Ruth Aston

Dr Ruth Aston

School of Education

Faculty of Arts, Business, Law and Economics

Eligible to supervise Masters and PhD (as Co-Supervisor) - email supervisor to discuss availability.


Ruth Aston is a Senior Lecturer in Education at the School of Education, University of Adelaide. Ruth has fifteen years of research experience and is currently working on several evaluations in education and health, including the Evaluation of the School Mental Health Fund and Menu initiative and the development of an Implementation Guide for Health Promoting Institutions in Malaysia. Ruth holds honorary appointments at the University of Melbourne and the Centre for Adolescent Health at the Murdoch Children's Research Institute. 

Ruth has a background in health systems and health services research, program evaluation and educational evaluation. Her research at the University of Auckland involved working primarily on a three-year national project investigating the workforce effectiveness of health promotion workers in New Zealand. Ruth completed her PhD in 2018, focussing on understanding implementation indicators of complex public health interventions taking action on the social determinants of health. She developed success criteria for articulating success in achieving outcomes in complex multi-level, multi-site interventions in communities aiming to achieve social change in health and education outcomes. 

 

  • Appointments

    Date Position Institution name
    2024 - ongoing Honorary Fellow University of Melbourne
    2024 - ongoing Senior Lecturer University of Adelaide
    2022 - 2024 Senior Lecturer University of Melbourne
    2020 - ongoing Honorary Fellow Murdoch Children's Research Institute
    2020 - 2022 Lecturer University of Melbourne
    2018 - 2019 Research Fellow University of Melbourne
    2017 - 2018 Consultant Organisation For Economic Co-Operation and Development
    2016 - 2016 Visiting Scholar Claremont Graduate University
    2016 - 2016 Research Officer Effective Change
    2015 - 2016 Research Assistant Murdoch Children's Research Institute
    2012 - 2014 Senior Projects Manager University of Melbourne
    2009 - 2011 Research Assistant University of Auckland
  • Education

    Date Institution name Country Title
    University of Melbourne Australia PhD
    University of Auckland New Zealand BHSC(Hons)
  • Journals

    Year Citation
    2025 Aston, R., Linnell, D., & Westine, C. (2025). Editor's notes: Moving research on evaluation forward. New Directions for Evaluation.
    2025 Aston, R., Tan, K., Franks, K., & White, S. (2025). Using research on evaluation in Oceania: Informing priorities for future research on evaluation. New Directions for Evaluation.
    2025 Bandilovska, A., Aston, R., Sawyer, S., & Raniti, M. (2025). Teacher Readiness for Health Promotion: a Survey of Australian Pre-service Teachers’ Knowledge, Attitudes and Skills. International Journal of Wellbeing.
    2023 Smith, L., Aston, R., Clinton, J., & White, M. (2023). Defining the concept of teacher readiness to support student mental health and wellbeing: A scoping review. OSF Preregistration.
    DOI
    2021 Sawyer, S. M., Raniti, M., & Aston, R. (2021). Making every school a health-promoting school. The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health, 5(8), 539-540.
    DOI
    2020 Aston, R. (2020). Are Ethics Procedures Keeping Pace with Complex Evaluation Designs? Lessons from Participatory Evaluations. The Evaluator, 23(4), 26-27.
    2014 Cairns, K., McLaren, P., Clinton, J., & Aston, R. (2014). Evaluation Methods for Vulnerable Populations: The Case for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing. Learning Communities: International Journal of Learning in Social Contexts, 14, 166-179.
    DOI
    - Aston, R., Raniti, M., & Shinde, S. (n.d.). Editorial: The role of schools in adolescent mental health in low- and middle-income countries: considerations and future directions. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 14.
    DOI
    - Joyce, A., Dabrowski, A., Aston, R., & Carey, G. (n.d.). Evaluating for impact: what type of data can assist a health promoting school approach?. Health Promotion International, daw034.
    DOI
    - Hyatt, A., Chung, H., Aston, R., Gough, K., & Krishnasamy, M. (n.d.). Social return on investment economic evaluation of supportive care for lung cancer patients in acute care settings in Australia. BMC Health Services Research, 22(1).
    DOI
    - Hyatt, A., Gough, K., Chung, H., Wood, W., Aston, R., Cockwill, J., . . . Krishnasamy, M. (n.d.). Development of consensus quality indicators for cancer supportive care: a Delphi study and pilot testing. BMC Health Services Research, 24(1).
    DOI
  • Book Chapters

    Year Citation
    2023 Aston, R., Clinton, J. M., & Paproth, H. (2023). Are Schools as Community Hubs Worth It?. In Schools as Community Hubs (pp. 323-334). Springer Nature Singapore.
    DOI
    2023 Paproth, H., Clinton, J. M., & Aston, R. (2023). The Role of Evaluative Thinking in the Success of Schools as Community Hubs. In Schools as Community Hubs (pp. 309-321). Springer Nature Singapore.
    DOI
    2023 Clinton, J. M., Aston, R., & Paproth, H. (2023). An Evaluation Framework for Schools as Community Hubs. In Schools as Community Hubs (pp. 293-308). Springer Nature Singapore.
    DOI
    2023 Cleveland, B., McShane, I., Chandler, P., Backhouse, S., Aston, R., & Clinton, J. M. (2023). Renewed Aspirations for Schools as Community Hubs. In Schools as Community Hubs (pp. 3-10). Springer Nature Singapore.
    DOI
    2022 Clinton, J., Aston, R., & Dawson, G. (2022). Issues of teacher effectiveness. In R. Tierney, F. Rizvi, & K. Ercikan (Eds.), International Encyclopedia of Education. Elsevier Science.
  • Conference Papers

    Year Citation
    2019 Aston, R. (2019). The Performing Sciences. In Proceedings of the Australian Conference on Science and Mathematics Education (2018). Sydney, Australia.
  • Report for External Bodies

    Year Citation
    2023 Aston, R., Paproth, H., Clinton, J., Cleveland, B., McShane, I., Chandler, P., & Backhouse, S. (2023). National Patterns of School Facility Sharing: Report from the Connecting Schools + Communities Survey. The University of Melbourne.
    DOI
    2022 Aston, R., & Tse, J. (2022). Youth Engagement Evaluation Framework. APO: Analysis and Policy Observatory.
    2021 Aston, R., Bennett, K., Cehun, E., de Nicolás Izquierdo, C., Fridgant, M., Raniti, M., & Sawyer, S. (2021). Making every school a health-promoting school. World Health Organization.
    2021 Raniti, M., Aston, R., Bennett, K., Cehun, E., de Nicolás Izquierdo, C., Fridgant, M., & Sawyer, S. (2021). Making every school a health-promoting school: Global standards and indicators.
    2021 Aston, R., de Nicolás Izquierdo, C., Raniti, M., & Sawyer, S. (2021). Making every school a health-promoting school: Country case studies.
    2019 Clinton, J., Aston, R., Qing, E., & Keamy, K. (2019). Teaching Practice Evaluation Framework.
    2018 Clinton, J., Aston, R., & Quach, J. (2018). Promoting evidence uptake in schools: A review of the key features of research and evidence institutions.
    DOI
    2018 Clinton, J., Aston, R., & Koelle, M. (2018). Investigating the key characteristics of effective teachers: A systematic review.
    DOI
    2015 Quach, J., O'Connor, M., Goldfeld, S., Gold, L., Hopkins, D., Beatson, R., & Aston, R. (2015). Approaches to the provision of educational support for children and young people with additional health and developmental needs: Dyslexia.
    2015 Clinton, J., Dinham, S., Savage, G., Aston, R., Dabrowski, A., Gullickson, A., . . . Arbour, G. (2015). Evaluation of the Implementation of the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers: Final Report.
    2013 Astbury, B., & Aston, R. (2013). Evaluation of ‘enhancing emotional literacy through visual arts’.
  • Theses

    Year Citation
    2018 Aston, R. (2018). Creating Indicators for Social Change in Public Health. (PhD Thesis).
  • Working Paper

    Year Citation
    2018 Physical health and well-being in children and youth (2018). . Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD).
    DOI

Ruth has taught undergraduate and postgraduate courses in evaluation design, causal modelling, mixed methods research and program design and development in public health. 

She currently supervisors PhD students in wellbeing education, educational evaluation and implementation science in education. 

  • Current Higher Degree by Research Supervision (University of Adelaide)

    Date Role Research Topic Program Degree Type Student Load Student Name
    2024 Co-Supervisor This qualitative study investigates the impact of strength-based teacher professional practices on student literacy to promote wellbeing. The findings aim to address a significant gap in wellbeing education research centering on teacher professional practice. Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Part Time Mr Adam John Slater
  • Other Supervision Activities

    Date Role Research Topic Location Program Supervision Type Student Load Student Name
    2025 - ongoing Co-Supervisor Demystifying drivers of modifiable student abseentism University of Melbourne - Doctorate Full Time Nadine Rissik
    2024 - ongoing Co-Supervisor Exploring factors that influence school teachers' readiness to support student mental health and wellbeing University of Melbourne - Higher Doctorate Full Time Laura Smith
    2024 - ongoing Co-Supervisor Applying Implementation Science to Evidence-based Innovations: Case of RTI and Literacy University of Melbourne - Higher Doctorate Part Time Beth Shingles
    2022 - ongoing Co-Supervisor Evaluative thinking in education University of Melbourne - Higher Doctorate Part Time Hayley Paproth
  • Board Memberships

    Date Role Board name Institution name Country
    2024 - ongoing Director CHASE Board Community Health Advancement and Student Engagement Australia
  • Consulting/Advisories

    Date Institution Department Organisation Type Country
    2024 - ongoing Victorian Department of Education Performance and Evaluation Division Scientific research Australia
    2024 - ongoing Cybercy Not applicable Business and professional Australia
  • Phone: 83135019
  • Email: ruth.aston@adelaide.edu.au
  • Campus: North Terrace
  • Building: 10 Pulteney Street - Nexus 10 Tower, floor Eighth Floor
  • Room: 803
  • Org Unit: School of Education

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