Doctor Lisa-Marie Greenwood is a Postdoctoral Researcher within the Research School of Psychology at the Australian National University.

Doctor Greenwood’s research aims to inform neurocognitive mechanisms of psychosis and multiple behaviour change, particularly in the area of substance (alcohol, cannabis) and behavioural (gambling, eating) addictions. She has extensive research experience in the design and implementation of randomised-controlled clinical trials for both pharmacological (amino acids, cannabinoids) and behavioural (exercise and mindfulness) interventions in clinical and general populations. Her research particularly focuses on informing the neural correlates of treatment efficacy to inform evidence-based clinical practice. Her research uses methods of brain event-related potentials and electroencephalograph, and functional and structural magnetic resonance imaging techniques. Doctor Greenwood is currently coordinating a longitudinal investigation of neuronal signatures associated with the transition and maintenance of cannabis use disorders in regular users. She is particularly interested in the neural effects of different cannabinoids on brain structure and function, with the aim to inform neuronal treatment targets for severe mental illnesses.

Australia’s National Disaster Risk Reduction Framework supports investment in resilience strategies across all levels of government. Following bushfires, people are at increased risk of experiencing distress and feeling loss and hopelessness caused by changes to their environment (solastalgia). Resilience, including how individuals cope with and make sense of bushfires, is influenced by a variety of social, cultural and economic factors, which interconnect with the structures and attributes of community groups. Social connectedness and community resilience are important in facilitating recovery from natural disaster; however, dramatic changes to the environment and social landscape following bushfires mean that community structures may become fragmented or displaced. It is known that psychosocial distress in such situations can encompass feelings of solastalgia, loss of community and altered social identity. However, negative outcomes are not inevitable: international research suggests that disasters can also facilitate the emergence of shared identity and solidarity with fellow survivors, which in turn makes cooperation, resilience and posttraumatic growth more likely. Understanding the circumstances that facilitate this more positive trajectory could have important implications for how we manage disaster response. This talk will provide an overview of the research aims and outcomes of The Australian National Bushfire Health and Wellbeing Survey which is currently ongoing.