Recent and Past Visitors

Zahra Ghorbani - PhD Candidate of Community Oral Health, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences Dental School, IRAN

Dr Minako Sakai - Senior Lecturer and Indonesian Studies Program Coordinator, School of Humanities and Social Science UNSW@ADFA. Visited SPRC from February 2011 to March 2012.

Assoc Prof Miki Murata - Faculty of Economics,Otemon Gakuin University in Osaka, Japan. Visited SPRC from April 2011 to March 2012

Bjorn Hallerod -Professor in Sociology, University of Gothenburg

Kate Sang - Research Fellow at the Centre for Diversity and Equality in Careers and Employment Research (DECERe) at the University of East Anglia (UK)

Dr Gul Izmir

Gul Izmir visited SPRC from May 2009 to Januayr 2012 and has had a distinguished career in the public service and private sector in NSW and abroad. Gul was Deputy Director General of the Department of Community Services in NSW, having worked in the Treasury, Department of Environment and other government departments. As an economist with a particular interest in social policy, her expertise aligns closely with that of the SPRC.

Assoc Prof Jianping Yao

North China Electricity Power University, Beijing. Visited SPRC from May to October 2011.

Anne Roeters

PhD Candidate, Utrecht University, The Netherlands, Department of Sociology ICS.Visited SPRC for 6 weeks from February 2011.

 Professor Anneli Anttonen

Department of Social Research, University of Tampere, Finland. Visited SPRC for 6 weeks between January 1 and February 15, 2011.

Henna Isoniemi

PhD Candidate, University of Turku, Findland. Visited SPRC from August to November 2010.

Anniina Kaittila

PhD Candidate, University of Turku, Findland.Visited SPRC from August to November 2010

Professor Teppo Kroger 

Department of Social Sciences and Philosophy University of Jyvaskyla, Finland

Professor Gabrielle Meagher

University of Sydney

Gabrielle Meagher visited the centre from January to June 2010. Gabrielle's research focuses on how paid caring work is organised, valued, and evaluated in social service systems and investigates the shifting priorities of the Australian welfare state. While at the SPRC, Gabrielle presented a seminar as part of the seminar program. The paper her presentation was based on is available here. (PDF)

Randall Owen

Institute on Disability and Human Development (IDHD), University of Illnois, Chicago

Randall Owen visit the SPRC during July-August 2010. Randall is a post-graduate Student from the University of Illnois, Chicago. Randall's research explores how human rights for people with disabilities are protected in policy and experienced by individuals in Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States

Dr Sarah Parker

Institute on Disability and Human Development (IDHD), University of Illnois, Chicago

Sarah Parker visited the Centre during July 2010, Sarah's current resseach projects include a national analysis of supported accommodation options for people with disabilities; designing a large-scale evaluation of a state government early intervention program; an analysis on the use of United Nations human rights treaties for people with disabilities; and a comparative analysis of the effectiveness of anti-discrimination legislation in reducing inequalities of people with disabilities in liberal welfares states.

Professor Ito Peng

From the University of Toronto obtained a large grant from the SSHRC for a comparative study of social investment policies in Japan/Korea and Australia/Canada. Ito conducted intreviews with NGOs, activists and policy makers while at SPRC.

Kerry Wilson

Centre for Cultural Leadership in Liverpool, John Moores University, UK

Kerry Wilson visted SPRC during February 2010, to continue working on her research project on the impact of social policy on cultural leadership strategy and practice - international perspectives', comparing the experiences of cultural leaders in Australia and the UK during changing Governments and social policy agendas. Kerry presented a seminar as part of the Centre's seminar series, and the sldes are available here. (PDF)

Jiawen Xie
Beijing Normal University

Jiawen Xie is currently completed her post-graduate study and visited the SPRC on the UNSW Practicum Exchange program. Jiawen Xie also worked on SPRC ARC projects focused on Chinese social policy research with Xiaoyuan Shang.

Professor Sue Yeandle

Co-Director, CIRCLE, Centre for International Research on Care, Labour and Equalities in the School of Sociology and Social Policy at the University of Leeds.

Past Visitors

Sol Encel

Tribute

Sol Encel was appointed Professor of Sociology in the School of Sociology at the University of NSW in 1966. He was also involved with SPRC since its inception in 1980, and played a key part in its creation. Immediately upon his retirement from the School of Sociology and Anthropology in 1991, Sol was appointed Honorary Research Associate at SPRC. He was later renamed as an Honorary Fellow and then a UNSW Emeritus Professor.

It is with great sadness that the Social Policy Research Centre notes the passing of Emeritus Professor Sol Encel on Friday 23 July, 2010. 

Aaron Bishop

US Senate Congressional Staffer and Australian Department of Health and Ageing Packer Policy Fellow

From August 2008 to April 2009 Aaron's Fellowship enabled him to conduct research on Australia's Medicare system. The research was part of a project comparing the Australian health care system and the Massachusetts health care reform law. The project analyses the respective levels of accessibility and utilisation for people with disabilities. Aaron discusses his research in SPRC Newsletter 103 (PDF)

Rachael Dobson

ESRC- funded PhD candidate, School of Sociology and Social Policy, University of Leeds, UK; Postgraduate Representative, UK SPA

Rachael visited SPRC between April and June 2009 to undertake research towards her PhD. The research involved a comparative analysis of Australia and the UK to explore the range of official policies and informal practices used by homelessness practitioners in order to influence service user behaviour, through processes of management, containment and ‘therapies'

Professor Sue Himmelweit

Professor, Department of Economics, Faculty of Social Sciences, The Open University, UK

Professor Himmelweit's research focuses on gender issues in economics. These currently include both a UK based and a cross-national study of within household inequalities for the ESRC and various pieces of policy oriented work on care for the Equalities and Human Rights Commission, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, the trade union Unison, and the United Nations Division for Women. She is a member and past chair of the Women's Budget Group, a think tank monitoring and advising government on the gender aspects of social and economic policy. She is a member of international research groups on Gender and Tax and on the Political and Social Economy of Care in a Globalising World. She is on the editorial board of Women, Politics and Policy, an Associate Editor of the journal Feminist Economics and was until recently President of the International Association for Feminist Economics (IAFFE), for whom she organised the programme of their 2009 annual conference in Boston, on the theme of "Engendering Economic Policy".During her visit in February 2008 Professor Himmelweit presented a seminar "Cooperation and conflict within couples: the gendered distribution of entitlement to household income" as part of the Centre's series as well as contributing to two workshops on Care

Xiao Ye Huang

Department of Civil Affairs of Jiangsu Province, China

Ms Huang received funding from the Jiangsu Government to conduct research at SPRC between January and July 2009 on the administration of NGOs in Australia. The research was part of a larger project which seeks to develop relevant administrative systems for NGOs in China, which are playing an increased role in the implementation of China's social policies.

Associate Professor Rebekah Levine Coley

Applied Developmental and Educational Psychology, Boston College, US; Fulbright Senior Scholar in residence at the SPRC

Associate Professor Coley's research interests centre on the intersections of family, community, and policy contexts and their influence on child development. Specific focus areas include children and families in poverty, parenting, youth risk behaviours, and welfare, early education, and marital policies. Between June 2007 and July 2008 Associate Professor Coley visited SPRC to collaborate on several research projects as well as pursuing her own research in these areas.

Dr Tess Ridge

Senior Lecturer, Centre for the Analysis of Social Policy, University of Bath, UK

Dr Ridge visited the Centre during July 2008 to give a workshop to SPRC staff, 'Listening to children - childhood poverty and the value of child-centred research with children'. Dr Ridge also presented a seminar, with Professor Jane Millar, titled 'Work and Care in Lone-Mother Families: A Family-Work Project'. Along with the sociology of children and childhood, Dr Ridge's research interests include childhood poverty and social exclusion, and policies for children and their families. She has considerable experience researching with children and families. She has recently completed a three year ESRC Research Fellowship developing a child-centred approach to understanding how children fare within the policy process. Her current research (with Jane Millar), explores the lives of children and lone mothers in low-income working households.

Professor Lujun Sun and Mr Wensheng Miao

China Research Centre on Ageing

Professor Sun and Mr Miao visited SPRC in July 2008 to work with Professor Peter Saunders on the ARC funded project Growing Old in a Rapidly Changing World: Living Conditions and Inequalities Amongst the Aged in China.

Professor Fiona Williams

Professor of Social Policy, University of Leeds, UK; Co-Director, Centre for International Research on Care, Labour and Equalities (CIRCLE) at the University of Leeds, UK

Professor Williams visited the Centre in February 2008 to contribute to two workshops on Care. She has written widely on gender, 'race' and ethnicity in social policy, and is currently researching the employment of migrant workers in home-based care in Europe. Her teaching and research interests focus on the place of care in contemporary society, including the changing nature of family lives and personal relationships, and the development of a political ethic of care.

Chris Wood

ESRC-funded PhD candidate, School of Politics and International Relations, University of Nottingham, UK

Chris undertook a six month placement at the Social Policy Research Centre between October 2008 and April 2009 to conduct research towards his PhD, Comparing national policy regarding social capital theory in Britain and Australia. His research interests include ‘Third way' ideology, welfare policy, social capital theory, post-structuralism and discourse theory. He also teaches comparative politics at the University of Nottingham.