Professor Matthew Sanders

As founder of the world-wide Triple P (Positive Parenting Program) I aim to bring to the Life Course Centre my insight and expertise in a multi-level system of parenting support that can design interventions to mitigate the intergenerational transmission of disadvantage characterised by poor health, education and well-being of children.

Professor Matthew Sanders

Matthew Sanders is the Foundationa Professor of Parenting Studies and Family Psychology, Strategic Advisor to the Director of the Parenting and Family Support Centre and Founder of the Triple P Positive Parenting Program at The University of Queensland. Professor Sanders received his PhD in 1981 and has been at The University of Queensland since 1979. Between 1996-2023, he served as Professor of Clinical Psychology and Director of the Parenting and Family Support Centre (PFSC). He has been a consulting Professor at The University of Manchester, a visiting Professor at the University of South Carolina, and has held adjunct professorships at Glasgow Caledonian University and The University of Auckland.

As the founder of the Positive Parenting Program (Triple P), Matthew is considered a global leader in the field of evidence-based parenting intervention and one of the University of Queensland’s Innovation Champions. The Triple P system is in use across 58 countries and has more than 140,000 practitioners trained to deliver it to more than seven million families worldwide. His work has been widely recognised, winning him a number of prestigious awards in Australia, New Zealand, the US and Canada.