• The Division of Rehabilitation Psychology of the American Psychological Association (APA) has bestowed a ‘best paper’ award on a Charles Sturt University psychology PhD candidate
• The PhD student’s lived experience led her to pursue a PhD and write the paper on implicit bias towards people with disability
• The research overwhelmingly found that people with disability experience negative implicit attitudes and stereotypes, which can limit people with disability achieving their goals and aspirations

A paper published by a Charles Sturt University psychology PhD candidate, which is derived from her researcher thesis, has been hailed by a peak US psychology organisation.

PhD candidate Ms Chrissy Antonopoulos (pictured above) in the Charles Sturt School of Psychology received the Harold Yuker Award for Research Excellence from the Division of Rehabilitation Psychology of the American Psychological Association (APA).

This annual award is given to the first author of the best paper published in the journal  Rehabilitation Psychology during the previous year.

The paper, ‘Implicit bias towards people with disability: a systematic review and meta-analysis’, was published in the APA journal Rehabilitation Psychology in 2023.

A related article, ‘Workplace inclusion: exploring employer perceptions of hiring employees with disability’, has also been published in the Journal of Community and Applied Social Psychology.

The Executive Dean of the Faculty of Business, Justice and Behavioural Sciences, Professor Lewis Bizo, commended Ms Antonopoulos on her outstanding accomplishment of receiving the Harold Yuker Award from the Division of Rehabilitation Psychology of the American Psychological Association.

Professor Bizo also congratulated Ms Antonopoulos’s supervisory team, noting that this award underscores the exceptional research quality of Charles Sturt’s HDR students.

Ms Antonopoulos said it is an honour to receive the Harold Yuker Award for Research Excellence and she appreciatively noted the support she had received from her School of Psychology supervisors Dr Nicole Sugden and Professor Anthony Saliba.

“I’ve lived with disability for most my adult life and have experienced the effects of negative attitudes and stereotypes,” she said. “My lived experience led me to pursue a PhD and write this paper on implicit bias towards people with disability.”

As part of her thesis Ms Antonopoulos and her supervisors collected the first data in Australia on implicit bias towards people with disability and, while she is currently writing this section as a paper for publication, it has already been of interest to the disability community and government.

“This paper found overwhelmingly that people with disability experience negative implicit attitudes and stereotypes, and such negative attitudes can limit people with disability achieving their goals and aspirations,” she said.

Ms Antonopoulos said she is extremely passionate about this topic and hopes that this research can contribute to change for the disability community, particularly as attitudes and employment are key issues for government strategy and policy at present.

“The late Dr Yuker began a legacy of research into attitudes and perceptions of people with disability, and the continuation of his work is needed more than ever as we continue to experience negative biases,” she said.

“Thank you to the Division of Rehabilitation Psychology for promoting research on experiences of living with disability and providing an academic voice to people with disability.”