Rate My Professor Piers Dawes

Professor Piers Dawes is a Professor in the School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences, at the University of Queensland, serving as Co-Director of Research Training and Centre Director of the University of Queensland Centre for Hearing Research (CHEAR). He is also an Honorary Professor at the University of Manchester. Dawes holds a BSc (Hons) in Speech and Hearing Science from Curtin University and a DPhil in experimental psychology from the University of Oxford. Previously a lecturer in the Audiology and Deafness Research Group at Manchester, he has built a distinguished career in audiology research. His research specializations encompass understanding the causes and impacts of hearing impairment, particularly in the context of multimorbidity and cognitive decline in older age, prevention and treatment of hearing impairment, and hearing service development and evaluation. This work involves epidemiological modelling using population datasets, clinical trials, and contributions to hearing health policy.

Dawes has authored over 130 peer-reviewed publications and books, including 'Hearing Loss and Dementia: Where to From Here?' (2024, Ear and Hearing), 'Development and validation of the Montreal cognitive assessment for people with hearing impairment (MoCA-H)' (2023, Journal of the American Geriatrics Society), and 'Hearing Assessment and Rehabilitation for People Living with Dementia: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis' (2022, Ear and Hearing). As principal investigator, he has secured over AUD$14.5 million in competitive grants over the last five years, including a €6.2 million EU Horizon 2020 grant for the SENSE-Cog project, NHMRC Medical Research Future Fund awards totaling AUD$2.5 million for hearing and vision support in aged care and home care, and an AUD$0.9 million NHMRC award for improving access to hearing services for culturally diverse populations. He received the British Society of Audiology’s Thomas Simm Littler Prize in 2014 for services to audiology and a US-UK Fulbright Scholarship in 2013-2014. His research informs guidelines such as WHO recommendations on dementia risk reduction, NICE hearing loss management, and the Lancet Commission on dementia prevention. Dawes serves on editorial boards for Ear and Hearing, International Journal of Audiology, and Journal of Audiology & Otology, represents UQ on the Hearing Health Sector Alliance, and chairs its aged care working group.