New Collaborative Project: WECARE 

The Department of Psychiatry is pleased to welcome Dr Cameron Zachreson as a new team member, joining through the recently funded WECARE (Work-Enhancement through Computational Assessment of Real Environments) project.

WECARE is a two-year, HCF Research Foundation-funded study running from April 2026 to March 2028, led by Prof Harriet Hiscock (Academic Lead, Transforming Healthcare Impact Domain) in collaboration with Deputy Lead, Dr Fjalar de Haan (Senior Research Fellow, Department of Psychiatry).

The project addresses Australia's hospital workforce crisis by mapping how work is actually distributed across General Medicine ward teams at two Victorian sites — Western Health (Sunshine Hospital) and Bendigo Health — and using computational simulation to rigorously test alternative workforce models before any real-world changes are considered. Cameron brings expertise in agent-based modelling and will lead the simulation work. The project offers an exciting opportunity for cross-disciplinary collaboration between Psychiatry, Paediatrics, and computational science in service of systemic healthcare improvement.