Society and Heritage

• Dr Mathew Abbott
• Dr Ibrahim Abraham
• Dr Verity Archer
• Dr Anne Beggs-Sunter
• Associate Professor Fred Cahir
• Dr Margaret Camilleri
• Dr Angela Campbell
• Dr Clement Chihota
• Associate Professor Gopi Chattopadhyay
• Associate Professor Jerry Courvisanos
• Dr Kristen Davis
• Dr Meagan Dewar
• Professor Singarayer Florentine
• Dr Anitra Goriss-Hunter
• Associate Professor Abdel Halabi
• Dr Tim Harrison, Honorary Associate Professor
• Michelle Hood
• Associate Professor Carolyn Johnstone
• Trent Kooyman
• Dr Christine Lee
• Dr Zeb Leonard
• Dr Suryani Lim
• Damien McCartin
• Dr Kelsey McDonald
• Dr Giles Oatley
• Professor Ean Ooi
• Eva Orr
• Dr Goetz Ottmann
• Christine Peacock
• Dr Cassie Pedersen
• Associate Professor Jessica Reeves
• Professor Keir Reeves
• Michelle Rossi
• Dr Christina Sadowski
• Associate Professor Jeremy Smith
• Dr Kay Steel
• Mr Matthew Thorley, ARC Anangu Futures Linkage Research Associate
• Dr Cathy Tischler
• Dr David Waldron
• Dr Shaun Watson
• Associate Professor Carole Wilson
• Professor Wendy Wright
• Professor Elisa Zentveld
• Dr Lauren Zeuschner
• Christina Aitken
• Dr Kay Steel
• Dr Jill Orr

• Dr Kelsey McDonald
• Professor Keir Reeves
• Dr Cathy Tischler

For queries about FRRC’s research, or to discuss collaborating or researching with us, get in touch with the Centre Directors via the Contact page.

The sustainable living and housing research hub focuses on three themes:

1. Sustainable living – The Hub explores innovative ways to address living environments of demography, geography, and social wellbeing. It explores areas where market failure exists and looks for alternative approaches to improve living environments.
2. Housing supply and demand – The Hub applies evidence-based approaches to understand and address housing exclusion and marginalisation due to housing type, affordability and supply across various housing careers.
3. Housing finance and investment - The hub applies evidence-based approaches to understand and address housing finance and investment and associated supply risks in various housing tenure applications.

Professor George Earl, Professor of Housing Economics

Professor George Earl has a doctorate from Queensland University of Technology in Institutional Investment in low income. George conducts research in various topics associated with sustainable living and housing, particularly associated with the low and social housing sectors both in Australia and overseas.

George has over 20 years’ experience as a construction economist, value manager and property development economics during which time he was associated with project valued at over 5 billion dollars. Additionally, George has for the pasts 32 years has held senior academic positions at number of prestigious Universities in Australia and Asia, including as Dean of Business, Technology and Sustainable Development at Bond University

During George's academic career he has conducted research, receiving grants in excess of $6 million, which includes four ARC Grants. This research has resulted in the publishing of over 90 academic papers, twenty government strategy reports, two books and four computer software packages.

Finally, George has for the past 13 years has held senior part-time roles the not-for-profit community housing sector

George has qualifications in quantity surveying, property development, project management and finance.

Professor Jennifer Martin

Research themes include but are not limited to:

Sustainable development and thriving communities

Risk mitigation and safety

Distinct social work identities and contributions in increasingly diverse workforces

Expansion of the range of social work services and service delivery models

The use of technologies to enhance social work practice addressing potential risks and benefits

Professor Jennifer Martin , Professor of Social Work and Human Services

Jenny focuses on translational research that has high impact locally and internationally with an emphasis on regional and rural communities. This is underpinned by an interdisciplinary body of theory drawing largely on comparative social policy, critical theory, social development and theories on social inclusion and eco-systems. She has extensively theorised issues of place, community, social inclusion and belonging as they impact on quality of life and health and wellbeing, as well as human services practices particularly in relation to the inclusion of minority groups. Recent work is on health and human services workforce development and housing in regional and rural areas, interpersonal violence and gender and intersectional equity.

Michelle Rossi - Federation University Australia

Michelle has extensive industry related experience in the fields of; acute health; sub-acute health; community health and adult guardianship/disability and has worked in Victoria and the Northern Territory. Michelle has strong experience in practitioner, project and leadership roles. Michelle worked on the Northern Territory Adult Guardianship Legislation reform 2016. Michelle has close and ongoing connections in her role as a higher learning educator as field education coordinator for student studying Master of Social Work (Qualifying) degrees, with a variety of government funded and not-for-profit community and human service agencies operating in metropolitan Melbourne, Gippsland and other regional areas.

Damien McCartin - Federation University Australia

Damien McCartin holds extensive industry-related experience in social policy, advocacy, management, community and human services. Damien’s work history includes appointments in the following fields: community development, youth mental health; youth and family services; social policy; and student residential services. He has both strong cross-sector practitioner and managerial experience within these sectors.

Damien has been engaged in research and advocacy in a range of areas including:

1. Needs analysis in a regional community.
2. Review of just and reasonable taxation systems.
3. Review of Victorian social policies in areas including education; housing; and delivery of human and social services.

Damien’s community engagement experience includes Board membership of several community, welfare, education and social activity, and student residential agencies and services.

Dr. Lauren Zeuschner - Federation University Australia

Lauren is a qualified social worker, who entered the world of academia after spending many years in direct practice. As part of her Master’s degree Lauren undertook a research placement at a family violence service for women, which sparked her passion for collaborative social work research. This led into Lauren’s doctoral research, which she completed through an academic-industry research partnership in the Ballarat region, in collaboration with the family violence team at a child and family services agency. Lauren conducted a feminist interpretative phenomenological analysis of women’s lived experiences of their partners’ referral to a men’s behaviour change program. This research encapsulated Lauren’s passion for ensuring everyday processes within a service setting are informed by the knowledge and experiences of the people who are most affected by those services.

Lauren’s research interests include:

• Feminist qualitative exploration of lived experience.
• Opportunities that contribute to the growth of nurturing communities and innovative, client informed services and systems.

Final year social work students will co-design and conduct a Social Work History project with the topic aligned with new directions for social work practice in challenging and complex environments both regionally and globally, student interests and required learning outcomes.