The Brightwater Research Centre is dedicated to working collaboratively with the public and internal and external partners to define a problem, to build research capacity within the organisation, and to undertake quality research studies.
Manager, Brightwater Research Centre
Dayna, an emerging researcher, is passionate about advancing evidence-based health practices and policies which make a difference. Her fervour lies in collaborating with decisions makers to ensure programs are not only effective but also equitable, maximising benefits for their clients within budgetary constraints.
In her role as the Manager of the Brightwater Research Centre, Dayna spearheads a multidisciplinary team of researchers conducting impactful research. This ensures that Brightwater’s practices are firmly grounded in evidence, ultimately making a positive difference to the lives of staff, clients and the broader community.
Prior to joining Brightwater Care Group, Dayna’s research primarily focused on optimising and personalising screening interventions to prevent colorectal cancer. Her doctoral thesis, completed at Erasmus University Medical Centre in the Netherlands evaluated the harms and benefits of colorectal cancer screening programs. This research aimed to improve their overall effectiveness and cost-effectiveness, addressing both the general population and specific high risk population groups.
Full publication list & research profile available via ORCIDIndependent Chair Research Governance Sub-Committee & Strategic Research Advisor
Professor David Preen is the Chair in Public Health at the School of Population and Global Health, The University of Western Australia (UWA). He was the Director of the UWA Centre for Health Services Research from 2006-2016 and holds an honorary appointment at Swansea University (UK). Professor Preen has an established international reputation as a leader in the application of epidemiological methods to linked data research and has been involved with conducting public health and health services research using whole population linked administrative health and social sector data for almost 20 years to study areas including:
He is at the forefront of methodological advances using linked administrative health data, having held Chair and advisory roles for >30 international and national boards and committees including:
At Brightwater, David chairs the Research Governance Sub-Committee, provides research leadership and strategic advice to the Brightwater Research Centre and mentorship and capacity building to the research team.
Full publication list & research profile available via ORCIDHarken-Brightwater Fellow
PhD, MBus (Research), GradDip, BSc (Hons)
Dr Elissa Burton is an Associate Professor at Curtin University in Western Australia. Elissa’s research focuses on helping older adults to live independently at home for as long as they choose, through healthy ageing strategies. Much of Elissa’s work has been with older adults who receive home care services, reablement or restorative care, promoting physical activity, preventing falls, and encouraging healthy older adults to participate more in strength and balance training. More recently her work has been in fall prevention for people living with mild cognitive impairment, which was part of her successful NHMRC Investigator Grant. She also works with people living with young onset dementia, their carers and people living with older age dementia and their carers. She is the Co-Domain Lead for the Dementia and Ageing Domain at Curtin University’s enAble Institute, a Fellow of the Australasian Association of Gerontology (AAG) and a member of their National Board.
At Brightwater, Elissa creates and drives research programs to advance research in brain health and healthy ageing, with a focus on Young Onset Dementia. She also aims to build capacity of the research team and increase the profile of Brightwater’s Research Centre.
Full publication list & research profile available via ORCIDSenior Research Officer, Adjunct Research Fellow, School of Medical and Health Sciences, ECU
PhD, MSc, BSc, MBiostat (Candidate)
Alyce is a medical scientist with over a decade of experience in both academia and industry, specialising in biostatistics, bioinformatics and data analysis in the public health domain. She has had numerous roles in research, statistical consultation, data management, teaching and supervision.
Prior to joining Brightwater, her research focus spanned the topics of Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, cardiometabolic disorders, subclinical health status and healthy ageing, with several high-impact publications. Alyce’s PhD thesis was a thorough investigation of how the genome, transcriptome and cellular environment effects immunoglobulin G N-glycosylation in participants from the Busselton Health Ageing Study. It highlighted the underlying biology of subclinical and clinical health in this ageing population and received the 2019 ECU School of Medical and Health Sciences Research Award as the highest quality thesis for her year.
While her career focus has been primarily in health and medical research, Alyce has provided key statistical and data analytic skills to several other industries, including psychology, agriculture, food science, transport and environment.
At Brightwater, Alyce supports the Brightwater Research Centre across multiple disciplines to check and prepare datasets, perform statistical analyses and provide detailed reports of project findings. She is also leading the WASABI project assessing the response and functional outcomes of people with an acquired brain injury undertaking neurorehabilitation.
Full publication list available via ORCIDLead Therapist
Naomi holds a Bachelor of Science (Speech Pathology) with Honours from Curtin University. Since graduating, Naomi has worked in a number of roles in the disability and aged care sector, providing services to adults living with communication or swallowing impairment.
Naomi is most passionate about improving communication for older people living with dementia. She is the Lead Therapist on the SenseCog Care Australia - Residential Aged Care (RAC) project. This is a collaboration between a number of research partners, including Brightwater Care Group, The University of Queensland, and Murdoch University. SenseCog Care Australia (RAC) aims to provide hearing and vision support to improve communication and quality of life for people living with dementia in residential aged care facilities. Naomi also conducts hearing and vision screening tests with older people living at home who receive services through a government-funded home care package. The information she collects through this process is contributing to the characterisation study associated with the SenseCog Care Australia – Home Care project and plays an important role in understanding how many older people living in our community are affected by hearing and vision loss.
Full publication list & research profile available via ORCIDSenior Research Officer, Adjunct Research Fellow (UWA, School of Population and Global Health)
MA, BSc
Rachel is an accomplished health researcher with over 15 years of experience in both qualitative and quantitative methodologies. Her work focuses on improving outcomes for individuals with acquired brain injuries, with a particular interest in stroke and concussion recovery.
She has contributed to a number of high-impact, multidisciplinary projects, including the AUS-mTBI Clinical Trial at Curtin University, which explored recovery following concussion, and the evaluation of a novel upper limb rehabilitation program for stroke survivors in collaboration with the South Metropolitan Health Service and Edith Cowan University.
Prior to these roles, Rachel worked with the School of Surgery at the University of Western Australia, contributing to research in the Cancer and Palliative Care Research and Evaluation Unit.
Rachel has co-authored several publications in leading journals, including Brain Injury and Australian Health Review, and has recently presented findings at the Australasian Neurotrauma Symposium (2024) and Symposium of Western Australian Neuroscience (2023).
With a passion for advancing evidence-based clinical practices, Rachel continues to contribute to impactful research that aims to improve health outcomes for individuals throughout their rehabilitation journey.
Having first collaborated with the Brightwater Research Centre in 2015, Rachel is excited to rejoin the team and contribute to impactful, evidence-based research that will benefit the clients, families, and staff within the Brightwater community.
Full publication list & research profile available via ORCIDClinical Trial Coordinator
Rebecca holds a Bachelor of Science in Occupational Therapy and a Bachelor of Communications in Journalism & Public Relations. Rebecca has worked as an occupational therapist in the aged care and the NDIS/community sectors, and as an assessor and interventionist on paediatric studies within a tertiary hospital.
Rebecca has a particular interest in the implementation of research into evidence-based best practice. At Brightwater Research Centre, Rebecca has worked to determine and implement best-practice outcome measures for use in residential aged care to measure health, wellbeing and quality of life; and contributed to studies exploring the use of nurse practitioners and pharmacists to simplify medication in residential aged care, and to ensuring the optimisation of Brightwater’s clinical data.
Rebecca is now the Clinical Trials Coordinator on the EARLI study, using a strengths-based intervention to increase rates of advance care planning in the community. She is passionate about achieving the best outcomes and quality of life possible for aged care clients at Brightwater.
Full publication list & research profile available via ORCIDClinician Researcher, Senior Speech Pathologist
Bachelor of Speech Pathology
Stephanie holds a Bachelor of Speech Pathology from Edith Cowan University and has extensive experience providing Speech Pathology services in the community disability sector. She has supported adults living with communication and swallowing impairments, with a strong focus on promoting safe, enjoyable mealtimes. Stephanie is passionate about ensuring access to safe and appropriate texture-modified meals, supporting participation in mealtimes whilst enhancing the overall dining experience, and reducing the risks associated with dysphagia. She is deeply committed to advocating for high-quality, enjoyable, nourishing meals that meet each client's individual needs and preferences.
As a clinician-researcher, Stephanie coordinates the 3D Food Printing Project — a collaboration between Brightwater Care Group and Edith Cowan University’s Nutrition & Health Innovation Research Institute. This project focuses on developing innovative 3D food printing technologies to create appealing, nutrient-dense meals for aged care residents who require texture-modified diets, aiming to improve both food intake and the mealtime experience.
Senior Research Officer, Adjunct Research Fellow, School of Arts and Humanities, Edith Cowan University
PhD, MSocSc(Research), GradCertPH, BSocSc(CommtySt)
Wendy is a qualitative researcher and evaluator with a passion for program evaluation and social research that translates evidence into practice. Wendy studied for over 15 years at Edith Cowan University, completing a Bachelor of Social Science majoring in Community Studies, a Graduate Certificate of Public Health, a Masters by Research and finally a PhD in 2021. Wendy’s PhD thesis focused on the experiences of siblings of people with intellectual disability to understand how family characteristics and childhood experiences influence sibling relationships and decision-making across the life span.
Prior to commencing at the Brightwater Research Centre in 2024, Wendy worked in senior positions for over 18 years within not-for-profit organisations in the aged care, disability and community sector. In addition, Wendy has held research and evaluation roles across the not-for-profit, academia and state government sectors. After completing her PhD, Wendy worked as a post-doctoral research fellow and is currently an Adjunct Research Fellow at the University of WA and at Edith Cowan University.
Wendy hopes to contribute to the already impressive research conducted at Brightwater and use her experience to encourage a culture of evaluation to develop and maintain the high-quality evidence-based programs and services that Brightwater offers.
Full publication list & research profile available via ORCID