Dr Bonnie Searle
Research Fellow
Queensland Brain Institute
Publications
Journal Articles
Searle, Bonnie, Houen, Sandy, Staton, Sally and Thorpe, Karen (2026). Regulation or education?: How are provision of food and mealtime practices represented in Australia's National Quality Standards for Early Education and Care. Child: Care, Health and Development, 52 (1) e70195, 1-12. doi: 10.1111/cch.70195
Searle, Bonnie, Houen, Sandy, Staton, Sally and Thorpe, Karen (2025). Meals, mealtimes and moments for learning: Assessment of quality in early childhood education and care services. Public Health Nutrition, 28 (1) e50, 1-7. doi: 10.1017/s1368980025000011
Staton, Sally, Coles, Laetitia, Normore, George, Casey, Charlotte, Searle, Bonnie, Houen, Sandy, Potia, Azhar, Crompton, Rebecca, Long, Deborah, Hogan, Michael and Thorpe, Karen (2024). The brain in context: a scoping review and concept definition of neuro-informed policy and practice. Brain Sciences, 14 (12) 1243, 1-15. doi: 10.3390/brainsci14121243
Searle, Bonnie, Staton, Sally, Littlewood, Robyn, Bayliss, Olivia and Thorpe, Karen (2023). A missed opportunity? Meal provision in early childhood education and care services in the context of socioeconomic disadvantage. Maternal and Child Health Journal, 28 (2), 362-371. doi: 10.1007/s10995-023-03849-4
Searle, Bonnie, Cooke, Emma, Staton, Sally and Thorpe, Karen (2023). Poverty for lunch: a case study of agency and food scarcity in mealtimes in disadvantaged ECE. Children & Society, 38 (4), 1076-1094. doi: 10.1111/chso.12782
Searle, Bonnie, Staton, Sally, Littlewood, Robyn and Thorpe, Karen (2023). Mealtimes in the context of poverty: comparison of ECEC services providing food and those requiring food provided from home. Child: Care, Health and Development, 49 (6), 995-1005. doi: 10.1111/cch.13109
Thorpe, Karen, Potia, Azhar Hussain, Searle, Bonnie, Van Halen, Olivia, Lakeman, Nicole, Oakes, Candice, Harris, Holly and Staton, Sally (2022). Meal provision in early childhood education and care programs: Association with geographic disadvantage, social disadvantage, cost, and market competition in an Australian population. Social Science & Medicine, 312 115317, 1-10. doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2022.115317
Searle, Bonnie-Ria E., Staton, Sally S., Littlewood, Robyn and Thorpe, Karen (2022). Associations between food provision and feeding practices in socially disadvantaged childcare centres. Appetite, 169 105811, 1-10. doi: 10.1016/j.appet.2021.105811
Searle, Bonnie-Ria E., Harris, Holly A., Thorpe, Karen and Jansen, Elena (2020). What children bring to the table: the association of temperament and child fussy eating with maternal and paternal mealtime structure. Appetite, 151 104680, 1-7. doi: 10.1016/j.appet.2020.104680
Harris, Holly A., Ria-Searle, Bonnie, Jansen, Elena and Thorpe, Karen (2018). What's the fuss about? Parent presentations of fussy eating to a parenting support helpline. Public Health Nutrition, 21 (8), 1520-1528. doi: 10.1017/S1368980017004049
Conference Paper
Searle, Bonnie, Cooke, Emma, Staton, Sally and Thorpe, Karen (2023). A case study of agency and food scarcity in mealtimes in disadvantaged ECEC. 31st EECERA Conference, Estoril, Portugal, 30 August – 2 September 2023.
Thesis
Searle, Bonnie-Ria Estelle (2024). Why mealtimes matter: food provision and practices in childcare centres serving low-income communities.. PhD Thesis, Queensland Brain Institute, The University of Queensland. doi: 10.14264/7743da1
Working Paper
Thorpe, Karen, Searle, Bonnie, Van Halen, Olivia, Lakeman, Nicole, Oakes, Candice, Harris, Holly and Staton, Sally (2020). A market in mealtimes: social and economic factors associated with meal provision in Early Care and Education (ECE) services. LCC Working Paper Series. 2020-25. Institute for Social Science Research, The University of Queensland, Brisbane.
Research Reports
Staton, Sally, Houen, Sandy, Coles, Laetitia, Searle, Bonnie, Panthi, S. and Thorpe, Karen (2023). Responding to challenging behaviour with children aged 2-5 years in Early Childhood Education and Care settings. Melbourne, VIC, Australia: Evidence for Learning.
Staton, Sally, Pattinson, Cassandra, Houen, Sandy, Coles, Laetitia, Westwood, Emily, Cooke, Emma, Searle, Bonnie-Ria and Thorpe, Karen (2022). KindyLinQ Program Pilot: Pilot evaluation report and executive summary. Online: Evidence for Learning.