Associate Professor Kate Mulgrew joined UniSC in 2009 as a lecturer in Psychology and has since taken on key leadership roles, including Deputy Head (Research) (School of Health and Behavioural Sciences), Acting Head of School (Health and Behavioural Sciences), HDR Coordinator (School of Health), and most recently, Acting Dean of the Graduate Research School.
Throughout her career, Kate has been instrumental in advancing UniSC’s research landscape. She has led initiatives to enhance researcher development, strengthened HDR processes and policies, secured additional HDR scholarships, and fostered industry engagement opportunities. Under her leadership, the Graduate Research portfolio has grown to better support HDR candidates and supervisors, ensuring that UniSC continues to cultivate a vibrant, innovative, and well-supported research community.
As Dean, Kate will drive strategic improvements in researcher development, champion industry-linked HDR opportunities, and enhance support structures for candidates and supervisors, all while ensuring that UniSC’s research initiatives align with our broader institutional goals. Her passion for fostering a dynamic and inclusive research culture will be invaluable as we continue to strengthen our reputation for research excellence.
Professional Memberships
- Australasian Experimental Psychology Society
Awards/Fellowships
- USC Advance Awards, 2016: AQT award for Advancing Quality Teaching. Awarded for teaching staff and teaching teams who engage students in a quality learning experience by applying rich and engaging teaching approaches that substantially improve students' learning experiences. Awarded to Dr Kate Mulgrew as the team leader and the PSY102 teaching team
- USC Advance Awards for Learning and Teaching: Advancing the Student Experience, 2015, University of the Sunshine Coast
Potential Research Projects for HDR & Honours Students
- The role of attention and memory bias in maintaining dysfunctional health behaviours (eg body image, exercise etc.)
- The effects of the media on males and females body image
- Cognitive factors underlying chronic pain
Research areas
- cognitive psychology (biased attention and memory)
- health psychology (body image, diet, exercise, eating disorders, media)
- chronic pain
- climate change in the Pacific
Teaching areas
- Human Associative Learning
- Personality and Assessment
- Cognitive and Perceptual Psychology
Dr Kate Mulgrew's specialist areas of knowledge include cognitive psychology (biased attention and memory in body image and chronic pain) and health psychology (body image, diet, exercise, eating disorders).