Active careers

Michael Contibas was always interested in working in healthcare, so studying Health Science enabled him to explore different areas in the field of health and offered great flexibility and options when it came to study.

“The Bachelor of Health Science offered a good balance of clinical (eg. anatomy, physiology) and non-clinical subjects (eg. health promotion, project management) which provided a well-rounded view of health as a whole, without locking me into a specific career.”

During Michael’s degree he undertook placement at the Australian Health Promotion Association (AHPA) and the Council of the Ageing SA (COTA SA).

“My placement with AHPA was part of a project management course, and as part of a small group we worked with key AHPA members to develop a strategic stakeholder engagement plan. My placement at COTA SA had me organising an event for the Strength for Life Program. This required me to put in place all the project management theory I had been learning and engage with both public and private stakeholders.

When it came to applying for jobs after completing my degree it was great to be able to back up my skillset and knowledge with real world experience gained from these placements.”

Michael has since held a range of roles in the field, including working as a Cardiovascular Clinical Trial Coordinator for SAHMRI. In this role, Michael worked across multiple sites and was primarily based at the Royal Adelaide Hospital.

“Clinical trials are at the forefront of discovering new technologies and treatments for patients, most of whom don’t have any other options available to them. It’s really rewarding to work with patients and see them benefit from the studies we’re running and also know that we’re contributing to medical research that will hopefully help other people in the future.”

Michael’s position at SAHMRI included a mix of clinical work and project management.

“I was responsible for running all aspects of clinical trials and work closely with other health professionals and administration staff as part of a multidisciplinary team. My day-to-day activities included patient recruitment, data collection, clinical work like conducting ECGs and blood taking, organising appointments and follow ups, liaising with study sponsors and also being responsible for ethics and governance reporting.”

Learn more about the Bachelor of Health Sciences (Public Health)

As a Head Wellbeing Coach Coach and Director of her own business, Kirsty Welch keeps a jam-packed schedule. A typical day could involve presenting health and wellness advice to high school students, interacting with a client at a personal training session, holding Yoga sessions around Adelaide, and writing an article for The Advertiser’s Body+Soul lift out.

Kirsty loves how the Human Movement degree provided her with deep knowledge and credibility in the health industry, as well as the flexibility to discover what she was truly passionate about.

“I feel that my university qualification has always been a huge advantage, giving me a ‘leading edge’. I am more widely respected by both potential clients and employers for my heightened knowledge and commitment.”

Kirsty’s career highlights are inspiring and showcase the diversity of career outcomes open to Human Movement graduates.  

“I am truly grateful to have had a few particular standout opportunities thus far; working on Channel 9’s BIG: Extreme Makeover 2011, training celebrity Mel B, and working with Body+Soul across a number of years.”

Kirsty also loved the hands-on approach Human Movement study offered at UniSA.

“I think we all need to experience by doing and feeling in order to properly understand and apply concepts with a certain depth of knowledge. The incredible facilities at UniSA certainly allowed for some juicy lab-based sessions.”

Deciding what subjects to choose was an organic process for Kirsty.

“During 2nd year Human Movement, I also studied Certificate 4 in Fitness and found a passion to be part of the ‘preventative health’ movement rather than focusing on ‘fixing people. From here, the choices were easy and I focused on choosing physiology subjects to align with my career goals.”

Learn more about the Bachelor of Human Movement

Active and sporty, Daniel Rogers’ interest in fitness, strength training and injury rehabilitation made his exercise and sport science studies an ideal choice.

“Soon into my undergraduate degree, I developed an interest in how to improve physical performance, particularly with athletes.” 

After finishing his degree, Daniel completed Honours and then took a few years out to work with sporting teams before applying for the PhD scholarship.

Daniel credits the university industry partnerships as beneficial to his career development.

“It means that I get invaluable experience working in a high performance sport environment. It’s great to work with people who I’ve admired from afar for some time.” 

Daniel was awarded an exciting high performance PhD scholarship, part of a collaboration between UniSA and PAFC, and hopes to provide meaningful findings that will help guide the training practices of elite athletes.

“While I had research to do, more than half of my time was spent assisting strength coaches and physiotherapists in their daily tasks – it’s very applied. In this way I gained important applied skills while also working in an environment which stimulates ideas and guides my research.” 

Learn more about the Bachelor of Exercise & Sport Science

Georgia Perkins’ always had an interest in health and exercise, and heard great things about UniSA’s health and science degrees.

“I always had an interest in health and exercise so this degree was perfect for me. I get to improve the health of others through exercise whilst sharing my passion with them.” 

Undertaking a range of placements was a great learning experience for Georgia.

“My placements were quite varied, allowing me to enhance my knowledge and skills. My placement at Helping Hand enabled me to become more comfortable communicating with clients who had some form of cognitive decline. Another placement involved working with people who had neurological injuries, disabilities or conditions. I also did a placement in the Riverland and it was great seeing how exercise physiology services could benefit smaller communities.” 

Georgia’s placement at Helping Hand led to a position as an Accredited Exercise Physiologist (AEP) at the aged care facility.

“Clinical Exercise Physiology is quite a new field and many people are unaware of who we are, what we do and how we can benefit individuals. I am proud that myself and other AEPs have helped to educate staff from other fields such as nursing, on their perceptions of exercise prescription. Now, many of the staff that work closely with the residents cannot believe the changes they have noticed in them after seeing what we are capable of.” 

Georgia is inspired by the small achievements that her clients get out of the exercise.

“It’s very rewarding when a resident smiles, laughs and is calm whilst exercising.”

Practical experience and placements were key to human movement and teaching graduate Kara Smallman kick-starting her career.

Kara was thrilled to swap the university classroom for the school classroom and gain a real-world feel for industry early on in her degree, and credits high quality placement opportunities with her success.

"I was extremely lucky and completed my placements at some fantastic schools. My experiences were all extremely valuable due to the nature of my mentor teachers and the support they provided me."

Kara chose to study the linked pathway into Master of Teaching as it allowed her to combine a variety of subject areas including physical and outdoor education and science, and improve her employability. It also helped her land a role as Sport Coordinator for Cabra Dominican College,.

"I love working with young adolescents and I love sport/physical activity and seeing students active. The joy and energy that comes with sport is exhilarating."

As well as looking after all aspects of sport for the college, Kara also taught physical education and nutrition.