Phone: +61 (0)2 9385 7843
Email: d.brennanunsw.edu.au

CV [PDF]

Deborah Brennan is one of Australia’s leading researchers in the area of comparative welfare, children’s services and family policy. Professor Deborah Brennan was annoucned as one of the participants in The Productivity Agenda (education, skills, training, science and innovation) strand of the 2020 Summit to be held in April 2008.

She has held visiting positions at the London School of Economics, Oxford University, Trinity College Dublin and the University of Melbourne. Professor Brennan is the author of The Politics of Australian Child Care (Cambridge University Press, 1998) and co-editor with Louise Chappell of 'No Fit Place for Women'. Women in New South Wales Politics, 1856-2006 (UNSW Press, 2006) as well as numerous scholarly articles in the areas of gender, politics and family policy. She has contributed to national and international debates in her field and has advised both the Australian and UK governments on the development of policies for families and children. She is the immediate past-President of the Australian Political Science Association.

Professor Brennan presented the inaugaral lecture in So, what? Public Lectures in contemporary humanities and social sciences, organised by the Faculty of Arts and Social Science, on March 6th 2008. The lecture and introduction by the Hon Maxine McKew (Parilamentary Secretary for Early Childhood Education and Child Care) was aired on Life Matters early in March.

Ms McKew - Introduction
Families at Work Lecture

Current projects include

• Young carers: their participation in education, the labour force and social networks, identifying the costs and benefits of their care-giving
• Grandparents as primary carers for their grandchildren in informal and formal circumstances: experiences and outcomes for grandparents and grandchildren

Recent Conference Presentations

Brennan, D. (2007), ‘The corporatisation of Australian child care’, paper presented at Carleton University, Ottawa, 24 April.

Brennan, D. (2007), ‘Babies, budgets and birthrates: work/family policy in Australia, 1996-2006’, paper presented at Columbia University, New York, 1 May.

Brennan, D. (2007), ‘The Howard Government and Work/Family Policy in Australia, 1996-2006’, paper presented at George Washington University (Public Policy Program) 7 June.

Brennan, D. (2007), ‘Demographic change, social policy and employment-based family provision in Australia’, paper presented at Department of Social Policy, Oxford University, June.

Brennan, D., A. Hampshire, B. Cass, and T. Marchant (2007), ‘Understanding grandparent care: policy and practice implications of grandparents as primary carers of their grandchildren in the Australian context’, paper presented at Centre for Research into Families and Relationships, Extended and Extending Families Conference, Edinburgh, June.

Brennan, D., S. Newberry and S. van der Laan (2007), ‘The corporatisation of child care in Australia: easy as ABC’, paper presented at Paid Care Network Symposium on For-Profit Providers of Paid Care, University of Sydney, 29-30 November.

Cass, B., and D. Brennan (2007), ‘Grandparents as Primary Carers of Their Grandchildren’, Paper presented at Australian Social Policy Conference, Sydney, 11-13 July.

Brennan DJ (2006), 'Women in the Bear Pit', Australasian Political Studies Association Annual Conference 2006, University of Newcastle, 25-26 Sept.

Recent Books and Journal Articles

Alexander, M., G. Whitehouse and D. Brennan (2007), 'Australia', in P. Moss (ed.), International Review of Leave Policies and Related Research 2007, London: Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, 72-85. 

Brennan, D. (2007), ‘Generations of care’, in R. Phillips (ed.), Generational Change and Social Policy Challenges: Australia and Korea, University of Sydney Press, Sydney,

Brennan, D. (2007), ‘Home and away: the policy context in Australia’, Kids Count: Better Early Childhood Education and Care in Australia, University of Sydney Press, Sydney, 57-74.

Brennan D (2007), 'Babies, Budgets and Birthrates: Work and Family Policy in Australia, 1996-2006', Social Politics: International Studies in Gender, State and Society, 14 (1), 31-57.

Brennan D and Chappell L (2006), 'Introduction: Gender and NSW Politics' in No Fit Place for Women´?: Women and Politics in New South Wales 1856-2006, ed. D.Brennan and L.Chappell, UNSW Press, Sydney, 1-14.

Brennan D (2006), 'Women in the Mother Parliament: Inaugural Impression' in "No Fit Place for Women"? Women in NSW Politics 1856-2006, ed. D. Brennan and L. Chappell, UNSW Press, Sydney.

Brennan DJ (2006), 'Community Services: Challenges for the Twenty-First Century' in Social Policy in Australia, ed. A. McClelland and P. Smyth, Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 224-237.