Emma-Louise Seal

Dr Emma Seal is a Research Fellow/Project Manager in the School of Health and Biomedical Sciences at RMIT University. Her work sits at the intersection of sociology, medical humanities and public health, drawing on critical and interdisciplinary approaches to examine how health and social inequities are produced, experienced and responded to across health systems and everyday life.

Emma’s research focuses on three interconnected areas: critical mental health studies and experiences of care systems; experiences of chronic health and complex conditions; and gender, embodiment and sport/physical wellbeing. She has secured more than AUD $2.5 million in competitive research funding as Lead Chief Investigator and Chief Investigator across over twenty multidisciplinary research projects, demonstrating leadership in the design, management and delivery of applied, impact-oriented research programs.

Her methodological expertise spans qualitative, participatory and creative methods, co-design approaches, and program evaluation, with a strong emphasis on ensuring research is collaboratively produced and translated into practice and policy-relevant outputs. She has extensive experience working with marginalised communities across intersecting dimensions of gender, disability, sexuality and ethnicity, and a strong understanding of how these shape health inequalities and everyday lived experiences.

Emma currently has a leadership role on a Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF) grant examining the impacts of long COVID across diverse communities in Australia, with a focus on strengthening health and social care responses and improving health equity outcomes.