e-stress Research Team

Maureen Dollard
Maureen is Professor of Work and Organisational Psychology and Director of the Asia Pacific Centre for Work Health and Safety, a WHO Collaborating Centre for Occupational Health, at the University of South Australia, and Honorary Professor at the University of Nottingham. Her research concerns workplace psychosocial factors and she has published extensively on the topic. Maureen is on the board of the International Commission on Occupational Health, the editorial board for Work and Stress, Journal of Organizational Behavior, and European Journal of Work & Organisational Psychology, and the advisory board for the Beyondblue Workplace Mental Health Advisory Group. She co-established the Asia Pacific Academy for Psychosocial Factors at Work, and is Fellow of the European Academy for Occupational Health Psychology. Maureen is the innovator of Psychosocial Safety Climate theory and applications, key benchmarking metrics of employee wellbeing, national surveillance of working conditions via the Australian Workplace Barometer, and bringing an economic focus to occupational health.

Silvia Pignata
Dr Silvia Pignata is a Senior Lecturer in Aviation (Human Factors) within the School of Engineering at the University of South Australia. She has a PhD in work psychology, an Honours degree in Health Sciences, and a Bachelor of Psychology. Her PhD thesis examined organisational stress interventions and strategies that incorporate well-being and morale building activities in Australian universities, with a focus on their potential to reduce psychological strain.
She is a certified member of AHRI (Australian Human Resources Institute), APS (Australian Psychological Society), EAWOP (European Association of Work and Organizational Psychology) and the RAeS (Royal Aeronautical Society). Her current research interests include: work stress, interventions, human factors, email load, and sleep research. She has authored numerous peer-reviewed publications and presented invited papers at leading international and national conferences.

Anthony Winefield
Professor Anthony Winefield completed his BA (Honours) and Ph.D degrees at UCL before coming to Australia. He joined the University of South Australia as Foundation Professor of Psychology in 1999 after a spell at the University of Adelaide where he remains an Adjunct Professor. During his time at the University of Adelaide Tony was Dean of the Faculty of Arts, Head of the Department of Psychology, and an elected staff member of the University Council.
Tony was the inaugural Director of the Centre for Applied Psychological Research (2003-2006), and is a Fellow of the Australian Psychological Society (APS) and a former APS Director.

Kurt Lushington
Professor Kurt Lushington has a PhD and MPsych (Clinical) from Flinders University of South Australia. His thesis examined the role of the pineal hormone, melatonin, in the sleep of the aged.
Kurt is interested in all works to do with sleep, both applied and theoretical, and is currently working on several projects examining sleep in children and adults. In addition, he is involved in work with industry groups examining the role of fatigue in the workplace, and with his students the effect of new technologies on teaching. Kurt is the current Head of School for the School of Psychology, Social Work and Social Policy and Head of the Discipline of Psychology.

Arnold Bakker
Arnold Bakker, PhD., is Professor of Work and Organizational Psychology at Erasmus University Rotterdam. He is also Distinguished Visiting Professor at the University of Johannesburg, Extraordinary Professor at North-West University, Potchefstroom, South Africa, and Visiting Professor at the University of Zagreb, Croatia. Dr Bakker is well known for his research on job design and work engagement. Together with Dr Demerouti, he developed Job Demands–Resources (JD-R) theory – an overarching theory that predicts how job characteristics influence employee well-being and performance, and how proactive work behaviors influence working conditions.
Dr Bakker is one of the most-cited scientists worldwide, and has been included in Thomson Reuters’ list of “The world’s most influential scientific minds” since 2014. He has also featured in the list of the 40 most productive Dutch Economists (in 2014 and 2017). His research interests include burnout, job crafting, the work-family interface, sports psychology, and playful work design.

Amy Zadow
Dr Amy Zadow is a Registered Psychologist with a Masters degree in Work and Organisational Psychology and a PhD specialising in the prevention of workplace stress. Amy is currently teaching in the area of psychology and human factors at the University of South Australia and completing a range of research projects relating to the development of psychosocial safety climate, the prevention of psychosocial risks, and psychological injury prevention.
Amy also has seven years of experience working in injury prevention and management roles in both the public and private sector.

Rachael Potter
I am a Research Associate and lecturer within the School of Psychology, Social Work and Social Policy. I am interested in a vast range of research topics pertaining to work-related psychological health. Currently, I am working on a four-year project (funded by an Australian Research Council Discovery grant DP190100853) that explores digital communication and work stress in Australian universities. I have also been involved in other research projects for institutions such as Safe Work Australia and the World Health Organization. I have expertise in evaluating national, jurisdictional and organisational policy that addresses work-related psychological health. Throughout my PhD studies I evaluated the context, content and implementation of Australia’s regulatory work health and safety (WHS) policy framework for psychosocial risk regulation.

Ali Afsharian
Dr Ali Afsharian has a Master's degree in clinical psychology (USWR, Iran) and completed a PhD (UniSA, Australia) focusing on Psychosocial Safety Climate (PSC) from both composition and dispersion statistical perspectives to highlight and prevent psychosocial risk factors in working environments at national and international levels. Ali's PhD research also investigated and compared PSC concepts in different cultural contexts; Australian and Iranian workplaces. He is currently working as a researcher at the Asia Pacific Centre for Work Health and Safety. Ali's main research interests are: PSC, psychosocial risk factors, organisational psychology, as well as a range of topics relating to refugees in Australia.

Ms Amy Parkin
Amy is a PhD candidate with a Bachelor of Psychology (Honours). She has recently begun her PhD focusing on digital communication and work stress in Australian universities. Her honours research investigated how Psychosocial Safety Climate theory operates under conditions of job insecurity. Amy’s main interests are workplace digital communication, Psychosocial Safety Climate, workplace psychosocial risk factors and work-related psychological health.

How to cite this website:
Centre for Workplace Excellence (CWeX) (2019) StressCafé [Promoting healthier, happier, safer, and more productive work environments]. Retrieved from https://www.stresscafe.com.au/

Website Editor: Prof. Maureen Dollard
Publication officer: Dr Ali Afsharian

E-Stress Team

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