Maree Kulkens

Maree Kulkens holds a Masters Degree in Public Health from Deakin University and has over 15 years experience in the health, disability, aged care, education, local and state government sectors.

Maree has extensive experience in service development and evaluation, management and quality assurance, including over 8 years experience in senior management roles. These roles have allowed Maree to develop wide ranging skills in areas of networking, strategic development, continuous quality improvement and risk management.

Her work in the public health sector has contributed to her expertise in community research, project management, and program evaluation, with a particular focus on working with culturally and linguistically diverse and disadvantaged communities.

Previous roles include:

• Independent consultant for projects with community based organisations and academic institutions
• Merri Community Health Services - Senior Manager for Quality Assurance, Health Promotion and Research
• Quality Improvement Community Services Accreditation (QICSA) - Quality Reviewer
• Hobson's Bay Council - Team Leader, PAG and HACC services
• Office of the Public Advocate - Advocate
• Latrobe University - Lecturer, Quality Systems in Health Care
• Melbourne University - Tutor, Master of Public Health
• Various welfare and community support roles in the public sector

Maree has presented many conference papers and contributed to a range of published journal articles and book chapters in the public health area, including the following examples.

Peer Reviewed Journal Publications

• Gibbs L, Gold L, Kulkens M, Riggs E, Gemert CV, Waters E. (in press) Are the benefits of a community based participatory approach to public health research worth the costs? Just Policy

Peer Reviewed Book Chapters

• Waters E, Gibbs L, Renzaho A, Riggs E, Kulkens M, Priest N. Increasing Cultural Competence in Public Health and Health Promotion. In Encyclopedia of Public Health, Ed. Heggenhougen K. Elsevier Inc., Oxford UK. In press 2007.
• Gibbs L, Waters E, Renzaho A, Kulkens M. Moving towards increased cultural competency in public health research. In Researching with Communities, ed. A Williamson, R DeSouza. New Zealand: Wairua Consulting (In press)

Presentations

• Kulkens, M. (2008) Oral Presentation - What are the benefits and challenges of using participatory research to support health promotion within culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) communities? Population Health Congress, Brisbane 2008
• Gibbs, L & Kulkens, M. (2007) Oral Presentation – Cultural competency in public health research, Public Health Association Conference, Alice Springs September 2007
• Gibbs L, Waters E, Renzaho A & Kulkens M (2007) Incorporating cultural competency into a public health/health promotion framework. The 19th IUHPE World Conference on Health Promotion and Education.
• Riggs E, Waters E, Kilpatrick N, Gibbs L, Kulkens M, Gemert C & Watt R (2007) Socio-cultural determinants of child oral health in new and emerging communities. The 19th IUHPE World Conference on Health Promotion and Education
• Gibbs L, Waters E, Lipscomb J, Walsh O, Kulkens M, (2006). What's happening in the schoolyard? Assessing physical activity opportunities in inner urban, culturally diverse school communities. Presented at 13th Commonwealth International Sport Conference, Melbourne
• Kulkens, M. (2006) Oral Presentation – Government and communities partnership conference, Melbourne, September 2006
• Kulkens, M & Van Gemert, C. Poster Presentation (2005) – A community approach to promoting preschool oral health. – Australian Public Health Conference, Perth, September 2005
• Kulkens, M. (2002) Oral Presentation. Holistic Assessment Framework for Disability Services - Home and Community Care (HACC) national conference – Adelaide February 2002.
• Kulkens, M. (2002) Coordinated Assessment Processes – Planned Activity Groups Victorian Conference – Melbourne June 2002.