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Dr Adelle Liebenberg

Lecturer

Staff Member Details
Telephone: +61 8 6304 5515
Email: a.liebenberg@ecu.edu.au
Campus: Joondalup  
ORCID iD: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0467-9412

Dr Adèlle Liebenberg is a Certified Occupational Hygienist and Fellow of the Australian Institute of Occupational Hygienists (AIOH), with over 20 years of experience across both industry and academia. She currently serves as the Course Coordinator for the postgraduate Occupational Hygiene and Toxicology programs at Edith Cowan University (ECU), where she also lectures.

Dr Liebenberg holds a PhD in Environmental and Occupational Health from ECU, with her research focused on Noise-Induced Hearing Loss in the Australian coal mining industry. She began her academic journey in South Africa, earning a Master's Degree in Occupational Hygiene and a Bachelor of Science degree in Physiology and Human Movement Sciences from North-West University.

She has supervised numerous postgraduate research projects and has published widely in the field of occupational health. Her contributions have been recognised through multiple awards, including:

  • Injury Prevention & Safety Promotion Award for Outstanding Achievement in Influencing Injury Policy or Research (2025)
  • Aurora Women in Leadership Program (2024)
  • Higher Education Advanced Leadership Program (NEELI), Women & Leadership Australia Scholarship (2017)
  • Faculty Workplace Health and Safety Excellence Award, University of Newcastle (2016)

Professional Associations and Leadership Roles

  • Chair, AIOH Certification Board (2021 – present)
  • Member, AIOH Certification Board (2019 – present)
  • Member, AIOH Professional Development and Education Committee (2018 – present)
  • Mentor, AIOH (2016 – present)
  • Member, School of Health Sciences Research Committee, Faculty of Health and Medicine, University of Newcastle (2016 – 2020)
  • Chair, Professional OHS Accreditation Assessment Panel, Australian Institute of Health and Safety (2016 – 2019)

Research Areas and Interests

  • Occupational exposure to atmospheric aerosols
  • Occupational epidemiology
  • Occupational noise-induced hearing loss and audiometry
  • Preventative risk management

Qualifications

  • Doctor of Philosophy, Edith Cowan University, 2023.
  • Public Health & OHS, Edith Cowan University, 2021.
  • Master of Science Physiology, South Africa, 2006.
  • Bachelor of Science (Honours)(Physiology), South Africa, 2004.

Research Outputs

Journal Articles

Journal Articles

  • Padamsey, K., Liebenberg, A., Wallace, R., Oosthuizen, J. (2024). Preliminary Assessment of Tunic Off-Gassing after Wildland Firefighting Exposure. Fire, 7(9), Article number 321. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.3390/fire7090321.
  • Padamsey, K., Wallace, R., Liebenberg, A., Cross, M., Oosthuizen, J. (2024). Fighting fire and fumes: risk awareness and protective practices among Western Australian firefighters. International Journal of Wildland Fire, 33(4), Article number WF23147. https://doi.org/10.1071/WF23147.
  • Padamsey, K., Liebenberg, A., Wallace, R., Oosthuizen, J. (2024). Characterising the Chemical Composition of Bushfire Smoke and Implications for Firefighter Exposure in Western Australia. Fire, 7(11), Article number 388. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.3390/fire7110388.

Journal Articles

  • Liebenberg, A., Gardner, M., Nie, VM., James, CL., Reed, S. (2023). A Scoping Review: Identifying Targeted Intervention Strategies for Workers with Occupational Hearing Loss. Acoustics Australia, 51(3), 407-417. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40857-023-00302-y.
  • Liebenberg, A., Nie, V., Brichta, A., Ahmadi, S., James, C. (2023). Pre-employment hearing threshold levels of 59,601 Australian male coal miners compared to an otologically normal international male population (ISO7029:2019). International Journal of Audiology, 62(8), 729-737. https://doi.org/10.1080/14992027.2022.2088625.

Conference Publications

  • Liebenberg, A., Oosthuizen, J., Reed, S. (2023). Development of Occupational Hearing Loss: A Review of Identification and Management. Occupational Hearing Loss in Australian Mining: Prevalence, Management and Prevention (10 pages). AIOH.

Journal Articles

  • Liebenberg, A., Brichta, A., Nie, V., Ahmadi, S., James, C. (2021). Hearing threshold levels of Australian coal mine workers: a retrospective cross-sectional study of 64196 audiograms. International Journal of Audiology, 60(10), 808-819. https://doi.org/10.1080/14992027.2021.1884908.

Research Projects

  • MARS: Developing research questions for the future; Health and exposure metrics as an indicator of workplace health in Western Australia., DMIRS: Mental Awareness, Respect and Safety - MARS, MARS - Grant, 2024 ‑ 2026, $107,603.
  • DFES Undergarment Contamination and Laundering Proposal , Department of Fire and Emergency Services, Tender, 2023 ‑ 2025, $36,294.
  • MARS: The Barometer in Australian Mining: Developing an integrated approach to monitoring incident and injury risk, DMIRS: Mental Awareness, Respect and Safety - MARS, MARS - Grant, 2024 ‑ 2025, $117,647.

Research Student Supervision

Principal Supervisor

  • Doctor of Philosophy, Development implementation and evaluation of an integrated university occupational hygiene and health monitoring program

Associate Supervisor

  • Doctor of Philosophy, Digging Deeper: Are we underestimation asbestos risks in Western Australian mining operations?

Co-principal Supervisor

  • Doctor of Philosophy, Workplace exposures of wildland firefighters in Western Australia - novel insights and real-world impact
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