Mary Brushe

Mary Brushe is a PhD candidate within the University of Adelaide's School of Public Health and a Research Study Manager at Telethon Kids Institute. Mary's research focuses on understanding the mechanisms underlying inequality during the early years, ultimately aiming to reduce inequalities and inequities. Her research interests span early childhood development and education, youth mental health, children's social and emotional wellbeing, intergenerational disadvantage, the use of mobile technology in the early years and the impact of school suspensions.

Mary's PhD focuses on understanding the amount of language stimulation in the home environment, and the mediating role parent talk plays in the relationship between socioeconomic status and child developmental outcomes. This utilises data being collected in a five-year longitudinal study called Language in Little Ones, which Mary manages the recruitment and data collection through her role at Telethon Kids Institute.

Notably, Mary was recently awarded as CIB an NHMRC Ideas Grant (CIA: Sally Brinkman) that builds on the work of the LiLO study to examine the impact of screen use during the early years on later developmental outcomes and how this differs across socioeconomic groups. She was also selected as one of five PhD candidates across Australia and New Zealand to participate in the L'Oreal UNESCO For Women in Science Mentoring Program as a 2020 mentee.