The Public Health Policy, Engagement, and Advocacy team explores how commercial industries influence health outcomes. Their research focuses on the Commercial Determinants of Health (CDoH)—the systems, strategies, and practices used by businesses that often prioritise profit at the expense of public health and equity

Our research partners with communities to explore their views on public health challenges related to commercial industries and their practices. We also investigate effective ways to support community involvement in advocacy and policy development

About us

The Commercial Determinants of Health (CDoH) are deeply entwined with the political and economic factors that shape public health. Together, these forces influence the broader structural conditions affecting health and wellbeing. Our approach is grounded in the belief that community voices are vital to creating policies that are equitable, sustainable, and promote health.

Our research actively involves communities in exploring their views on the CDoH, with key areas of focus including:

  • Identifying and addressing targeted marketing and emerging products from harmful industries such as gambling, alcohol, and tobacco/vaping.
  • Raising public awareness and encouraging critical thinking about industry tactics—such as marketing strategies, misinformation, greenwashing, youthwashing, corporate social responsibility, and the framing of health as an individual responsibility.
  • Understanding community perspectives, building trust, and supporting advocacy skill development within community groups.
  • Creating effective strategies to engage communities in public health conversations and empower them to influence policy decisions

Gambling

Our team leads public health research into the commercial determinants of gambling, with a strong focus on community engagement. We work with diverse groups—including children, women, and young men—to understand their attitudes, experiences, and recommendations for policy change. A key partner in this work is the Gambling Harm Lived Experience Experts (GHLEE) network, which helps ensure our projects are grounded in lived experience and community insight.

Our experts are frequently called upon for media commentary and interviews, and our research has informed major initiatives, including the 2023 Parliamentary Inquiry into online gambling.

Climate Crisis

Our research examines how different groups in the community, particularly children and young people, view the commercial and political determinants of the climate crisis. This includes their perceptions of the relationship between high-polluting industries and government, their framing of the climate crisis (including its causes, consequences and solutions), and how youth and other communities can be more involved in climate discussions and decisions.

Menopause

Menopause is increasingly recognised as a public health issue shaped by commercial influences, and in urgent need of reform. Our team leads research and advocacy with people experiencing menopause to inform policy and practice. This includes analysis of the 2024 Parliamentary Inquiry into menopause and perimenopause and examining who shapes public discourse in Australia and the strategies they use.

Cost of living crisis

The cost-of-living crisis is affecting women in distinct ways, adding to existing gender-based health inequalities. Our research focuses on how financial pressures intersect with access to housing, healthcare, and essential services—leading to unequal health outcomes. These challenges reflect deeper, long-standing power imbalances that continue to disadvantage women, especially those already facing hardship. We aim to spotlight these systemic issues and advocate for reforms that prioritise health equity

Conflicts of Interest

Conflicts of interest are increasingly being discussed across public health and health promotion, with particular interest in industry funded research. Our research focuses on promoting funding transparency, advocating for non-industry financing, as well as developing support structures for researchers who advocate against health harming industries and industry funded research.

Community Engagement

Community engagement is at the core of what we do. Our research uses qualitative methods to better understand how communities experience and view various public health issues and health harming industries. In doing so, we seek to understand the barriers and facilitators for embedding community voices in policymaking processes.

Youth Engagement

Youth engagement is a key stream of our community engagement research. We use qualitative methods to understand how different populations of youth conceptualise public health issues and health harming industries, and how they would like to engage in advocacy and policymaking.

Our team

Professor Samantha Thomas
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Dr Hannah Pitt
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Dr Simone McCarthy
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Dr Grace Arnot
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PhD Students

Katrina Wood

Katrina Wood is a PhD candidate at Deakin University, affiliated with the Institute of Health Transformation. Her research is focused on improving women’s health, with a particular emphasis on the lived experience of menopause. She is currently examining the intersection of the commercial determinants of health, gender, and menopause, and is also investigating the impact of gendered ageism. Katrina brings a rich background in nursing, community health, and education to her academic work. In 2022, she was awarded the Jan Moore Award for Excellence in Research – Minor Project during her Master of Health Promotion.

Sally Witchalls

Sally Witchalls is a PhD Candidate at Deakin University, affiliated with the Institute of Health Transformation. Sally has a passion for improving the wellbeing of children and young people, and an interest in better understanding the social, commercial and political determinants that impact health outcomes. Her research is focussed on youth engagement, health-harming industries and public relations tactics. Sally is keen to centre Child Rights in much of the work she undertakes. She also works as a Senior Policy Adviser for the Australian Medical Association, contributing to national public health policy discussions.

Monique Murray

Monique Isla Murray is a cotutelle PhD candidate at Deakin University and Ghent University, researching the commercial determinants of health. Her PhD project explores how gambling is normalised among children and young people, and examines the practical and political responses to this issue in Belgium and Australia through a framing lens. Monique’s research interests include the impact of harmful industries on public health, with a particular focus on Corporate Social Responsibility and its implications for women’s health. She is also the director of a grassroots charity recognised with the 2025 Young Achievers Award for Connecting Communities. Monique is committed to advancing evidence-informed policy responses to reduce health inequities shaped by commercial actors.

In the media