Our research

Planning for healthy ageing requires a multidisciplinary approach to assessing incapacity, future planning, decision making and the development of innovative retirement and aged-care models, health-care delivery, technologies, products, services, housing and financial supports which protect and promote the rights of people as they age throughout the life course.

Our research makes an impact on real world law, policy and practice by building on existing national and international collaborations with multiple stakeholders both within QUT and other universities, government, community organisations, and industry, as well as fostering new collaborations. We are particularly interested in the real world application of our research.

The Planning for Healthy Ageing Research Program is a formal program of the Australian Centre for Health Law Research:

• Books
• Funded Projects
• Select Reports
• Select Research Summaries
• Select Submissions
• COVID-19

Books

The Human Rights of Older Persons: A Human Rights-Based Approach to Elder Law

The Human Rights of Older Persons: A Human Rights-Based Approach to Elder Law

Lewis, Bridget, Purser, Kelly, Mackie, Kirsty (2020) The Human Rights of Older Persons: A Human Rights-Based Approach to Elder Law

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Capacity assessment and the law: Problems and solutions

Capacity assessment and the law: Problems and solutions

Purser, Kelly (2017) Capacity assessment and the law: Problems and solutions

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Australian Medical Liability, 4th Edition

Bill Madden, Janine McIlwraith, Benjamin Madden (2020) Australian Medical Liability, 4th Edition. LexisNexis.

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Institutional abuse of children: Legal remedies and redress in Australia

Madden, William, Cockburn, Tina, Madden, Benjamin (2019) Institutional abuse of children: Legal remedies and redress in Australia

• citations on Web of Science

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Equity & Trusts: In Principle 4th Edition

Gino Dal Pont, Tina Cockburn (2019) Equity & Trusts: In Principle 4th Edition. Thomson Reuters.

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The National Disability Insurance Scheme Handbook

Madden, William, McIlwraith, Janine, Brell, Ruanne (2014) The National Disability Insurance Scheme Handbook

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Funded Projects

• Andrew Schmulow; Nicola Howell; Jeannie Paterson; Elise Bant; Therese Wilson; Jason Harris; ARC Discovery Grant: A new “Treating Customers Fairly” law for Australia’s financial industry (2025 – 2028) $561,156
• Kirsten Vallmuur; Kelly Purser; Ioni Lewis; Laurie Buys; Helen Badge; Alan Abrahams; James Harrison; Catherine Niven; ARC Discovery Grant: Addressing significant product safety knowledge gaps for older Australians (2024 – 2027) $533,965
• O’Connor, Braun, Hole, Kelly Purser, Margaret Hall; Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (Canada): Mental (in)capacity in the context of abuse and neglect (2022 – 2025) $100,000
• Tina Cockburn, Katie Woolaston, Muhammad Zaheer Abbas, Sam Boyle, Bridget Lewis and Belinda Bennett, funded by the World Health Organization in collaboration with the University of Trento, Italy: COVID-19 litigation (2022) $32,411
• Bernadette Richards, (Chief Investigator) et al, NHMRC Partnership Grant: Investigating the inclusion of vulnerable populations in Advance Care Planning: Developing complex and sensitive public policy, APP1133407 Partnership Project (2017 – 2020) $379,367.60
• Tina Cockburn, Kelly Purser and S Buckby; The Financial Planning Education Council (FPEC) Research Grant Award Scheme, sponsored by NAB ‘The role of financial planners in preventing, recognising and responding to elder financial abuse’ (2020 – 2021) $5,000
• N Waddell, B Bennett, J Devereux, J McGaughran, D Whiteman, Dr Sashika Naidoo, G Pratt, F McDonald, D Butler, T Cockburn, A Daly, A McGee, M Rimmer, M Smith, S Then, J Jacobs, M Brown, K Hussey, D Morrison, X Li, S Bronitt, L Connelly, K Nichols, J Lamont, D Rowell, A Crowden, J Savulescu, A Newson, M Otlowski, D Nicol, E Kowal, and N Stepanov; Queensland Genomics Health Alliance ELSI- Address the ethical, legal and social policy challenges associated with the delivery of genomics into everyday healthcare (2017 – 2019) $479,636
• C Cross, K Purser and T Cockburn; Queensland Aged and Disability Advocacy Inc Examining access to justice for those with an enduring power of attorney (EOPA) who are suffering financial abuse (2017) $21,007
• S Osborne, T Cockburn, A Barnett, C Steel, H Carter, V Steelman; QUT School of Public Health and Social Work, Faculty of Health QUT Research Funding Support, Improving the Tracking of Accountable Surgical Items: An Implementation Study (2016 – 2018) $15,000
• T Keren-Paz, T Cockburn, A El Haj, M Fay and R Goldberg; Economic & Social Research Council (ESRC, UK) Liability v (Medical) Innovation: Unpacking Key Connections (2015 – 2017) $59,590

Other Select Projects

• Karen Sullivan and Kelly Purser, ‘Developing and Piloting the Consumer Experience of Capacity Assessment Tool (CECAT) Psychiatry, Psychology and Law: Volume 28, Issue 2 (2021)
• Bernadette Richards, (Chief Investigator) et al, South Australian Law Foundation Grant, A review of the role and operation of current South Australian law and practice regarding Powers of Attorney (with the South Australian Law Reform Institute, SALRI) (2020)
• Tina Cockburn, Kelly Purser and Sherrena Buckby, ‘The role of financial planners in preventing, recognising and responding to elder financial abuse’, The Financial Planning Education Council (FPEC) Research Grant Award (sponsored by NAB) (2019–2020)
• Tina Cockburn, Phillip Baker, Kelly Purser, Donna Cooper, Maree Petersen and Margaret Hall, ‘Understanding and improving family agreements: reducing the risk of failure, preventing elder abuse and facilitating access to justice’, QUT Faculty of Law Grant Seed Funding Scheme (2019–2020)
• Kelly Purser, Tina Cockburn and Elizabeth Ulrick, ‘Examining Access to Formal Justice Mechanisms for Vulnerable Older People in the context of Enduring Powers of Attorney’ 12(1) Elder Law Review 1-32 (2019)
• Cassandra Cross, Kelly Purser and Tina Cockburn, ‘Examining access to justice for those with an enduring power of attorney (EPOA) who are suffering financial abuse’, Queensland Aged and Disability Advocacy Inc (2017)
  • Kelly Purser, Tina Cockburn, Cassandra Cross and Helene Jacmon, ‘Alleged financial abuse of those under an enduring power of attorney: An exploratory study’, British Journal of Social Work, 48(4), pp 887-905 (2018)
  • Tina Cockburn, Kelly Purser and Cassandra Cross, ‘Research project: Examining access to justice for those with an enduring power of attorney (EPA) who are suffering financial abuse’ (2017)
• Philip RA Baker, Daniel P Francis, Sajaratulnisah Othman and Wan Yuen Choo, ‘Interventions for preventing abuse in the elderly’ Cochrane Systematic Review – Intervention Version’ (2016)

Select Reports

Select Research Summaries

Select Submissions

Responses to COVID-19 and beyond, exploring the role technology should play