Dr Kate Russo

2013 College Recipient. College of Healthcare Sciences

Dr. Kate Russo is a highly qualified clinical psychologist from Ingham with an outstanding international career that has taken an exciting trajectory based on her niche interest.

Dr. Russo graduated with a Bachelor of Psychology with Honours from JCU in 1994, winning the Syd Lovibond National Prize for her honours thesis. She subsequently earned a Masters in Clinical Psychology from Griffith University in 1997 and a Doctorate in Clinical Psychology from the University of Hull in England in 2007.

At the time of the College Recipient Award in 2013, Dr. Russo was based in Northern Ireland, where she remained for two decades. She was an Assistant Course Director of the doctoral training program in Clinical Psychology at Queen’s University Belfast. Dr. Russo established a post-graduate research network for Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA), which ran for over ten years and supported 80 IPA researchers across Ireland. She also held a long-term clinical post at the Royal Belfast Hospital for Sick Children and contributed to numerous patient health programs in several specialisms, including cystic fibrosis, inflammatory bowel disease, and psoriasis.

Since returning to North Queensland in 2018, Dr. Russo has worked part-time as a Clinical Psychologist at Life Giving Psychology & Coaching in Townsville. She continues to provide independent mentoring support and supervision to post-graduate researchers using IPA in the UK, Ireland, and Australia.

Dr. Russo is also known internationally for her work sharing the total solar eclipse experience with general audiences worldwide. She has now published three books on the experience of totality, has led several niche eclipse tour groups, is featured extensively in the media, and delivers keynote presentations before every total solar eclipse.

Since the total solar eclipse of 2012 in Far North Queensland, Dr. Russo has taken a leadership role in her researching and publishing White Papers on Community Eclipse Planning. She has been a member of the American Astronomical Society (AAS) Solar Eclipse Task Force since 2016, and was actively involved in national planning efforts across the US for the ‘Great American Eclipse’ of 2017 and now also for the ‘Great North American Eclipse in 2024. She has supported over 30 communities in their eclipse planning efforts.

Dr. Russo formally founded Being in the Shadow in 2022, which provides international consultancy and workshop support to communities within the path of totality. She undertakes this work from her home base outside of Ingham. Her long-term focus is on using Australia’s five upcoming total solar eclipses in the next 15 years to provide sustainable niche tourism opportunities that benefit remote and regional Australia. She will be chasing total solar eclipses for life and feels incredibly lucky to have carved a niche career drawing upon her extensive skillset from her clinical and academic background.

Updated 2023