Research Projects

  • National implementation trial of an evidence-informed workplace sitting reduction intervention

    Long periods of sitting time are bad for health. We will conduct a three-year national trial with five workplace-health partner organisations testing a website-delivered program for reducing sitting time at work. It will be offered to over 10,000 desk-based employees. We will determine the impacts of the program as well as refinements needed for full-scale dissemination: uptake of the program, how well it can be delivered on a large scale, its impact on sitting time, and the costs involved.
  • Get Healthy after Breast Cancer

    May 2013December 2016
    The University of Queensland
    This pilot study assessed the feasibility, acceptability and outcomes (changes in weight, physical activity, diet, quality of life and fatigue) of referring breast cancer survivors to the ‘Get Healthy Service’ (GHS), a state-health-funded six-month telephone-delivered lifestyle program.
  • Using Technology to Maximise the Reach and Effectiveness of Lifestyle Interventions

    April 2014December 2019
    MHRF – Medibank Health Research Fund
    The research program focuses on broad-reach intervention delivery modalities, including telephone coaching, tailored text messaging and more recent work in smartphone applications.
  • Improving Retention Rates in the Get Healthy Information and Coaching Service

    January 2017December 2018
    National Health and Medical Research Council
    A Partnership Project between the NSW Ministry of Health, Healthways, Healthdirect, the University of Sydney and the University of Queensland.
  • BeUpstanding™- Champion Toolkit

    January 2015June 2017
    This is a multiphase project involving the development, pilot testing, optimisation and widespread rollout of a free online tool to help reduce workplace sitting.
  • Centre of Research Excellence (CRE) on Sitting Time and Chronic Disease Prevention – Mechanisms, Measurement and Interventions

    January 2014December 2018
    National Health and Medical Research Council
    Australian research has identified serious health consequences arising from the 7 to 10 hours of daily sitting that most people do, especially in relation to ‘diseases of inactivity’ – type 2 diabetes, coronary heart disease and breast and colon cancer – that are an unwelcome burden on individuals, families and health systems. This new research examines the practical feasibility and the preventive-health benefits of changing children’s and adults’ sitting time in schools, workplaces and the home environment.
  • Healthy Living after Cancer (HLaC)

    January 2014December 2018
    National Health and Medical Research Council
    Healthy Living after Cancer (HLaC) is a NHMRC Partnership Project between the New South Wales (NSW), Victoria (Vic.), South Australia (SA) and Western Australia (WA) Cancer Councils and Cancer Prevention Research Centre evaluating the integration of an evidence-based, broad-reach (telephone-delivered) lifestyle intervention for cancer survivors into the Helpline service delivery model currently offered by Cancer Councils in Australia.
  • Living Well after Breast Cancer

    January 2013December 2016
    National Health and Medical Research Council
    Determining the effectiveness of a telephone-delivered weight loss intervention (versus usual care), among overweight and obese women who have recently completed primary treatment for breast cancer and undertake a cost-effectiveness analysis of the telephone intervention compared to usual care.