Rate My Professor Justine Gatt

Adjunct Professor Justine Gatt is a neuroscientist and mental health researcher at the University of New South Wales with over 20 years of experience leading research on mental wellbeing, resilience, and recovery across the lifespan. She holds a PhD in Psychology and a BA (Hons I) in Psychology, both from the University of Sydney. At UNSW, she has held senior academic and research leadership roles within the School of Psychology and Neuroscience Research Australia (NeuRA), where she founded and led Australia’s first dedicated research program on the neuroscience of wellbeing and resilience, including the Centre for Wellbeing, Resilience and Recovery at NeuRA. She continues to supervise HDR students at UNSW and maintains active research collaborations. Prof Gatt is currently Scientific Director of 18 and Up, a nationally significant longitudinal study of adult mental health and wellbeing involving more than 300,000 Australians at the Sax Institute.

She has authored more than 110 peer-reviewed publications attracting over 7,500 citations, with four papers ranked in the top 1% globally in their field, and has secured over $15.7 million in competitive research funding. Her work includes the development of the COMPAS-W Wellbeing Scale and related measures for children and parents. Prof Gatt has received awards including the UNSW Staff Award for Research Collaboration (2024), the Worldwide University Network Award for Exceptional Achievement (2019), the Commonwealth Health Minister’s Award for Excellence in Medical Research (2014), the NHMRC Excellence Award (2014), and Westmead Millennium Institute Science Prizes (2009, 2010). She has delivered over 100 invited talks and featured in more than 55 media engagements.