Rebecca’s research investigates how the built environment supports psychological wellbeing within healthcare spaces, including those for palliative care, mental health and paediatric healthcare. How do healthcare environments make people feel, and how do can they best support staff in the delivery of patient care? Once we have this research, how can it be successfully translated into practice?

Distinct from much existing research in this field, her work actively engages with the practical obstacles to achieving better health care environments, such as funding cycles, stakeholder expectations and procurement processes. As such, it has been used to inform the development of various healthcare projects in Victoria and New South Wales.

Increasingly, Rebecca’s attention is turning to the relationship of varying forms of design evidence (including evidence-based design and research-informed practice) to the practice of architecture; both its role in influencing design outcomes and as a tool for strategic positioning in the marketplace.

Rebecca is a Registered Architect in New Zealand and NSW, and the current Academic Board Member on the NSW Architects Registration Board.