| Thesis topic | Student | Supervisors |
| Waste less, live more: Interventions to reduce waste and carbon emissions in healthcare. | Jessie Austin | Professor Caleb Ferguson, Dr Evan, Associate Professor Evan Alexandrou, Lorraine Fields |
| Examining the teaching of power, politics, and political activism to promote planetary health in tertiary nursing education | Jack Cornish | Distinguished Professor Tracy Levett-Jones Associate Professor Suzanne Sheppard-Law Dr. Shirley Qiu |
| Sustainable nursing practices: Barriers and Facilitators | Elaine Correia Moll | Distinguished Professor Tracy Levett-Jones Associate Professor Suzanne Sheppard-Law |
| The impact of education on the sustainable development goals through critical pedagogy on nursing graduates. | Lorraine Fields | Professor Tracey Moroney, Associate Professor Bonnie Dean, Associate Professor Stephanie Perkiss |
| Preparation of undergraduate healthcare students to be climate change, sustainability and planetary health champions | Anna Foster | Distinguished Professor Tracy Levett-Jones, Professor Deb Massey, Associate Professor Nicola Whiteing |
| Increasing the resilience of community health workers to the impacts of climate change for sustainable health systems in Australia | Amensisa Hailu Tesfaye | Dr Erica McIntyre and Prof Jason Prior. |
| What is the experience of exposure to natural disaster events on the health and wellbeing of people living with chronic and complex health conditions? | Gregory Melbourne | Dr Jane Maguire, Professor Josephine Chow, Dr Priya Saravanakumar |
| Nurse leadership in advancing planetary health outcomes | Catelyn Richards | Distinguished Professor Tracy Levett-Jones Dr. Aletha Ward |
Potential PhD topics
If one of these PhD topics interest you, please contact the identified supervisor or email: planetaryhealthco@gmail.com
| Theme | PhD Topic Areas | Potential Supervisors |
| Global challenges | Global nursing and/or midwifery leadership in addressing climate-related health disasters | |
| Climate change and population health | Nurse-led vulnerability assessments of climate change impacts | |
| Communicating for climate health | Nursing/midwifery communication skills for climate health | |
| Nurse/midwifery led communication strategies for policy development | ||
| First Nations wisdom and knowledges | Integrating First Nations wisdom in nurse/midwife-led climate health practices | |
| Exploring the role of Indigenous knowledge in building climate-resilient healthcare facilities | ||
| Advocacy | Nurse/midwife-led advocacy for environmental health | |
| Gender Equity | Gender equity in planetary health | |
| Social Justice | Nursing/midwifery leadership in promoting self-determination in climate health policies | |
| Nursing/midwifery leadership to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals | ||
| Healthcare system strengthening and resilience | Nurse and/or midwife-led initiatives for developing climate-resilient healthcare systems | |
| Nursing leadership in climate-related health disaster preparedness in primary health care | Gemma Saravanos | |
| Primary health care and prevention for healthcare system strengthening and resilience (infection prevention and immunisation focus) | ||
| Heat protocols | Nurse-led heatwave response protocols for tertiary healthcare facilities | |
| Individual impacts | Social and emotional/mental health impacts of climate change on the nursing and/or midwifery workforce | |
| Using empathy to guide clinical practice to achieve climate health outcomes | Naomi Tutticci | |
| Nurses’ integration of green spaces into care planning. | Naomi Tutticci+ Katharina Nieberler-Walker | |
| Curriculum development | Nursing, midwifery, and multi-disciplinary curricula to advance planetary health imperatives | Naomi Tutticci |
| Knowledge and skill development | Professional development for climate health literacy among nurses and midwives. | Naomi Tutticci |
| Aligning contemporary nursing values with the underlying tenants of planetary health | Naomi Tutticci | |
| Climate-related extreme temperatures on the health of patients living with a chronic condition and/or disability | Determining the effect of climate-related extreme temperatures on the health of patients living with a chronic condition (focus on heart, renal and hepatology and Aged and/or disability), knowledge and self-management. Co-design strategies. | Suzanne Sheppard-Law |
| Climate-sensitive patient education | Nurse/midwife-led patient education programs for climate-sensitive health issues | |
| Nurse led patient education for chronic disease management amidst climate change | ||
| Impact of chronic conditions | Nurse-led management strategies for chronic conditions in a changing climate | Suzanne Sheppard-Law Naomi Tutticci+ Aaron Bach |
| The role of the nurse in preparing for thunderstorm asthma (could have a primary healthcare lens) | ||
| Cardiorespiratory health and poor air quality for those living with asthma, diabetes, COPD and cardiovascular disease | ||
| Nurse-led management of chronic kidney disease during extreme heat events | ||
| Primary health prevention strategies to reduce the expected increase in nephrolithiasis due to rising temperatures | ||
| Nurse-led strategies to reduce heat-related pathological changes to neurons and glial cells | ||
| Nurse-led support for those with mental health conditions who are at higher risk of heat-induced illnesses (could look at medications, behaviour, social isolation, lack of support etc.) | ||
| Nurse-led screening for alcohol and other drug-related use as a result of psychosocial trauma from extreme weather events | ||
| Nurse-led screening for alcohol and other drug-related use as a result of psychosocial trauma from extreme weather events | ||
| Nurse-led screening for risk of suicide during and after extreme weather events (such as droughts, fire, floods etc.) | ||
| Nurse-led support for those with pre-existing substance use problems who are at higher-risk of severe heat-related illness | ||
| Spirituality and climate health | Associations between spiritual and/or religious beliefs on planetary health and wellbeing. For example, how do one’s beliefs impact thoughts and actions toward planetary health, how does the current state of planetary health impact spiritual wellbeing (eg. spiritual distress due to the impact on country for indigenous cultures). | Katie Tunks Leach |
| Transdisciplinary approaches in climate health | Nurse/midwife-led transdisciplinary approaches to climate health research and education | Naomi Tutticci |
| The barriers and enablers to nursing/midwifery leadership in transdisciplinary research in planetary health | Naomi Tutticci |