Our Research

Dr. Felicity Baker is the Founder and Chief Clinical Officer of MATCH, where she leads the clinical and research direction of the company’s technology-driven solutions for dementia care. A world-leading researcher in music therapy and dementia, Felicity is internationally recognised for her contributions to aged care innovation, with a track record of pioneering research that has shaped practice and policy across the sector. She brings over 30 years of clinical and academic expertise to the role and plays a key part in translating evidence into scalable, person-centred products that improve quality of life for people living with dementia and their caregivers.

Associate Professor Jeanette Tamplin is Head of Music Therapy and Associate Dean for Student Wellbeing in the Faculty of Fine Arts and Music at The University of Melbourne. She also holds a clinical position as Senior Music Therapist at Austin Health and publishes widely on her research and clinical work in neurorehabilitation, including acquired brain injury, spinal cord injury, Parkinson’s disease, and dementia.

Jenny Waycott is a Professor in the School of Computing and Information Systems, Faculty of Engineering and IT at The University of Melbourne, where she leads the Design for Ageing research theme in the Human-Computer Interaction research group. Her research examines how technologies can be designed and used for social connection and emotional wellbeing in later life.

A/Prof Amit Lampit is a Principal Research Fellow with the Wellbeing in Ageing Team at the Department of Psychiatry, University of Melbourne. He brings more than 15 years’ experience in developing and testing digital interventions, most notably in ageing and neurological conditions. As an expert in evidence synthesis and clinical trials, across academia, government and industry, Amit drives research design, implementation and scientific affairs of MATCH, ensuring it is backed by solid evidence and delivers global impact.

Nicola joined the University of Melbourne in July 2008 as Professor and Chair of Old Age Psychiatry in the Department of Psychiatry in the Melbourne Medical School where she is also Lead of the Wellbeing in Ageing Team (WiAT) (formerly known as Academic Unit for Psychiatry of Old Age (AUPOA). Since April 2024, she also holds an academic leadership role as Deputy Dean, People Community and Partnerships in the Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences. Nicola is a consultant old age psychiatrist at the Older Adult Mental Health Program, Royal Melbourne Hospital (RMH) Mental Health Service where she conducts her clinical work in the RMH Memory Clinic. Her research experience spans ageing and aged mental health, dementia risk reduction, cognitive impairment and dementia with involving diverse research methods such as clinical trials, observational studies, guidelines, surveys, systematic reviews and qualitative research: with a particular focus in implementation science.

Terry is Senior Lecturer in Psychiatry of Old Age – jointly appointed by the University of Melbourne and St Vincent’s Hospital Melbourne.  His clinical and research interests include dementia prevention, anxiety and depression in later life, physical activity and health, including weight management and falls prevention, the use of technology to improve care, clinical trials and qualitative research.  He is on the Board of Directors of the International Psychogeriatric Association and the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists (RANZCP) Faculty of Psychiatry of Old Age Victorian Subcommittee and holds clinical appointments as psychiatrist at St Vincent’s Hospital Melbourne, Epworth Healthcare, and Medical and Mind Weight Loss.

I am a Professor in the School of Computing and Information Systems at the University of Melbourne. My research focuses on machine learning, wearable sensing, and data privacy, with applications in health and digital inclusion. I have pioneered privacy-preserving techniques for mobile computing and lead the development of AI technologies in the MATCH project that use personalised music to prevent agitation in people living with dementia.

Dr Tanara Vieira Sousa is a health economist with more than 15 years' experience in health-related research. She brings extensive experience from her work with multidisciplinary teams in the coordination, studies design, project management, monitoring and evaluation. Since joining The University of Melbourne in 2017 as a Research Fellow, she has worked with multiple health economic projects. Dr Vieira Sousa is currently a health economist on two JNPD/NHRMC Multinational and one MRFF research projects on Health and Social Care for neurodegenerative Diseases related to Dementia and Music Therapy. She also supports projects in Neuromotor Diseases and Palliative Care for Cancer Patients. Before immigrating to Australia (January 2017), Dr Vieira Sousa worked as a Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for Drug and Alcohol Research (Brazil) for ten years, where gained experience in monitoring and evaluation, and project management.

A/Prof Karen Lamb is co-Head of the Biostatistics and Clinical Epidemiology Node of the Methods and Implementation Support for Clinical and Health research (MISCH) Hub at the University of Melbourne. In this role, she provides leadership to a team of biostatisticians providing statistical support in the design, analysis and reporting of health research to health and clinical researchers at the University of Melbourne and affiliated hospital partners.  She has over 15 years of experience as a biostatistician and has collaborated with researchers in music therapy since 2019.

Sabine Braat is a Principal Research Fellow in Biostatistics at the Centre for Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia. Sabine co-heads the Biostatistics Node of the Methods and Implementation Support for Clinical Health Research Hub and is a senior biostatistician at the Anaemia Research Lab at The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute for Medical Research. Across both roles, she provides expert statistical advice in clinical and health research.

Adam Vogel, PhD, is Professor of Speech Neuroscience at The University of Melbourne where he leads research to improve communication and swallowing in people with neurological conditions, alongside clinical roles in specialist ataxia and dementia clinics. He is also Chief Science Officer at Redenlab Inc., a US-Australian neuroscience technology company developing speech and language biomarkers to support decision making in clinical trials, health research, and workforce monitoring.

Zara is a Registered Music Therapist and Post-Doctoral Research Fellow, working on the MATCH project in relation to training and content development. 

Alissa Westphal is a Lecturer in Dementia Care and Occupational Therapist with extensive experience in older adult mental health and dementia care. She has special interests in: meaningful engagement for older adults; understanding and responding to changed behaviours also known as behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD) using non-pharmacological approaches; the use of technology to support engagement; improving the skills of carers and health professionals to engage people living with dementia and more effectively understand and respond to changed behaviours using a person centered and holistic approach.

Phoebe Stretton-Smith is a Registered Music Therapist and Research Fellow at The University of Melbourne. For the past 9 years, she has held clinical and research roles on various projects exploring therapeutic music interventions with people living with dementia and their care partners.

Hayley is a Registered Music Therapist and the Clinical Trial Manager for MATCH, responsible for managing the implementation of clinical studies in residential aged care homes. She highlights a need for clinically informed and structured approaches to embedding music in dementia care to ensure safety and sustainability. Her doctoral research explored the impact of MATCH on professional caregivers in residential aged care homes in Australia, identifying benefits and implementation requirements. 

Dr Monica Subiantoro is a post-doctoral researcher, music therapist and project manager for MATCH.

Yang Yu is a Research Fellow in the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and IT at The University of Melbourne, where he works on the development of wearable sensing technologies. His research focuses on the design and implementation of medical-grade wearable devices that capture physiological and behavioural signals to support stress and wellbeing monitoring in everyday life.

Jie Yang is a full-stack software developer for the MATCH project and a PhD student at the University of Melbourne, focused on research related to recommender systems and representation learning.

Dr Young-Eun (Claire) Lee is a Clinical Neuropsychologist, Placement Coordinator/Lecturer and Researcher in Melbourne. She has previously worked as a Research Fellow/Clinical Trial Manager (2015 - 2022) at the University of Melbourne, managing large scale, multi-site clinical trials examining music therapy interventions in rehabilitation and residential aged care settings. Her research interests include acquired brain injury, neurorehabilitation, dementia and music interventions.

Robyn is a Professor of Healthcare Communication in the Department of Medical Education, University of Melbourne. Her communication research includes intercultural interactions such as supporting international medical graduate doctors transition to Australian healthcare and future doctors to work effectively in multicultural settings.