Our research
Expertise in public health
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Our University of Sydney School of Public Health researchers aim to improve health, wellbeing and fairness and boost healthcare outcomes on the global stage.
We produce research that is evidence-based, relevant and impactful across numerous research areas.
Our diverse and highly-skilled team of researchers and clinicians work together to advance knowledge, understanding and treatment of back pain and musculoskeletal conditions. Our research evaluates whether treatments are effective, safe, and cost-effective to enhance patient care as well as addressing the issue of "too much medicine". Overuse of medical tests and treatments can harm patients and diverts scarce healthcare resources.
Additionally, we evaluate and test the current evidence to help guide and impact clinical practice. This is important as currently orthopedic surgeries lack systematic, controlled comparisons to placebo or non-surgical options. We also work with clinicians, patients and policymakers to implement the latest research knowledge so that patients receive the right care at the right time.
Musculoskeletal conditions rank as the sixth most common emergency department (ED) presentation in Australia. The RESHAP-ED trial, led by Dr Gustavo Machado investigates the role of primary-contact physiotherapists in EDs to manage simple musculoskeletal conditions. The trial explores whether physiotherapists can provide cost-effective and timely care, potentially reducing ED length of stay without compromising patient satisfaction or health outcomes.
Funding: Medical Research Future Fund
The NUDGED trial, led by Dr Adrian Traeger tests the use of patient and clinician ‘behavioural nudges’ in reducing low value care. In 2018 over 120 000 people went to an emergency department in Australia because of low back pain. Most had ‘simple’ low back pain, where medical care such as diagnostic imaging and strong opioid medicines offer little benefit. Yet 3 in every 4 patients still received this kind of care. Unnecessary care can harm patients and diverts substantial resources from where they are most needed. NUDGED tests a new way to reduce unnecessary care in Australian hospitals.
Funding: National Health and Medical Research Council
The WAIT-less trial is a prospectively registered randomized controlled trial funded by the MRFF, which tests a new physiotherapist-led triage and treatment service for musculoskeletal pain. Many Australians without private health insurance experience long waits, sometimes up to 12 months, for public hospital outpatient physiotherapy, delaying recovery and complicating symptoms. The trial investigates a model of care to reduce wait times by allocating simpler cases to less resource-intensive options, like brief telephone consultations or App-based exercise programs, freeing up resources for more complex cases.
The trial includes 368 participants randomised to either the new service or usual care. Primary outcomes are physical function and waiting time at six months, with secondary outcomes assessing pain, healthcare use, adherence, costs, and adverse events. The findings will address whether this triage model can improve musculoskeletal pain management in Australia.
Funding: Medical Researc Future Fund
Acute sciatica is a prevalent, debilitating pain condition and there is currently no simple, effective treatment to relieve the pain. Preliminary evidence suggests that taking oral glucocorticoids may relieve pain and improve function in acute sciatica. This project aims to investigate the effects of oral glucocorticoids in people with acute sciatica.
The OASIS clinical trial will evaluate whether oral glucocorticoids are effective and safe compared to placebo. The medication will be taken for up to two weeks. Participants will be followed up for one year to measure leg pain intensity and other important outcomes.
Funding: National Health and Medical Research Council
Simple bone fractures, those that don’t require surgery or plaster casting, often require minimal care such as advice and monitoring by a physiotherapist. This care has traditionally been provided by in-person clinics at public hospitals, which often have long wait times. More recently, hospitals have begun to provide follow-up fracture care remotely by phone or video call. The Virtual Fracture Clinic Trial will determine whether the virtual clinic approach is as effective as an in-person fracture clinic in terms of patient function, recovery and other outcomes.
We aim to be at the forefront of learning health systems research by providing evidence for immediate application to healthcare. We work with hospitals, clinicians, and consumers across Australia who are jointly committed to achieving better outcomes through research.
Our health and clinical analytics researchers, in collaboration with the Sydney Children's Hospitals Network, have established a collaborative network of international researchers, clinicians, statisticians and community members to improve the delivery of healthcare through novel research methods and analytics.
More Australian hospitals are using electronic medical record (eMR) systems than ever before but implementing ways to seamlessly use electronic data to drive improvements in care is still a long way off.
We are working together with the Sydney Children’s Hospital Network and other children’s hospitals to design and implement a state-of-the-art digital infrastructure system to support a learning healthcare system.
The infrastructure aims to transform eMR data into an analysable format, allowing researchers to safely and securely access data to perform analyses and report the results to clinicians in a timely manner.
Around three in 10 children will develop an allergy, including eczema or food allergy, by their first birthday. We are implementing a multi-centre pragmatic adaptive clinical trial called OPTIMUM, to assess whether introducing an initial dose of “whole-cell” pertussis (whooping cough) vaccine can protect babies against the future development of allergy.
One in four people with a cystic fibrosis (CF) lung exacerbation fail to fully regain their previous lung function. We are designing and implementing BEAT CF, a world-first, healthcare-embedded adaptive platform which aims to optimise the management of exacerbations.
The Australia-wide study is a partnership between researchers, clinicians, patients and their families. BEAT CF is currently enrolling children, teenagers and adults with CF into the BEAT CF Platform which systematically captures information about their treatment and outcomes.
In time, BEAT CF will evolve into an adaptive platform trial which will directly compare the effectiveness of treatments across different domains including antibiotics, mucolytics, anti-inflammatories and physiotherapy.
Providing safe and effective early management for children who present to emergency departments with a possible serious infection is complex and requires accurate but rapid decision-making by clinicians.
We are developing a comprehensive network model to improve diagnosis and prognosis, including prediction of the likelihood of serious infections like bacteraemia, bone and joint infections, urine infections and pneumonia, based on information available shortly after presentation to hospital.
The work is a collaboration with Telethon Kids Institute, Perth Children’s Hospital, Bayesian Intelligence, and Monash University and is informed by extensive consultation with clinical experts and involvement of consumers. The model will be carefully validated based on data extracted from hospital electronic medical records (eMR) before being deployed for use as a clinical tool.
Most people with hepatitis C can be cured with as little as 8 weeks of treatment. Despite this, many Australians with hepatitis C are yet to undertake the treatment and be cured.
The Motivate C project is studying whether the offer of a cash incentive will encourage people to take up hepatitis C treatment in primary care and is looking for people living with hepatitis C to take part.
Our Sydney Health Ethics researchers critically consider the most pressing ethical and social questions in health. They lead and contribute to a range of cutting-edge projects, united by the vision that advancing healthcare cannot be achieved through technical progress alone. This is because such advances in health are shaped and informed by fundamental social structures, as well as by moral values and principles.
The Interconnect research project is developing co-designed, integrated, person-centred models of care to improve the physical and mental health of people with innate variations of sex characteristics (intersex variations/differences of sex development).
Funding: Medical Reseach Future Fund
LINEAGE is a research collaboration that is addressing emerging ethical, legal and social issues in governance of genomic datasets to improve health. LINEAGE brings together bioethicists, legal academics, social scientists, clinical geneticists, genomic scientists, patients, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander scholars and others to develop Australia’s first framework for the ethical governance of genomic datasets.
Funding: Medical Reseach Future Fund
The TARGeT project aims to provide a better way to help people to think and reflect about new genetic tests in pregnancy. These tests are on the rise. Yet they are occurring in a setting that is overly individualistic and underplays problems that can come from increased information and choice. TARGeT’s interdisciplinary team is generating new theoretical and practical knowledge to re-frame the concept of 'reproductive autonomy'.
Funding: Australian Research Council
Our research is dedicated to understanding, controlling, and preventing the spread of infectious diseases within Australia and globally. It addresses critical issues such as emerging pathogens, spillover, antimicrobial resistance, and the impact of infections on diverse and vulnerable populations.
Key areas of studies include epidemiology and disease surveillance, infection ecology, vaccines and immunisation, evaluating treatment effectiveness, HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, behavioural science, health literacy, implementation science and public health ethics.
Our researchers collaborate with local, state, and national government health departments to translate research into policy, as well as international organisations to support responses to infectious diseases.
We apply a health system lens to infectious diseases prevention and control and conduct rigorous research, education, and training across the Asia-Pacific region. Our researchers develop solutions to strengthen immunisation programs, disease surveillance, and emergencies (e.g. outbreaks) preparedness and responses.
Project include evaluation of electronic immunisation registries, training and capacity building of immunisation health workforce, review of surveillance network, measuring vaccination status and drivers for vaccination in children with disability, among others.
Funding: Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Asian Development Bank, The Pacific Community etc.
We apply a broad range of social sciences to improve vaccine uptake, systems, program and process, empowering people to make quality decisions at an individual, community, and population, and illuminate the value and contribution of social science to immunisation programs.
We embed social science expertise in decision making. Our projects include behavioural and social science to close gaps in vaccination coverage, protecting human and animal health and supporting sustainable agriculture, agricultural vaccination, measuring behavioural and social drivers of influenza vaccination in Australia, among others.
Funding: National Health and Medical Research Council, UNICEF, World Health Organization
Neonatal infections are a primary cause of 2.3m neonatal deaths that occur every year. The spread of antimicrobial resistance, coupled with rising rates of hospital deliveries globally – often in crowded and under-resourced facilities – increases the burden of multidrug-resistant (MDR) infections in newborn babies. However, very few new antibiotics are currently in development to enable effective treatments to be available to treat these infections.
The NeoSEAP (neonatal sepsis in Southeast Asia and the Pacific) consortium is led by The University of Sydney and brings together clinicians, scientists and researchers in high-burden countries across Southeast Asia and the Pacific, to reduce the morbidity and mortality due to AMR in babies and children. Our partners include The University of Oxford & St George’s University (UK) and our data inform the Global Burden of Disease (GRAM) study, WHO policy on antibiotic research, and vaccine development (in collaboration with the Gates Foundation).
Funding: National Health and Medical Research Council, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
Tuberculosis (TB) is the leading cause of death by a single infectious agent in the world. Every year: ~10million people develop TB disease, and ~1,5million people die because of TB. Even people who complete TB treatment are now at 3x risk for recurrence and many experience severe long-term sequelae/disability.
Many of these people are children. Less than half of all children with TB are ever even diagnosed. Available preventive therapy (prophylaxis) is barely used. Adolescents and young adults (15-24-years-old) with TB are less likely to be diagnosed, less likely to initiate TB treatment, less likely to complete TB treatment, and more likely to have poorer outcomes than children <15-years-old or adults >24-years-old. The reasons are complex and multi-fold.
OASYS-PN is a five-year fellowship to co-develop pragmatic optimisations of TB care for 15-24-year-olds. We are using multiple methods, underpinned by ‘listening groups’, to understand the challenges and co-develop solutions to these challenges with 15-24-year-olds. OASYS-PN has a strong capacity strengthening component, supporting 6 PhD and 4 masters-level students.
Funding: African Academy of Sciences.
We conduct and implement high-priority research in the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and care of people with, or at risk of, chronic kidney disease and related conditions.
Our research and teaching expertise spans epidemiology, biostatistics, health economics, qualitative methods, and evidence synthesis, which we apply to chronic kidney disease and other health conditions.
We have established which early markers of chronic kidney disease have most influence on the trajectory of chronic disease and the target age range for early prevention programs in Aboriginal and Indigenous children.
We are leading a phase 2 study to understand how genetics, social conditions and the environment work together to contribute to the major health challenges experienced by children and young people with chronic kidney disease.
We are assessing the health benefits and costs of a patient navigator program for children with chronic kidney disease experiencing low socioeconomic status or living in remote areas.
We explore and identify the way we can prevent ill-health and promote wellbeing in society across a range of health areas. Our research aims to not only reduce the burden of disease on society, but also create research-informed change in practice, management and policy.
Led by the Prevention Research Collaboration (PRC), our researchers conduct research that is relevant and appropriate for policy and for informing public health.
Conducting prevention and early intervention research that aligns with NSW Health priorities. Funding supports research infrastructure and strategies to build research capacity and translate evidence from research into policy and practice. Six thematic areas are:
Funding: NSW Health Prevention Research Support Program Funding
This project assesses the impact of using liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) for cooking to reduce household air pollution exposure on child health outcomes in Bangladesh.
The primary aim is to evaluate if reduced exposure to household air pollution through the provision of LPG for cooking from early gestation through to age two improves child anthropometry, health, and neuro-cognitive developmental outcomes, compared to children who are exposed to emissions from usual cooking practice.
We will evaluate how the intervention effects changes in gender roles, for example, shifts in the division of labor, improved self-efficacy, women’s access to and control over resources, altered work and time usage due to less time collecting biomass fuels, changes in household decision-making and women’s bargaining power, and changes in patterns of domestic violence.
Funding: National Health and Medical Research Council
Extreme heat due to climate change will impact disadvantaged and vulnerable populations, including pregnant women and their infants. There are significant gaps in our understanding of which gestation (week) of pregnancy is the most vulnerable, how thermoregulatory capacity changes throughout pregnancy, and what underlying mechanisms are responsible for increased risks of observed adverse outcomes following extreme heat exposure.
This project builds on existing successful partnerships between the University of Sydney, International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (Dr Masum Billah, and Professor Raynes-Greenow), and the Public Health Foundation of India. Specifically, we will conduct a pregnancy cohort study in Bangladesh and India, and a climate chamber study in Sydney Australia (Professor Jay), which will collectively contribute to the creation of a pregnancy-specific thermo-physiological model to determine heat-health risk for women throughout pregnancy.
Funding: Wellcome trust
SAPPHIRE was developed to address the burden of disease, exacerbated by a decrease in resilience to environmental and climatic changes in Asia Pacific regions. The research emphasises community participation, infectious and chronic disease control, health system strengthening, One Health adoption, climate change adaptation, and Gender Equality, Disability and Social Inclusion (GEDSI) integration for regional health security.
The GEDSI component is designed to strengthen and embed awareness and inclusivity, with mechanisms for routine measurement and evaluation to support the iterative improvement of GEDSI outcomes throughout the partnership (local and international). The objective of our gender equality outcome is to facilitate a transformative shift in local institutions' practices and in the practices within our own implementation teams, through a comprehensive plan for the integration of a GEDSI responsive framework.
Funding: The Australian Government’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade Regional Health Partnership
Provide technical support and generate evidence to improve the quality of diet for children and help to develop the country’s strategic guidelines for improving the quality of diet for young children aged 6-23 months.
Funding: UNICEF Timor Leste
The project aims to improve child nutrition in Indonesia, particularly in rural and remote areas such as Banyuwangi and Central Maluku Districts. By implementing a real-time data system and empowering local female health cadres to contribute to evidence-based village planning and decision-making, the project ensures better nutrition interventions that are tailored to community needs.
Dr Kirkwood will lead the gender analysis; developing thef GEDSI framework for the study and ensuring the co-design processes with stakeholders and female health cadres are GEDSI sensitive. The processes include the development of formative research tools, analysis, and workshop with stakeholders and female health cadres. This project fosters partnerships between Indonesian academics, government bodies, and the University of Sydney, creating knowledge exchange and capacity-building opportunities. Utilising expertise from both countries and engaging local stakeholders, the project promotes sustainable solutions to improve child health outcomes and strengthens future collaborative research.
This project builds upon the Shonjibon Cash and Counselling (SCC) Trial, a clinical trial that aims to reduce childhood stunting in rural Bangladesh through unconditional cash transfers and nutrition counseling delivered via a mobile app. The SCC Trial has shown promising results in addressing childhood stunting. Previous research has indicated that when nutrition counseling is provided in-person, knowledge tends to "spill over" to non-participant households, positively influencing community-wide health practices.
Funding: Cornell Ignition Scheme and Cornell Babcock Research Funds
In collaboration with CARE International in Lao PDR, this study seeks to understand women’s reproductive, maternal and child healthcare-seeking behaviour to better support their access and engagement with healthcare services.
Using a gender lens, the research will explore intrahousehold and societal gender-based power dynamics and key relationships that may influence women’s freedom of movement, and their access to and uptake of reproductive, maternal and child health services.
In collaboration with CARE International in Lao PDR, this research assesses the interlinkages between livelihoods and health and nutrition outcomes for women in rural Laos using a gender-based perspective.
Our study will generate insights for policy and programmatic interventions to improve the well-being of women in the region and to provide contextual knowledge that will inform the design of a larger-scale intervention.
We are exploring cash transfers and behaviour change communications to reduce child undernutrition in rural Bangladesh.
The project will involve a cluster randomised controlled trial to determine the most effective combination of interventions.
Funding: National Health and Medical Research Council
