Associate Professor Hayley Christian

Associate Professor Hayley Christian has more than 18 years’ professional experience in health promotion practice, health promotion research project management and health promotion teaching and research. To help people enjoy good health and wellbeing throughout their lives, Professor Christian’s research focuses on improving children’s physical activity, health and wellbeing through multi-level interventions that are focused on the child, the family, and social and built environments. This includes identifying strategies to create healthy early childhood education and care environments, and investigating how the home and neighbourhood environment shapes children’s health and development.

To make an impact on a wider scale, Professor Christian and her team work closely with government, non-government organisations, professional bodies and the private sector to identify and implement programs and policies to help children establish healthy behaviours early to provide the foundation for lifelong health.

Professor Christian is a Senior Research Fellow and National Heart Foundation Future Leader Fellow. She leads the PLAYCE (Play Spaces and Environments for Children’s Physical Activity) program of research, which is a multidisciplinary team at the School of Population and Global Health who are focused on turning challenges into opportunities to make a positive difference in people’s health.

Qualifications: BSc PhD W.Aust.

Professor Christian’s research areas:

• physical activity
• sedentary behaviour
• obesity
• child health and development
• built environment and health
• health promotion and public health
• cohort studies
• interventions
• quantitative and qualitative research

Current external positions:

• Fellow at Telethon Kids Institute
• Associate at NHMRC Centre for Research Excellence in Healthy, Liveable and Equitable Communities
• Fellow at ARC Centre of Excellence for Children and Families over the Life Course
• Public Health Steering Committee Member at World Universities Network
• Consensus Committee Member at Commonwealth Department of Health ‘24-hour Movement Guidelines for the Early Years’

• PLAY Spaces and Environments for Children’s Physical Activity and Health Study (PLAYCE)

Our PLAYCE study investigates the influence of the childcare, home and neighbourhood physical, social and policy environment on young children’s physical activity, health and development.

• PLAY Spaces and Environment Interventions for Children’s Physical Activity & Health Study (iPLAYCE)

Our iPLAYCE research evaluates the impact of early childhood education and care programs and environments on young children’s physical activity.

• PLAYCE Policy Project

This project will provide our multi-sectorial partners with evidence-informed policy and implementation strategies for creating environments that give Australian children a physically active and healthy start to life.

• Neighbourhood Environment and Early Child Development Study

This research investigates the role of neighbourhood attributes in explaining the variation in early child health and development outcomes in a population census of four- to six-year-olds from the Australian Early Development Census.

• Green Space and Health Study

This research investigates the effect of exposure to green and blue space on youth health. Green spaces, such as parks and nature, provide numerous physical and mental health benefits for users. Green spaces near home provide children and youth with opportunities to play, socially interact and be active.

• Pets and Health Study

This program of research investigates the physical, social and psychological health benefits of pets for children, adults, older adults and the broader community.