Shaping the future of WA’s health promotion research

We’ve just added some new names to Healthway’s Research Assessment Committee – and we’re thrilled to introduce them to you.

Associate Professor Justine Leavy from Curtin University. Her areas of expertise span physical activity, family and domestic violence, vaping and alcohol-related issues and injury prevention.

Dr Clover Maitland is an Adjunct Senior Research Fellow at UWA and works with Cancer Council Victoria. Her areas of expertise include chronic disease prevention, physical activity and mental health and wellbeing, with a focus on research translation.

Associate Professor Raglan Maddox from the Australian National University. His areas of expertise and academic excellence include working with Indigenous and culturally and linguistically diverse communities and tobacco policy.

These dynamic new members join a team committed to shaping the future of health promotion research in WA. Their expertise and leadership help guide funding decisions that drive our research investments, ensuring WA remains at the forefront of creating a healthier WA. 

Professor Becky Freeman 

Celebrating leadership that saves lives

This month Professor Becky Freeman received the Australian Council on Smoking and Health’s (ACOSH) 2025 Bob Elphick Award – a prestigious honour recognising her exceptional leadership in tobacco control and public health.

Becky has pioneered innovative research to monitor and expose how tobacco companies use digital platforms. She leads programs addressing the commercial determinants of health and is Chief Investigator for a national research initiative on vaping — Generation Vape.

Her research, advocacy and determination have helped shape public health policy, strengthened protections, and saved lives across Australia and beyond.

Healthway, together with ACOSH, is proud to recognise leaders like Becky who drive change for healthier communities.

Image: The Kids Research Institute Australia

A decade of discovery

This year we celebrated 10 years of the PLAY Spaces and Environments for Children’s Physical Activity Cohort Study (PLAYCE).

PLAYCE has transformed our understanding of how physical activity, sedentary time and sleep evolve from toddlerhood through adolescence – and how these behaviours shape children’s health, development and wellbeing.

Healthway has been a supporter of this study since its inception, helping it grow into the world’s largest and longest-running investigation of young children’s movement behaviours using wearable devices. Through PLAYCE, more than 2,000 Perth children have been involved to date.

Read more about the impact. 

Newdegate Primary School received $3,000 to run Healthy Newdegate – a whole-school healthy living program that encouraged students to move more, feel better and thrive.

Healthy Schools Program is back!

The 2026 Healthy Schools program opens Monday, 9 February 2026.

WA public schools can apply for $3,000–$5,000 in funding for projects that promote health and wellbeing for students and the school community.

Start planning today:
Visit our website to explore project ideas and register your school in our Grants Portal before the program opens so you’re ready to apply.

Image: The Kids Research Institute Australia

Dads of the NICU

Nearly 1 in 5 Australian babies are admitted to a special care nursery or neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) after birth complications.

That’s why Healthway backed Dr Vincent Mancini and the team at the The Kids Research Institute Australia on a groundbreaking project focused on supporting NICU fathers’ mental health and wellbeing. The study, involving 200 dads at King Edward Memorial and Perth Children’s Hospitals, will help develop practical resources available both in-person and online.

One year on, the new season of the Dads of the NICU podcast shares these powerful stories—because when dads’ wellbeing is supported, families thrive.