Dr Hamish Robertson is a health and medical geographer with 25 years’ experience in health, ageing and disability work. He conducts research and writes in several areas including health, ageing, disability, patient safety, big data sociology, cultural diversity and cultural heritage. His PhD research was on the geography of Alzheimer’s disease and he is interested in spatial science applications in the health, ageing and disability sectors including spatial visualisation as a tool for collaborative research and analysis.

Dr Robertson collaborates with colleagues on projects relating to disability, including intellectual disability, dementia, human rights and Aboriginal health. A key focus of his work is combining geographic and spatial science concepts and tools to address “wicked problems” in the social policy domain. This includes collaborating with service providers on identifying where their clients are located, access to services and issues of mobility in the delivery of care in health, ageing and disability markets.

His work has a variety of implications for health, ageing and disability work, including issues such as ‘thin market’ analysis, mapping access to employment and support services, and variation in health and social care provision across Australia. In addition, these methods can be used to plan for and provide direct support as well as enable people with disability to access and manage their own National Disability Insurance Scheme packages.

Dr Robertson is interested in spatial science applications in the health, ageing and disability sectors including spatial visualisation as a tool for collaborative research and analysis. He publishes in the areas of big data, health informatics, race, diversity and cultural heritage.