Professor Ioni Lewis
Faculty of Health,
School of Psychology & Counselling
Biography
Brief Biography Professor Ioni Lewis has extensive expertise in road safety and traffic psychology research, having commenced working in the field back in 2002 when undertaking her Honours project at the Centre for Accident Research and Road Safety - Queensland (CARRS-Q), Queensland University of Technology (QUT). Currently, she is a Principal Research Fellow at CARRS-Q. Ioni’s expertise is in the development and evaluation of road safety public education and advertising campaigns, drawing upon social psychological perspectives. She has led the development of an innovative conceptual framework, The Step approach to Message Design and Testing (SatMDT) which she has applied in relation to the development and evaluation of road safety campaigns addressing high risk behaviours. In 2016, the Hand in Hand: Let’s Go Places child pedestrian campaign was awarded the Excellence in Evaluation Award at the International Safety Media Awards in Tampere, Finland. Ioni has an extensive publication record comprising peer-reviewed journals, peer-reviewed full papers and abstracts for conferences, as well as reports for Government and Industry (see https://eprints.qut.edu.au/view/person/Lewis,_Ioni.html). She has been the Guest Editor of a special journal issue on “Communication, Media, and Road Safety Messages” within the Australasian College of Road Safety’s Journal. Ioni has received invitations to present at international and national forums. In 2015, she was invited to the Public Policy Center, University of Iowa, USA to consult on the development and evaluation of a large-scale National Driver Safety Education Campaign funded by the National Safety Council. In 2014, she was invited to present at the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in Atlanta, Georgia on health communications for road safety and injury prevention. Ioni was the developer and Chair of the Organising Committee for the inaugural Australasian Symposium of Health Communication, Advertising and Marketing (Health CAM) in 2014. The Symposium, the only one of its kind to be dedicated to Health Communications in Australasia, featured international and national experts as keynotes and invited guest presenters. Ioni was also Chair of the Scientific Committee of the (inaugural) 2015 Australasian Road Safety Conference – the largest and premiere transport and road safety related conference in Australasia. Ioni was also Chair of the Organising Committee for the 2018 HealthCAM. After completing her PhD on “Factors which influence the Effectiveness of Advertising Countermeasures in Road Safety”, Ioni was awarded a prestigious Postdoctoral Fellowship as part of an Australian Research Council Linkage Project, working with the Transport Accident Commission. This project sought to develop and evaluate a range of anti-speeding advertising messages with a particular focus on designing messages to influence young males as high risk road users. In her time at CARRS-Q, Ioni has been involved in various research projects undertaken via competitive funding (from external or internal grant schemes) as well as a range of tenders/commissioned research projects for key stakeholders including, for example, the Queensland Department of Transport and Main Roads and Austroads. These projects regularly call upon her expertise regarding message content development, message evaluation, and/or evaluation methods. Ioni has expertise in mixed methods research methods, including both quantitative and qualitative research methods. Key Research Areas- Road safety advertising
- Role of emotion (e.g., fear) in persuasion
- Message design and evaluation (and evaluation methodologies including self-report and objective measures of persuasive processing and outcomes)
- Health communication, persuasion, attitude-behaviour relations, and health behaviour change
- Public education strategies
- Factors which influence road users’ engagement in high risk behaviours
Personal details
Positions
- Professor
Faculty of Health,
School of Psychology & Counselling
Keywords
road safety advertising, message design and evaluation (and evaluation methodologies), health communication, persuasion, attitude-behaviour relations, and health behaviour change
Research field
Psychology
Field of Research code, Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification (ANZSRC), 2008
Qualifications
- PhD (Queensland University of Technology)
- Bachelor of Psychology (Honours) (Queensland University of Technology)
Professional memberships and associations
Committee Memberships
- Australasian College of Road Safety - Member (Current)
- Australian Marketing and Social Research Society (AMSRS) – Member (Current)
- Australian Injury Prevention Network (AIPN) - Member (Current)
- Consumer Product Injury Research Advisory Group (CPIRAG) – Member (2013- Current)
- Child Restraint Education and Safe Travel Committee (CREST) – Member (2013-2015)
- 2016 International Conference on Traffic & Transport Psychology – Organising Committee Member* (* In 2012, co-wrote the successful CARRS-Q bid to host this conference)
- Australasian Ethics Network (AEN) Conference - Planning Committee Member (2011-2012)
Conference Chair
- Chair, Scientific Committee, 2015 Australian Road Safety Conference (ARSC)
- Developer and Chair, Organising Committee, 2014 Inaugural Australasian Symposium of Health Communication, Advertising and Marketing (Health CAM)
- Chair, Organising Committee, 2018 Australasian Symposium of Health Communication, Advertising and Marketing (HealthCAM 2018)
Conference Workshop Facilitation
- "Public Education and Health Behaviour Change" at the Australian Injury Prevention Network Conference, Ballarat, Victoria, Australia (Nov, 2017)
- Facilitator of the “Social marketing” workshop at the Australasian Road Safety Research Policing and Education Conference, Brisbane, Australia (Aug, 2013).
- Facilitator of the “Social Marketing: Towards an Effective Future” workshop at the Australasian College of Road Safety Annual Conference, Melbourne, Australia (Sept, 2011).
Publications
- Lewis, I., Forward, S., Elliott, B., Kaye, S., Fleiter, J. & Watson, B. (2019). Designing and evaluating road safety advertising campaigns. In NJ. Ward, B. Watson & K. Fleming-Vogl (Eds.), Traffic Safety Culture: Definition, Foundation, and Application (pp. 297–319). Emerald Publishing Limited. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/128365
- Lewis, I., Elliott, B., Kaye, S., Fleiter, J. & Watson, B. (2019). The Australian experience with road safety advertising campaigns in improving traffic safety culture. In NJ. Ward, B. Watson & K. Fleming-Vogl (Eds.), Traffic Safety Culture: Definition, Foundation, and Application (pp. 275–295). Emerald Publishing Limited. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/128364
- Glendon, I., Lewis, I., Levin, K. & Ho, B. (2018). Selecting anti-speeding messages for roadside application. Accident Analysis and Prevention, 119, 37–49. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/119615
- Lewis, I., White, K., Ho, B., Elliott, B. & Watson, B. (2017). Insights into targeting young male drivers with anti-speeding advertising: An application of the Step approach to Message Design and Testing (SatMDT). Accident Analysis and Prevention, 103, 129–142. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/105643
- Kaye, S., White, M. & Lewis, I. (2017). The use of neurocognitive methods in assessing health communication messages: A systematic review. Journal of Health Psychology, 22(12), 1534–1551. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/92826
- Lewis, I., Watson, B. & White, K. (2016). The Step approach to Message Design and Testing (SatMDT): A conceptual framework to guide the development and evaluation of persuasive health messages. Accident Analysis and Prevention, 97, 309–314. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/85952
- Kaye, S., Lewis, I., Algie, J. & White, M. (2016). Young drivers' responses to anti-speeding advertisements: Comparison of self-report and objective measures of persuasive processing and outcomes. Traffic Injury Prevention, 17(4), 352–358. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/87044
- Lewis, I., Watson, B. & White, K. (2013). Extending the explanatory utility of the EPPM beyond fear-based persuasion. Health Communication, 28(1), 84–98. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/56914
- Lewis, I., Watson, B., White, K. & Elliott, B. (2013). The beliefs which influence young males to speed and strategies to slow them down: informing the content of antispeeding messages. Psychology and Marketing, 30(9), 826–841. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/61273
- Lewis, I., Watson, B. & White, K. (2010). Response efficacy: The key to minimising rejection and maximising acceptance of emotion-based anti-speeding messages. Accident Analysis and Prevention, 42(2), 459–467. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/27972
QUT ePrints
For more publications by Ioni, explore their research in QUT ePrints (our digital repository).
Awards
- Type
- Recipient of a Nationally Competitive Research Fellowship
- Reference year
- 2009
- Details
- LP0990434: APDI (2009-2012)"A theory-based approach to the design and evaluation of anti-speeding messages to target high risk road users' attitudes and behaviours"In Australia, road crashes represent a significant public health concern, costing society $15B annually. A major factor contributing to the incidence and severity of road crashes is speeding. This research will design a range of theoretically-based advertising messages and evaluate the extent to which such messages persuade drivers to change their speeding-related attitudes and behaviour. The research will extend upon traditional, fear-based approaches by examining alternative approaches such as those that depict safe behaviour and incorporate positive emotions such as humour. The research will identify the most effective messages for motivating key groups of drivers to reduce their travel speeds.
Selected research projects
- Title
- A theory-based approach to the design and evaluation of anti-speeding messages to target high risk road users' attitudes and behaviours
- Primary fund type
- CAT 1 - Australian Competitive Grant
- Project ID
- LP0990434
- Start year
- 2010
- Keywords
- Road Safety; Speeding; Attitude Change; Behaviour Change; Public Education; Road User Behaviour
Projects listed above are funded by Australian Competitive Grants. Projects funded from other sources are not listed due to confidentiality agreements.
Supervision
Completed supervisions (Doctorate)
- A Theory-Based Approach to the Development and Evaluation of Public Education Messages Aimed at Social Interactive Technology Use on Smartphones among Young Drivers (2017)
- Exploring Cultural, Social and Psychosocial Influences on Women's Drinking across Age Cohorts (2015)
- An application of an extended Theory of Planned Behaviour to understand drivers' compliance with the school zones speed limit in Australia and Malaysia (2014)
- Individual Differences in the Processing of Punishment and Reward Cues: An Application to Road Safety Messages (2014)
- Modelling the Salient Factors Influencing Retired Business Professionals' Participation in Episodic Skilled Volunteering in Rural Settings (2013)