Poche Research Updates, Part 3

Seminar Overview

This seminar will highlight advancements and innovative approaches in Indigenous health research, featuring presentations from three of our researchers. Our researchers will share their latest findings and insights, providing an overview of their research.

Dr Stuart Lekse, Program Manager, will present An update on the Centre of Research Excellence in Urban Indigenous Health. Dr Anton Clifford-Motopi, Senior Research Fellow, will present ‘We are experts in telling our story: the priorities of RAUCCHS (Research Alliance for Urban Community‐Controlled Health Services) for an Urban Indigenous Health Research Agenda. Dr Md. Mehedi Hasan, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, will present Bridging the Gaps: Path from Education to Contribution in Advancing Health Equity for Disadvantaged Communities. 

Speakers

Dr Stuart Leske is a non-Indigenous man born on Nukunu land in South Australia. He is the Program Manager of the Centre of Research Excellence in Urban Indigenous Health and Senior Research Fellow at the Poche Centre for Indigenous Health at The University of Queensland. Stuart has a bachelor’s degree in psychology, a postgraduate diploma of psychology and a PhD in psychology. Stuart has First Nations health publications about mental health, suicide and cancer. Stuart’s previous relevant work includes time spent at the Queensland Centre for Mental Health Research working on a project related to First Nations mental health, working under Gail Garvey’s cancer team while at Menzies School of Health Research, and his experience working on and managing the Queensland Suicide Register at Griffith University.
 

Dr Anton Clifford-Motopi is a mixed methods researcher with primary expertise in qualitative research methods. He is currently a Senior Research Fellow in the UQ Poche Centre for Indigenous Health at the University of Queensland. Anton's primary interest is in working in partnership with Aboriginal community-controlled health services to co-design, implement and evaluate intervention strategies, and develop more practical and effective models of embedding evaluation into their delivery of services and programs. His work in this area focuses on participatory qualitative research with staff and patients of Aboriginal community-controlled health services to improve the acceptability of interventions and optimise their potential effectiveness. Anton has previously worked in a research role with the Institute for Urban Indigenous Health and as a senior lecturer in the School of Public Health at the University of Queensland. Following completion of his PhD in 2008, he was awarded a National Health & Medical Research Council postdoctoral research fellowship which he undertook at the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre, University of NSW.
 

Dr Md. Mehedi Hasan is a public health researcher with strong expertise in quantitative data analytics. He has over eight years of professional experience in developing and developed countries. He has built a distinguished career in public health research, focusing on critical areas such as reproductive, maternal, newborn, and child health (RMNCH), nutrition, non-communicable diseases, mental health, sleep health, social determinants of health and health inequalities. Mehedi completed his PhD from the University of Queensland in 2022. In his doctoral thesis titled “Future direction of maternal and child health in low- and middle-income countries”, he utilised data of over 4.3 million participants extracted from 284 national surveys conducted in 75 low- and middle-income countries to understand the future projections of maternal and child health-related indicators and gaps in progress, with geographical variations across countries. His doctoral research resulted six publications in reputed international journals and provided valuable insights for global and country leaders in their pursuit of achieving health-related Sustainable Development Goals. He has reviewed manuscripts for eight international journals and published 45 peer-reviewed articles, many of which appear in high-impact journals. His work has gained media attention, with coverage of more than 15 research stories. In addition to his research and professional activities, Mehedi is an active member of several professional international collaborative groups, including Global Burden of Diseases, the American Society for Nutrition, the International Health Economics Association, the Society for Research in Child Development, and Health Systems Global, where he collaborates with fellow experts and stays at the forefront of developments in his field. Mehedi is a Global Change Scholar (2018 cohort) of the University of Queensland and a recipient of several prestigious scholarships and awards. He recently honoured with a national award in the Pregnancy Monitoring Innovation Challenge 2022 funded by the Aspire to Innovate (a2i), Bangladesh, recognising his innovative contributions to maternal and neonatal health.

Seminar recording