Our Director
Meet Professor Sharon Parker
ARC Laureate Fellow Sharon K. Parker (BSc Hons, UWA; PhD Sheffield, FASSA) is a John Curtin Distinguished Professor in Organisational Behaviour in the Faculty of Business and Law, Curtin University. Sharon is a world-leading researcher on the topic of work design, as well as other topics such as proactivity, mental health and job performance.
She is a Fellow of the Academy of Management, Australian Academy of Social Sciences and the Society for Industrial and Organisational Psychology.
World-leading expert on work design
She is the founder of the SMART Work Design model and co-founder of the Thrive at Work Initiative, and Director of the Centre for Transformative Work Design, which she established.
Numerous accolades to her research
She is a recipient of several recognitions and awards including the Kathleen Fitzpatrick Australian Laureate Fellowship, the Academy of Management OB Division Mentoring Award, and a joint winner of the Scientist of the Year award at the 2024 Western Australian Premier's Science Awards.
Bridging the gap between research and practice
Throughout her career, Sharon has attracted competitive research funding worth over $70 million and collaborated with a diverse range of public and private organisations.
Committed to bridging the gap between research and practice, she has contributed to work design policy both in Australia and internationally.
Awards and achievements
Recognised as one of the world’s most influential scientists
With 280 academic publications and 51,653 citations, she ranks in the top 0.15% of global scholars in her field.
The 2020 World's Top 2% Scientists list
Professor Sharon Parker has been included in the list of 'World's Top 2% Scientists' by Stanford University for four consecutive years (2021-2024)