Honours

3DN is now part of the National Centre of Excellence in Intellectual Disability Health

Doing an honours project at 3DN offers a chance to develop strong research skills supervised by staff who are passionate about research and the development of future researchers.

Students who graduate with an Honours degree (at least class 2 division 1) in a relevant field from an Australian or New Zealand University are also eligible to apply to the Master by Research or PhD programs in the Faculty of Medicine. Find out more about Honours degrees in the Faculty of Medicine at UNSW, including application deadlines at the Faculty's Year 4 Medicine Research Project page.

Honours student profile: Madeleine Harsanyi

Madeleine Harsanyi

Madeleine Harsanyi was an Australian Catholic University occupational therapy student who undertook an Honours project with 3DN in 2018. Her project examined employment and unemployment for autistic adults, using data collected through the Australian Longitudinal Study of Adults with Autism (ALSAA) study. She was particularly interested in the concepts of underemployment and underutilisation, and their relationship with one’s activities and environment.

"Throughout my time at 3DN I am gaining so much knowledge and experience about the process of conducting research and am acquiring skills in using the statistics program STATA. Whilst the process was difficult initially, through the support of the team members at 3DN, I am quickly gaining the skills necessary for completing a research project using both quantitative and qualitative data. Most importantly I am learning a lot about the lives of autistic adults and people with intellectual disability and hope to implement this knowledge into my future career as an occupational therapist. The team at 3DN have provided me with ongoing support, opportunities to present my work, confidence in working independently, and have even included me in a couple of yoga sessions! Thank you to the team at 3DN for taking me in and assisting me in completing what will hopefully be a fantastic Honours project."

Honours student profile: Emily O'Brien

Emily O'Brien

Emily O’Brien was a UNSW medical student who completed an honours project with 3DN in 2014. She was awarded first class honours at the completion of her project. She was particularly interested in the health and wellbeing of family carers for people with intellectual disabilities. Her project looked into factors that contribute to the wellbeing of carers in the SAge-ID study. She also conducted face-to-face interviews with family carers about their experiences with mental health services for people with intellectual disability.

"I felt very supported completing my project at 3DN. I gained knowledge and experience about the process of conducting both qualitative and quantitative scientific research and acquired skills using the statistics program SPSS. Most importantly I learned a lot about the lives of carers of people with intellectual disability, and hope to take this insight away with me in my future career. The team at 3DN provided me with all the resources I needed including access to a psychologist with statistical expertise. They encouraged me to present my work at in-service meetings and to be involved with student research groups within UNSW. I gained confidence in both conducting research and also presenting research to peers and professionals."