Emerita Professor Billie Giles-Corti

Emerita Professor Billie Giles-Corti has published over 400 articles, book chapters and reports, and by citations, has been ranked in the top 1% of researchers in her field globally

She is currently a VC Professorial Fellow and from 2016-2020 was an NHMRC Senior Principal Research Fellow. Between 2017-2020 she was RMIT’s Urban Futures Enabling Capability Platform Director, and between 2011-2016, she was a Redmond Barry Distinguished Professor at the University of Melbourne and Director of the McCaughey VicHealth Community Wellbeing Unit.

For over two decades, Billie and a multi-disciplinary research team have been studying the impact of the built environment on health and wellbeing.  From 2014-2020, she led an NHMRC Centre of Research Excellence in Healthy Liveable Communities and worked closely with local, national and global policy-makers and practitioners in Perth, Melbourne, Brisbane and nationally.  Since 2014, she has a Chief Investigator on the Australian Prevention Partnership Centre, responsible for working with sectors outside of health. She led its National Liveability Study, which initiated the Australian Urban Observatory https://auo.org.au that maps and disseminates policy-relevant urban liveability indicators for Australia’s 21 largest cities available for use by local government and the community.

She has published over 400 articles, book chapters and reports, and by citations, is ranked in the top 1% of researchers in her field globally.  She is an Honorary Fellow of both the Planning Institute of Australia and the Public Health Association and a Fulbright Scholar. In 2016, she was awarded an NHMRC Elizabeth Blackburn Fellowship as the top ranked female fellow in public health in 2015; and in 2020, she was awarded the Town and Country Association’s Sir James Barrett Memorial Medal.

She is a member of the Victorian Office of the Government Architect Design Review Panel, the Victorian Planning Authority’s Precinct Structure Plan Review Committee and Melbourne Water’s Liveability Panel.

She is on the Editorial Boards of Social Science and Medicine and Social Science and Medicine – Population Health; and has been a Guest Editor on built environment and health special issues for several journals including Preventive Medicine and the Journal of Transport and Health. She regularly serves on NHMRC Grant Review Panels and is a grant reviewer for the Australian Research Council.

She is regularly invited to contribute to projects with global impact including: 

WHO’s Global Report on Urban Health http://who.int/kobe_centre/measuring/urban-global-report/en/

The Lancet Series on Urban Design, Transport and Health (lead of the first paper in the series):  http://www.thelancet.com/series/urban-design

The ENABLE London project, an evaluation of the health and wellbeing impacts of people relocating into social and affordable housing resulting from the London Olympic Village legacy project http://www.enable.sgul.ac.uk/

CURRENT RESEARCH PROJECTS

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Related Content

Projects

Living liveable: The lived experiences of life on the urban fringe

2019

“Living Liveable”, is a short documentary film showcasing the lived experiences of residents in the outer suburbs of Melbourne.

Creating Liveable Cities in Australia – Scorecards

2018 (ongoing)

A scorecard and priority recommendations for Perth, Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane developed using results from the 'Creating Liveable Cities in Australia' (2017) report.

Optimising apartment design policy to equitably enhance mental health

2018 (ongoing)

This study will generate evidence on the key health enhancing design requirements that should be entrenched in the new Design WA Apartment Design Guidelines.

News & Blog

News

RMIT urban academic wins 2020 Sir James Barrett Memorial Medal

19 November 2020

Distinguished Professor Billie Giles-Corti has been awarded the 2020 Sir James Barrett Memorial Medal for her outstanding contributions to developing healthy, sustainable and liveable communities.

News

How can we better prepare suburban Melbourne for climate change?

24 September 2020

Climate change presents critical challenges for future development, sustainability and resilience across Melbourne. Here, our experts offer insights on how we can better prepare our outer suburbs.

News

A focus on liveability: What can we learn from Barcelona’s superblocks?

31 July 2020

With its high population density and compact built environment, the Catalan capital is employing nature-based solutions to tackle typical urban challenges and improve the life of its inhabitants.

News

Five ways we can reimagine our streets for our health

06 July 2020

As families embrace the joys of walking and cycling in their neighbourhoods, how can we use the shake-up from coronavirus as an opportunity to keep this going for our own and our children’s health?

News

Australian and UK urban experts partner to build better cities

26 May 2020

A new project brings together Australian and UK urban experts to virtually model and test the benefits of transport planning in creating healthier and sustainable cities across both countries.

Blog

Physical distancing is here for a while – over 100 experts call for more safe walking and cycling space

30 April 2020

The coronavirus pandemic has dramatically shifted our lives and the ways we move about our cities.

Blog

Coronavirus reminds us how liveable neighbourhoods matter for our well-being

21 April 2020

We are witnessing changes in the ways we use our cities in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The liveability of our local neighbourhoods has never been more important.

News

New digital platform maps liveability in our major cities

05 February 2020

A groundbreaking new digital platform is set to transform how we map liveability in major cities across the country, in an Australian first.

Blog

Creating built environments to support active living

28 May 2019

More than 75% of the population of Australia’s largest cities continue to live in suburbs. The implications include reduced opportunities for physical activity, social interaction, access to public transport & high motor vehicle dependency.

Blog

Living ‘liveable’: this is what residents have to say about life on the urban fringe

20 February 2019

Recent studies show Melbourne’s and Sydney’s fast-growing outer suburbs lag behind other parts of the city in access to urban design, employment and amenities and services that foster liveability.

Media

Brisbane’s public transport access worst in the country: report

28 November 2018

A new report measuring Brisbane’s liveability progress has found its residents have the worst access to public transport in Australia.

News

RMIT urban research wins at Victorian planning awards

27 November 2018

RMIT urban academics and students have been recognised at the Awards for Planning Excellence – Victoria for their leadership in planning.

Publications

A call to action: More collaborative implementation research is needed to prevent chronic disease

Luke Wolfenden, Penelope Hawe, Lucie Rychetnik, Rachel Sutherland, Courtney Barnes, Serene Yoong, Emerita Professor Billie Giles-Corti, Jo Mitchell, Adrian Bauman, Andrew J. Milat, Li Kheng Chai, Sara Mayfield, Nadia Mastersson, Louise Freebairn, Gary Sacks, Andrew Wilson, Annemarie Wright, John Wiggers

Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health

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