Rate My Professor Michael Down

Dr Michael Down is a Lecturer in the School of Health Sciences at the University of Notre Dame Australia, Fremantle campus, and in the School of Education from 2025. He previously served as Program Coordinator for the Bachelor of Outdoor Recreation in 2023. Down completed his Doctor of Philosophy in Health Sciences at the University of Notre Dame Australia in 2023, with a thesis entitled Wellbeing in the Outdoors: Exploring the Impact of an Outdoor Adventure Education Program for the Social and Emotional Wellbeing of Western Australian Adolescents from Selected Independent Schools, supervised by Gerard Hoyne, Ben Piggott, Caroline Bulsara, and Duncan Picknoll. He also holds a Bachelor of Outdoor Recreation (First Class Honours) from the same institution in 2019. His academic career at Notre Dame began as a Sessional Lecturer from 2019 to 2021, followed by appointment as Lecturer in the School of Health Sciences from 2021 to 2024.

Down's research focuses on outdoor adventure education programming for adolescent wellbeing and psychosocial development, utilizing mixed-methods research and Delphi studies. Notable publications include 'I love being in the outdoors': A qualitative descriptive study of student and teacher perspectives of outdoor adventure education programs for adolescent wellbeing (Journal of Adolescence, 2023); 'When the real stuff happens': A qualitative descriptive study of the psychosocial outcomes of outdoor adventure education for adolescents (Journal of Outdoor and Environmental Education, 2024); Outdoor adventure education programs for the wellbeing of adolescents: A systematic review and meta-analysis (Journal of Adventure Education and Outdoor Learning, 2024); and e-Delphi in the outdoors: Stakeholder contributions to the development of a wellbeing-focused outdoor adventure education intervention (Health Promotion Journal of Australia, 2023). In 2022, he received the Vice-Chancellor's Award for Initiatives that Enhance Student Learning in the Innovation subcategory. Professionally, he is Deputy Editor of the Journal of Outdoor and Environmental Education, an Executive Committee member of Outdoor Education Australia, and a steering committee member for the AOP10 project under PLaTO-Net. Down has supervised an honours project to completion in 2023 and serves as Associate Supervisor for a PhD project, while reviewing for journals such as Journal of Adolescence, Journal of Adventure Education and Outdoor Learning, and Journal of Outdoor and Environmental Education.