Kate Williams is a Professor of Education at the University of the Sunshine Coast.
Kate is a developmental scientist, intervention designer, evaluator, and leader, working at the intersection of health and education to address inequities that often arise from early childhood. She is recognised as an international expert on social-emotional, self-regulation, executive function, cognitive, and sleep development, and the parenting, educational, and intervention contexts that support such. Kate typically uses large population datasets, program design and evaluation, and modern quantitative and mixed method approaches across her research program. Kate is also a Registered Music Therapist and so is interested in the ways that music can be used to support development and wellbeing. Her ARC DECRA fellowship saw Kate develop the effective Rhythm and Movement for Self-Regulation (RAMSR) program, which has been commercialised and is disseminated internationally to diverse adults working with young children. Core to Kate’s approach are collegial team-building across disciplines, and collaborative relationships with research end users in community, industry, government, and non-government organisations. She brings strong stakeholder engagement and a focus on capability building, implementation science, knowledge translation, and research impact to every research project she undertakes.
Kate’s expertise includes her role as Chair of the Board for Play Matters Australia.
