Cassandra Madigan

Dr. Cassandra Madigan serves as a Senior Lecturer in the School of the Environment within the Faculty of Science at the University of Queensland. She began teaching at UQ in 2013, drawing on more than 30 years of experience in occupational health and safety (OHS) and human resources management in large government organizations. Holding a Doctor of Philosophy from UQ, completed in 2022 with the thesis titled "Influencing occupational health and safety outcomes: how occupational health and safety professionals influence," Madigan also has a background in physiotherapy. This foundation informs her practical and theoretical insights into how OHS professionals embed health and safety into organizational operations to enhance overall business performance.

Madigan's research centers on occupational health and safety, with a focus on influence tactics used by safety professionals to affect managerial decisions, discrepancies in perceptions between managers and safety experts regarding upward influence efforts, and the efficacy of internships in building OHS graduate capabilities. Her studies extend to physical ergonomics for creating people-centered environments and the impacts of environmental factors such as dynamic thermal conditioning and evening light exposure on cognitive load and performance in office settings. Notable publications include "Differences between managers’ and safety professionals’ perceptions of upwards influence attempts within safety practice" (Journal of Safety Research, 2022), "How do safety professionals’ influence managers within organizations? – a critical incident approach" (Safety Science, 2021), "Influencing organizational decision-makers – what influence tactics are OHS professionals using?" (Safety Science, 2020), "Do student internships build capability? – What OHS graduates really think" (Safety Science, 2019), and recent works like "Dynamic cooling: Thermal and temporal effects on cognitive load and performance in office environments" (Building and Environment, 2025) and "Effects of dynamic thermal conditioning on cognitive load and performance in an office environment" (Applied Ergonomics, 2025). She has received recognition through teaching awards listed by the Faculty of Science at UQ.

Professional Email: c.madigan1@uq.edu.au