Jo-An Occhipinti

Associate Professor and Co-Director, Mental Wealth Initiative
University of Sydney
Associate Professor Jo-An Occhipinti is Co-Director of the Mental Wealth Initiative and Head of Systems Modelling, Simulation & Data Science at the Brain and Mind Centre at the University of Sydney. She is an epidemiologist and complex systems scientist leading transdisciplinary teams in developing computer simulation models to inform policy and planning. She works with policy makers nationally and internationally to use these tools to understand the likely impacts of policy decisions before they are implemented in the real world.

From this author

Inclusive and workplace acceptance of refugees
Partnering for refugee employment

When considering their talent pipelines, few companies think outside-of-the-box. Most refugees flourish in the workplace, and so do the businesses that hire them.

SDG 16
Institutional investors demand a more sustainable capitalism

Honey gathering is a solitary job in Indigenous communities. The collector then shares the honey with their community but refrains from joining in the honey feast themself. The idea is that the gathering is not about their gratification, it’s about their contribution to the collective.  

SDG15 Bushfires
Optimisation model as a guide to burning forests to save forests

Setting fire to parts of a forest to save it might seem counterintuitive to urban communities. There is no equivalent of torching a few streets to protect a suburb. However, amongst First Nations people in Australia, hazard reduction burning is a well-established practice.

SDG13 - coal mining
Net zero now – it’s the economy AND the planet

In Australia, as elsewhere, the climate wars have focused on the climate versus jobs dichotomy. Yet while Australia remains highly dependent on fossil fuel extraction for its national economic prosperity it has also become increasingly unequal in its distribution of that wealth.