Kerry S. O’Brien
Professor of Behavioural Sciences
Monash University
Melbourne, Australia
© 2026 Kerry S. O’Brien
Behavioural Sciences Research Laboratory
Welcome
Professor of Behavioural Sciences at Monash University. I work on stigma, the marketing of alcohol and gambling, prejudice and violent extremism, and the measurement problems that sit underneath all of them.
New ARC Linkage Project with Susan Carland, Matteo Vergani and Zarina Vakhitova, tracking Islamophobia and its impacts on Australian Muslims’ lives.
Joined the editorial board of BMC Public Health.
National Industry PhD Program award from the Australian Department of Education.
Faculty of Arts Dean’s Award for Excellence in Research Engagement and Impact.
Systematic review for the US Department of Homeland Security on interventions to increase trust in government in democratic contexts.
My work asks how stigma and commercial marketing shape health, and what follows for policy. Much of it concerns weight stigma: how explanatory models of obesity move public blame and discrimination, how internalised bias changes eating and physical activity, and whether prejudice-reduction interventions actually work. A second, long-running programme examines alcohol and gambling promotion, particularly sponsorship in sport, children’s exposure to it on television, and its relationship to hazardous drinking among sportspeople and students.
A third strand concerns prejudice and violent extremism, including Islamophobia in Australia, the psychology of support for extremist views in Indonesia, and homophobic behaviour in youth sport. Across all of it I build and validate measures, and I care more than most about whether an effect survives replication.
I founded and direct the Behavioural Sciences Research Laboratory at Monash University, and was Associate Dean Research in the Faculty of Arts from 2019 to 2025.
Research
They overlap more than they look. Stigma is a measurement problem, marketing is a behaviour-change problem, and almost everything ends up needing a better scale.
How explanatory models of obesity move blame, discrimination and treatment; how internalised weight bias relates to eating, distress and quality of life; and whether prejudice-reduction interventions with health professionals hold up under randomised trial. Cross-national work with Rebecca Puhl, Janet Latner and Lenny Vartanian across four countries.
Experiments · randomised trials · multinational surveys
Alcohol industry sponsorship and hazardous drinking among sportspeople in New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Australia and Brazil; children’s exposure to alcohol advertising in televised sport; and whether counter-advertising can dilute the effects of sponsorship. This work has informed submissions to the Australian Medical Association, Eurocare and national preventive health agencies.
Content audits · field experiments · policy evaluation
The extent of children’s and young people’s exposure to gambling advertising in sport and non-sport television, the relationship between gambling advertising and attitudes and behaviour, and gambling among people experiencing homelessness.
Meta-analysis · media audits · qualitative interviews
Islamophobia in Australia and its impacts; when perceived threat translates into anti-Muslim behaviour; existential anxiety and support for violent extremism in Indonesia; homophobic language in youth sport and how to reduce it; and gender-sensitive approaches to preventing violent extremism in Asia and the Pacific.
Cluster randomised trials · national surveys · scale development
Why people avoid physical activity and sport, and what stigma has to do with it. Also data-linkage work on self-harm and mental health service use in culturally and linguistically diverse communities in Victoria, and dietary and physical activity intervention trials.
Data linkage · longitudinal cohorts · randomised trials
Instruments developed or validated with colleagues include the upward and downward physical appearance comparison scales, the Tendency to Avoid Physical Activity and Sport Scale, the Weight Stigma Exposure Inventory and the Hate Behaviours Scale, with translations and invariance testing across Chinese, Italian, Turkish and Malaysian samples. Related work on replication, and on what implicit measures do and do not tell us.
EFA and CFA · measurement invariance · IRT · Bayesian methods
Editorial Board, BMC Public Health
Associate Editor, Obesities
Associate Editor, International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
Associate Editor, Addiction
Stepped down on becoming Associate Dean Research
Faculty of Arts Dean’s Award for Excellence in Research Engagement and Impact, Monash University
Wiley Top Viewed Article of the Year, British Journal of Social Psychology
Victorian Health Promotion Foundation Award, Research into Action
Dean’s Award for Excellence in Research Enterprise, and the Monash ARC Research Mentoring Award
Emerging Research Excellence Fellowship, Monash University
Associate Dean Research, Faculty of Arts, Monash University
Research strategy and budget across roughly 250 academic staff. Built and led grant training programmes that produced 23 successful DECRA fellowships at a 33% success rate, against a national average of 17.5%.
Research Director, School of Social Sciences, Monash University
Founding Director, Behavioural Sciences Research Laboratory, Monash University
Head of Behavioural Studies, Monash University
Scientific Advisor, Eurocare, the European peak body for alcohol policy
External advisor, Healthway, Government of Western Australia
Publications
130 peer-reviewed journal articles, eight book chapters, and reports for government and non-government bodies. Filter by topic, or search by author, title or journal.
Google Scholar: h-index 53, i10-index 115, roughly 10,160 citations. Scopus: h-index 41, roughly 5,375 citations. Of 130 indexed publications, 75% appear in Q1 journals and 26% sit in the top 10% of most-cited articles worldwide. Co-authors in 44 countries.
† corresponding author when not listed first · * with PhD student · # with post-doctoral researcher
Funding
Approximately AU$5.7 million in national competitive and industry research income, from the Australian Research Council, the NHMRC, UN Women, state health promotion foundations, and government departments in Australia, the United States and the United Kingdom.
Tracking Islamophobia and its impacts on Australian Muslims’ lives
ARC Linkage Project LP250100022, with industry partner funding · AU$875,437 · Carland, O’Brien (conceptual and writing lead), Vergani, Vakhitova
National Industry PhD Program
Department of Education, Australian Government · AU$232,289 · Chief Investigator
The effectiveness of interventions to increase trust in government in democratic contexts: a systematic review
US Department of Homeland Security · AU$108,736 · Vergani, O’Brien, Vakhitova
Islamophobia in Australia Report
Australian Islamophobia Register · AU$120,000 · Carland, O’Brien, Vergani
Stigma training for general practitioners to increase medication-assisted treatment of opioid dependence
Camurus Pty Ltd and others · AU$86,600
Examination of the risk of suicide following injury outcomes
Department of Health Victoria, Graduate Research Industry Partnership · AU$70,000 · Chief Investigator
‘No alcohol’ products: a rapid review
Victorian Health Promotion Foundation · AU$23,300 · Lead Chief Investigator
Countering the influence of alcohol sport sponsorship: a media intervention
NHMRC Project Grant APP1159262 · AU$412,418 · Dixon, O’Brien, Vandenberg and others
Evaluating programs aimed at gender transformative work with men and boys
VicHealth · AU$199,993 · Roberts, Elliott, O’Brien and others
Research and engagement addressing homophobia in sport
You Can Play · AU$27,474 · Lead Chief Investigator
Pride Cup evaluation
VicHealth · AU$40,000 · Jeanes, Connor, O’Brien, Denison, Lambert
Evaluation of the Fast-Tracking Initiative, Magistrates’ Court of Victoria
Court Services Victoria · AU$181,686 · Meyer, McCulloch, Maher, O’Brien, Vakhitova, Fitz-Gibbon
Gender equality and violent extremism in North Africa
UN Women · AU$845,181 · True, O’Brien and others
Extent of, and young people’s exposure to, gambling advertising in sport and non-sport television
Victorian Responsible Gambling Foundation · AU$191,808 · Lead Chief Investigator
Reducing homophobia and improving mental health in youth sport
StandUp Events · AU$82,000 · Chief Investigator
Healthy ageing, veterans and care
Defence Health Foundation · AU$40,000 · Warren, Twomey, O’Brien
Identifying and understanding men’s risky drinking subcultures and settings
Victorian Health Promotion Foundation · AU$174,546 · Roberts, O’Brien and others
Indonesia: policies for the disengagement and rehabilitation of violent extremists
Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Australia Awards · AU$301,000 · Lentini, True, O’Brien and others
Gambling and homelessness
Victorian Responsible Gambling Foundation, Early Career Research Support Grant · AU$50,000 · Vandenberg, O’Brien, Carter
Children and young people’s exposure to alcohol advertising
Department of Health, Australian Government · AU$136,561 · Lead Chief Investigator
A gender-sensitive approach to preventing violent extremism in Asia and the Pacific
United Nations and Oxfam · AU$377,047 · True, O’Brien and others
Gender-sensitive approach to preventing violent extremism in Asia-Pacific
UN Women · AU$532,905 · True, Gordon, O’Brien, Iqbal, Zech
The stress of obesity stigma
ARC Discovery Project DP160100904 · AU$288,000 · Vartanian, Pinkus, O’Brien, Smyth, Latner
Creating Change Program evaluation
Greater Dandenong City Council · AU$15,000 · O’Brien, Vergani
Western Australian adolescents’ exposure to alcohol advertising
Healthway and the Drug and Alcohol Office · AU$144,040 · Jones, Pettigrew, O’Brien
Exposure to alcohol advertising in televised sport
ARC Linkage Project · AU$166,136 · Lead Chief Investigator
Children and young people’s exposure to alcohol advertising in sport
Victorian Health Promotion Foundation · AU$112,500 · Chief Investigator
Alcohol advertising and sponsorship in Australia
Australian National Preventative Health Agency, NHMRC administered · AU$80,000 · Lead Chief Investigator
Hazardous drinking and sponsorship in UK sport
Alcohol Research UK · AU$100,000 · Chief Investigator
Physical activity intervention in people over 55 years
Durham and Chester-le-Street Lifestyle Initiative, United Kingdom · AU$80,000 · Co-Chief Investigator
Dietary intervention adherence study
New Zealand National Heart Foundation · NZ$15,000 · Chief Investigator
Alcohol sponsorship and hazardous drinking
Alcohol and Liquor Advisory Council of New Zealand · AU$14,500 · Chief Investigator
Alcohol in sportspeople
Maurice and Phyllis Paykel Trust · AU$8,500 · Chief Investigator
Supervision
More than 45 higher-degree completions at doctoral, masters and honours level, across New Zealand, the United Kingdom and Australia.
A defensible design and a real question. I am most useful to students working on stigma, alcohol and gambling policy, prejudice and extremism, health behaviour, or measurement development, and to students who want serious quantitative training rather than a thesis assembled from convenience data. I also supervise PhDs by publication, and I am happy to talk with candidates who already have papers in progress and need a coherent programme built around them.
Send a one-page outline: the question, why it matters, the design you have in mind, and the data you can realistically get. Tell me which scholarship or funding you are applying for and when it closes. A CV and one writing sample help. I read everything that arrives with those four things in it.
Tiansi Chu · Kangqiao Xiang · Paul O’Neill · Alina Abramenko · Alireza Zangeneh
Dan Myles · Thi Le Pham · Nadia Bevan · Erik Denison · Georgia Rush · Matteo Vergani · Muhammad Iqbal · Victoria Absalom (committee, United Kingdom)
Twenty years of teaching across four institutions in three countries. Undergraduate teaching has covered introductory and social psychology, health psychology, personality and individual differences, research methods, psychometrics, human factors, behaviour change, public health policy, and the social determinants of health. Postgraduate teaching has covered research methods in the Master of Research and health psychology in the Master of Clinical and Health Psychology. Class sizes have ranged from 17 to 800.
Contact
I am glad to hear from researchers, prospective students, journalists and policy staff working on stigma, alcohol and gambling policy, prejudice and extremism, or measurement.