Rate My Professor Richard Mcgrath

Dr Richard McGrath is a Lecturer in Health Sciences at the School of Public Health within the College of Health at Adelaide University. He holds an honours degree completed by 2003-2004 and a PhD from the University of South Australia (2006-2012), with his doctoral research using a Grounded Theory approach to examine Australian local government provision of community recreation opportunities for people with impairments, titled "MANAGING AMBIGUITY: A Grounded Theory Study Exploring Australian Local Government Provision Of Community Recreation Opportunities For People With Impairments." Prior to academia, he volunteered in community sport and recreation sectors for local organisations and government. His career includes roles at the University of South Australia as Research Assistant with the CERM Performance Indicators Project (2002-2010), sessional tutor and lecturer in the School of Management, and from 2010, teaching and research in the Allied Health & Human Performance Academic Unit (formerly School of Health Sciences). He received two Chancellor’s UniSA Community Service Awards in 2012 for the Mobile Allied-Health Clinic: Community Projects and Football United-UniSA (Fun-UniSA).

McGrath's research specializations include public health, sport and leisure management, inequality studies, applied sociology, and sociological methodologies such as Grounded Theory, Action Research, and Critical Discourse Analysis. Key publications comprise "Journalling and memoing: Reflexive qualitative research tools" (McGrath, 2021); "Promoting physical activity among children and youth in disadvantaged South Australian CALD communities through alternative community sport opportunities" (Rosso & McGrath, 2016); "Identifying the influence of leisure-based social circus on the health and well-being of young people in Australia" (Stevens, McGrath & Ward, 2019); "A scoping review of the experiences of elite female athletes concerning pregnancy and motherhood" (McGregor et al., 2024); "Improved Mental Health, Social Connections and Sense of Self: A Mixed Methods Systematic Review Exploring the Impact and Experience of Community Reminiscence Programs" (Laidlaw et al., 2023); and "Community engagement and sport? Building capacity to increase opportunities for community-based sport and physical activity" (Rosso & McGrath, 2017). His work, cited over 400 times per ResearchGate, impacts health promotion, social inclusion, and leisure studies. He is Academic Integrity Officer in his unit, and a member of the Division of Health Sciences Aboriginal Strategy Group and the Alliance for Research in Exercise, Nutrition and Activity (ARENA).