Past Fellowships

Past Fellowships with The Creswick Foundation


Each of the applications listed below was considered on its merits with regard to the best use of available funds for achievement of the Foundation’s aims, and in relation to competing demands for support of other applications. The list has been broken into three parts: 
Where indicated, a report of the project can be downloaded in pdf format.

Visits by Australians to Centres of Excellence


2023

  • To investigate the position and design of secure care in relation to increasing the minimum age of criminal responsibility in Australia by visiting overseas centres at the forefront of reform which includes secure care as part of alternative service models.  
Kate Crowe – Victorian Department of Families Fairness and Housing: Secure Care Services (Fellowship undertaken in private capacity) - $40,000.  
  • To visit world leading mental health services that have adapted their proven early intervention group programs (provided by mental health specialists) into scaled community-based services in order to inform scaling of the Mother-Baby Nurture (MBN) program to an accessible, free to access population-wide service for all at-risk babies. 
Sharon Cooke – Mother Baby Nurture - $30,130. 

2022

  • To share evidence and practice on Child and Family Hub models of care and extend our knowledge translation strategy by accelerating our learning and networks. 
Dr Suzy Honisett – Centre for Community Child Health - $18,613. 
Fellowship Report
  • To investigate building the capacity of education staff in promotion, prevention and early intervention in child mental health and wellbeing. 
Dr Georgia Dawson – Murdoch Children’s Research Institute - $14,360. 

2021

  • To gain expert insight into the development of trauma informed curriculum for youth work students in higher educational settings through overseas travel to targeted international youth work programs and agencies.
Dr. Karen Hart – Victoria University - $10,000

2020

  • To undertake a First 1000 Days (from conception to 2 years) exchange by enabling the CCCH team to visit the Auckland Co-Design Lab and The Southern Initiative (New Zealand) in order to build a strategic relationship, learn from their co-design experience, and culturally grounded approaches to improving the lives of children and their families. Note: Fellowship did not proceed due to external circumstances.
Sue West – Centre for Community Child Health (CCCH) - $17,640

2019

  • To undertake training and professional development across a range of evidence-based interventions for children and young people with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, and develop collaborations with the leading international researchers providing such opportunities. 
Dr. Natasha Reid - Centre for Health Services Research, University of Queensland - $16,784                                                                                


2018

  •  To develop an effective intervention to address the complex emotional, behavioural and relational needs of children of parents with borderline personality disorder (BPD) by undertaking advanced training in PCIT-ED and mentalisation based treatment (MBT) in order to support development of PCIT-Mentalisation and Emotion Coaching (PCIT-ME)   
         Dr. Amy Bird and Judy Pickard – School of Psychology, University of Wollongong - $15,433
  • To develop a multi level strategic model of enhancing the capacity of families to develop positive body image, mental, and physical health of children; and make progress towards, and prototypes of resources, to enhance mothers’ capacity to develop positive body attitudes and behaviours in their children.     
          Dr. Zali Yager – Victoria University - $12,766
  • To learn from thought leaders in digital health innovation and implementation in the USA and engage in knowledge transfer with respect to digital health innovations in mental health.     
Dr. Frank Muscara - Murdoch Children's Research Institute – $9,520
Fellowship Report
  • To determine how participation of children in child protection could play a significant factor in improving outcomes for all of society by visiting projects in the UK and Europe to identify the key elements for success that have been used to engage children in participatory processes. 
Lauren Thomas - Australian Childhood Foundation - $14,492

2017

  •  To explore adaptations and innovations required to develop culturally appropriate model(s) of EMDR therapy for aboriginal children and families; investigate innovative models of EMDR therapy that can be provided to adults and children in group and family settings; identify promising models of training and clinical support for frontline EMDR workers in developing countries and cross cultural settings; and undertake training and supervision in G-TEP or another group protocol.
Dr. Jenny Dwyer – Australian Academy of EMDR and Sue Anne Hunter - Victorian Aboriginal Child Care Agency - $39,370

Visits by overseas experts to Australia


2023

  • To bring Dr. Fiona Scott (University of Sheffield, UK) an expert in digital literacies, to share her international research, expertise and findings on children’s engagement with digital technologies and digital texts with early childhood educators, educational leaders, developers and researchers of young children’s digital learning experiences.
Samantha Page – Early Childhood Australia - $11,450
  • To bring Kate Bundle, CEO of Grandparents Raising Grandchildren, New Zealand to provide information and raise awareness about the circumstances of kinship care families and opportunities to improve their wellbeing.
Dr. Meredith Kiraly, University of Melbourne Honorary Fellow and Mike Feszczak, Grandcarers SA - $18,850

 2021

  • To co-ordinate a virtual National Child Sexual Abuse Prevention Symposium for an Australian audience, and include international child sexual abuse prevention experts to support advocacy and provide up-to-date input.
Matt Tyler – Jesuit Social Services - $19,000 

2020

  • To fund the visit of two internationally renowned experts in the prevention of child sexual abuse, to speak at forums and meetings in Melbourne, Sydney, Canberra and Brisbane. Note: Fellowship did not proceed due to COVID-19 travel restrictions. 
Matt Tyler – Jesuit Social Services - $15,000 

2019

  • To bring the Frameworks CEO (USA) to work with researchers, policymakers, practitioners and parents in an effort to reach a consensus on how to articulate and discuss child mental health in order to facilitate change.
Prof. Frank Oberklaid – Centre for Community Child Health - $23,300
  • To contribute to costs for a symposium to honour a respected academic, Prof. Frank Oberklaid (inaugural Director of the CCCH), with contributions from colleagues, former pupils and friends as well as international guests; and a public seminar translating the latest research into practice and policy.
Prof. Sharon Goldfeld – Centre for Community Child Health (CCCH) - $25,000

2018

  • To bring an expert in kinship care support, Ms Lucy Peake, CEO of UK Grandparents Plus, to engage in a training program to develop the skill base in kinship care policy and practice in Australia.
Dr Wendy Foote – Association of Children’s Welfare Agencies (ACWA) - $21,200

2017

  • To bring Prof. Danielle Schlosser (Verily Life Sciences, San Francisco), an international expert in digital applications for mental health, to facilitate the further development of several projects within MCRI’s digital health program. Note: Fellowship did not proceed due to external circumstances.
Prof. Vicki Anderson – Murdoch Children’s Research Institute (MCRI) - $9,520
  • To bring Prof. Trisha Greenhalgh (University of Oxford, UK), an internationally recognised academic in primary health care, as part of a joint initiative with the Victorian Government to co-design a series of learning exchanges to strengthen, enhance and consider important implementation issues for decision-making frameworks that will lead significant policy and practice reform.
Sue West – Centre for Community Child Health - $25,000

Projects undertaken within Australia

 The Foundation is open to innovative applications for projects to be undertaken within Australia. These were not historically the focus of the Foundation, but such applications are welcome. Two examples of successful applications of this type are: 

The Free Kindergarten Union was sponsored for the “Challenging Child Project” which looked at innovative ways of responding to behaviourally-disturbed children in kindergartens.

The Centre for Community Child Health at the Royal Children’s Hospital was sponsored for a sequence of visiting overseas experts in the pre-school child development field aimed at influencing public policy for children’s services. The sequence was not funded as a block, but each step was separately appraised.

Each of these applications was considered on its merits with regard to the best use of available funds for achievement of the Foundation’s aims, and in relation to competing demands for support of other applications.

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