Dr Anne Roiko

Dr Anne Roiko (USC)
BSc (Hons), PhD. Grad Cert. (Professional Learning)

Deputy Program Leader – Health and Environment                  
Smart Water Research Centre

Dr Anne Roiko is a Senior Lecturer at the University of the Sunshine Coast and an Adjunct Senior Research Fellow and Deputy Program Leader for the Health and Environment Program within the Smart Water Research Facility at Griffith University.

Dr Roiko previously led the ecotoxicology group of the water policy section within Hong Kong Government's Environmental Protection Department and was an inaugural member of the enHealth Council in Australia from 1999 to 2006. Her research expertise includes environmental epidemiology, the development of environmental health guidelines, quantitative and qualitative health risk assessment and ecotoxicology. 

Current research interests
Assessment of water-related health risks in recycled water and recreational water settings
The incorporation of risk-based evidence into water quality guidelines and water policy The impacts of climate change on water-related health risks 

Future Research Interests

Quantitative microbial risk assessment
Integration /synthesis of disparate types of evidence on water-related health risks
Science–policy interface

• Smart Water Research Centre’s Dr Vicki Ross was recently awarded her PhD in psychology from the University of Queensland. Vicki’s research examined the impact of trust in authorities on public acceptance of recycled water, and involved developing a psychological model of the characteristics and drivers of trust and acceptance. The research comprised three large-scale Australian studies that tested the model across three different risk contexts (low, medium and high perceived risk).
  
  Analysis through path modelling showed that in all three contexts trust in the water authority was a significant predictor of acceptance of the water management scheme. Also across the three contexts, greater trust was associated with lower risk perceptions, which in turn produced greater acceptance. In the high perceived risk setting (the proposed indirect potable reuse scheme in Toowoomba), perceptions of risk had the strongest direct effect on acceptance of the scheme.
  
  The findings highlighted the importance of community engagement programs in establishing ongoing public support for water supply schemes. The results also demonstrate that establishing trusting relationships between communities and water authorities is crucial to public acceptance of higher perceived risk schemes such as indirect potable reuse.

   

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Dr Anne Roiko Senior Lecturer Faculty of Science, Health and Education at the University of the Sunshine Coast View Profile