ProfessorNicola Hancock

Professor Nicola Hancock is an occupational therapist and academic with overt 30 years’ experience in mental health clinical practice, education, and research. She is a Fellow of the Occupational Therapy Australia Research Academy (FOTARA). Her collective body of research, aligned with current global mental health priorities, strives to understand, and enhance participation and inclusion of people living with mental illness and examine the impact of these on mental health recovery. She led the co-development of a self-report recovery scale (RAS-DS) that drives consumer participation in treatment. Global impact and relevance are evidenced by world-wide adoption into practice - already used in >28 countries and translated into 21 languages. She has attracted over $18M in research grants, is currently leading a 3-year MRFF grant, and has published over 80 peer-review journal manuscripts. She is engaged in a diverse range of mental health research projects in partnerships across government and non-government sectors. 

Nicola's focus on participation and inclusion extends to her research approach and methodologies employed.  She typically works in active collaborative partnerships with consumer or lived-experience researchers and prioritises the voice and expertise of lived experience in her work. Nicola is a member of the Centre for Disability Research and Policy within the faculty of medicine and Health.