Our people

Associate Professor Kieran Flanagan

Associate Professor of Speech Pathology
School of Allied Health, Faculty of Health Science

Areas of expertise: communication in aged care

Phone: (07) 3623 7461

Email: Kieran.flanagan@acu.edu.au

Location: ACU Brisbane Campus

ORCID ID: 0000-0003-4413-7968

HDR Accreditation:  Full

Associate Professor Kieran Flanagan is Associate Professor in Speech Pathology at Australian Catholic University in Banyo. He is a certified practising speech pathologist with 20 years of clinical and research experience. A/Prof Flanagan's research has focused on language and its disorders, with a particular interest in language disorder associated with dementia. A/Prof Flanagan's current research focus is on improving quality of life for people with dementia through improving their communication environment, communication reablement and the service delivery of speech pathology into aged care. Cross cultural issues with diagnosis of speech and language disorders is also a research theme across A/Prof Flanagan's research career. With over 10 years' experience in tertiary education, A/Prof Flanagan is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. His work in scholarship of teaching and learning has investigated widening participation in university as well as professional practice education. In the last three years A/Prof Flanagan and his co-researchers have been awarded over $750,000 in research funding.

Select publications

• Flanagan, K. J., Olsen, H. M., Conway, E., Keyzer, P., & Buys, L. (2025). It Depends on What the Meaning of the Word 'Person' Is: Using a Human Rights-Based Approach to Training Aged-Care Workers in Person-Centred Care. Journal of Ageing and Longevity, 5(3), 24. https://doi.org/10.3390/jal5030024

• McKenzie, C., Smith-Tamaray, M., Conway, E., & Flanagan, K. (2024). "Time is a Big Factor": Aged-Care Workforce Perspectives on Communication Partner Training for Working With Residents With Dementia. Journal of Applied Gerontology, 0(0). https://doi.org/10.1177/07334648241255080

• Pearce, W. M., & Flanagan, K. J. (2023). 8 Associations among oral narrative language measures for Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australian children in their first year of school. In H. Weifeng & C. Brebner (Eds.), Typical and Atypical Language Development in Cultural and Linguistic Diversity (pp. 152-171). Taylor & Williams.

• Kiernan, R., Pearce, W., & Flanagan, K. (2023). Home language variation in the narratives of urban First Nations Australian children in their first year of school. Clinical Linguistics & Phonetics, 1-16. https://doi.org/10.1080/02699206.2023.2233048

• Shoebridge, S. J., Flanagan, K. J., & Pearce, W. M. (2021). Narrative comprehension skills of Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australian children in their first year of school. International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology., 23(6), 632-640. https://doi.org/10.1080/17549507.2021.1914729

• Pearce, W., & Flanagan, K. (2019a). Language abilities of Indigenous and non Indigenous Australian children from low socio-economic backgrounds in their first year of school. International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 21 (2), 212-223.

• Pearce, W. M. & Flanagan, K. (2019b). Story-telling abilities of young Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australian children across three protocols. International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, DOI: 10.1080/17549507.2019.1648550

• Walton, C., Carding, P., Conway, E., Flanagan., K., & Blackshaw, H. (2019). Voice Outcome Measures for Adult Patients with Unilateral Vocal Fold Paralysis: A Systematic Review. The Laryngoscope, 129, 187-197.

• Flanagan, K.J., Ttofari Eecen, K. (2018). Core vocabulary therapy for the treatment of inconsistent phonological disorder: Variations in service delivery. Child Language Therapy and Teaching, 34(3), 209-219.

• Doube, W., Flanagan, K., Carding, P., Kaufman, J., & Armitage, H. (2018). Feedback in multimedia learning of speech by young children with common speech sound disorders: Research protocol for a pretest posttest independent measures control trial. Frontiers in Psychology, 9, 444.

• Walton, C., Carding, P., & Flanagan, K. (2018). Perspectives on treatment for unilateral vocal fold paralysis. Current Opinion in Otolaryngology and Head and Neck Surgery, 26(3), 157-161.

• Flanagan, K., Copland, D., Chenery, H., Byrne, G., & Angwin, A. (2017). Semantic feature disturbance in Alzheimer's disease: Evidence from an object decision task. Cognitive and Behavioral Neurology, 30(4), 159-171.

• Flanagan, K., Copland, D., Chenery, H., Byrne, G., Ven Hees, S., & Angwin, A. (2016). Semantic feature training for the treatment of anomia in Alzheimer Disease: A preliminary investigation. Cognitive Behavioral Neurology, 29 (1), 32-43.

• Flanagan, K., Copland, D., Chenery, H., Byrne, G., & Angwin, A. (2013). Alzheimer's disease is associated with distinctive semantic feature loss. Neuropsychologia, 51, 2016-2025.

Projects

• Inspire & Thrive: Care Workforce Elevation Program. Funded by TAFE Queensland Centre of Excellence Health Care and Support. Prof Laurie Buys, Dr Heidi Olsen, Associate Professor Kieran Flanagan, Associate Professor Erin Conway, Associate Professor Melanie Barlow. Funds of $239864 for 2026-2027.

• Empowering the Care Workforce. Funded by Jobs Queensland. Chief Investigators: Prof Laurie Buys, Dr Heidi Olsen, Dr Helen Badge and Dr Kieran Flanagan. Funds of $295000 for 2023-2024.

• Increasing capacity of aged care workers, consumers and families to

• improve oral health. Funded by Aged Care Research & Industry Innovation Australia (ARIIA). Chief Investigators Prof Laurie Buys, Dr Kieran Flanagan, Paul Ansell, Leonie Short, Sandra Glaister and P/Prof Erin Conway. Funds of $210000 for 2023-2024.

• "What do you say? Perspectives, priorities and recommendations to enhance communication reablement in dementia care" funded by The DCRC Pilot Grant Scheme which is funded via Dementia Centre for Research Collaboration at UNSW. Chief investigators: Dr Erin Conway, Dr Kieran Flanagan and Dr Michelle Bennett. Funds of $75000 from 2021-2023.

• Language skills, parental interaction and brain development in children born very preterm: A preliminary investigation. Funded by 2016 Mater Clinical Research Seeding Grant. Chief investigators: Prof Margo Pritchard, Dr Samudragupta Bora, A/Prof Helen Liley and Dr Kieran Flanagan. Funds of $18000 from 2016-2018.

Appointments and Affiliations

• Discipline of Speech Pathology, School of Health Sciences, Australian Catholic University.

• Senior Fellow of Advance HE

• Speech Pathology Australia (membership number: 10218). Recognised as a Certified Practising Speech Pathologist.

Public engagement

• Speech Pathology Australia speak out podcast season 4, episode 23: Childhood apraxia of speech: research to know and games to play. 

• Speech Pathology Australia professional development: Speech sound disorders: Seeing situations differently. 3rd-24th October 2022.