Dr Robert Pereira
Position
Adjunct Associate Professor, Occupational Therapy
Qualifications
- PhD (Social Inclusion)
- BOccThy (Hons) (Bachelor of Occupational Therapy (Honours))
Biography
Robert has worked as an occupational therapist for over 14 years. His experience is diverse, working in acute hospital and rehabilitation settings, complex care coordination and system navigation in the community, government (Centrelink and National Disability Insurance Agency), tertiary education (university students with disabilities), return-to-work rehabilitation, as well as in academia as an Adjunct Associate Professor of Occupational Therapy with the University of Canberra’s Faculty of Health (since 2014).
Robert has a PhD in occupational science specialising in social inclusion completed at Macquarie University in 2013, and a Bachelor of Occupational Therapy (Honours) completed at Deakin University in 2005. Robert is also an endorsed mental health occupational therapist. He enjoys working with people to enable their capabilities and opportunities to participate in meaningful occupations.
Robert works as a clinician researcher ("pracademic"), with research and practice interests in the areas of social inclusion, disability, the capabilities approach, social determinants of health, care and system navigation, the occupational impacts of living with chronic disease and disability, consumer-centred practice, co-designed research, occupational justice and critical policy analysis.
Robert is currently advancing research into person-centred outcome measures, as well as the Capabilities, Opportunities, Resources and Environments (CORE) approach for inclusive, occupation-centred practice that originated from his PhD research into social inclusion, poverty and disability. He has published widely in occupational therapy and occupational science peer-reviewed journal and textbooks.
Robert teaches into the Bachelor of Occupational Therapy, and Master of Occupational Therapy programs at University of Canberra, as well as participates in PhD supervision, research and curriculum design.