Dr Kerryn Pike and Dr Amanda Cooklin will join the inaugural Tracey Banivanua Mar Fellows, Dr Quinn Eades, Dr Mihwa Lee and Dr Katherine McKinnon, who commenced last year.
La Trobe established the Tracey Banivanua Mar Fellowships, named in honour of an esteemed member of the Department of Archaeology and History, who passed away in 2017. The Fellowships support future research leaders who have major care giving responsibilities.
Acting Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research), Professor Russell Hoye, said the University was pleased to support another two talented academics to allow them to fulfil their research potential.
“La Trobe is committed to gender equity through sustained, enduring and measurable actions and we recognise that care giving responsibilities can severely interrupt, delay or otherwise constrain academic careers,” Professor Hoye said.
“By providing funding at a critical time in the careers of talented academic staff, the Fellowship aims to reduce the impact of career breaks and/or intense care giving responsibilities on research productivity.”
Launched in 2018, the Fellowships were established in 2018 as part of the SAGE Athena SWAN project and are open to internal candidates on fixed term or casual contracts.
Dr Kerryn Pike – School of Psychology and Public Health
Dr Kerryn Pike is a Clinical Neuropsychologist, whose research program falls within two broad areas – neuropsychological and biomarker characterisation of preclinical Alzheimer’s disease (preAD); and interventions to improve cognition. Dr Pike has 47 publications in high quality international journals within Psychology and Neuroscience, and an upcoming chapter on Alzheimer’s disease. She is one of the founders of the LaTCH memory management group program. Recently, she has been applying her expertise in subjective and mild cognitive impairment (as preAD) to other conditions with similar subtle or mild impairments (e.g. cancer).
During her TBM fellowship, Dr Pike will lead several projects addressing the overarching themes of identifying mild cognitive impairment, as well as interventions (especially cognitive) to minimise risk of developing dementia as well as improve quality of life and daily functioning in all populations. There will be a particular focus on translating research findings regarding risk reduction and cognitive interventions to improve clinical practice.
Dr Amanda Cooklin – Judith Lumley Centre, School of Nursing and Midwifery
Dr Amanda Cooklin is a social scientist and Senior Research Fellow at the Judith Lumley Centre at La Trobe University, leading the work-family research area within the Centre's 'Transition to Contemporary Parenthood Program'. She has established expertise in the epidemiology of parents' mental health, the social determinants of parenting, and the work-family interface. Her research comprises epidemiological cohort studies and intervention trials, with a focus on establishing the longitudinal relationships between parents' mental health (anxiety, depression, fatigue), parenting and children's outcomes and the role of parents' employment, job quality and work-family balance on parent mental health and parenting.
