Richard Franklin

Professor Richard Franklin PhD, FACTM, FPHAA, FARL , MSocSc (Health), BSc, GCertAustRurLeadership, GradCertEd, is the Head of Public Health and Tropical Medicine at James Cook University, as-well-as Director of the World Safety Organization Collaborating Centre - Injury Prevention and Safety Promotion and the WSO Collaborating Centre - Disaster Health, Resilience and Emergency Response at James Cook University. He is also a pracademic who uses evidence-informed approaches to develop real world solutions to improve health, safety, wellbeing and resilience with a focus on injury prevention, health services, rural populations, those working in agriculture, travel & injury, disasters and drowning. Prof Franklin is currently working with Johns Hopkins University, International Injury Research Unit, Bloomberg School of Public Health, on a Global Drowning Prevention Leadership Institute to strengthen drowning prevention internationally. 

He has worked in Public Health with a focus on Injury Prevention and Safety Promotion since 1996. He has worked on projects in the areas of general injury prevention, farm safety, rural safety, workplace health and safety, road safety, health promotion, alcohol, disasters, heatwaves, resilience, intentional harm, aquatic safety, cardiovascular health, leprosy, envenomation, ethics, and leadership. He has a PhD from the University of Sydney, which explored the epidemiology of injuries sustained due to farming and possible prevention strategies, a Master of Social Science (Health), his thesis explored pre-hospital coronary care and a Bachelor of Science from the University of Queensland.

He has previously worked for the Queensland Ambulance Service (QAS), the Australian Centre for Agricultural Health and Safety (a centre of the School of Public Health, University of Sydney) and the Royal Life Saving Society - Australia,  where he continues as a volunteer Senior Research Fellow and Board Member. He has worked on a range of community projects, translating evidence into practice aimed at preventing rural, farm, road, aquatic, child and older people related injuries.

His research interests are wide ranging and have included epidemiological, translational, program evaluation, product evaluation, surveillance and pure research. Within the safety domain he is interested in drowning prevention, farm safety, road safety, quad bikes, trauma, CPR, alcohol, chemical safety, child safety, falls, resilience and older people. He works with a range of data including linked datasets. He has recently been a Guest Editor for a three special issues, one on child injury and determinants of health https://www.mdpi.com/journal/children/special_issues/Child_Injury, another on injury prevention and health promotion https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/toc/22011617/29/2 and the third on safeguarding youth from agricultural injury and illness https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/31701/safeguarding-youth-from-agricultural-injury-and-illness-international-experiences#articles.

He is the current co-convenor of the Injury Prevention Special Interest Group of the Public Health Association of Australia, a board member of Farmsafe Australia and Queensland, a board member of Auschem Training, President for The Australasian College of Tropical Medicine, President of Kidsafe Australia and board member for Queensland, and on the editorial boards of the International Journal of Aquatic Research and Education, Journal of Agromedicine and Safety. He is a member of a range of international and national organisations as well as a former President of the Australian Injury Prevention Network.

He was the first National Manager for Research and Health Promotion with the Royal Life Saving Society Australia and during his time developed the area of drowning prevention research in Australia (and globally). Through his role with Royal Life Saving and work at James Cook University he has appeared numerous times on television and radio talking about drowning and water safety. Also during his time with Royal Life Saving, he developed for the society a new course aimed at older Australians called the Grey Medallion, a course to train home pool inspectors, and programs targeting parents to ensure the safety of their children around aquatic locations. He has been the facilitator of number workshops in Australia and internationally. He was Chair of the World Injury Prevention and Safety Promotion Conference (Safety 2022). He led the development of the Townsville Water Safety Plan and is Chair of the Active Transport in the Tropics group.

Prof Franklin uses a range of approaches to public health education, where he brings public health practice into the classroom to enhance learning. Approaches include practice of academagogy [a 'meshed' model of pedagogy (method and practice of teaching), andragogy (adult education) and heutagogy (self-determined learning)], which allows for flexibility in teaching by using a variety of methods. Current teaching areas and roles include: Course Coordinator MPH-MBA, subject coordinator and/or lecturer for Introduction to Public Health; Public Health in the Workplace; and Public Health Management, Leadership, Planning and Policy; Wilderness Medicine and past coordinator of Public Health Placements; Health Policy and Planning. He also provides lectures on injury prevention and safety promotion across a range of undergraduate and postgraduate subjects.