Brenton Prosser is Professor of Public Policy and Director of the National Centre for Social and Economic Modelling.

Brenton has over 20 years of research experience across academic, political, public and private sectors, as well as in leading Australian, UK and US universities. He is known internationally for his work in medicalisation and mental health, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and public policy, and the influence of minority parliaments on governance and policy administration.

Brenton’s diverse academic and professional experience equips him to create research with real-world impact, genuinely collaborate in research implementation and translate findings for non-academic audiences. He specialises in co-design and coproduction of bespoke social modelling and evaluation methodologies that incorporate the policy, practice and place-based expertise of professionals working in complex social contexts.

His academic work was the first to identify a link between low SES and greater medication use for ADHD in Australia. He also conducted the first study of the experiences of adolescents diagnosed with ADHD looking at the impact on identity and access to supports. Brenton was also one of a team of UK-based academics who ran the first English citizen’s assemblies on the devolution of powers from Westminster.

His professional experience includes time as Director (Public Policy) with Nous Group consultants and Director (Research) with Catholic Social Services Australia. In these roles, he built a strong practical knowledge of the health and social service sectors. He also developed high quality research strategy to support national policy, evaluation and advocacy work in these sectors. This included working with colleagues at ANU and twenty-one Catholic social service agencies to coproduce the first nationally consistent analysis of disadvantage drivers by suburb across Australia.

On behalf of Commonwealth Departments, Brenton has led national reviews and evaluations in aged care, community health, home care and mental health. He has also worked in the Australian Public Service as Director (Research and Innovation) in disaster resilience and emergency management policy. 

Brenton was also Chief of Staff to a 'balance of power' Senator during the global financial crisis. In this role, he supported the handling of all legislation before federal parliament and worked directly with senior and shadow ministers and their staff. Based on these experiences, he has published a guide on shaping policy within minority government contexts. Together, this experience underpins his passion for teaching and degree supervision with pre-service and in-service policy leaders.

Brenton’s previous academic roles include Senior Research Fellow in a UK Russell Group impact centre where he worked with officers in Westminster to improve the impact of academic research on policy. He has also held Senior Lecturer positions in sociology and teacher education. As part of this, he co-led an Australian Research Council linkage project to support community capacity building and place-based responses through schools in some of Australia's poorest communities. 

Recognition of Brenton’s service to the community extends back to 1997 when he was the Young South Australian of the Year and was a finalist in the Young Australian of the Year awards.

Brenton has published over 60 peer reviewed publications and presented across 4 continents. He has had over 90,000 people read his contributions to the research translation site, the Conversation, while his handbook on ADHD sold over 6,000 copies internationally. He is currently an honorary senior research fellow at the Australian National University and adjunct Associate Professor in the School of Medicine at Notre Dame University.