Operations Staff
Lilly Moody
Centre Manager
- Centre operations management
- Strategic management and planning
- Research and partnership development
- Financial and HR management
- Policy advice
- Research support
- Human ethics application support and advice
- Strategic Research Development funding coordination
- Post-award assistance for research projects
- Project budget management and financial advice
Awards and Recognition
- 2024 Winner, Excellence in Research Management, Western Sydney University
- 2024 Winner, Research Excellence in Sustainability Impact, Western Sydney University
- 2023 Emerald Publishing Real Impact Award for Mobilising Research into Action
Claire Absolum
Communications Lead
- Communications strategy & planning
- Research communication & knowledge translation
- Content creation across audio, visual and written platforms
- Event co-ordination and public engagement
- Media relations and reporting
- Mentoring and support of WSU communications & journalism student interns.
Amy Thayre
Senior Administration Officer - Research
- Support pre-award administration, including budget development
- Coordinate post-award research administration
- Provide administrative support to the Y&R Directors and Centre Manager
- Manage and maintain Y&R records and assets
- Support finance and travel arrangements
Research Officers
Dr Linda Marsden
Senior Research Officer
Linda employs participatory, creative and visual methods, along with socio material theory to understand young people’s experiences of wellbeing, health and the digital world. She has a particular interest in research and knowledge translation to influence policy and practice, and is curious about the potential for technology to positively influence resilience and wellbeing.
Louisa Welland
Senior Research Officer
Louisa is a qualitative researcher with a keen interest in designing creative, participatory methods to explore how young people really think and feel about things. Her interests include youth mental health and wellbeing, digital technology, and activating youth-led and youth co-research.
Dr Nukte Ogun
Research Officer
Nükte is a researcher and project manager at Young and Resilient. Her work explores young people’s experiences of digital technologies, wellbeing, resilience and participation, with a particular interest in creative and youth-centred research methods. Drawing on her background in journalism and media, Nükte is interested in how research can be translated into stories, resources and strategies that are accessible, engaging and useful for policy, practice and the wider public.
Dr Kim Lam
Research Officer
Kim Lam is a Sociologist with a background in youth studies, Buddhist studies, and sociology of religion. She has experience in grant acquisition, project management, stakeholder engagement, research partnerships, qualitative and mixed-methods research, and youth researcher supervision and training.
Kim is currently working on a range of projects relating to youth digital engagement, generative AI, child rights, and Buddhism in Australia. Her work has been published in a range of fora, including peer-reviewed journals, edited volumes, research reports, and policy papers.
Lilly Tatam
Research Officer
Ms Lilly Tatam is a law and communications graduate whose research interests include child rights and mental health advocacy. Lilly aspires to advance the rights of young people in policy and legislation development in the future.
Youth Co-Researchers
Yehansa Dahanayake
Youth Co-Researcher
Yehansa is currently studying a Bachelor of Law/Environmental Science degree at Macquarie University. She has been part of Y&R since she was 15 years old, when her involvement with the youth climate movement led her to be employed as a youth co-researcher on the UNICEF & Y&R authored report entitled “We deserve to live in a thriving world: Child-centred indicators for climate change.” Yehansa also recently featured in the Future Right Now pictorial book which explores the Australian youth climate movement over the past decade. Yehansa will soon have the opportunity to showcase the book at COP31 in Türkiye in late 2026.
Logan Culley
First Nations Youth Co-Researcher
Logan is a proud Aboriginal man of the Darkinjung mob from Wollombi - Yengo Country. As a First Nations Youth Co-researcher, he is currently working on the Decolonising Digital Design (DDD) Project with The Young and Resilient Research Centre. This project aims at improving the digital world to ensure it is inclusive, just and safe for diverse children and young people. We are working with young people and partners from Brazil, Chad, India, Rwanda, Poland, the Solomon Islands, Venezuela, Lebanon and Australia.