Elizabeth Spencer

Dr. Elizabeth Spencer is a Senior Lecturer in Speech Pathology at the School of Health Sciences, University of Newcastle, Australia, where she currently serves as Head of Discipline (2022-present). With extensive experience in clinical linguistics and discourse analysis, Dr. Spencer contributes significantly to speech pathology education, research, and clinical practice within the College of Health, Medicine and Wellbeing.

Her educational background includes a PhD from the University of Sydney, a Bachelor of Arts from Macquarie University, and a Bachelor of Speech Pathology (Honours) from the University of Newcastle. Dr. Spencer has received numerous awards including the Education & Arts Vice Chancellor's Award for Teaching Excellence (2017) and the Faculty of Education & Arts Vice Chancellor's Award for Research Excellence (2013).

Dr. Spencer's research focuses on discourse analysis in speech pathology across communication disorders, language effects in aging using clinical linguistics methods, and Systemic Functional Linguistic analysis. Her work bridges theoretical linguistics with clinical applications, particularly examining discourse impairments in traumatic brain injury, aphasia, and aging populations. Recent research emphasizes practical applications of discourse analysis in clinical settings and collaborative approaches with stakeholders in speech-language pathology.

Analysis of her recent publications reveals a strong focus on traumatic brain injury rehabilitation, cognitive-communication disorders, and discourse analysis applications across various clinical contexts. Her work increasingly examines implementation science, exploring how research translates into clinical practice, with particular attention to visual discourse elicitation materials, collaborative approaches with families, and individualized treatment protocols for diverse communication disorders.

• 2017 Education & Arts Vice Chancellor's Awards for Teaching Excellence and Contribution to Student Learning (Team Award)
• 2013 Faculty of Education & Arts Vice Chancellor's Award for Research Excellence
• 2015 Faculty of Education & Arts: Vice Chancellor's Award for Research Excellence (Highly Commended)
• 2013 University of Newcastle Equity Research Fellowship
• 1999 Dean's Medal, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences

Dr. Spencer has supervised numerous PhD students across diverse topics including cognitive communication disorders post-TBI, collaborative approaches in speech pathology, dementia communication, and implementation of discourse analysis in aphasia assessment. Her grant funding includes projects such as 'Making Voices Heard: Analysis of contributions by older people to the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety' ($10,000, 2021) and 'Developing the speech pathology research network' ($14,725, 2019). She serves as a Research Affiliate with the Healthy Minds Research Program at Hunter Medical Research Institute (2022-present).