Prior to commencing her PhD, Polly was an Assistant Director at the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF). Throughout her career in the Australian Public Service (APS), Polly has used her science background to contribute to a range of biosecurity import policies and negotiations with trading partners to ensure the safe trade of commercially important aquatic animal goods. She has also been involved in strategic planning for the use science in the management of Australian marine parks and remained a keen promoter of APS women in science, having held the position of Chair of DAFF’s Gender Equity Network in 2023.
Polly completed her honours in aquatic animal physiology in 2018 at The University of Sydney. Her PhD research at the ANU Research School of Biology is focused on reducing exotic disease risk in aquaculture through the delivery of scientific information and tools to inform biosecurity policy.
Supervisor:
Dr Nicholas Moody (CSIRO),
Professor Robert Lanfear (ANU)
Dudley J S, Hannaford P, Dowland S N, Lindsay L A, Thompson M B, Murphy C R, Van Dyke J C and Whittington C M (2021) ‘Structural changes to the brood pouch of male pregnant seahorses (Hippocampus abdominalis) facilitate exchange between father and embryos’ Placenta 114: 115-123.
Sir Roland Wilson Scholarship
2025
Josiah
Hickson
Department of Employment and Workplace Relations
The Australian National University
PhD title: Essays in place-based labour market disadvantage
Josh is a Senior Analyst in the Trials Research and Evaluation Team within the Employment Evaluation Branch at the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations (DEWR). Within this role, he’s been working with administrative data as part of several randomised controlled trials that evaluate the effectiveness of Australia’s online employment services settings. Prior to joining DEWR, Josh worked in Treasury’s microdata team where his labour market analysis supported several budgets, the participation chapter of the 2023 Intergenerational Report, and the Employment White Paper.
Josh’s thesis will focus on place-based inequality in the Australian labour market. He will explore how communities experience economic transition, and the ways that local industry structure and employer characteristics influence the wages and employment opportunities available to individuals. The use of administrative data – including ALIFE and PLIDA/BLADE – for this research will add a more detailed and precise understanding of these issues, supporting improved policy design and targeting. Josh hopes that his research will help support cross-agency efforts to target entrenched disadvantage, promoting policies which boost regional resilience and support those cohorts who are most vulnerable in the labour market.
PhD title: Credible secrecy: 'neither confirm nor deny', national security and Australia's liberal democracy
Emily is a Director in the Department of Home Affairs and has worked across multiple portfolios in the criminal justice and national security policy spaces. In these roles, Emily has advised government on cross-cutting issues such as criminal intelligence, domestic violence, aviation and maritime security, and press freedom. She has also represented Australian cyber policy internationally as part of the delegation negotiating an additional protocol to the Budapest Convention on cybercrime.
Emily’s research examines the strategic function of the Neither Confirm Nor Deny principle, and how its use in the security and intelligence context has evolved in Australia. In so doing, Emily’s research will develop a conceptual understanding of the Neither Confirm Nor Deny principle to support an analysis of how official secrecy can be navigated in the contemporary security context.
Emily holds a Bachelor of Philosophy from the ANU, and was awarded First Class Honours for her research re-examining the cultural inheritance of contemporary metaphysical discourse.
PhD title: Possible, probable, plausible: determining credibility in protection visa decision-making
Dual-trained in journalism and law, Kristian has held a range of roles in the Department of Home Affairs since 2015, with a particular focus on protection assessment and administrative law. Kristian was previously a Department of Immigration and Border Protection Research Fellow in the Migration and Border Policy Project at the Lowy Institute, undertaking research on comparative approaches to establishing identity in undocumented asylum seekers. Kristian currently works in Refugee, Humanitarian and Settlement Division, advising on lawful decision-making, litigation outcomes, and protection assessment reform.
Kristian’s research at the ANU School of Regulation and Global Governance (RegNet) will consider how administrative decision-makers make findings of fact in the absence of verifiable evidence. Through the lens of protection obligations assessment, Kristian’s research examines how decision-makers exercise their discretionary powers in probing, weighing, and constructing their assessment. This research will contribute to building and maintaining the trust of the Australian public and government in their institutions by improving the consistency and fairness of visa decision-making.
PhD title: Nga’ira gi’yam; niyila: An Indigenous Data Governance Model for the APS
Timothy joined the Australian Public Service in 2009 and has seen first-hand the importance of good policy and how it impacts the lives of Australians. He has a vested interest in discussions on social and Indigenous policy. Timothy brings to the table a unique perspective in relation to public policy that will have an impact on the people closest to him.
Through his PhD research, Timothy will examine Australian Public Service data governance frameworks and practices. With this knowledge, he will explore how the Maiam nayri Wingara Indigenous Data Sovereignty Principles can be applied to an Indigenous Data Governance model for the Australian Public Service. The research will contribute to improving Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people's socioeconomic outcomes by moving towards economic empowerment and forming a pathway to self-determination.
PhD title: Encouraging the regulatory evaluation of off-patent repositioned medicines in Australia
Prior to joining the Department of Health in 2010, Katrina worked on clinical trials for pharmaceutical companies both nationally and internationally. Whilst working for government, she has helped patients with rare, life-threatening conditions to access effective treatments; improve the sustainability of future PBS drug supply via pricing reviews; increase patient access to new and expanded pharmacy programs and protect public health through the scheduling of medicines and poisons.
Katrina’s research aims to evaluate the impacts of current medicines policy, regulatory processes, prescriber behaviour and clinical guideline content on ‘off-label’ prescribing and the potential repurposing of medicines. Australian and international policy perspectives will be studied. Katrina will use a mixed-methods approach to investigate factors that influence decision making in order to inform future policy development.
Howe K, Bourke S, Sansom L (2021) 'The extent to which off-patent registered prescription medicines are used for off-label indications in Australia: A scoping review', PLoS ONE, 16(12): e0261022. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0261022
The Sir Roland Wilson Foundation is a partnership between The Australian National University, Charles Darwin University and the Australian Public Service.
