Focused on opportunities and barriers to inclusive lives for people with disability, my work takes an interdisciplinary and collaborative focus to resolving key social policy concerns such as safety and abuse, wellbeing, participation and funding and organisation of community services.

Most of my work has been co-produced with people with disability, and generated from their priorities. Our teams use inclusive disability research methods and processes. This has taken us into very interesting and important territory – relationships, violence, loneliness, belonging, quality of support – and also translated into new approaches to research and evaluation for government and NGOs.

My research program is focused across a number of related areas:

• the operation and structure of human services
• applied ethics
• personal safety and abuse prevention for people with disabiltiy
• child protection, domestic and family violence services and in relationship to people with disability
• in/exclusion of people with disability, particularly children and young people.

Our work directly addresses disadvantaged and marginalised communities in key policy areas. Prioritising interdisciplinary research with these groups, and applying their experience to critical social policy areas such as funding and administration (NDIS); rights and wellbeing; and abuse and safety has led to new knowledge and policy impact which progresses rights in multiple policy and practice spaces. This includes child protection and adult safeguarding, education, law, and housing policy. 

Bringing my focus on inclusive disability research methodology into collaboration in interdisciplinary research with colleagues in social policy, education, law, social geography, child protection and housing has supported the development of research which is rigorous and policy-relevant.