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Major Research & Impact Activities
CTWD Research Fellow team
Laureate-funded Research Centre
The Centre involves a team of passionate post-doctoral and PhD researchers who investigate antecedents and outcomes of work design, as well as topics such as automation, psychosocial risks, and team work.
The CTWD also employs professional organisational psychologists who work in the Collaboratory to embed high quality work design into practice.
A New Model For Improving Work
Developed by Sharon and the CTWD's Collaboratory, the S.M.A.R.T model consolidates evidence from thousands of studies to support the design of work that is stimulating, mastery-oriented, agentic, relational, and tolerable.
Diagnostic tools, case studies, workshops, and more, have been developed to help ensure work is healthy and engaging for people, and that organisations are productive and digitally-ready.
Mature Workers in Organizations
Sharon leads the Mature Workers in Organizations research team, which is part of the larger ARC Centre of Excellence in Population Ageing Research (CEPAR).
The team helps companies to design strategies and interventions to help attract and retain mature workers, and to ensure their healthy and productive aging.
An Initiative To Improve
Employee Mental Health
Mental health issues cost Australian organisations more than $12 billion per year. Together with Karina Jorritsma and Mark Griffin, Sharon launched the Thrive at Work Initiative to help organisations to meet the challenge of creating mentally healthy workplaces.
This award-winning initiative, funded by the ARC, the WA Mental Health Commission, and Curtin University, is novel in its holistic, strategic, and preventative focus.
Fostering Women's Success Through Evidence and Inspiration
Women are under-represented in the professoriate and in academic leadership roles. They also face challenges beyond male researchers.
As part of her Kathleen Fitzpatrick ambassadorial role, with the support of a dedicated team, Sharon created the Women In Research website and program to help women navigate their work and careers. The website features interviews with some of the best female researchers in Australia, including more than 25 female laureates.
Sketching Work
Showing The Power of Work Design
Through Art
In this fascinating project initiated by Sharon, an artist-in-residence, Lynne Chapman, worked with researchers from the CTWD to capture more than 40 different jobs. Lynne sketched people in their workplaces, whilst CTWD researchers interviewed them. The result?
Fabulous sketches and stories that powerfully convey what makes for good, or bad, work.
Work Across Lives and Careers:
A 20-Year Longitudinal Study
Throughout your lifetime, you’re likely to spend 90,000 hours working. That is about 60% of your time awake.
So we do research to better understand how you can make this time more meaningful, be more succesful at work, and have a great career and life.