Research Scholars

Since it’s foundation in 2012, the Australian Health Design Council (AHDC) has been committed to creating and sharing knowledge about the design of healthcare facilities with all who are interested in developing the best possible health buildings for the Australian community. Our Research Scholarship provides valuable financial aid for high-performing research students to further their research project and disseminate knowledge within the health facility design community. AHDC Research Scholars are actively engaging in academic research relevant to health facility design. As part of their journey, they share regular updates with AHDC and present at member events and conferences.

Sara Nourmusavi Nasab (2025)

Designing Supportive Palliative Care Environments for Paediatric Patients: A Collaborative Study with Families and Staff

This research investigates how built environment design can better support paediatrics and adolescent patients in palliative care, with a particular focus on the adolescent age group. In Australia, there are currently only three paediatrics hospices, and just one purpose-built facility for adolescents. Despite growing awareness of psychosocial and medical needs, there has been no architectural research to date that explores how design can support adolescents’ autonomy, identity, and experience of end-of-life care. Our preliminary research reveals clear distinctions between the needs of paediatrics and adolescent patients—particularly in how care environments can foster independence, privacy, and meaningful connection. This study addresses a critical gap by adopting a mixed-method approach: it includes a literature review, precedent case study analysis, and interviews with paediatrics palliative care professionals and architects. The next phase includes ethnographic and participatory research in two hospice settings, including site observations, focus groups with families, and photo-response interviews with adolescent patients.

Engagements with AHDC

Presenting at 2025 Conference "Design for a changing world".

April 2026 Update

I am immensely grateful to have received the AHDC Research Scholarship and for the opportunities it has provided throughout my PhD research. During 2025, the project progressed into participatory and observational fieldwork within paediatric and adolescent hospice environments in Sydney and Melbourne, including observational studies and interviews with families.

Last year also provided valuable opportunities for conference engagement, including presenting at the Architectural Humanities Research Association Conference 2025 in Liverpool, UK, and being accepted to present at the Society of Architectural Historians, Australia and New Zealand Conference 2026 at the University of Melbourne.

I am also grateful that this work contributed to the publication of Behind Closed Doors: Rethinking Adolescent Privacy in Palliative Care in arq: Architectural Research Quarterly, alongside the acceptance of The Space Between Life and Death: Monumentality and the Architecture of Dying in Paediatric Palliative Care, currently in press with The Journal of Architecture.

The AHDC scholarship has been instrumental in supporting fieldwork, travel, and conference participation across this research.

Chloe Piper (2024)

Architecture of Compassion

This research focuses on designing healthcare environments for trauma. This research addresses the gap in trauma-informed building design, acknowledging the influence of physical environments on health outcomes. Chloe’s work explores how scientific findings related to wellbeing can inform the design of sensitive and responsive architectural spaces for individuals recovering from trauma. Chloe's research contributes to the development of a holistic, healing-centred paradigm in architectural design.

Engagements with AHDC

Presented at the 2023 Conference "No Magic Bullet"
Presented at the 2024 Conference "Ahead of the Curve"

April 2025 Update

I am immensely grateful to have received the AHDC research scholarship and for the opportunities it has provided. In June this year, I will be traveling to the UK and Europe to attend and present at several conferences. This will allow me to connect and reconnect with interdisciplinary academics and practitioners working across architecture, health, neuroscience, neuro-architecture, environmental psychology, and the social sciences.

It is both inspiring and deeply informative to engage with those dedicated to human-centered, healing-oriented design, and I feel humbled to be part of this important conversation.

Currently, I am putting together a case study that will examine the application of trauma-informed design principles within the context of mental health facilities, and I am very much looking forward to undertaking it later this year.

Carla Mileo (2023)

Beyond Confinement: Architecture to Reduce Restrictive Practices in Acute Mental Healthcare

Master of Architecture, Thesis Scholarship (1 year)

This research explores opportunities for how design of the physical environment – in particular sensory design – can contribute to the Royal Commission reform priority of reducing and eliminating the use of restrictive practices in mental health services. Best practice research, user input, and the disciplines of architecture and neuroscience are being applied to develop and test sensory design interventions that can be implemented across the mental health system to help reduce restrictive practices in existing and new facilities. Research outcomes will contribute to an increasing knowledge of best practice for mental health facility design.

Engagements with AHDC

Presented at the 2023 Conference "No Magic Bullet"

April 2025 Update

I have completed this research and design thesis and am currently developing the sensory design prototypes for implementation and evaluation of sustained benefit in existing and new mental health facilities.

I am extremely grateful to have received the AHDC Research Scholarship in support of my Master of Architecture Thesis. As someone who is at the beginning of their career, this scholarship has provided an invaluable opportunity to pursue my professional interest in exploring the nexus between architecture, sensory perception, and health, to design restorative environments that enhance therapeutic outcomes and wellbeing.

Katharina Nieberler-Walker (2022)

Therapeutic Hospital Gardens (THGs): their purposeful and evidence-based design and integration into health policy and hospital programs

PhD Scholarship (3 years)

Project Summary: This research reframed hospital gardens as vital hospital infrastructure supporting patient recovery and visitor and staff wellbeing. Drawing on a systematic literature synthesis (2016–2024) and 36 semi-structured interviews with global experts across design, executive and clinical sectors, the thesis established a practical, evidence-based framework for the design, implementation and clinical use of THGs. It delivered a working definition of THGs and three sets of five-step guidelines for healthcare designers, decision-makers and clinical practitioners, addressing two foundational gaps: inconsistent terminology and the absence of an implementation process.

Engagements with AHDC

Presented at the 2022 Conference " Breaking down the Silos"
Interviewed on Podcast on the topic of "Biophillic Benefits"

June 2026 Update

Katharina was the inaugural recipient of the Research Scholarship from the AHDC, supporting her PhD on how therapeutic hospital gardens can be established to optimise their health promoting qualities.

The scholarship over three years enabled her to travel to international conferences, where she recruited architects, health planners, hospital CEOs, government executives and clinical health professionals to participate in the research. Meeting these experts face to face made the research richer and more insightful, broadened her professional network and amplified the project's reach across health design, governance and clinical communities.

The AHDC's endorsement was pivotal in opening doors to hospital executives and clinicians and in translating findings into practical, implementable THG guidelines.