Professor Vicki Bitsika

Professor in Biomedical Science , Disability - School of Science and Technology

Vicki Bitsika

Phone: +61 2 6773 3774

Email: vicki.bitsika@une.edu.au

Biography

Professor Vicki Bitsika has specialised in the assessment and treatment of challenging behaviour in people with neurodevelopmental disability, mental ill-health, and behavioural disorder for over 30 years. She is a Clinical Psychologist who has consulted in schools and Human Service facilities in Australia and Internationally, with a focus on the development of training services for disability and mental-health professionals, and techniques for addressing complex behavioural difficulties. She was Founder and Director of the Centre for Autism Spectrum Disorder at Bond University from 2010 to 2019, before joining Biomedical Sciences at UNE.

Qualifications

BBsc (Hons), MPsych, PhD, Grad Dip App Ch Psych, CF, FCCLP

Awards

Professor Bitsika was awarded an Australian Learning and Teaching Council citation in 2009 for “exemplary translation of clinical practice into development of hands-on, innovative, and student-focused curriculum and teaching techniques in Behaviour Management”. She received a Winston Churchill Fellowship in 2010 to investigate specialised intervention technologies for children and adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder in the USA and UK.

In 2016, Professor Bitsika was made a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for “significant service to tertiary education in the field of Autism Spectrum Disorders, as an academic, and as a supporter of people with disabilities”.

Teaching Areas

  • Disability
  • Neuroscience
  • Client-Focused Assessment
  • Functional Behaviour Analysis

Research Interests

Autism Spectrum Disorder; Neurophysiological and Psychological aspects of anxiety, stress and depression; Clinical Diagnosis and Assessment; Functional Behaviour Assessment of challenging behaviour.

Memberships

Australian  Practitioner Regulation Agency

College of Clinical Psychologists, Australian Psychological Society

College of Counselling Psychologists, Australian Psychological Society