Dr. Manjula Marella

Dr. Manjula Marella is a disability inclusion researcher with core research expertise in qualitative, quantitative and psychometric (Rasch analysis) methods for developing and validating client-reported outcome measures.

Manjula has a Bachelor of Science in Optometry from India and specializes in low vision rehabilitation. She completed her PhD from the Department of Ophthalmology, The University of Melbourne, in 2011. Her doctoral thesis involved developing an evaluation framework for community-based rehabilitation (CBR) programs. Her postdoctoral research primarily focused on developing and validating the Rapid Assessment of Disability (RAD) survey to measure disability and its impact on participation and inclusion of people with disabilities in the community.

Manjula has led major research projects involving large population-based surveys for informing various disability inclusive programs throughout Asia and the Pacific, including in public health, inclusive education and evaluating disability inclusion in post-disaster response and recovery. She has supported the development of systems for monitoring and evaluating community-based programs and disability inclusive education. She has also led and contributed to several qualitative research studies on exploring the level of participation of people with disabilities in education, rehabilitation and health.