Research Teams

Professor Beth Webster

Professor Webster, Director of the Melbourne Institute is a leading economist whose research on intellectual property, firm performance, and innovation has significantly influenced policy and academic understanding. Her work is widely published in top journals, and she frequently advises policymakers.

Professor Guyonne Kalb

Professor Kalb is Deputy Director of the Melbourne Institute, Leader of the Family and Labour Economics Team and Chief Investigator for the ARC Centre of Excellence for Children and Families over the Life Course. Her research focuses on micro-economics, in particular female labour supply and its interaction with family, tax and social policies. She has worked on several high-profile government policy reforms including the Paid Parental Leave Scheme and NSW Social Housing reform.

Associate Professor Nicole Watson

A/Professor Watson, Co-Director of the HILDA Survey Project brings over 25 years of survey methodology expertise. Specialising in weighting, imputation, and data quality, she's been integral to HILDA since 2000. Her diverse experience spans fieldwork management, sampling strategies, and data user training, backed by roles at key Australian institutions.

Professor Roger Wilkins

Professor Wilkins, Co-Director of the HILDA Survey, is an expert in labour markets, the distribution of economic wellbeing, and socio-economic disadvantage. He seeks to inform and improve Australian economic and social policy through his research and through his numerous engagement activities, which include speaking at public events, media appearances and serving on advisory bodies.

Dr Maxim Ananyev

Ms Harshita Bhatia

Harshita Bhatia is a Foundation Fellow at the Melbourne Institute. She currently supports research on Disadvantage and Well-being in the Asia-Pacific and has extensive experience in using primary data, micro data, and spatial data for varied economic analysis. Harshita is driven to make the world more equitable using data-driven insights.

Dr Ferdi Botha

Dr Botha is a Senior Research Fellow at the Melbourne Institute. His research focuses on the economics of mental health and wellbeing more generally, including financial- and subjective wellbeing. By means of academic and engagement activities, he aims to improve the understanding of mental health and wellbeing in Australia.

Dr Barbara Broadway

Dr Broadway is a family economist who studies how women’s, children’s and families’ economic wellbeing is shaped by social policy, and in particular how social policy can help disadvantaged families. She has 15 years’ experience in policy evaluation for various government departments at the state and federal level.

Professor Lisa Cameron

Professor Cameron is Team Leader for Disadvantage and Wellbeing in the Asia-Pacific. She is a renowned development economist and James Riady Chair of Asian Economics. A Fellow of the Australian Academy of Social Sciences, she brings extensive international experience to the evaluation of economic and social policy in developing countries, particularly in Southeast Asia.

Dr Melek Cigdem-Bayram

Dr Cigdem-Bayram is the Ronald Henderson Senior Research Fellow, jointly appointed by the Melbourne Institute and the Brotherhood of St Laurence. She specialises in wealth inequality, intergenerational wealth transfers, poverty and disadvantage, and housing. She currently leads a program of research on measuring and defining poverty in Australia that aims to advance a nationally accepted definition and framework.

Dr Diana Contreras Suárez

Dr Contreras Suarez is a development economist, studying socio-economic disadvantage in developing countries, with a focus on our neighbouring nations like Indonesia and Timor-Leste. She is driven by finding ways to improve the lives of those with fewer opportunities and has a special interest in welfare systems, child development, women's empowerment and homelessness.

Dr Nichola Coombs

Dr Coombs is an Academic Specialist with a unique clinical background in infant and child mental health. Her research focuses on evaluating enhanced early education interventions for children living with high levels of family stress and social vulnerability. Her work bridges the gap between infant mental health, early education and economic policy.

Dr Sarah C. Dahmann

Dr. Dahmann is a Senior Research Fellow at the Melbourne Institute, interested in the human development of adolescents and young adults. Her work focuses on the determinants of skill formation, consequences of childhood disadvantage, impacts of education and welfare policies, and importance of mental health and self-control for economic behavior.

Mr Taylor Ey

Taylor Ey, a Foundation Fellow at the Melbourne Institute, specialises in applying generative AI within Economics and the Social Sciences. He uses AI to enhance research methodologies, broaden engagement, and tackle complex problems in these fields.

Mr Daniel Fischer

Daniel is a Senior Foundation Fellow with expertise in single-unit record data architecture and has contributed to various projects related to policy impact. He is a published co-author on a data description paper related to ATO data assets. Daniel is passionate about mentoring and actively shares knowledge with his peers.

Mr Ron Fisher

Ron is a Foundation Fellow in the Health Economics Team at the Melbourne Institute with a Bachelor of Economics (Honours) from Monash University and a background in consulting. He is passionate about using large administrative datasets to understand and improve Australians' health and health-related behaviours

Dr Sarah Fraser

Dr Fraser has 25 years of experience in clinical practice, research, supervision, and program development. She is committed to research and currently works on the Intensive Early Childhood Education and Care Research Program (IECECRP). This initiative supports vulnerable and disadvantaged children from birth to three years, bridging the gap to school readiness.

Dr Ana Gamarra Rondinel

Dr Gamarra Rondinel is a public economist at the Melbourne Institute and the ARC Centre of Excellence for Children and Families over the Life Course. Her research explores government policies on taxation, education, early childhood, and financial insecurity. She is also a Research Affiliate with CESifo and the Tax and Transfer Policy Institute.

Ms Brooke Garrard

Brooke is a dedicated member of the HILDA Survey team, specialising in data quality assurance and management. Her responsibilities include conducting thorough data checks, preparing longitudinal survey materials, and developing resources for both interviewers and data users. Brooke also coordinates data user training sessions, ensuring the survey's integrity and accessibility for researchers.

Professor Matthew Greenwood-Nimmo

Professor Greenwood-Nimmo leads the Macroeconomic Modelling, Forecasting and Policy Analysis team. An expert in macro and financial econometrics, he has conducted impactful research on global economic linkages, the analysis of financial networks, and the study of economic asymmetries. His work advances our understanding of the domestic and international forces affecting the Australian macroeconomy.

Ms Tanya Gupta

Tanya Gupta is a Senior Foundation Fellow at the Melbourne Institute and has experience in education, family and labour economics. Her research studies the effectiveness of government policy interventions and seeks to bridge critical gaps in the field.

Dr Christopher Hoy

Dr Hoy is an applied microeconomist working on development economics, political economy, and public finance. His research has been published in leading journals, including the American Economic Journal: Economic Policy and Journal of Development Economics, featured in top media outlets, such as the New York Times, the Economist, and cited over 2000 times.

Dr Ujjwal KC

Dr Ujjwal KC, Research Fellow (Academic Specialist) at the Melbourne Institute, excels in data science, analytics, interactive visualisation, and artificial intelligence. With extensive experience, he designs engaging data products for extended outreach with dynamic, user-driven interfaces, delivering insights on disadvantage and wellbeing. He is passionate about aiding socio-economic policy research with emerging technologies.

Dr Jan Kabátek

Dr Kabátek is a Senior Research Fellow with a background in economics and applied econometrics. In his research, Jan leverages large administrative registers to yield data-driven insights into domains of public policy including labour, family, gender and ageing. Jan has Stata expertise and is passionate about improving research infrastructures through the use of AI.

Ms Yashu Kalera

Ms Kalera is an economist passionate about using data to drive meaningful change. Blending academic insight with industry experience, she brings clarity to complex issues across education, Indigenous affairs, and market strategy. Her work bridges policy, research, and storytelling to inform thoughtful, inclusive, and impactful decision-making.

Ms Roopa Kamath

Roopa Kamath is a HILDA Database Support Officer at the Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research. She specialises in data quality, editing, and documentation, as well as the development and testing of CAPI scripts. Passionate about ensuring accurate and reliable research data.

Dr Inga Laß

Dr Inga Lass is a Senior Research Fellow at the Melbourne Institute and an expert in the interplay between employment arrangements, worker well-being, and family life. She is also the co-coordinator of the executive board of the Research Network 13 “Family and Intimate Lives” of the European Sociological Association.

Mr Chenhao Liang

Chenhao (Ryan) is a Foundation Fellow with an MSc in Economics from the London School of Economics and Political Science. Chenhao is passionate about using rich administrative datasets to explore and inform improvements in Australians’ health. His current research focuses on specialist fees and the health outcomes of people with disabilities.

Ms Ninette Macalalad

As the Database Engineer and Analyst for HILDA, Ninette Macalalad brings data to life. Her expertise in managing complex systems ensures integrity of vital longitudinal information. Ninette's analytical skills and attention to detail support critical research, shaping understanding of Australian households through HILDA's comprehensive datasets.

Dr Steeve Marchand

Dr Steeve Marchand is an economist specialising in labour economics, program evaluation, and criminal justice policy. He is particularly passionate about improving outcomes for young people facing disadvantage in the labour market and understanding how social rehabilitation programs and correctional policies can reduce recidivism.

Dr Susan Méndez

Dr Méndez is committed to shaping evidence-informed policy in the healthcare sector. Her research focuses on competition policy and the organisation and regulation of healthcare markets. Her work has local and global impact, with research services that guide policy reforms for Australian federal and state governments and the World Bank.

Dr Mossamet Kamrun Nesa

Dr Mossamet Kamrun Nesa is a Survey Statistician/Methodologist for the HILDA Survey. Her research focuses on data quality and how well the important HILDA Survey represents the population, small-area estimation methods, and public health issues, including child malnutrition and maternal health in Bangladesh and other developing nations.

Associate Professor Viet Hoang Nguyen

Associate Professor Nguyen is an expert in applied and behavioural macroeconomics. His research seeks to inform the monitoring of the Australian economy, particularly the household sector, and to understand the interplay between economic and behavioural factors in consumer decision-making and its macroeconomic outcomes.

Professor A. Abigail Payne

Dr Kyle Peyton

Dr Peyton is an expert in causal inference and the design and analysis of randomised experiments in survey, lab, and field settings. His research integrates tools from data science and causal inference to advance the empirical study of pressing problems in political economy and public policy.

Associate Professor Cain Polidano

Associate Professor Polidano is an expert in education and skills policy, labour markets and Indigenous economics. His research measures causal relationships that improve policy and the life trajectories of disadvantaged Australians. He works with government, communities and businesses to maximise policy impact.

Dr Kushneel Prakash

Dr Prakash is an applied economist working in wellbeing, health and energy economics research using large survey data. He is an award-winning early career researcher with his PhD thesis winning him the distinguished Mollie-Holman Medal. He is passionate about advancing wellbeing research in Australia and growing its recognition in Pacific Island countries.

Associate Professor Tim Robinson

Associate Professor Robinson is an applied macroeconomist. His research focuses on applied modelling to inform the conduct of macroeconomic policy, particularly in Australia. He is interested in understanding the strengths, limitations, and relationships between different modelling approaches.

Dr Miguel Ruiz

Dr Ruiz conducts research on Indigenous business performance and social housing in Australia. Previously, he worked at the World Bank, analysing education projects in Eastern Europe and the Asia Pacific and the impacts of conflict in Papua New Guinea and Timor-Leste. His academic research focuses on how violent conflict affects forced migration and health outcomes.

Dr Nicolás Salamanca

Dr Salamanca is a Senior Research Fellow at the Melbourne Institute and an expert in economics of education and family economics. His research informs the design of evidence-based education, family, and welfare policies to improve socioeconomic equality and the efficiency of public investments in children and families.

Dr Rajeev Samarage

Dr Samarage is a Senior Research Fellow (Data & Analytics) with expertise in data analytics and visualisation, digital platforms, data sharing and governance. He also led the project to stand up the Melbourne Institute Data Lab, a secure data enclave that enables collaboration on research to inform Australian economic and social policy.

Dr Karinna Saxby

Dr Saxby is a Health Economist at the Melbourne Institute. Karinna is passionate about generating robust evidence to inform health policy in Australia, with a particular focus on Medicare reform and priority populations including people with disability, LGBT populations, and Indigenous peoples.

Ms Michelle Summerfield

Michelle is a skilled survey manager specialising in data analysis and fieldwork coordination for large-scale studies such as the HILDA Survey. Leveraging her background in social science and public health, she expertly manages complex datasets and implements strategies to maximise response rates. Her work ensures high-quality data collection, driving impactful research outcomes.

Ms Alison Tilbrook

Mr Derek Tong

Derek is a Foundation Fellow at the Melbourne Institute specialising in applied microeconomics. His research focuses on employment, education, crime, and public policy evaluation using advanced econometric methods to inform policies that improve outcomes for youth and disadvantaged groups.

Associate Professor Yi-Ping Tseng

Associate Professor Yi-Ping Tseng, an expert in program evaluation and policy design, employs rigorous methods like randomised trials and quasi-experimental evaluations using survey and administrative data. Her passion lies in generating robust evidence to inform education and social policies, with the aim of improving the life trajectories of vulnerable populations.

Associate Professor Sam Tsiaplias

Associate Professor Tsiaplias is an expert in the analysis and measurement of inflation, cost of living and how Australians form expectations about future economic conditions. His monthly reports on inflation, cost of living, consumer inflation and wage expectations are widely cited. His work informs economic and social policy for the public and private sectors.

Dr Ou Yang

Ou Yang is a Senior Research Fellow at the Melbourne Institute, specialising in health economics, econometrics, and healthcare policy. His research has directly influenced legislative changes, public discourse, and policymaking in Australia, earning widespread recognition in both academic and policy circles.

Dr Shan Ying

Dr Ying is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow. Her research interests centre on applied macroeconomics, especially how uncertainty shapes policy efficacy and broader outcomes. Her current research focuses on shadow rate SVARs and firms’ perception of monetary policy uncertainty.

Associate Professor Jongsay Yong

Associate Professor Yong is a Principal Research Fellow at the Melbourne Institute. He specialises in health economics with an interest in health system financing, hospital performance, and incentives in health care. He aims to inform health policymaking through research and engagement work.

Professor Yuting Zhang

Professor Zhang is Team Leader for Health Economics and Director of HALE Hub. She develops and evaluates novel strategies to improve health insurance, health system productivity and population health. She serves on several editorial boards of leading health journals and Co-Chairs the Arrow Award Committee, the highest international award in health economics.

Ms Yuchen Zhong

Professor John de New

Professor de New is Team Leader for Wellbeing and Economic Empowerment and the Managing Editor for The Australian Economic Review (our journal, published by Wiley). He is the author of the panel data package for Stata called ‘PanelWhiz’ and was previously Chair of Economic Policy: Competition Theory and Policy at Ruhr University, Germany.