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Dr Kate Cantrell

Dr Kate Cantrell
Name Kate Cantrell
Pronoun She/Her/Hers
Position Senior Lecturer (Humanities)
Section School of Business, Law, Humanities and Pathways
Office A218
Location Toowoomba Campus
Phone +61 7 4631 1055
Extension 1055
Email
Qualifications BCI(Hons) QUT , PGDipELTA Oxford , PhD QUT
Homepage https://research.usq.edu.au/researcher/80xz0/dr-kate-cantrell
The views expressed on staff homepages may not reflect the views of the University.

Biography

Kate Cantrell is a health humanities scholar working at the intersection of narrative health, trauma studies, and the arts. Her research examines cultural and literary representations of illness, suffering, and care, with a focus on the health narratives of children and young people. Her current program of work includes collaborative projects exploring the lived experience of childhood cancer, specifically grief and bereavement. She has published over 80 journal articles, book chapters, and conference papers as well as high-impact articles with the ABC, Times Higher Education, and The Conversation, collectively amassing over 3 million reads. Her short stories, nonfiction, and poetry appear in distinguished literary journals such as Overland, Meanjin, and Westerly.

Kate's practice combines academic inquiry with advocacy to close the distance between research and lived experience and create tangible social benefits for vulnerable communities. She has consulted on global health campaigns at the United Nations and currently holds consumer advocacy and communications roles with ANZCHOG, Cancer Council Queensland, Neuroblastoma Australia, and Redkite. Kate is an award-winning educator whose work on trauma-informed practice has received national recognition, including an AAUT citation for building career readiness and resilience through trauma-informed pedagogy. At present, Kate is the Associate Editor of Queensland Review and the Joint Editor of the Journal of the Association for the Study of Australian Literature. She has held academic positions at the University of Oxford, City University of London, and the Queensland University of Technology.

Research Career


  • Creative Writing (incl. Playwriting) ( 190402 )
  • Australian Literature (excl. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Literature) ( 200502 )
  • Literary Studies ( 470500 )
  • Cultural Studies ( 470200 )
  • Health Promotion ( 420603 )
  • Public Health ( 420600 )

Trauma and trauma-informed care
Childhood and adolescence
Cancer care and survivorship
Grief and bereavement
Public health storytelling
Australian literature


Australasian Association of Writing Programs (AAWP)
Australian Federation of Graduate Women (AFGW)
Australian Women’s and Gender Studies Association (AWGSA)
Institute of Professional Editors (IPEd)
Queensland Writers Centre (QWC)


  • Institute for Communities and Regional Development (ICRD)
  • Institute for Health (IH)
  • Centre for Heritage and Culture (CHC)

Teaching


HAC1004 Storytelling
ENL1002 Contemporary Fiction
ENL3004 The Literary Canon
CCI3000 Popular Culture and Identity


17 Years


3 Years


Research Lead (Social Wellbeing), Centre for Heritage and Culture

Supervision


  • Creative Writing (incl. Playwriting) ( 190402 )
  • Australian Literature (excl. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Literature) ( 200502 )
  • Literary Studies ( 470500 )
  • Cultural Studies ( 470200 )