Nicole Black (née Au) is an Associate Professor at the Centre for Health Economics, Monash Business School. She currently holds an Australian Research Council (ARC) Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (DECRA). A key focus of her research is to investigate the role of children’s time investments in reducing inequalities in children’s cognitive development, emotional wellbeing and mental health. She is also a chief investigator on an ARC Discovery Research Project, which aims to investigate the socioeconomic inequalities in access to mental healthcare in Australia. She is currently on the editorial board of the peer-reviewed journal, Health Economics.

From 2013-2018 she was funded by an Australian National Preventive Health Agency Research Fellowship to investigate the economic consequences of childhood and adolescent obesity over the life-course. Her research has contributed to understanding the health care costs attributable to childhood obesity and the causal relationships between childhood obesity and human capital development (including academic achievement and socio-emotional skill development). Nicole received her PhD in Health Economics from Monash University, and received the Dean’s Award for Excellence in Research by an Early Career Researcher in 2016.

Nicole's research interests include child health and development, economics of mental health, economics of obesity, and measurement issues in health and wellbeing.