Steve McDonaldView profile
Research Fellow
Steve McDonald is a Senior Research Fellow and co-director at Cochrane Australia, leading the learning and education program. He holds a PhD from Monash University (2024) and specializes in evidence synthesis, particularly in improving the efficiency of study identification through automation and living guidelines. His work contributes to Sustainable Development Goals related to education and health. Education: PhD, Monash University (2024); MSc in Information Science, Loughborough University; Graduate Diploma in International Health, Monash University; BA in Social & Political Sciences, University of Cambridge (1991). Research focuses on search strategy design, machine learning applications in healthcare research, and guideline development methods. He co-led Project Transform, developing machine classifiers to enhance study identification efficiency. Key projects include updates to national pregnancy care guidelines and addressing sex/gender bias in health systems. Recent articles emphasize evidence surveillance optimization, living guideline methodologies, and clinical reviews on topics like pre-eclampsia and stem cell therapies. He received the 2021 Dean's Award for Excellence in Research (team). Active in international collaborations, he supports Cochrane networks in Asia and served on Cochrane’s Board (2008–2015). Current roles include advisory roles at the University of Adelaide and leadership in Australian Living Evidence Collaboration.




