UOM Centre for Wellbeing Science

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The Centre for Wellbeing Science (CWS) employs evidence-based approaches to measure wellbeing and promote positive change across diverse environments, including education, workplaces, performing arts and sports.

10/09/2026

Adeline Hoang | My PhD in Under 90 Seconds

Can understanding wellbeing make wellbeing interventions work better?

Adeline is exploring this through her PhD at the Centre for Wellbeing Science, Faculty of Education, University of Melbourne.

Her research looks at how young adults can be better equipped to understand and support their wellbeing across the challenges and transitions of early adulthood, and whether building wellbeing literacy can help interventions have greater impact.

But can she explain her PhD in just 90 seconds? 🎓

Over the coming months, we’ll be introducing more of our graduate researchers and the wide-ranging questions they’re exploring about wellbeing: across people, contexts and stages of life, and within the systems that shape how we live, learn, work and flourish.

Explore the breadth of wellbeing research underway at CWS:
https://education.unimelb.edu.au/cws/study

And if you have a wellbeing question you’d love to explore, find out more about graduate research at CWS here:
https://education.unimelb.edu.au/cws/research

Dan Loton | Wellbeing, PersonallyWellbeing is deeply personal.There is no one-size-fits-all approach to wellbeing. What ...
08/09/2026

Dan Loton | Wellbeing, Personally

Wellbeing is deeply personal.

There is no one-size-fits-all approach to wellbeing. What helps one person feel grounded, connected or supported may look completely different for someone else.

At the Centre for Wellbeing Science, we research, teach and study wellbeing every day. But we also know that wellbeing is something we each need to actively nurture.

In this series, we are introducing you to the people behind the Centre, exploring what wellbeing means to them, and sharing one practice they use to support their wellbeing.

Today, we are introducing Dr Dan Loton, Senior Lecturer at the Centre for Wellbeing Science.

For Dan, wellbeing is made up of many things, but relationships sit firmly at the centre. Family, friends and the pets he adores are among the most important parts of his life.

But another important part of Dan’s wellbeing is something he describes as “having an intellectual and cultural life”.

And for him, cinema plays a big role.

Dan loves the way film and television can transport us beyond our own experience and invite us into different ways of seeing the world. It can be an escape from everyday life, but also something more.

As Dan puts it, cinematic stories can “deliver you experiences that help you see the world in a different way.”

That curiosity and intellectual exploration is something he values deeply.

The Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy box set pictured here is one example of the kinds of stories Dan enjoys. He is particularly drawn to stories with complexity and humanity, and to those that don’t simplify the messy realities of people, relationships and motivation.

His media diet is not all serious spy dramas though. Dan is equally happy to admit there is plenty of “trashy stuff” in the mix too.

Perhaps that is part of the appeal. Sometimes cinema gives us space to think more deeply. Sometimes it lets us escape. And sometimes it simply gives us something we enjoy.

Dan’s perspective is a reminder that wellbeing can also be nurtured through the things that stimulate our curiosity, expand our perspective and help us step outside our own world for a while.

What is something that helps you see the world from a different perspective?

Different perspectives. Shared ambition. Flourishing futures.We are delighted to introduce the newly established Centre ...
06/09/2026

Different perspectives. Shared ambition. Flourishing futures.

We are delighted to introduce the newly established Centre for Wellbeing Science Advisory Council, bringing together leaders from across research, education, clinical psychology, University leadership, business, philanthropy, workplace mental health and innovation.

The Council has been established to help CWS think ambitiously about its next chapter: how we build on our research strengths, sharpen our strategic direction, extend our partnerships and translate wellbeing science into meaningful impact across education and society.

The newly established Advisory Council brings together:

Chair | Business & philanthropy
• Mr John Higgins AO — Chairman, Higgins Group of Companies

University leadership
• Professor Jamie Evans — Pro Vice-Chancellor (Students and Education), University of Melbourne
• Mr Tim Brabazon — Director, Student Success, University of Melbourne

Centre leadership, and Health & wellbeing
• Professor Dianne Vella-Brodrick — Director, Centre for Wellbeing Science, Faculty of Education, University of Melbourne; Gerry Higgins Chair in Positive Psychology
• Professor Nikki Rickard — Director of Research, Centre for Wellbeing Science, Faculty of Education, University of Melbourne

Research leadership
• Professor Susan Sawyer AM — Director, Centre for Adolescent Health, Royal Children’s Hospital; Geoff and Helen Handbury Chair of Adolescent Health, University of Melbourne
• Professor Brendan Wintle — Director, Melbourne Biodiversity Institute, University of Melbourne
• Professor Kate Reynolds — Associate Dean (Research), Faculty of Education, University of Melbourne

Education & clinical psychology
• Associate Professor Erica Frydenberg AM — Clinical, Organisational and Educational Psychologist; Honorary Principal Fellow, University of Melbourne

Industry & workplace mental health
• Margo Lydon — Establishment Co-Lead, Mentally Healthy Workplaces Australia; Honorary Fellow, University of Melbourne

Innovation & thinking
• Dr Michael Hewitt-Gleeson — Cognitive neuroscientist and internationally recognised authority on lateral thinking

At its first meeting, the Council began exploring some of the questions that will help shape the Centre’s next phase, including how CWS can articulate a clearer research proposition around flourishing futures, strengthen pathways from research to real-world impact, and create new opportunities across education, partnerships and engagement.

One emerging question will be particularly important as that strategy develops:
How can we build wellbeing capability earlier and strengthen it through key life and educational transitions to create stronger foundations for flourishing futures?

We look forward to sharing more as this work develops.

Welcome to the CWS Advisory Council.

Strengthening connections with National Taiwan Normal UniversityThis week, the Centre for Wellbeing Science welcomed Exe...
04/09/2026

Strengthening connections with National Taiwan Normal University

This week, the Centre for Wellbeing Science welcomed Executive Vice President Professor Hsueh-Chih Chen, Professor Peiying Chen and a delegation from National Taiwan Normal University, continuing a relationship that has grown over several years through collaboration, exchange and shared learning.

Hosted by Professor Dianne Vella-Brodrick, Director of the Centre for Wellbeing Science, and colleagues, the visit gave the delegation an opportunity to explore the Centre’s work in wellbeing education, with Bio-Dash a key focus within a broader program of masterclasses, co-design and research discussions.

The delegation also received a warm welcome from senior Faculty of Education colleagues, including Professor Wee Tiong Seah (佘伟忠), Associate Dean (Global Engagement), A/Prof Jessa Rogers, Associate Dean (Indigenous), and Fiona Luck, Senior Business Development Manager.

Founded at the University of Melbourne and co-designed with students and educators, Bio-Dash is an evidence-based wellbeing and optimal performance program for secondary school students. It makes learning about wellbeing engaging, personalised and tangible. Using biofeedback, personalised biodata, virtual challenges and bite-sized online learning, it helps young people understand the mind-body connection and build practical strategies to manage everyday anxiety and support their wellbeing and performance in a variety of contexts.

Bio-Dash is currently available to Victorian government secondary schools through the Schools Mental Health Menu: https://www.schools.vic.gov.au/bio-dash

Just as importantly, the visit created space for genuine exchange: sharing ideas, comparing perspectives and exploring how wellbeing approaches might translate across different cultural and educational contexts.

As we farewell Professor Chen and the delegation today, we’re grateful for the time spent together, the ideas shared and the opportunity to continue strengthening our partnership with National Taiwan Normal University.

The best partnerships don’t just share expertise, they learn from each other.That has been a defining feature of the Cen...
03/09/2026

The best partnerships don’t just share expertise, they learn from each other.

That has been a defining feature of the Centre for Wellbeing Science’s (CWS) partnership with Richmond Fellowship Queensland (RFQ).

For more than 50 years, RFQ has been supporting people experiencing mental health challenges and social disadvantage across Queensland. Today, its 400+ staff support thousands of people across rural, regional and metropolitan communities, often working alongside people through some of the most complex and challenging periods of their lives.

In work so focused on supporting the wellbeing of others, supporting the wellbeing of the workforce itself matters deeply.

Together, CWS and RFQ created a Wellbeing Literacy Program designed to help staff build the knowledge, language and practical tools to support wellbeing in their own lives and in their work with clients. The program has also been tailored to better meet the needs of RFQ’s First Nations clients.

But the partnership has not stopped at developing a program.

More recently, CWS researchers, including Professor Liz Jones and Dr Jacqui Francis, have worked alongside RFQ colleagues, including Dr Peter Davison, RFQ’s Head of Research Innovation, to evaluate how the program was experienced in practice: what people valued, what helped them use what they learned, and what could make it more effective.

The findings showed strong perceived relevance and value, with staff reporting that they were applying what they learned both at work and in their personal lives. They also highlighted the importance of the conditions around the learning, including leadership support, practical and contextualised content, opportunities to learn with others, and stronger follow-through after formal training.

Importantly, RFQ staff were active contributors to the research. Seven staff members from five RFQ offices joined the research team as the WELL Collective (Wellbeing, Empathy, Learning and Life), helping shape the evaluation and inform what should happen next.

As CWS Director Professor Dianne Vella-Brodrick puts it:

“Partnerships like this are important because they enable wellbeing science to be tested, challenged and strengthened in real-world settings. The learning works both ways, and that is where some of the most valuable research translation can happen.”

For RFQ, the partnership brings research capability and evidence that can help strengthen how wellbeing is supported across its workforce and services.

That is where research-practice partnerships can be most powerful: bringing different forms of expertise together and using what is learned to improve what comes next.

What if the most important part of developing an AI tool wasn't the technology?We chose to start somewhere else.With you...
29/08/2026

What if the most important part of developing an AI tool wasn't the technology?

We chose to start somewhere else.

With young people.

An interdisciplinary University of Melbourne research team, bringing together researchers from our Centre for Wellbeing Science and the School of Computing and Information Systems, worked alongside young adults to better understand how they discover arts and creative activities that bring people together in person, from live music and painting to creative workshops and cultural events, and what can get in the way of taking that first step towards getting involved.

Those conversations didn't just inform the project. They shaped it.

The result is Connie, an AI-supported tool designed to help young people discover local arts and creative activities that match their interests and make it easier to connect with like-minded people.

Developed with support from a Google Society-Centred AI Research Award, Connie reflects our commitment to designing technology alongside the people it's intended to support.

Our first paper from the project explores how early-stage co-design can help answer a question that comes before building: not simply how should we design a digital tool, but should we build it at all, and if so, what role should it play and under what conditions?

📖 Interested in the co-design approach? Read the pre-print commentary paper, currently under review: https://osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/hq4cz_v3, and watch our youth co-researchers reflect on their role in shaping Connie: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVTjQLsnZF4

We’ll share the project’s empirical findings in a subsequent post.

🤖 Curious to see Connie in action? Explore an early prototype of the Connie conversational experience: https://connie.net.au/

The research team includes Professor Nikki Rickard and Simone Minett from the Centre for Wellbeing Science, together with Dr Simon D'Alfonso and Kejian (Kenji) Cui from the School of Computing and Information Systems.

A huge thank you to our youth co-researchers Darcy Stockdale, Tilly Bland and Oliver Nassau for helping shape the project.

What if we’re only telling half the story about young people’s mental health?Rising anxiety, depression and distress amo...
25/08/2026

What if we’re only telling half the story about young people’s mental health?

Rising anxiety, depression and distress among young people deserve serious attention. But focusing only on symptoms can miss the other half of the picture: how young people are also experiencing wellbeing, resilience and positive functioning.

New research comparing a 2018 Year 7 cohort with a 2023 Year 7 cohort confirmed a concerning shift, and it wasn't spread evenly. Among girls, the proportion experiencing "complete mental health", meaning high wellbeing and low distress, fell from 37.9% to 26.3% between the two cohorts, while those in the "troubled" profile rose from 15.3% to 20.4%. Boys showed no significant shift across this time period.

But the research also revealed something that can get lost in the wider deficit-focussed narrative around youth mental health: around three-quarters of the 2023 cohort still showed positive wellbeing, including many who were also experiencing symptoms of anxiety or depression.

This cross-institutional study led by Dr Haochen Zhou included researchers from across Australia, with our own Centre for Wellbeing Science Director of Research, Professor Nikki Rickard, and the Faculty of Education’s Professor Kate Reynolds, among the co-authors.

These findings challenge a simple either/or view of youth mental health. Young people can be struggling and still experience resilience, happiness and positive functioning. Wellbeing and distress can coexist.

Professor Rickard says this fuller picture is important:

“We absolutely need to understand where young people are struggling, but we also need to understand where there is growth. Looking at strengths alongside mental ill-health gives us a much richer picture of how young people are really doing.”

Professor Rickard is now leading YouthStrengths, a Faculty of Education seed-funded project bringing together our Centre researchers and colleagues from across the Faculty to explore trends in positive traits and behaviours among young people aged 15 to 30 across two decades of data.

Because understanding where young people struggle matters. So does understanding what helps them cope, connect and thrive.

🔗 Read the research: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2026.06.015

What helps international students feel that they truly belong?For students building a life in a new country, challenges ...
23/08/2026

What helps international students feel that they truly belong?

For students building a life in a new country, challenges around loneliness, cultural adjustment, language and social connection can have a real impact on their wellbeing and sense of belonging.

We R Our Stories is a new student-led initiative creating a space for international students to connect, reflect and share through interactive drama and co-designed storytelling.

Led by Master of Education student Rosalyn Shih, who is specialising in Student Wellbeing, the project has received a University of Melbourne Student Services and Amenities Fee Grant.

Across a series of workshops, students share and explore their experiences, with their stories helping to shape a public Playback Theatre performance for the wider University community.

Rosalyn was mentored through the grant application process by Centre for Wellbeing Science lecturer Dr Anneliese Gill.

“Belonging and social connection are important foundations for wellbeing. Creating spaces where international students can share their experiences, feel heard and build meaningful connections can make a real difference.”

For us at the Centre, it is exciting to see wellbeing science translated into student-led initiatives that create opportunities for participation, connection and belonging in everyday university life.

The first workshops are now underway, and we look forward to seeing We R Our Stories continue to take shape.

What can nature add to psychological practice, and how can we harness its benefits in evidence-based ways? 🌿Professor Di...
23/08/2026

What can nature add to psychological practice, and how can we harness its benefits in evidence-based ways? 🌿

Professor Dianne Vella-Brodrick, Director of the Centre for Wellbeing Science in the Faculty of Education, University of Melbourne, has been invited by the Australian Psychological Society (APS), together with the APS Positive Psychology Interest Group, to present an upcoming webinar exploring the intersection of nature, wellbeing science and positive psychology.

Flourishing with nature: Integrating wellbeing science and positive psychology will examine the rapidly growing evidence around nature-based approaches to wellbeing, including both their potential and their limitations.

Drawing on research across nature connection and wellbeing science, Dianne will explore how practices such as savouring, gratitude, mindfulness, flow and meaning can be integrated with experiences in nature, alongside principles of attention restoration and stress reduction.

The webinar will also look beyond individual wellbeing, considering how nature-based approaches can support pro-social and pro-environmental behaviours and more sustainable forms of wellbeing.

This is an area of growing research focus for Dianne and the Centre, including work examining different types of nature experiences and their impact on wellbeing, and the evaluation of nature prescribing for people experiencing mild to moderate mental illness.

📅 Flourishing with nature: Integrating wellbeing science and positive psychology
Presented by Professor Dianne Vella-Brodrick
Hosted by the Australian Psychological Society with the APS Positive Psychology Interest Group

🗓 26 August 2026
🕖 7:00–8:30 pm AEST
💻 Webinar

For those interested in attending, details and registration are available here: https://psychology.org.au/bookevent/27253

Eight months on, Australia’s under-16 social media restrictions are increasingly becoming a lived reality.With platforms...
23/08/2026

Eight months on, Australia’s under-16 social media restrictions are increasingly becoming a lived reality.

With platforms now actively removing under-16 accounts, an important question becomes even more pressing: what helps young people stay socially connected when access to social media is removed?

For many young people, social media has played a genuine role in friendship, belonging and social connection. Removing access does not automatically replace those needs with meaningful offline alternatives.

In this Pursuit article, Centre for Wellbeing Science researcher Dr Dan Loton, together with Dr Catherine Smith and Associate Professor Matthew Harrison, explore what parents, carers and educators can do to support young people’s social lives beyond social media.

Their message remains highly relevant: there is no single right approach. Curiosity, communication, supportive relationships and opportunities for meaningful connection matter.

As Australia continues to navigate this major change in young people’s digital lives, it’s a timely reminder that digital wellbeing is about more than reducing screen time. It’s also about making sure young people have meaningful ways to connect, belong and maintain supportive relationships — online and offline.

🔗 Read the full article: https://pursuit.unimelb.edu.au/articles/supporting-kids-social-lives,-without-social-media

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