Thesis Title:

How can service providers use risk and protective factors to improve community safety? Examining inter-agency partnerships.

Synopsis:

This multi-disciplinary research project uses applied anthropology to understand Indigenous community safety from a ground-up perspective. By drawing upon a case‑study, the research explores how inter‑agency networks can use risk and protective factors to improve safety in one remote Northern Territory community. In this context, risk factors are social and economic indicators which increase the likelihood of a violence incident. Protective factors are social and cultural attributes that strengthen relationships and prevent harm from occurring. Understanding the relationships between risk factors and improving information about protective factors will promote a view of community safety that is grounded in local knowledge. It will also help improve service provision in the local area and ultimately provide a safer environment for community residents.

Research interests:

• Culture, gender, sexuality
• Gender and development
• Social and cultural anthropology
• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander policy

Biography:

Prior to commencing her PhD at CAEPR, Simone worked in various policy roles across the Australian Public Service.

In 2013, Simone was a policy advisor in the Office of the Coordinator General for Remote Indigenous Services, a statutory agency overseeing the National Partnership Agreement on Remote Service Delivery. She advised the Coordinator General on emerging issues in the Northern Territory, which included conducting research on how gender, lore and kinship influence the appropriateness and effectiveness of remote service delivery.

Simone worked for the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet immediately prior to joining CAEPR. She worked in the Office for Women providing strategic whole-of-government advice on the National Plan to Reduce Violence against Women and their Children 2010-2022 and providing her expertise on policy for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women.

Prior to her employment in the Australian Public Service, Simone worked in the not-for-profit sector including Australians for Native Title and Recognition Victoria and various international development agencies. She conducted her honours research on gender empowerment in South India, with a thesis titled "Gender Empowerment: a Concept Overused and Outdated? Reflections from fieldwork in South India".

Chair of Supervisory Panel

Dr Janet Hunt

Scholarship

Australian Postgraduate Award