Dr Allegra Schermuly was awarded her PhD in 2018 and is a Research Fellow in sociology in the School of Social Sciences. Prior to training as a sociologist, she gained extensive healthcare industry experience as a critical care nurse (perioperative), clinical teacher and accredited immuniser with 25 years’ experience in various nursing roles in the UK and Australia, including as a lead operating theatre practitioner (plastic surgery) at renowned plastics, maxillofacial and burns surgery centre, the Queen Victoria Hospital in East Grinstead, UK; as an anaesthetic nurse with Peninsula University Hospital in Melbourne; and as a nurse immuniser in the Victorian COVID-19 response with Monash Health.

Since 2017, Dr Schermuly has been employed on four ARC Discovery Projects at Monash: DP17 A sociological study of patients’ use of digital media; DP20 The sociology of antibiotics and the antimicrobial resistance crisis; DP23 Understanding the role of digital technologies in addressing loneliness and DP25 Safeguarding posthumous digital data. Her research experience also includes projects on topics including transitioning the auto-industry workforce following the termination of car manufacturing in Australia (RMIT), medical tourism, the experiences of Indian nurses in Australia, reviewing the evidence for effective antimicrobial resistance communication and education and improving decisions about access to stem cell interventions.

In 2024, with colleagues from University of Melbourne, UNSW and University of Washington, Allegra was awarded an EMCR MRFF incubator grant for the project COMet AMS: Constructing One Health Metrics for evaluating Antimicrobial Stewardship. Over the two years of the study, the COMet team worked to establish international One Health consensus definitions of ‘appropriate antimicrobial use’.

Allegra considers herself a health sociologist and sociologist of digital technologies. She is a highly experienced research assistant with skills which include project management, methods such as in-depth, semi-structured interviews, diary-based interviews, focus groups and surveys. She is experienced in organising research translation workshop events and undertaking coding and analysis of qualitative data to inform publications, policy development and practice guidelines.