IMPACT OF NEXTSENSE INSTITUTE RESEARCH IN THE FIELD OF SENSORY DISABILITIES
With
Professor Greg Leigh AO,
Director, NextSense Institute, Australia &
Conjoint Professor,
Macquarie School of Education
Macquarie University, Sydney
RESEARCH IMPACT
Filmed in Sydney, Australia | June 2025
NextSense, formerly known as the Royal Institute for Deaf & Blind Children, is a not-for-profit established in 1860 that provides dedicated, innovative, and customised services aimed at breaking down barriers for children, adults and families of people with hearing or vision loss.
NextSense has a 165 year history of providing services and education for individuals with sensory impairments. With the support of donations, NextSense provides vital support for children and adults, more cochlear implants than any other service in Australia, and is a world leader for research, technology and professional education in the fields of visions and hearing loss.
NextSense clinicians are actively involved in a number of leading research projects—both independently and in collaboration with local and international organisations.
The NextSense Institute, part of NextSense is Australia’s leading centre for research and professional education in the field of sensory disabilities.
The Institute offers a range of educational programs, including postgraduate degrees, professional development courses, and customised training for educators, therapists, health professionals, and carers. One of its flagship programs is the Master of Disability Studies, delivered in affiliation with Macquarie University, which prepares professionals to work with individuals who are deaf, hard of hearing, blind, or have low vision.
Professor Greg Leigh AO, Director NextSense Institute, talks about 3 areas of research that have had significant impact in it’s delivery of programs and services to Australians and countries across the world.
Through this research, NextSense Institute aims to break down barriers and redefine what is possible for individuals with sensory disabilities, fostering inclusion and enhancing quality of life.
Source: Written by AUDIENCED using source information from the NextSense website
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Cellular mechanisms of traumatic brain injury & concussion
Professor Melinda Fitzgerald is Deputy Vice Chancellor, Research at Curtin University, John Curtin Distinguished Professor and CEO of Connectivity Traumatic Brain Injury Australia.
She has published over 135 papers; recent highlights include Lancet Neurology, J Neuroscience, Nature Nano, ACS Nano, Biomaterials. Currently held grants/Projects total $10.1 million; CIA for $5.2 million of these; $18.5 million total research and equipment funding, $9.9 million as CIA; continuous category 1 grant funding as CIA since 2009.
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Touched by bowel cancer and chasing science outcomes
Dr Josephine Wright is a Senior Research Fellow in the Gut Cancer group. She has been developing a translational network of labs, hospitals and clinics to enable validation of new approaches to prevent and treat colorectal and gastric cancer. Her key focus is studying human tumour organoids to better personalise therapy in cancer.
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Metabolic phenotyping, lipidomics & bioinformatics in dementia
Dr Luke Whiley is a dementia researcher whose work focuses on understanding how the body’s metabolism, particularly the biology of fats known as lipids, influences our health throughout ageing.
His research explores how the body responds to illness, lifestyle, and environmental stress at a chemical level, and how these responses shape longterm disease risk. Using advanced blood-based measurement technologies, Dr Whiley studies thousands of small molecules at once to build a snapshot of a person’s metabolic health. By combining these measurements with data science approaches, his work identifies biological pathways that become disrupted in disease, providing insight into why some people are more vulnerable to conditions such as dementia.
