Associate Professor Simon Knowles

Biography

Since 2004, Simon has been a clinical and health academic in the Psychology discipline. Over this time, Simon has attained over AUD$4.1 million in competitive funding, published over 100 peer reviewed publications, and led three edited books, with the most recent “Psychogastroenterology with Adults: A Handbook for Mental Health Professionals” published by Routledge Press in 2019.

Simon is a recognised leading expert in the field of Psychogastroenterology, which is the application of psychological science and practice to gastrointestinal health and illness. Simon’s clinical and research interests relate to the biological and psychological interactions of gastrointestinal conditions and the brain-gut axis, particularly how to ameliorate the significant impact of living with chronic gastrointestinal conditions through psychological interventions.

Simon has an active interest in mHealth and eHealth research, having developed and evaluated mobile apps to improve inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) management/identification of psychological issues, and is the creator of several websites that provide up-to-date information and free 5-week resilience programs for Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS.Mindovergut.com; formerly IBSclinic.org.au), Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD.Mindovergut.com; formerly IBDclinic.org.au), Gastroparesis (Gastroparesis.Mindovergut.com; formerly gastroparesisclinic.org), Coeliac Disease (Coeliac.Mindovergut.com) and Bladder and Bowel Anxieties (also known as shy bladder, shy bowel, and incontinence anxiety; BBA.Mindovergut.com; formally toiletanxiety.org). Together, since 2013 these free eHealth resources have provided over 430,000 individuals around the world with comprehensive and accurate expert-reviewed sources of information and evidence-based psychologically-focused resilience programs. Reflecting the significant impact of these eHealth resources, Simon was awarded 1st place in the Swinburne University FHAD impact award in 2019.

Due to his expertise, Simon has multiple honorary clinical and research positions with St Vincent’s Hospital (Melbourne), Royal Melbourne Hospital, The Alfred Hospital, and Senior Research Fellow in the Department of Psychiatry at The University of Melbourne. Simon regularly provides lectures and workshops in relation to the psychological impact of gastrointestinal conditions, the interplay between the brain gut-axis, and developing and implementing psychological-focused interventions for individuals living with gastrointestinal conditions.

As an academic, Simon has an excellent teaching profile. After completing his PhD in 2003, Simon has been an active lecturer at several universities in Australia. He has taught in a range of areas including Psychology, Medicine, and Biotechnology. Simon teaching has been recognised both within the university (Swinburne University VC award for early career teaching, FHAD 2019 Supervision Excellence Award, Highest Clinical Postgrad Student Unit Satisfaction Award Semester 1 2019) and externally (UniJobs has identified Simon as one of the top 3 lecturers at Swinburne University across multiple years). Simon has lectured and convened from the 1st year Introduction to Psychology unit to the final year clinical postgraduate unit, Foundations of Health Psychology.

Over the last 16 years at Swinburne, Simon has also held several senior administrative positions at Swinburne University, including mentoring junior and senior staff, Deputy Head of the Psychology Discipline, Facility Research Committee member, Facility Academic Committee member, Psychology Selection Coordinator, Psychology Major Coordinator, Coordinator of B.Soc.Sci, B.Arts, B.Sci and B.Health.Sci degree programs, Graduate Diploma of Psychology Coordinator, and Swinburne Psychology Clinic Board Member.

Simon is a member of numerous professional organisations including: Australian Psychological Society (APS), APS Clinical College for psychologists, APS college of Health psychologists, Gastroenterological Society of Australia, and a Life-member of the Australian Association for Clinical Hypnosis. He is currently a member of the APS college of Health psychologist’s national executive. Simon has a clinical-health practice that specialises in working with individuals with chronic illnesses of the gastrointestinal system, see www.mindovergut.com.