Dr Bernard Leckning

Senior Research Fellow, Population Health and Wellbeing

Qualifications:

PhD (Epidemiology), Charles Darwin University 2023; Bachelor of Arts Honours, University of New South Wales (UNSW), 2007; Bachelor of Computing Science Honours, University of Technology Sydney, 2000

Approved level of HDR supervision at Charles Darwin University:

Associate

Location:

Darwin – CDU Red 9

Biography:

Bernard is experienced in leading large-scale data linkage research across a range of topics. His work aims to brings together lifecourse and systems thinking perspectives to generate new insights into the trajectories and needs of young people and the systems that respond to them.

As part of the Child and Youth Development Research Partnership (CYDRP) team over the last 5 years, Bernard has helped to develop and use a repository of linked administrative data on the health, education, and wellbeing of children and adolescents. From 2024, Bernard has taken on the role of Director of Research for CYDRP, where he plans to lead the data linkage research unit at CCDE to undertake innovative, collaborative, and scientifically rigorous research that is relevant to policy-making, program development, and service delivery for children, young people and their families in the NT.

Bernard is also an Adjunct Fellow in the Discipline of Psychiatry and Mental Health, Faculty of Medicine at UNSW Sydney, where he will be working with the NSW Child Development Study team.
 

 

 

 

  1. He, V. Y. (co-first author), Leckning, B. (co-first author), Williams, T., Robinson, G. W.., & Guthridge, S. (under review). Patterns of multisystem involvement in adolescence: Implications for health, education, and social services in the Northern Territory of Australia. Children and Youth Services Review.
  2. Witt, K., McGill, K., Leckning, B., Hill, N. T. M., Davies, B. M., Robinson, J., & Carter, G. (2024). Global prevalence of psychosocial assessment following hospital-treated self-harm: systematic review and meta-analysis. BJPsych Open, 10(1), e29. doi:10.1192/bjo.2023.625
  3. Witt, K., McGill, K., Leckning, B., Hill, N. T. M., Davies, B. M., Robinson, J., & Carter, G. (2024). Global prevalence of psychosocial assessment following hospital-treated self-harm: systematic review and meta-analysis. BJPsych Open, 10(1), e29. https://doi.org/10.1192/bjo.2023.625
  4. Leckning, B., Condon, J. R., Das, S. K., He, V., Hirvonen, T., & Guthridge, S. (2023). Mental health-related hospitalisations associated with patterns of child protection and youth justice involvement during adolescence: A retrospective cohort study using linked administrative data from the Northern Territory of Australia. Children and Youth Services Review, 145, 106771. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2022.106771 
  5. Leckning, B., Borschmann, R., Guthridge, S., Silburn, S., & Robinson, G. (2022). Suicides in Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people following hospital admission for suicidal ideation and self-harm: A retrospective cohort data linkage study from the Northern Territory. Australian & New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry.
  6. McGill, K., Salem, A., Hanstock, T. L., Heard, T. R., Garvey, L., Leckning, B., Whyte, I., Page, A., & Carter, G. (2022). Indigeneity and Likelihood of Discharge to Psychiatric Hospital in an Australian Deliberate Self-Poisoning Hospital-Treated Cohort. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19(19). https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph191912238  
  7. Robinson, G., Lee, E., Leckning, B., Silburn, S., Nagel, T., & Midford, R. (2022). Validity and reliability of resiliency measures trialled for the evaluation of a preventative Resilience-promoting social-emotional curriculum for remote Aboriginal school students. PLOS ONE, 17(1), e0262406. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0262406
  8. Haregu, T., Jorm, A. F., Paradies, Y., Leckning, B., Young, J. T., & Armstrong, G. (2021). Discrimination experienced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander males in Australia: Associations with suicidal thoughts and depressive symptoms. Australian & New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 00048674211031168. https://doi.org/10.1177/00048674211031168
  9. He, V. Y., Leckning, B., Malvaso, C., Williams, T., Liddle, L., & Guthridge, S. (2021). Opportunities for prevention: A data-linkage study to inform a public health response to youth offending in the Northern Territory, Australia. BMC Public Health, 21(1), 1600. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-021-11645-4
  10. Leckning, B., He, V. Y. F., Condon, J. R., Hirvonen, T., Milroy, H., & Guthridge, S. (2021). Patterns of child protection service involvement by Aboriginal children associated with a higher risk of self-harm in adolescence: A retrospective population cohort study using linked administrative data. Child Abuse & Neglect, 113, 104931. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2021.104931