Associate Professor, Ergonomics, Health & Safety

PhD (La Trobe University), MSc & Tech in Ergonomics (UNSW), BAppSci (Physiotherapy) (La Trobe University), Grad Cert. in Higher Education and Teaching

Associate Professor Jodi Oakman is head of the Centre for Ergonomics and Human Factors at La Trobe University in Melbourne. She leads a range of projects concerning the impact of work on people’s health at work, with a particular focus on musculoskeletal disorders (MSD).

Jodi began her career as a physiotherapist before undertaking a Master’s degree in Ergonomics. Her background is a mix of industry and academia. She worked as an ergonomist across a range of sectors including health, manufacturing and logistics, before moving to academia. Her PhD investigated organisational influences on the retirement intentions of older workers. She has published widely in the area of occupational influences on health and safety.

Associate Professor Oakman is the current holder of a MRFF TRIP Fellowship, which is focused on translating research evidence into practice in the area of MSD prevention. During this fellowship she will be training occupational health practitioners in the use of the APHIRM (A Participative Hazard Identification and Risk Management) Toolkit. APHIRM was developed by a team at La Trobe University and is based on contemporary research evidence on MSDs. It supports workplaces to participatively develop a comprehensive set of risk controls for both physical and psychosocial hazards and reduce the risk of MSDs.