Megan Bell

Dr Megan Bell is a Research Fellow at the School of Population and Global Health, The University of Western Australia. She holds a Graduate Certificate in Population Health (2024), Master of Clinical Psychology (2018), PhD (2017), and Bachelor of Arts (2012), all from UWA. Her research focuses on child development and family well-being, particularly outcomes of children with incarcerated mothers and those exposed to adverse experiences like domestic violence. She is an Associate Editor of the Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology.

Education:

• Population Health, Graduate Certificate, UWA (2024)
• PhD in Psychology, UWA (2017)
• Master of Clinical Psychology, UWA (2018)
• Bachelor of Arts (Honours), UWA (2012)

Research Interests:

• Maternal incarceration impacts on child health/education
• Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs)
• School readiness and attendance
• Linked data methodology
• Family wellbeing interventions

Notable Articles: Focus on maternal incarceration effects, domestic violence impacts on school performance, and child protection system interactions. Recent work includes studies on neonatal outcomes for mothers in prison and numeracy/literacy disparities.

Awards:

• Early Career Research Award (2024)
• Health Research Grant (2023)
• UWA Student Guild Teaching Award (2015)

Active Grant: Leading a 5-year project on optimizing outcomes for children of incarcerated mothers funded by the Stan Perron Charitable Foundation (2024–2029).

Labs/Teams: Previously managed the Child Development Atlas project at Telethon Kids Institute. Currently collaborates with interdisciplinary teams on maternal incarceration and child welfare research.