Dr Darren Haywood (PhD, BPsych(Hons), Dip. Fit) is a Cancer Institute New South Wales Early Career Fellow and a Chancellor's Research Fellow in Cancer Survivorship at the INSIGHT Research Institute, Human Performance Research Centre and School of Human Performance, Rehabilitation, and Population Health within the Faculty of Health at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS). He is also the Deputy Lead of the UTS Cancer Survivorship Research Program. 

His research is focused on improving outcomes for people affected by cancer (i.e., cancer survivors and caregivers). His sub-specialties are (1) cancer-related cognitive impairment (i.e., tool development, intervention development, clinical guideline development), and (2) psycho-oncology (i.e., mental illness conceptualisation and diagnosis, treatments, assessment approaches, models of care, clinical guideline development).

Recognising his standing in the field, he was presented with (1) the 2026 IPOS Hiroomi & Setsuko Kawano New Investigator Award (1 of only 5 Australian winners in over 30 years) in Barcelona, Spain, (2) the 2025 MASCC Emerging Investigator Award ( 1 of only 2 every Australian winners ever) in Seattle, Washington, (3) the 2025 PC4 Training Award, and (4) the 2025 UTS Dean’s Early Career Researcher Excellence Award. Dr Haywood holds academic titles at the University of Melbourne, St. Vincent’s Hospital Melbourne, Curtin University, and Swinburne University. He is also the Principal Scientific Advisor of the Think Pink Foundation.

Dr Haywood has received >$2.8M in funding, all as chief investigator, to support his research to improve outcomes of those affected by cancer and mental health conditions. This includes a Cancer Institute NSW Early Career Fellowship (14% success rate; 2026-2029) and a UTS Chancellor's Research Fellowship (7% success rate; 2026-2030) to extend his work in psycho-oncology, and a MASCC Cognition Fellowship (2023-2025) to develop the world's first unmet needs assessment for cancer-related cognitive impairment, as well as a ~$1M MRFF grant.

He has published >75 peer-reviewed articles (including first-author articles in leading journals such as Trends in Cancer), 1 book chapter, and presented >20  items of work at conferences. He has supervised 13 honours students, and currently supervises 5 PhD candidates and 1 MSc student.

Dr Haywood is the Chair/Co-Chair of several national and international groups and initiatives, including (1) the Expert Working Group for the development of the Optimal Care Pathway for LGBTQIA+ People with Cancer; (2) the PC4 Living with and Beyond Cancer Engine Room; and (3) the IPOS Early Career Professionals Committee.

Dr Haywood is the inaugural Multinational Association for Supportive Care in Cancer (MASCC) Cognition Fellow who led the development of the MASCC COG-IMPACT Tool; a world-first tool to measure difficulties and unmet needs driven by cancer-related cognitive impairment. Dr Haywood is a PC4 Scientific Advisory Committee member, MASCC Guidance Committee Member, and IPOS Early Career Professional Member. He was also selected as an Expert Working Group Member and co-authored the development of three national clinical guidelines, which his research informed: (1) updated COSA Guidelines for AYA cancer psychosocial care, (2) Cancer Australia’s Optimal Care Pathway for Older People with Cancer, and (3) ESSA Consensus Statement on Exercise Physiology in Mental Health. 

He actively considers proposals for PhD projects and collaborations.