Laura Tirlea

Laura Tirlea is a Senior Lecturer at the School of Health Sciences, Swinburne University of Technology, Australia. A registered member of the International Association for Statistical Education and the International Statistics Institute, her work bridges applied statistics with public health and occupational therapy.

• Degrees:
  • PhD in Psychology, Monash University (2017)
  • Postgraduate Diploma in Psychology, Swinburne University (2007)
  • Bachelor of Social Science (Psychology), Swinburne University (2005)
  • Diploma in Community Development, Chisholm Institute (2000)

Her research interests focus on:

• Mental Health: Prevention of disordered eating and self-esteem as protective factors in young women.
• Health Promotion: Evidence-based practices for health professionals and community interventions.
• Statistics Education: Innovations in teaching statistics within health sciences.
• Family-Centered Care: Addressing maternal well-being in multicultural contexts.

Recent publications emphasize:

• Online interventions for parents of children with disabilities (2025).
• Cross-cultural validation of health metrics for Chinese mothers (2024).
• Dissociation training for psychologists (2024).
• Psychometric evaluations of tools like MyFACE (2022).

Scientific Awards:

• Recipient of the Monash Health Emerging Researcher Fellowship (2009–2010).
• Nominated for the Vice-Chancellor's Diversity and Inclusions Awards, Monash University (2014).

Teaching and Supervision: She supervises Doctorate (PhD) and Master’s students, focusing on maternal health, transgender well-being, and complex PTSD interventions.

Grants: Laura has secured funding for projects such as:

• Psychological and Neurobiological changes following EMDR therapy (Barbara Dicker Brain Science Foundation, 2024).
• Healthy Mothers, Healthy Families (Monash University, 2022).
• Sleep hygiene app development (Swinburne University, 2019).

Labs and Teams: Collaborates with researchers like Helen Bourke-Taylor and Karen Joyce on multidisciplinary teams addressing maternal health, disability support, and community engagement.