Sophie Andrews

Dr. Sophie Andrews is a Senior Lecturer and Lead of the Healthy Brain Ageing Research Program at the Thompson Institute, University of the Sunshine Coast. Her research focuses on dementia risk reduction through lifestyle interventions, habit formation, and neuroplasticity mechanisms in ageing. She holds a DECRA grant from the Australian Research Council and has received prestigious awards including the QLD Young Tall Poppy Award (2024) and Superstar of STEM recognition (2023-2024). Her work employs cutting-edge techniques like MRI, EEG, and TMS to evaluate multi-modal interventions for brain health. Prior roles include Research Fellow positions at UNSW Sydney and Monash University, where she investigated exercise effects in Huntington's disease.

Research interests include rural ageing, co-design approaches for dementia prevention, and cognitive neuroscience of habit change. Key grants include a $437K DECRA (2021-2024) and multiple seed grants for habit-physical activity studies. She supervises HDR students in topics like neuroplasticity responses to lifestyle interventions and personalized medicine for behaviour change.

• Education: DPsych (Clinical Neuropsychology, Monash 2013), BSc Hons, GradDipPsych (Monash), BA (RMIT)
• Registered clinical neuropsychologist
• Associate Editor, Journal of Alzheimer's Disease