Child Care Choices

Researcher Biography Research Team
	Dr Jennifer Bowes Associate Professor, Head, Institute of Early Childhood Dr Jennifer Bowes is Associate Professor and Head of the Institute of Early Childhood, Macquarie University. She has a research background in educational and developmental psychology. Teaching and research have been in the area of child development, parenting and the interconnections between children, families and communities. She is team leader of the Child Care Choices research project, a longitudinal investigation of the effects of multiple and changeable child care in the first three years of life on the development of young children. She is also involved as a consultant in the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children, and is a chief investigator in the Health for Life project that investigates links between parents' work and children's health and well-being.

	Judy Ungerer Associate Professor, Department of Psychology, Macquarie Judy received her BA from the University of California at Berkeley, and her PhD from Harvard University. Subsequently she held research and/or clinical appointments in the United States at Tufts-New England Medical Center, the University of California at Los Angeles School of Medicine, and the Reiss-Davis Child Study Center. She joined the staff of Macquarie University in 1983. She has had a long-standing research interest in the development of children, which has included studies of typical children as well as a variety of clinical groups. She has published research on a range of topics, including the cognitive and social-emotional development of autistic children, studies of language and symbolic play in preterm and full term infants, adjustment and coping in children with chronic illness, cognitive and social-emotional development of children conceived via in vitro fertilization, and parental adjustment in the transition to parenthood. She is currently engaged in research on emotional development and attachment in young children, and on the impact of multiple and changeable childcare arrangements on children's early development. She also co-chairs the team responsible for developing the childcare component of the large, federally funded national Longitudinal Study of Australian Children.

	Ann Sanson Associate Professor, Head Researcher Associate Professor Ann Sanson is in the Psychology Department at the University of Melbourne. She is a principal investigator on the Australian Temperament Project, a large-scale longitudinal study of development and psychosocial adjustment from infancy to adulthood. She is Project Director for Growing Up in Australia (the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children).

	Dr Linda Harrison Head Researcher, Charles Sturt University Dr Linda Harrison is Senior Lecturer in the School of Teacher Education at Charles Sturt University. Her previous research and publications have been in the field of children's development in the context of child care and the early years of school. She is part of the research team for the Sydney Family Development Project and a member of the Child Care and Education Design Teams for the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children.

	Sarah Wise Head Researcher, Australian Institute for Family Studies Sarah Wise is a Senior Researcher at the Australian Institute of Family Studies, Melbourne. She is responsible for several of the research studies conducted by the Institute, including a recent study of cultural factors impacting on the experience of child care of Vietnamese, Somali and Anglo- Australian families.

	Tracey Simpson Head Researcher, Charles Sturt University Tracey is a Senior Lecturer in Early Childhood Education in the School of Teacher Education at Charles Sturt University. She has been teaching in the Early Childhood and Primary teacher education programs for ten years. Tracey is the coordinator of the innovative Bachelor of Teaching (Birth to Five Years) program for those distance education students who wish to upgrade from two-year diploma to a three-year teaching degree qualification. Tracey has extensive experience in the early childhood field, particularly in rural New South Wales.

	Dr Alan Taylor Researcher, Macquarie University Dr Alan Taylor is Senior Lecturer in Psychology, Macquarie University and holds the position of Research & Statistics Adviser in that department. He has expertise in the multi-level statistical analysis planned for the current study.

	Dr Cathrine Neilsen-Hewett Head Researcher, Macquarie University Dr Cathrine Neilsen-Hewett is Lecturer, Institute of Early Childhood, Macquarie University. Her research and publications are in children's peer relations and adjustment to school.

Project Team
	Alison Galletta Project Officer, Macquarie University Alison has completed an Honours degree in psychology. She is particularly interested in the areas of young children and families. Alison has previously worked for the NSW Area Health Service in Infant, Child and Adolescent Mental Health, where she was involved in research into post-natal depression and worked with parenting programs.

	Rachael Hutchesson Research Officer, Charles Sturt University. Rachael is a primary trained teacher, mother of three and is currently studying for her Honours degree. Her main area of research focuses on working with Indigneous adolescents who seek to promote positive images of Indigenous youth through creative multimedia outlets. Rachael is situated in Bathurst, and manages all aspects of the project for all our rural participants involved in the Child Care Choices Project.

	Michelle Fiora Research Assistant Michelle has recently satisfied the requirements for the Honours Degree of Bachelor of Education (Early Childhood Education) at Macquarie University. The research she conducted for her thesis focused on a comparison of the play experiences of children in their homes and in their preschool settings.

	Katelyn Tasker Katelyn Tasker is a PhD student at Macquarie University, interested in looking at family factors and relationships as they interact with childcare. In the course of her research Katelyn has met some of the families involved in Child Care Choices to gain some more detailed information in this area. She is also currently completing a Masters of Counselling Psychology. Recently married, the prospect of having children of her own is now entering the realm of possibility!

	Kelly Poole Research Officer, Charles Sturt University Kelly is Early childhood teacher trained and completed her Honours degree researching the learning potential of home video games for 5-8 year old children. Kelly works part time for the Child Care Choices Project, and is involved with financial, administrative, and data collection procedures. Kelly is a first time mum to Jack and was recently married.

	Ross Milward Information Technology Manager, the Australian Institute of Family Studies Amongst other duties Ross is responsible for the management of the Institute's Survey Operations Unit which includes a two person Computer Assisted Telephone Interviewing (CATI) team. As well as managing the people who do the interviewing, he writes the programs that are used to administer the questions and manage the data that is collected.

	Ben Edwards Research Fellow, Australian Institute of Family Studies In Child Care Choices Ben has been involved in the data management and statistical analysis. His research interests include longitudinal data analysis and statistical analysis of family data as well as family functioning and the psychological aspects of cancer. Prior to joining AIFS Ben was a research methods consultant, casual lecturer and tutor of undergraduate psychology students at Deakin University, Melbourne.

	Ren Adams CATI Interviews, Australian Institute of Family Studies Ren Adams has worked on various surveys conducted by AIFS, including the Child Care Choices project in 2002. In 2004 he resumed conducting interviews for Child Care Choices whilst also taking the role of Project Officer for a National Audit of research into child abuse prevention, conducted by the National Child Protection Clearinghouse. Ren has been working within the academic publishing field for a number of years whilst maintaining a strong interest in social issues, particularly child protection.

	Meredith Levi CATI Interviews, Australian Institute for Family Studies Meredith Levi works for the Survey Operations Unit at the Australian Institute of Family Studies in Melbourne. She has been involved in several studies including the first year of Child Care Choices. Meredith has completed her Honours degree in Psychology at the University of Melbourne and is about to commence her post-graduate study.