CERC Team

Professor Joanne Porter

Director

Joanne is the Director of the Collaborative Evaluation & Research Centre (CERC). She leads a multidisciplinary team of researchers and evaluators, over a wide range of projects working with industry partners, government departments, local government, organisations, agencies and community groups to shift thinking in evaluation research by empowering communities to grow through evidence-based innovation.

Joanne is an experienced emergency nurse having worked in metropolitan, rural and remote emergency care centres. Joanne is a Fellow with the College of Emergency Nursing Australasia (CENA) and is a board member on the Victorian branch of CENA. She brings with her a career of clinical, research and leadership expertise.

Dr Daria Soldatenko

Deputy Director & Research Fellow

Dr Soldatenko is the Deputy Director of the Collaborative Evaluation & Research Centre (CERC) and supports the CERC team and wider membership by overseeing daily operations, implementing research strategy and managing staff and projects. She is actively involved in all aspects of project management, including grant writing, data collection and analysis, report development, graphic design, and knowledge translation.

Daria is an experienced researcher who holds two PhDs. She completed her first PhD in tourism in Russia in 2013 and graduated with her second PhD in Australia in 2022. Daria has over 15 years of research experience across tourism, education, ecology, health, and community engagement. Her main research interests include regional tourism development, sustainable development, tourism motivational factors, and cultural influences on tourism behaviour.

Daria has worked as a Research Associate and Assistant in both Russia and Australia, developing strong skills in quantitative and qualitative research, statistical analysis, and data interpretation. She is passionate about applied research and committed to advancing knowledge that benefits local and international communities.

Her main publications, including the monograph and papers in peer-reviewed journals, can be found in her Google Scholar profile here.

Dr Megan Simic

Research Fellow

Megan assists in all aspects of project management, including grant writing, data collection and analysis, report development and graphic design. Megan builds and maintains relationships with external and internal partners, and provides mentoring and support to staff, members and students. Megan has a background in clinical nursing with a PhD exploring the lived experiences of Emergency Department nurses during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Luis Antonio T. Hualda

Research Fellow

Luis is a researcher with international experience in the areas of agriculture development, poverty reduction in rural communities, food security, and gender in agriculture. In his research activities, he has been part of multi-disciplinary teams that employed both quantitative and qualitative methods using a systems approach. He has an educational background in community development and urban and regional planning.

Prior to joining CERC, he held research and teaching positions at the University of the Philippines and was involved in action research projects that aimed to improve efficiencies of agribusiness systems involving rural farmers. Luis also had experience working for an international organisation in developing policies to create an enabling environment for agriculture to address food insecurity in parts of South and Southeast Asia.

Kaye Borgelt

Research Associate

Kaye has many years of experience working in health information and executive roles in Victorian public rural and remote health services. She has also spent time working with partners in developing Pacific Island countries to improve health information and data sharing, most recently assisting with the roll-out of a digital health system in Nauru.

Kaye holds a Master of Health Science majoring in Health Information, assisting CERC within project data management and analysis, report writing and editing. Kaye brings a wealth of knowledge regarding health and health systems globally.

Jodie Parkinson

Research Project Coordinator

Jodie commenced working at the Mt Helen Campus of Federation University in 2012 and has gained extensive specialist administration skills in research administration, finance and project coordination.

Having worked across a wide range of departments and research centres, Jodie has developed excellent working relationships with many of the researchers, external stakeholders and partner institutions within the University community.

Jodie assists CERC and its members to navigate external research funding processes, management of project timelines and administration of internal and external communications.

Contact

To engage CERC's evaluation services, collaborate with us or ask about our research, please get in touch via the Contact page.