Emeritus ProfessorRobert Cummins

Robert Ashley Cummins’ specialist academic area is quality of life, in which he is regarded as an international authority. He originated the concept that subjective wellbeing functions under homeostatic control, whereby each person has a set-point for their level of subjective wellbeing, and that the dominant composition of subjective wellbeing comprises Homeostatically Protected Mood. Professor Cummins takes a special interest in applying this knowledge to understanding the life quality for people who are disabled and works in close contact with Prof. Richard Mills, Head of Research, AT-Autism, London.

He received his post-graduate training at the University of Queensland (Diploma of Psychology and Master of Science in Physiology) and the University of Western Australia (Doctor of Philosophy: 1978). He moved to Burwood State College, Victoria, in 1979 as senior lecturer in the Institute of Special Education, and remained in this position as institutional amalgamations formed Victoria College, which then became part of Deakin University in 1993. Within Deakin he was appointed Reader in Psychology (1993-1996) and then to a Personal Chair in Psychology (1997-2013). He was appointed Emeritus Professor at Deakin University in 2014 and remains as Honorary Director of the Australian Centre on Quality of Life.

Professor Cummins is a Fellow of the Australian Psychological Society and of the International Society for Quality of Life Studies. In 2005 he was designated 'Expert of International Standing in Quality of Life Research' by the Australian Research Council College of Experts. In 2004 he was the primary author of a publication awarded 'Best paper published in Social Indicators Research 2003' and in that same year, along with research colleagues and staff from Australian Unity, he jointly won the Victorian Public Health Award for Capacity Building Excellence, awarded by the Victorian Department of Human Services. Professor Cummins was named as the 2007 Distinguished Quality of Life Researcher by the International Society for Quality of Life Studies.

In 2024 Professor Cummins was Elected to full membership of Sigma Xi. The Scientific Research Honor Society (ΣΞ) is an international non-profit honor society for scientists and engineers. Sigma Xi was founded at Cornell University in 1886 and is one of the four oldest and most prestigious honor societies in the USA. Membership is by invitation only, where members nominate others on the basis of their research achievements. Sigma Xi goals aim to honor excellence in scientific investigation. Many of the world's most influential scientists have been members of Sigma Xi, such as Albert Einstein, Linus Pauling, Barbara McClintock, and Sally Ride. More than 200 winners of the Nobel Prize have been Sigma Xi members.