The allied health workforce encompasses 27 professions across The Royal Children’s Hospital (RCH), including physiotherapy, dietetics, speech pathology and social work. The workforce includes a large cohort of staff who are passionate about undertaking world leading research that improves patient care.  

The Director of Allied Health Research, a position made possible thanks to funding support from the Good Friday Appeal, focuses on building the research capacity in allied health professionals at the RCH, and driving research partnerships with The University of Melbourne, the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, and academic and industry stakeholders.  

Associate Professor Kelly Weir was appointed to this role in 2023. A certified practicing speech pathologist with extensive clinical experience, Kelly provides leadership within the allied health team. She supports allied health clinicians to undertake high-quality clinical research that identifies, implements and evaluates effective, evidence-led treatments and services for children and young people at the RCH. 

In her role as Director, and with the support of Emily O’Kearney in her newly commenced role of Allied Health Research Development Officer, Kelly provides leadership to support high-quality clinical research with the aim of supporting allied health clinicians to identify, implement and evaluate effective, evidence-led interventions and services for children and young people.

In the first year of the initiative, Kelly worked to understand current allied health research capacity and activities at the RCH, and to develop a program of research and education for allied health in collaboration with staff, children and families, and stakeholders.

In the program’s second year, Kelly will be focusing on a formal evaluation of allied health research culture and capacity to develop research resources, stronger networks, and mentoring or training opportunities.

By prioritising allied health research, the RCH can ensure optimal outcomes for patients and families, while also positioning itself as a leader in paediatric allied health research and education.

This investment will further bolster the RCH’s Allied Health Department, with the chance to combine research interests and clinical duties being an incredible drawcard for staff.

2026 Project Update

The program continues to build research capability across individual clinicians, teams and services, while laying strong foundations for a coordinated, long-term Allied Health research strategy, driving greater impact: 

• Over the past year, the program supported more than 50 active Allied Health research and quality projects, helping clinicians design, conduct, analyse and publish meaningful research.
• Twelve peer-reviewed journal publications were published in 2025, led or co-authored by Allied Health Clinicians across the RCH, demonstrating growing research leadership and impact.
• Our Senior Allied Health Research Development Officer role was extended from 0.4 EFT to 1.0 EFT to support the growing research culture, continuing to provide targeted education, mentoring and practical research support.
• New Allied Health–specific education programs were launched, including;
  • “REACH for research” group mentoring to develop research questions, conduct, analyse and publish their research.
  • The “Research Writing Lab”, which supported allied health clinicians in all aspects of writing and submitting their research for publication in peer-reviewed scientific journals – four staff members are soon to submit their research manuscripts to journals.
• In October, the third Allied Health Innovation, Quality & Research Symposium, showcased a keynote presentation by Dr Abby Foster on ‘Advancing allied health to transform healthcare”, 13 oral presentations and 15 poster presentations led by staff who were presenting innovative research and quality improvement projects.
• Our team is currently partnering with our workforce development colleagues, digital health, and CHA to support the development and evaluation of innovative advanced practice models of care.

During 2026, some of our key projects are:

• Allied Health Directorate survey of research capacity and culture
• Developing our allied health research strategy for the next 2-3 years
• Supporting the development and evaluation of innovative advanced practice models of care
• Supporting the utilisation of AI and uptake of digital health in research, and
• Continuing our current education and mentoring programs