Research Fellow – Social Policy Reform
Job No.: 686419
Location: 553 St Kilda Road, Melbourne
Employment Type: Full-time
Duration: 3-year fixed-term appointment
Remuneration: $118,974 - $141,283 pa Level B (plus 17% employer superannuation)
- Amplify your impact at a world top 50 University
- Join our inclusive, collaborative community
- Be surrounded by extraordinary ideas - and the people who discover them
The Opportunity
Monash University is proud to invite applications for a Research Fellow (Level B) specialising in Social Policy Reform, as part of the newly established ARC Laureate Fellowship research program led by Professor Alex Collie.
Supported by a $3.8 million Australian Research Council Laureate Fellowship, this flagship national program is focused on modernising Australia’s work disability, workers’ compensation and social security systems through evidence-based policy reform that reflects both community values and lived experience.
This is a rare opportunity to join a founding team at the very start of a highly visible, high-impact research initiative with direct national policy influence.
About the Role
This position will lead a major project establishing community preferences for policy settings within Australian workers’ compensation and social security systems. Working closely with Professor Collie and the broader Laureate Fellowship team, the successful candidate will:
- Design and deliver discrete choice experiments and large-scale preference surveys
- Lead participant recruitment and quantitative data collection
- Conduct advanced statistical analysis and interpretation
- Translate findings into actionable policy reform insights
- Lead project reporting, stakeholder communication and publication
- Co-supervise a PhD student aligned with the project
- Contribute across other major programs within the ARC Laureate Fellowship portfolio
This role offers outstanding scope for intellectual leadership in social policy reform, along with strong career development, national impact and international collaboration.
About Professor Alex Collie and the Program
Professor Collie is Director of the Healthy Working Lives Research Group and the Division of Health Systems, Services and Policy within the School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine at Monash University. He is an ARC Laureate Fellow, President of the Scientific Committee on Work Disability Prevention for the International Commission on Occupational Health, and a member of the Australian Research Council College of Experts.
His research leadership spans work injury rehabilitation, occupational health, workers’ compensation, motor accident injury compensation and disability insurance systems. The Laureate Fellowship establishes a new research centre of excellence at Monash focused on system reform, lived experience and national policy transformation.
About You
You will bring expertise in health economics, epidemiology, behavioural science, health policy, or a closely related discipline, along with strong quantitative analysis capability and a passion for evidence-informed policy reform.
Essential qualifications and experience include:
- A doctoral qualification in a relevant discipline, or equivalent research experience
- Demonstrated statistical analysis capability and a strong refereed publication record
- Experience contributing to competitive research funding proposals
- Capacity to supervise and mentor research staff and PhD students
- High-level organisational, communication and project management skills
- Demonstrated ability to work independently and collaboratively within multidisciplinary research teams
- Advanced experience with analytical software such as R Studio, STATA or SPSS
- Highly desirable: Experience in social policy or health policy research
About Monash University
At Monash, work feels different. There’s a sense of belonging, from contributing to something ground breaking – a place where great things happen.
We value difference and diversity, and welcome and celebrate everyone's contributions, lived experience and expertise. That’s why we champion an inclusive and respectful workplace culture where everyone is supported to succeed.
Some 20,000 staff work for Monash around the world. We have 95,000 students, four Australian campuses, and campuses in Malaysia and Indonesia. We also have a major presence in India and China, and a significant centre and research foundation in Italy.
In our short history, we have skyrocketed through global university rankings and established ourselves consistently among the world's best tertiary institutions. We rank in the world’s top-50 universities in rankings including the QS World University Rankings 2026.
Together with our commitment to academic freedom, you will have access to quality research facilities, infrastructure, world-class teaching spaces, and international collaboration opportunities.
Learn more about Monash.
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Monash supports flexible and hybrid working arrangements. We have a range of policies in place enabling staff to combine work and personal commitments. This includes supporting parents.
To Apply
For instructions on how to apply, please refer to
'How to apply for Monash Jobs'. Your application must address the Key Selection Criteria.
Diversity is one of our greatest strengths at Monash. We encourage applications from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, culturally and linguistically diverse people, people with disabilities, neurodivergent people, and people of all genders, sexualities, and age groups.
We are committed to fostering an inclusive and accessible recruitment process at Monash. If you need any reasonable adjustments, please contact us at hr-recruitment@monash.edu in an email titled 'Reasonable Adjustments Request' for a confidential discussion.
Your employment is contingent upon the satisfactory completion of all pre-employment and/or background checks required for the role, as determined by the University.
Enquiries: Professor Alex Collie, Director, Healthy Working Lives Research Group, Alex.Collie@monash.edu
Position Description: Research Fellow - Social Policy Reform
Applications Close: Sunday 1 February 2026, 11:55pm AEDT
Supporting a diverse workforce
