

Research interests: Midwifery, midwifery education, interprofessional education, women’s health, maternal and infant heath

Beth Mozolic-Staunton

Course Coordinator and Lecturer

Knowledge translation, prospective community-based design Occupational Therapy, Paediatrics, Early Intervention, School-based practice, Autism Spectrum Disorder, health and early childhood education workforce capacity building, service-learning and practice education

Dr Karin Plummer

Lecturer (Teaching Scholar)

Research interests: Nursing, pain, oncology, paediatrics

Dr Alexia Rohde

Senior Lecturer

Research interests: Allied health care, evidence based practice, epidemiology, acquired communication disorders

Dr Nedeljka Rosic

Lecturer

Research interests: Neurodegenerative diseases, genetics, medicinal bio-products, environmental stress markers, host-microbe interaction

Dr Nasim Salehi

Lecturer

Public health/health promotion, health services management/healthcare leadership, health and community services, social capital, social determinants of health, social policy and practice, social psychology, mental health and wellbeing, health psychology, citizen science, digital health, health education

Lucy Shinners

Lecturer (Teaching Scholar)

Research interests: Artificial intelligence, digital technology, intensive care

Dr Kirstine Shrubsole

Lecturer

Research interests: Implementation science, evidence-based practice, knowledge translation, stroke rehabilitation, aphasia, acquired communication disorders, communication access, Parkinson’s disease

Dr Christopher Stevens

Senior Lecturer

Research interests: Sports science, exercise physiology, environmental physiology, training monitoring, exercise engagement

Dr Felicity Walker

Lecturer

Research interests: Nursing, nursing workforce, leadership, management, teamwork, supervision and delegation, clinical placement education, collegiality/ civility in the workplace, the new graduate nurse experience, communication

Dr Nicola Whiteing

Lecturer

Research interests: Nursing, preparation for practice, curriculum design, rural and remote nursing, workforce

Associate Professor Jacqui Yoxall

Head of Allied Health and Midwifery

Research interests: Deception detection and malingering, interpersonal violence and risk assessment, human response to trauma, interprofessional education, psychological assessment, program evaluation

Honours Projects

  • Measuring footwear: development of a tool to measure footwear use and related habits. Barwick@scu.edu.au
  • Technical and tactical performance during small-sided game variants in youth soccer. Bennett@scu.edu.au
  • Identifying the psychosocial characteristics of motorically gifted children. Bennett@scu.edu.au
  • Investigating the dynamic nature of nasopharyngeal colonisation in infants – this is a data-based project (not the MLST one if you still have the details on that). Browne@scu.edu.au
  • Antimicrobial activity of marine mollusc extracts against medically important microorganisms. Browne@scu.edu.au
  • Development of standardised methods in antimicrobial susceptibility testing against biofilms of medically important bacteria. Browne@scu.edu.au
  • Cardiac patient education Chen@scu.edu.au
  • Muscular control strategies during novel contraction modes Crowley@scu.edu.au
  • Effects of hypoxia on cognitive and motor performance Crowley@scu.edu.au
  • Clinical implication/efficacy of cross education training/intervention Crowley@scu.edu.au
  • Neuromuscular control of functional sports and training movements/methods Crowley@scu.edu.au
  • Barriers to skin cancer risk prevention strategies in surfers, swimmers and stand up paddle boarders Climstein@scu.edu.au
  • Impact of service dogs on well-being of those with post-traumatic stress disorder Coutts@scu.edu.au
  • Abortion Doulas (ethics approval granted). Exploring what personal life experiences relate to person’s decision to become a doula Jefford@scu.edu.au
  • Deteriorating Childbearing Woman (ethics approval granted). Exploring Australian midwives attitudes and sociocultural factors influencing their decision-making related to recognition of and response to maternal deterioration. Jefford@scu.edu.au
  • Deteriorating Childbearing Woman: Exploring educational strategies that specifically targets factors influencing midwife’s recognition and response to maternal deterioration. Jefford@scu.edu.au
  • Enhancing midwives’ capacity to support women with urinary incontinence through participation in a digital game-based workshop. Jefford@scu.edu.au
  • What is valued and what matters in a woman’s incontinence experience. Jefford@scu.edu.au
  • Genetic polymorphism in Cystic Fibrosis in association with microbial and pathophysiological profiles Rosic@scu.edu.au
  • Parkinson's disease aetiology related to meat consumption Rosic@scu.edu.au
  • Adaptability and flexibility of the Brisbane Evidence-Based Language Test when used in healthcare settings: a survey Rohde@scu.edu.au
  • Evaluation of dysarthria assessments used in acute hospital settings Rohde@scu.edu.au



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Contact the Faculty of Health

Executive Assistant to the Executive Dean

T: +61 7 5589 3224

E: ExecDeanHealth@scu.edu.au

Associate Dean Education

T: +61 7 5589 3470

E: fiona.naumann@scu.edu.au

Associate Dean Research

T: +61 427 633 708

E: marianne.wallis@scu.edu.au

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