Associate Professor Hayley Christian

Associate Professor Hayley Christian has more than 18 years’ professional experience in health promotion practice, health promotion research project management and health promotion teaching and research. To help people enjoy good health and wellbeing throughout their lives, Professor Christian’s research focuses on improving children’s physical activity, health and wellbeing through multi-level interventions that are focused on the child, the family, and social and built environments. This includes identifying strategies to create healthy early childhood education and care environments, and investigating how the home and neighbourhood environment shapes children’s health and development.

To make an impact on a wider scale, Professor Christian and her team work closely with government, non-government organisations, professional bodies and the private sector to identify and implement programs and policies to help children establish healthy behaviours early to provide the foundation for lifelong health.

Professor Christian is a Senior Research Fellow and National Heart Foundation Future Leader Fellow. She leads the PLAYCE (PLAY Spaces and Environments for Children’s Physical Activity, Health & Development) program of research, which is a multidisciplinary team focused on turning challenges into opportunities to make a positive difference in people’s health.