Section: Overview
Overview
Key publications
Research funding
Supervising & teaching
Career

Key details

Areas of expertise

  • Safe sport
  • Behavioural Interventions
  • Exercise enjoyment
  • Exercise rehabilitation
  • Cardiovascular disease

Available to supervise research students

Available for media queries

About Mary Woessner

Dr. Mary Woessner is an early career researcher and senior lecturer within the Institute for Health and Sport (IHES) at VU. She leads a research group within IHES on Safety and Wellbeing in Sport and is the Chair of the Early and Midcareer Researcher Association.

Mary is internationally recognised for her expertise and research on safe sport. Her research recognises that participation in sport and exercise can provide diverse mental and physical benefits, but only when the environment is safe and free from harm. She leads innovative research exploring sport and exercise enjoyment at an individual (safety and wellbeing), institutional (policies, guidelines, practice) and societal level (normative behaviours). Her work seeks to ensure that sport (from community to elite) is safe and enjoyable across the lifespan. She is a co-founder of the International Research Network on Violence and Integrity in Sport, an ambassador for the Play by the Rules National Start to Talk Campaign, and most recently coordinated the largest International research conference on SafeSport in collaboration with Safe Sport International.

Mary currently supervises students and continues to lead clinical research projects exploring exercise enjoyment and exercise interventions in healthy and clinical populations. Her ongoing efforts in the field of clinical exercise rehabilitation focus on exploring novel ways to approach exercise interventions to improve both physical and mental wellbeing and promote long term behavioural change.

Qualifications

  • PhD Exercise Physiology, Victoria University 2019
  • MA Exercise Physiology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2013
  • BS Sport and Exercise Science, Meredith College, 2011

Key publications

Year Citation
2024 Woessner, M., Pankowiak, A., Hamer, J., & Parker, A. (240101). Victoria University Safe Sport Community Workshop Summary and Resource Pack. Melbourne, Victoria: Institute for Health and Sport, Victoria University.

doi: 10.26196/GJRY-5F49

Year Citation
2024 Woessner, M. N., Pankowiak, A., Kavanagh, E., Parent, S., Vertommen, T., Eime, R., Spaaij, R., Harvey, J., & Parker, A. G. (240101). Telling adults about it: children s experience of disclosing interpersonal violence in community sport. Sport in Society, 27(5), (661-680).

doi: 10.1080/17430437.2023.2268555

2023 Pankowiak, A., Woessner, M. N., Parent, S., Vertommen, T., Eime, R., Spaaij, R., Harvey, J., & Parker, A. G. (230201). Psychological, Physical, and Sexual Violence Against Children in Australian Community Sport: Frequency, Perpetrator, and Victim Characteristics. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 38(3-4), (4338-4365).

doi: 10.1177/08862605221114155

2022 Pascoe, M., Pankowiak, A., Woessner, M., Brockett, C. L., Hanlon, C., Spaaij, R., Robertson, S., McLachlan, F., & Parker, A. (221011). Gender-specific psychosocial stressors influencing mental health among women elite and semielite athletes: a narrative review. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 56(23), (1381-1387).

doi: 10.1136/bjsports-2022-105540

2021 Woessner, M. N., Tacey, A., Levinger-Limor, A., Parker, A. G., Levinger, P., & Levinger, I. (210528). The Evolution of Technology and Physical Inactivity: The Good, the Bad, and the Way Forward. Frontiers in Public Health, 9

doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2021.655491

Research funding for the past 5 years

Please note:

  • Funding is ordered by the year the project commenced and may continue over several years.
  • Funding amounts for contact research are not disclosed to maintain commercial confidentiality.
  • The order of investigators is not indicative of the role they played in the research project.

Improving Care for Patients on a Waiting List for Orthopaedic Specialist Public Health Services in Melbourne’s West (Waitlist Project)
From: Victorian Higher Education Strategic Investment Fund
Other investigators: Prof Itamar Levinger, Prof Michael Mckenna, Prof Vasso Apostolopoulos, Prof Rebecca Lane, Prof Alexandra Parker, Dr Michaela Pascoe
For period: 2021-2022
$2,025,812

Acknowledgements

Many thanks to the following organisations for their support and essential contributions to my research:

Supervision of research students at VU

Available to supervise research students

Available for media queries

Currently supervised research students at VU

No. of students Study level Role
3 PhD Associate supervisor

Currently supervised research students at VU

Students & level Role
PhD (3) Associate supervisor

Teaching activities & experience

Since 2015, Mary has lectured various units, with the majority of her teaching falling within the Masters of Clinical Exercise Rehabilitation Course at Victoria University.  Mary seeks to bridge the gap between theory and practice by embedding the “real world” scenarios into all aspects of her teaching.

Key academic roles

Dates Role Department / Organisation
Jan 2024 - Present
Senior Lecturer in Clinical Exercise Science
Victoria University
Jan 2021 - Dec 2023
Lecturer in Clinical Exercise Science
Victoria University
Dates Role & Department/Organisation
Jan 2024 -
Present
Senior Lecturer in Clinical Exercise Science
Victoria University
Jan 2021 -
Dec 2023
Lecturer in Clinical Exercise Science
Victoria University

Awards

Year Award
2020

Vice-Chancellor's Citation for Excellence in Research (Graduate Researcher) - Victoria University

2016

University Three Minute Thesis Winner - Victoria University

2016

Asia-Pacific Three Minute Thesis Finalist - University of Queensland

2013

Marvin E. Allen Excellence in Teaching Award - University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

2010

Academic Achievement Award - Meredith College

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Keynote and invited speeches

Year Title/Description
2021

Effect of Nitrate Supplementation in Patients with HFrEF

Invited Symposium Speaker at American College of Sports Medicine National Conference

2018

The Effects of Nitrate Supplementation on Exercise Capacity in Heart Failure. HFpEF v HFrEF: An update from the literature

Invited Speaker at European College of Sport Science, Dublin, Ireland

2018

Exercise Considerations for Individuals with Cardiovascular Disease.

Invited Guest Speaker at Victoria Active Ageing Partnership Research and Practice Forum, Melbourne

2023

Recognising and Responding to Abuse in Sport

VicSport - Child Safe Community of Practice, Melbourne Australia

2024

Safety in Sport

Football Victoria 2024 Referee Pre-Season Seminar, Victoria, Australia

2022

Research on frequencies of violence in youth sport

Play by the Rules Reference Committee, Melbourne Australia

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Professional memberships

  • Accredited Professional, American College of Sports Medicine
  • Accredited Exercise Scientist, Exercise and Sport Science Australia