DrTricia Ong

Tricia is an expert in health, career, and inclusive education, with over ten years at Deakin University, including more than seven years in the School of Health and Social Development (HSD), where she has now returned to continue her teaching, research, and leadership. She earned her PhD at Deakin, conducting award-winning research with marginalised women in Nepal, where she also practised as a creative arts therapist, bringing a global, non-linear, and multidisciplinary perspective to her work. At HSD, she has taught extensively across public health, health promotion, and health sciences, shaping the learning experiences of countless students over many years.

In career education, Tricia led the Faculty of Health program (covering the School of Exercise and Nutrition Science and HSD) for three years, co-designing and embedding initiatives that enhance graduate employability, particularly in low GOS courses. She has also contributed to career education across the Faculties of Arts and Education, Business and Law, and Science, Engineering and Built Environment.

As a champion of inclusive education, Tricia embeds principles of social justice—accessibility, inclusion, equity, cultural responsiveness, and ethics—into curriculum design and the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning. She contributed to the Deakin University Accessibility Champions project, recognised with two team ADCET Awards in 2023 and 2024.

Tricia is a founding member of the Graduate Employability Action Learning Group (GE-ALG), serves on the Board and leads the Australia-New Zealand Working Group of the International Visual Sociology Association (IVSA), and in 2023 received the IVSA Jon Rieger Paper Award for pioneering the Clay Embodiment Research Method, which engaged marginalised women in Nepal. She also contributes to accessibility and inclusion initiatives through the Australian Health Promotion Association (Vic/Tas branch) and national team, and is a member of the Equity Practitioners in Higher Education Association (EPHEA).