With a background spanning dietetics, public health, business and design, Aricia Kostouros brings a multidisciplinary perspective to her PhD at Monash University. Now in her second year and part of CSIRO’s Next Generation Graduates Program (AI in Mental Health), she draws on nearly a decade of industry experience across the health system to inform research at the intersection of healthcare, technology and service design.
Aricia’s pathway into research wasn’t linear. After completing her master’s degree, she stepped away from study and spent close to ten years working across different parts of the health system, often in roles that sat between disciplines and brought together design thinking, healthcare practice and emerging technologies. Over time, these roles gave her a clear view of how complex healthcare systems are, and how difficult it can be to introduce new tools in ways that genuinely fit existing flows of working.
From industry experience to research focus
That experience now shapes how Aricia approaches AI. Rather than seeing it as a quick fix, she views it as something that needs to be thoughtfully integrated into the systems that already shape healthcare, from infrastructure and governance through to day-to-day ways of working.
Her research focuses on understanding what is happening on the ground, and using that insight to inform better design. This perspective underpins her PhD at Monash University, supervised by Professor Patrick Olivier and Professor Dan Lubman AM, which explores how generative AI can be used as both a design tool and a design material in healthcare service transformation.
Aricia’s industry partner is Turning Point, an Australian addiction treatment and research centre. According to Professor Dan Lubman AM, Director of Turning Point, the collaboration emerged from a shared interest in bridging research and real-world practice, particularly in settings where people often seek help for the first time.
“A key focus of this collaboration has been exploring how emerging technologies can enhance, not replace, the human support we offer, and improve how we respond to people’s needs,” Professor Lubman said.
Aricia embedded herself within Turning Point’s telephone and online services and worked closely with both frontline teams and senior leadership. This ensured the research was shaped by real service contexts, where the quality of first contact matters.
Professor Lubman describes the mentorship as a two-way process. While his role has involved providing strategic guidance and supporting the translation of research into practice, he notes that Aricia’s perspective has also prompted reflection on how services can continue to respond more effectively to people’s needs.
Why the Next Generation Graduates Program?
The Next Generation Graduates Program stood out to Aricia because it explicitly values industry experience alongside academic research. For her, the program offered a pathway where professional experience could actively inform research. Coming from fast-moving industry environments, she was initially surprised by how long some research-practice translation processes can take. Through the collaboration, she has come to see that pace as necessary in settings where decisions have real impacts on people’s lives.
For Turning Point, the program provided a structured way to embed a research student within the organisation and treat the collaboration as a genuine partnership.
“The Next Generation Graduates Program gave us an opportunity to work alongside a student on a priority challenge for our services – how we better support people who reach out for help, often at moments of crisis,” Professor Lubman said.
Students, he says, bring curiosity and new ways of thinking, while industry partners bring lived complexity and real-world constraints. When both are engaged, from frontline teams through to leadership, the outcomes are stronger and more relevant.
Looking ahead – and advice for students
“AI isn’t a silver bullet, it has to work within the complexity of public health systems,” Aricia said. She hopes her research contributes to a more grounded conversation about AI in healthcare. Beyond automation or efficiency gains, she is interested in how AI can support more responsive, human-centred services when designed thoughtfully and with industry context in mind.
For students starting out, particularly those who don’t come from technical backgrounds, Aricia has a reassuring message. She believes that different ways of thinking are not a disadvantage, but a strength. Healthcare and technology both benefit from diverse perspectives, and some of the most valuable insights come from people who can move between disciplines and ask different kinds of questions.
With a background spanning dietetics, public health, business and design, Aricia Kostouros brings a multidisciplinary perspective to her PhD at Monash University. Now in her second year and part of CSIRO’s Next Generation Graduates Program (AI in Mental Health), she draws on nearly a decade of industry experience across the health system to inform research at the intersection of healthcare, technology and service design.
Aricia’s pathway into research wasn’t linear. After completing her master’s degree, she stepped away from study and spent close to ten years working across different parts of the health system, often in roles that sat between disciplines and brought together design thinking, healthcare practice and emerging technologies. Over time, these roles gave her a clear view of how complex healthcare systems are, and how difficult it can be to introduce new tools in ways that genuinely fit existing flows of working.
From industry experience to research focus
That experience now shapes how Aricia approaches AI. Rather than seeing it as a quick fix, she views it as something that needs to be thoughtfully integrated into the systems that already shape healthcare, from infrastructure and governance through to day-to-day ways of working.
Her research focuses on understanding what is happening on the ground, and using that insight to inform better design. This perspective underpins her PhD at Monash University, supervised by Professor Patrick Olivier and Professor Dan Lubman AM, which explores how generative AI can be used as both a design tool and a design material in healthcare service transformation.
Aricia’s industry partner is Turning Point, an Australian addiction treatment and research centre. According to Professor Dan Lubman AM, Director of Turning Point, the collaboration emerged from a shared interest in bridging research and real-world practice, particularly in settings where people often seek help for the first time.
“A key focus of this collaboration has been exploring how emerging technologies can enhance, not replace, the human support we offer, and improve how we respond to people’s needs,” Professor Lubman said.
Aricia embedded herself within Turning Point’s telephone and online services and worked closely with both frontline teams and senior leadership. This ensured the research was shaped by real service contexts, where the quality of first contact matters.
Professor Lubman describes the mentorship as a two-way process. While his role has involved providing strategic guidance and supporting the translation of research into practice, he notes that Aricia’s perspective has also prompted reflection on how services can continue to respond more effectively to people’s needs.
Why the Next Generation Graduates Program?
The Next Generation Graduates Program stood out to Aricia because it explicitly values industry experience alongside academic research. For her, the program offered a pathway where professional experience could actively inform research. Coming from fast-moving industry environments, she was initially surprised by how long some research-practice translation processes can take. Through the collaboration, she has come to see that pace as necessary in settings where decisions have real impacts on people’s lives.
For Turning Point, the program provided a structured way to embed a research student within the organisation and treat the collaboration as a genuine partnership.
“The Next Generation Graduates Program gave us an opportunity to work alongside a student on a priority challenge for our services – how we better support people who reach out for help, often at moments of crisis,” Professor Lubman said.
Students, he says, bring curiosity and new ways of thinking, while industry partners bring lived complexity and real-world constraints. When both are engaged, from frontline teams through to leadership, the outcomes are stronger and more relevant.
Looking ahead – and advice for students
“AI isn’t a silver bullet, it has to work within the complexity of public health systems,” Aricia said. She hopes her research contributes to a more grounded conversation about AI in healthcare. Beyond automation or efficiency gains, she is interested in how AI can support more responsive, human-centred services when designed thoughtfully and with industry context in mind.
For students starting out, particularly those who don’t come from technical backgrounds, Aricia has a reassuring message. She believes that different ways of thinking are not a disadvantage, but a strength. Healthcare and technology both benefit from diverse perspectives, and some of the most valuable insights come from people who can move between disciplines and ask different kinds of questions.
Find out more about the Next Generation Graduates Program
By providing in-depth training and facilitating collaboration among students, researchers and industry professionals, the program helps build a competitive and capable workforce that will drive the growth of the Australian tech sector.