Professor Tim Bentley 

Director, MARS Centre – the Mental Awareness, Respect and Safety Centre is an ECU Industry Collaboration Centre for the Mining Sector

Professor Tim Bentley is an experienced research leader with more than two decades in research and academic leadership roles.

His research is highly engaged with industry and the professions and has influenced both policy and organisational practice within Australia and New Zealand. Tim joined the School of Business and Law at Edith Cowan University as Professor of Work and Wellbeing in 2019, and in 2020 launched the ECU Centre for Work + Wellbeing, a strategic research entity of Edith Cowan University.  In July 2023, Tim took up the position of Director of the Mental Awareness, Respect and Safety (MARS) Centre within the School of Business and Law. The MARS Centre was created as part of a multi-million-dollar partnership between ECU and the State Government.  As both MARS Centre Director and Mining Work Health and Safety (WHS) Professorial Chair, Tim leads a program of research, teaching and engagement designed to elevate mining sector WHS capability and to move the dial on sector culture towards greater respect and safety.  

Prior to joining SBL, Tim’s New Zealand-based roles included Director of the New Zealand Work Research Institute and head of the Future of Work Program; Director of Massey University’s Healthy Work Group; and Director of the Centre for Human Factors and Ergonomics at Forest Research.  Tim is also a former Editor-in-Chief of the Cambridge University Press publication, Journal of Management & Organization, and has served as Scientific Editor for the Elsevier international publication, Applied Ergonomics.  

Tim’s impactful research primarily focuses on psychosocial risk, workplace bullying, older workers, and new ways of working, and he is passionate about creating healthy work for the advancement of organisational and employee wellbeing. Tim’s research has been supported by almost AU$9M of external funding from government and industry within New Zealand and Australia, while his published research is extensive and has received considerable scholarly attention. 

Explore Topic 4: Striking the balance between safety and productivity >