Better Thinking

In this episode of Better Thinking, Nesh Nikolic speaks with Lucette Cysique about the importance of understanding post-viral syndromes and how it can pave the way for enhanced long-term outcomes, benefiting both individuals and the wider community.

Associate Professor Lucette Cysique, a neuropsychologist researcher whos intrests lie in Modelling neurocognitive and brain changes based on chronic infectious conditions such as HIV infection and COVID-19.

Lucette completed her Neuro/Psychology undergraduate and graduate degrees in France and U.K.; Neuropsychology PhD in Australia, Neuropsychology and Neuroimaging Post-docs in US and Australia. Currently, Lucette is a Senior Lecturer at UNSW school of Psychology and she also Leads & co-lead NeuroHIV trials nationally and internationally.

In addition, Lucette is Chair of the NeuroCOVID International Neuropsychological Society Special Interest Group.

Episode link at https://neshnikolic.com/podcast/lucette-cysique

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In this episode of Better Thinking, Nesh Nikolic speaks with Dr Anna Kiaos about qualitative research methods and practices, offering valuable insights into understanding mental health within organisations.

Dr Anna Kiaos is a critical ethnographer with a passion for psychiatry, psychology and mental health. Her research explores the boundary between the psychological and societal focused views of the self. Specifically, her PhD research encompassed several interconnected topics, notably, managerial ideology, normative control, the underlying systems of cultural and subcultural meaning with a particularly strong focus on conceptions of self enacted in everyday working life and how such enactments reflect self consciousness from the perspective of various cohorts in the workplace.

T.A. Kiaos trained under Professor Gideon Kunda, Tel Aviv University. She has consulted with organisations in a variety of industries, including government, healthcare organisations, consulting firms and private enterprise to assess and improve an organisation’s ideology, culture, culture change management practices and approaches to leadership.

T.A. Kiaos received her PhD in Management from Macquarie University Business School and her Master of Health Communication from the University of Sydney. She currently works for the University of New South Wales, School of Clinical Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Health. She is heavily involved with leading projects and her work involves close collaboration across ample research centres and groups, including the Centre for Healthy Brain and Aging (CHeBA), the Department of Developmental Disability Neuropsychiatry (3DN) along with the Discipline's Medical Research Institutes, notably, Black Dog Institute, Ingham Institute and Neuroscience Research Australia (NeuRA).

Episode link at https://neshnikolic.com/podcast/anna-kiaos

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In this episode of Better Thinking, Nesh Nikolic speaks with Dr Philip Jean-Richard Dit Bressel about his research on neural circuitry using animal models to explore reward and punishment paradigms, their impact on decision-making processes, alongside a discussion on the gamification of research protocols in human studies.

Dr Philip Jean-Richard Dit Bressel is a behavioural neuroscientist at UNSW School of Psychology. Currently investigating psychobiological mechanisms of motivated learning by combining precision neuroscience techniques (e.g fibre photometry, optogenetics) with behavioural paradigms and multi-pronged analysis approaches.

His research endeavors to unveil the psychology and biology underlying the acquisition of associations between environmental cues, behavior, and outcomes, enabling adaptive behavioral modifications. His primary focus lies in unraveling the mechanisms of punishment learning, particularly how individuals discern actions leading to adverse outcomes.

This investigation holds significance in comprehending and enhancing decision-making processes in daily life. Furthermore, it holds relevance in various conditions marked by deficiencies in punishment learning, including substance and behavioral addictions (such as drug addiction and gambling disorder), psychopathy (such as antisocial personality disorder), and depression.

Episode link at https://neshnikolic.com/podcast/philip-jean-richard-dit-bressel

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In this episode of Better Thinking, Nesh Nikolic speaks with Michael Kasumovic about how humans respond to status both percieved and actual and how this can moderate specific behaviour.

Michael Matthew Kasumovic is an Associate Professor at University of New South Wales and Teacher & Director of Arludo. His research explores how the social environment shapes the evolution of individual traits and behaviours.

In this broad research question, Michael has explored how access to resources in insects, animals and humans moderates evolutionary decisions. Interestingly, Michael has worked with insects such as spiders and crickets to explore how changes in the density of males and females affects developmental decisions, and the outcome this has for how individuals perform and age.

Michael's research on humans explores how our evolutionary history can explain gender differences in the video games we choose to play and how this affects how we perceive ourselves and behave.

Episode link at https://neshnikolic.com/podcast/michael-kasumovic

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In this episode of Better Thinking, Nesh Nikolic speaks with Dr Tayla Degan about health literacy and how important it is to consider both as a clinican and as a consumer of health services.

Dr Tayla Degan is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre (NDARC), University of New South Wales, Australia. She is also a registered Clinical Psychologist working in private practice at Beachside Physiotherapy and Psychology, Cronulla NSW.

She has research expertise and interest in populations of people living with mental health and substance use disorders. Her PhD research focused on the health literacy of people accessing specialist mental health and substance use disorder treatment.

Tayla has experience working across multiple research trials and projects, including the evaluation of treatment services, implementation of a telephone-based continuing care intervention for people discharged from residential treatment services, and is currently involved in a Phase-3 randomised controlled trial examining mirtazapine as a pharmacotherapy treatment option for methamphetamine dependence.

Tayla also has a strong interest in online interventions for substance use disorders, health literacy interventions, and using co-design. Tayla has a passion for teaching and inspiring the next generation of psychologists and has lectured across multiple Australian universities.

Finally, Tayla runs her own business (Our Mind Space Psychology), alongside colleague and Clinical Psychologist Kendall Allsop, running group therapy programs for adults with ADHD.

Episode link at https://neshnikolic.com/podcast/tayla-degan

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In this episode of Better Thinking, Nesh Nikolic speaks with Natalie Taylor about the complexity and importance of implementation scientists and the factors that go into behaviour change within systems.

Natalie Taylor is an implementation scientist. She works both in a research and consulting capacity to help develop and apply optimal ways for organisations to adopt and rollout evidence based initiatives into practice with the goal of improving outcomes for patients and health-workers. Natalie’s work involves collaborating with academic, health, and non-profit organisations across NSW, Australia, and internationally.

Natalie is pioneering a combination of implementation research with statistical modeling and health economics to test the cost-effectiveness of implementation interventions and explore ways to identify the active ingredients behind successful implementation of new treatments, technologies, policies, and guidelines. Natalie develops and delivers behaviour change workshops and toolkits for healthcare professionals to facilitate and test the impact of the transfer of research evidence into practice. Natalie currently leads a program of work focusing on implementation in genetics, genomics, and cancer care.

Episode link at https://neshnikolic.com/podcast/natalie-taylor

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In this episode of Better Thinking, Nesh Nikolic speaks with Dr Conal Monaghan about dimensional models of personality disorder as well as the limitations and merits in the current diagnostic method.

Dr Conal Monaghan was conferred his PhD (Clinical Psychology) from the ANU in 2019. He also graduated with a degree in marketing with a major in international business - but we don’t speak of the “dark” years.

Currently, Conal works as a clinical psychologist at headspace Canberra, with PARSA’s PhD bootcamps, and as a lecturer and researcher at the ANU Research School of Psychology. Conal is lecturing on clinical assessment and statistics in the Master of Professional Practice program, and on psychometrics in the clinical psychology program.

He is passionate about clinical research and assessment, dimensional models of personality disorder, clinician well-being, and working to improve youth / adolescent mental health. While writing his PhD thesis, Conal lived and researched in Trondheim, Norway and Phom Penh, Cambodia, received the NTNU promising young researcher award and Steven Klimidis award for clinical psychology, and presented his research at a range of national and international conferences.

Episode link at https://neshnikolic.com/podcast/conal-monaghan

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In this episode of Better Thinking, Nesh Nikolic speaks with Nick Haslam about “concept creep” in the field of psychology and how it has reshaped many aspects of modern society.

Nick Haslam is Professor of Psychology at the University of Melbourne. He received his BA(Hons) from the University of Melbourne, his MA and PhD from the University of Pennsylvania, and taught at the New School for Social Research in New York City before returning to Australia in 2002.

Nick's research interests are in personality, social and clinical psychology and he has published 11 books and about 300 articles or book chapters in these and related areas. In addition to his academic writing, Nick contributes regularly to The Conversation, Inside Story and Australian Book Review, and he has also written for TIME, The Monthly, The Guardian, The Washington Post, The Australian and two Best Australian Science Writing anthologies. Nick is a Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia, the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, and the Association for Psychological Science. At his university Nick is a leader in the social psychology group and co-director of the Mental Health PhD program. In the past he has been Head of the School of Psychological Sciences, Pro Vice-Chancellor (Graduate), a member of the ARC College of Experts, and President of the Society of Australasian Social Psychologists.

Episode link at https://neshnikolic.com/podcast/nick-haslam

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In this episode of Better Thinking, Nesh Nikolic speaks with Dr Janet Hall about user-friendly strategies offering practical solutions to sexual and relationship issues.

Dr. Janet Hall is a retired psychologist of 40 years and still working as a, hypnotherapist, sex therapist, author, professional speaker, trainer, and media consultant.

Dr Jan consults regularly with print media and is a frequent guest on talk-back radio and current affairs shows. Dr Jan was a regular for two years on the Sex Life television program in Australia. Dr Jan user-friendly strategies offer practical solutions to sexual and relationship issues making her knowledge accessible for all.

Episode link at https://neshnikolic.com/podcast/janet-hall

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In this episode of Better Thinking, Nesh Nikolic speaks with Rebecca Collie about promoting and understanding educational settings to help both teachers and student thrive.

Rebecca Collie is a Scientia Associate Professor of Educational Psychology in the UNSW School of Education. She conducts research in the areas of motivation, wellbeing, and social-emotional development using quantitative research methods. Her research also encompasses related factors such as adaptability, engagement, interpersonal relationships, and achievement. She examines predictors and outcomes of these different factors among children, youth, and adults in educational settings. Broadly speaking, her research aims to identify how to best support and promote social, emotional, and academic/occupational thriving among students and teachers.

Rebecca has been awarded over $1M in national and international grants, and government and non-government research tenders. Her publications include 80+ peer reviewed journal articles and book chapters, 1 co-edited book, along with over 25 publications for professional audiences. Her research features regularly in print and online media articles and podcasts, and she has delivered invited/keynote presentations to academic, community, and educational organisations.

Her work has been recognised with several honours including an Australian Research Council DECRA Fellowship (2020-2023), the Richard E. Snow Award for Early Career Research Contributions from the American Psychological Association Division 15 (2021), and the Outstanding Early Career Scholar Award from the American Educational Research Association Division C (2020). Prior to that, she was awarded the Young Scientist Award from the International Society for the Study of Behavioral Development (2018), and Outstanding Reviewer for the American Educational Research Journal (2016).

She is an Associate Editor of the Journal of Educational Psychology, Consulting Editor of Educational Psychology, and an Editorial Board Member for Learning and Instruction, Teaching and Teacher Education, Social Psychology of Education, Educational and Developmental Psychologist, and Theory into Practice. She has held Visiting Research Fellowships at the University of Oxford, Université Laval, and the University of British Columbia.

She completed her doctoral studies at the University of British Columbia in Canada, and previously worked as a primary school teacher in Melbourne.

Episode link at https://neshnikolic.com/podcast/rebecca-collie

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