National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Partnership Projects

Professor Craig Olsson,  SEED Lifespan  and School of Psychology

Professor Craig Olsson and his research team are working with rural Victorian communities to co-design a new Comprehensive Monitoring System (CMS) that collects population data from early childhood to young adulthood. This CMS is intended to empower community groups to advocate for place-based changes to health, education and employment systems that directly improve the mental health and wellbeing of children and young people.

In partnership with the Victorian Department of Education, the Municipal Association of Victoria, North Central Mallee, Greater Mildura and Yarra Ranges Regions, his project will examine the extent to which place-based CMS data collections can assist communities to identify trends and deliver interventions at critical developmental stages so as to promote mental health and wellbeing in young populations.

‘This project will extend CMS testing to larger and more complex areas (rural, regional and metropolitan), empowering communities with their own data to drive social change,’ says Professor Olsson.

The research team includes Professor Matthew Fuller-Tyszkiewicz, Dr Christopher Greenwood, Professor Suzanne Robinson, Professor Peter Butterworth and Dr Kate Lycett from Deakin, alongside Emeritus Professor Stephen Zubrick, Professor Melissa Green and Associate Professor Rebecca Glauert from the University of Western Australia and Martin Guhn from the University of British Columbia.