ODYSSEY
MIGRATION AND MOBILITY PUBLIC HEALTH RESEARCH HUB
Who are we? The Odyssey Hub comprises of researchers from the Curtin University School of Public Health, working in collaboration with researchers from other disciplines and international institutions to investigate issues relating to public health, population mobility and migration in the Asia-Pacific region.
Our mission is to foster multidisciplinary, inter-sectoral and multi-level collaborations and capacity-building to:
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Understand the causes and consequences of public health issues affecting mobile and migrant populations in the Asia-Pacific region, and
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Develop and evaluate ethical and evidence-informed responses to improve health and socio-economic outcomes for mobile and migrant populations in the Asia-Pacific region.
What do we do? The Odyssey Hub aims to improve planning, health promotion, service delivery and policy for mobile and migrant populations in the Asia-Pacific region by:
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Conducting original qualitative and quantitative research and synthesising existing knowledge to identify and understand emerging public health issues and build the evidence-base about the relationship between migration, mobility and health
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Building the capacity of mobile and migrant populations to design, conduct and apply public health research to address the needs of their communities
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Creating structures and mechanisms for collaboration between researchers, government agencies and community organisations working with mobile and migrant populations
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Engaging with decision-makers, practitioners and affected populations to facilitate knowledge translation and strengthen research impact
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Providing workforce training to health and other key service providers based on principles of best practice
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Offering training, support and mentorship to early career researchers from the Asia-Pacific region in relation to migration, population mobility and health
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Evaluating and advocating for the scaling-up of evidence-informed reforms to improve health and social outcomes for migrant and mobile populations.
Meet The Team
Corie Gray
Corie Gray currently works as the Coordinator for the Community of Practice for Action on HIV and Mobility (CoPAHM), and a sessional academic at the School of Public Health at Curtin University. Corie recently completed an Honours project which investigated HIV knowledge and use of health services among people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. Corie is completing her doctorate through co-designing an intervention to increase HIV testing uptake with women from Indonesia at-risk of HIV. She has remained an active member of both the Australian Health Promotion Association and the Public Health Association of Australia View full profile here.
Gemma Crawford
With almost 20 years of experience in the practice, advocacy, teaching and research of public health, Dr Gemma Crawford has worked within government and across the private, tertiary and not-for-profit sectors. She has spent the past decade exploring the impact of mobility and migration on public health, particularly as it relates to communicable diseases. Gemma is currently a Course Coordinator and Lecturer in the School of Public Health and Researcher with the Collaboration for Evidence, Research and Impact in Public Health at Curtin University. She is the current national President for The Australian Health Promotion Association. View full profile here.
Roanna Lobo
Dr Roanna Lobo is a Senior Research Fellow in the Collaboration for Evidence Research and Impact in Public Health at Curtin University where she has worked since 2003. She also sits on the management team of the Sexual Health and Blood-borne Virus Applied Research and Evaluation Network. Roanna’s health promotion experience has been focused on marginalised and vulnerable populations in a range of sectors including sexual health, youth mental health and suicide prevention, alcohol and substance use, homelessness, and smoking prevention in Aboriginal mothers. View full profile here.
Krysten Blackford
Dr Krysten Blackford is a Teaching and Research Academic with the Collaboration for Evidence, Research and Impact in Public Health (CERIPH) at Curtin University. She is also a Director of the Australian Health Promotion Association (AHPA), Chair of AHPA's Community Health Ethics Board Working Group, and a member of AHPA's Research, Evaluation and Evidence Translation Committee. Krysten has worked in the health promotion sector for over 10 years and has designed, implemented and evaluated health promotion interventions for a number of settings, target groups and health issues. She holds a PhD, Honours, and a Bachelor of Science double degree from Curtin University. View full profile here.
Justine Leavy
Justine is the Discipline Lead for Health Promotion and Sexology, Senior Lecturer & Research Fellow with the Collaboration for Evidence, Research and Impact in Public Health. Her recent research has a focus on physical activity promotion and drowning prevention with those from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds (CaLD). In 2019, Justine was awarded for her research highlighting the importance of tailored drowning prevention strategies for migrants in countries such as Australia with a strong aquatic culture has been undertaken and will continue. Justine’s emphasis is on translational research. View full profile here.
Daniel Vujcich
Daniel coordinates the ARC Linkage Project - Reducing health disparities for culturally and linguistically diverse people. He holds a Doctorate in Population Health and a Master's in Development Studies from the University of Oxford where he was a WA Rhodes Scholar. Daniel's professional experiences include working as a Senior Policy Officer for the WA Department of Health and as a Project Coordinator for the Aboriginal Health Council of Western Australia. Daniel has been a researcher for the Oxford Young Lives Project and the British Health Foundation Health Promotion Research Group. View full profile here.
Meagan Roberts
Meagan Roberts is a Research Assistant on the MiBSS Project (Migrant Blood-borne Virus and Sexual Health Survey). She has worked in the sexual health sexual health sector for almost seven years, and has experience working with CaLD and Aboriginal populations, as well as in both Government and non-government organisations. In 2014, Meagan was the recipient of the Australian Health Promotion Association Graduate Scholarship. Meagan has a Bachelor of Science (Health promotion) and is currently completing her Master of Public Health at Curtin University. View full profile here.
Kahlia McCausland
Kahlia McCausland is a Senior Research Officer at the Sexual Health and Blood-borne Virus Applied Evaluation and Research Network, Curtin University and Project Coordinator of the Healthway funded project: Mental health, homelessness and cultural and linguistic diversity in Western Australia. Kahlia is completing a doctorate in public health at Curtin University, and has worked across a variety of public health and health promotion research projects since graduating with a Bachelor of Science (Health Promotion) in 2013, particularly in the areas of sexual health and tobacco control. View full profile here
Karina Reeves
Karina is the Project Administrator for both the Sexual Health and Blood-borne Virus Applied Evaluation and Research Network and the Community of Practice for Action on HIV and Mobility. Karina is a final year BSc Health Promotion at Curtin University. View full profile here.
Daizy Mae Lelis
Daizy is currently volunteering at CoPAHM undertaking tasks such as website editing, developing the e-news and other various small projects. She is a third year student enrolled in BSc Health Promotion at Curtin University.
Sarah Emilie Tsin Sa Ah Vi
Emilie is currently volunteering at CoPAHM developing a strategy for a more engaging Twitter account. She is a fourth year student enrolled in a BSc Health Promotion and Nutrition at Curtin University.
Andrea Gavranic
Andrea is currently volunteering at CoPAHM undertaking tasks such as website editing, developing the e-news and other various small projects. She is a third year student enrolled BSc Health Promotion and Nutrition at Curtin University.