Nicole Black (née Au) is an Associate Professor at the Centre for Health Economics, Monash Business School.

She is leading two Australian Research Council (ARC) Discovery Projects:

1.  Economic analysis of child maltreatment and child protection (2024-2027) – aims to study the economic causes and consequences of child maltreatment and the effect of policies on the outcomes of children involved in the child protection system.
2. Mental healthcare pricing and socioeconomic inequalities in access to care (2026-2029) – aims to study how mental healthcare markets impact the affordability of mental healthcare in Australia and how policies can improve access to needed care. 

From 2018-2023 Nicole was awarded an ARC Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (DECRA) to investigate how children and adolescents spend their time, and how this relates to their health and cognitive development.

From 2013-2018 she was supported by an Australian National Preventive Health Agency Research Fellowship to investigate the economic consequences of childhood and adolescent obesity over the life-course. 

Nicole’s broad research interests are in health economics and labour economics, with particular interests in the economics of child health and cognitive development; the economics of mental health; inequalities in health and access to health care, and the economic impacts of menopause. She studies how programs and policies can improve the health and human capital of vulnerable people.

Work in Progress

Black, N., Deer, L., Johnston, DW, Kunz J. Are You Okay? The Effects of a National Peer-Support Campaign on Mental Health. R&R at Journal of Marketing 

Black, N., Johnston, DW., Shields, MA., Trinh, TA. Inequity in Child Mental Healthcare Use  R&R at American Journal of Health Economics 

Arnup, J., Black, N. Johnston, DW.  Educational and Labour Market Consequences of Adolescent ADHD: Evidence from Australian Administrative Data R&R at Health Economics

Black, N., Harris, A., Johnston DW., Trinh, TA., Portfolio Composition and Financial Security in Retirement

Black, N., Jayawardana, D., Johnston, D., Segal, L Dynamic Effects of Out-of-Home Care on Children's Schooling