Dr. Michelle Banfield

Biography

Michelle's early research experience includes biological anthropology, focusing on behavior and social systems of primates. After a period of ill health, she returned to research in 2004, working in areas of consumer-focused research and the use of technology in self-management of mental health problems. Her PhD explored the priorities of mental health consumers in research related to depression and bipolar disorder in Australia. Michelle's research interests include effective services and policy for mental illness, and she heads the Lived Experience Research Unit at the Centre for Mental Health Research, which incorporates the ACT Consumer & Carer Mental Health Research Unit. This unit aims to increase the involvement of mental health consumers and carers in the research process and to conduct research relevant to their needs. Between 2015 and 2017, Michelle completed an ARC Discovery Early Career Researcher Award fellowship, focusing on service access for people with serious mental illness, and later completed a MRFF Translating Research Practice Fellowship exploring the implementation of mental health peer work from 2018 to 2021. She has been appointed as the Co-Director of the Lived Experience Research Lead at the ALIVE National Centre for Mental Health Research Translation, and is leading an innovative co-created project to evaluate safe spaces for suicide prevention. In her commitment to improving research quality and practice, Michelle is currently the Chair of the ANU Human Research Ethics Committee and is a member of national lived experience groups advocating for changes in research practices.

Research Interests

Experience