We work with experts in social work, youth work, anthropology, psychology, public health and related fields. They're well versed in using participatory approaches to engage with ad promote the views of children.
Professor Daryl Higgins commenced as the Director of the Institute of Child Protection Studies in February 2017. His research focuses on public health approaches to protecting children, and child-safe organisational strategies. A registered psychologist, Prof Higgins has been researching child abuse impacts and prevention, family violence and family functioning for over 25 years.
James is one of Australia’s most experienced child rights experts who has played major roles in youth justice, child protection, children’s and youth services. More recently he has worked in family violence, domestic violence and child safety. James brings 20 years of legal practice, including 10 years as a children’s lawyer, to his role at ICPS.
Before joining ICPS, James held senior executive positions in management, policy and advocacy, and contributed to a broad range of services, programs, projects for children and young people and groups experiencing disadvantage in access to justice and participation and protection. He held a range of positions including: Coordinator, Youth Legal Service (WA); Operations Coordinator, Youth Justice Conferencing (NSW Government); Director, National Association of Community Legal Centres; Director, National Children’s & Youth Law Centre; and Director of Policy and Advocacy, Save the Children Australia.
James has also served as a consultant in human rights and child rights, children’s policy and management and governance to a number of clients including: UNICEF Australia, Plan International Australia, the State Government of Victoria, Secretariat of National Aboriginal Islander Child Care, Refugee Council of Australia, Commission for Children and Young People (Victoria and Western Australia), and Domestic Violence Service Management (NSW).
He graduated in law from University of Adelaide and has been admitted to practice in South Australia, Western Australia and New South Wales.
Nina’s area of expertise is data analysis. She is currently investigating the effects of parental gambling on children, and the contact that children in care have with their birth family. In previous research projects, Nina focused on child physical and mental health and she contributed to the ICPS
Maria is dedicated to promoting the work of ICPS and raising awareness of how to improve child protection, and prevent and respond to the abuse and neglect of children. She creates marketing and communications campaigns that promote the mission of the Institute to advocate for children’s participation, strengthen service systems, inform practice and support child-safe communities. Maria brings extensive experience in stakeholder engagement, brand positioning aligned to corporate strategy, targeted promotional campaigns, social media campaigns, event management, outcomes analysis and reporting, editing, and production of publications (print and digital) at all stages of development.
Maria’s formal qualifications include Master of Communication and Graduate Diploma in Editing and Publishing, RMIT University.
Sebastian began working at ICPS in 2018, and is supporting a range of research projects. He has a Masters in Human Rights from Curtin University and has worked within the out-of-home care sector including residential care, intensive family support, youth housing and homelessness, disability support, academic mentoring, and executive program support. Sebastian is a PhD candidate at ACU who's research is exploring families lived experience of autism.
Alex has over 20 years of experience working in the child protection and out of home care sectors. She has worked in both government and non-government sectors, including homelessness, strategic policy and planning, child and youth engagement and residential care management. Since completing a Masters in Youth Studies with the ACU, Alex’s area of interests is in the connection between youth policy and practice and how best to translate this directly for workers on the ground and the children and young people they work with. She commenced work with the ICPS in September 2017 as a research officer.
Anna has 30 years experience in financial services, specialising in accountancy, financial analysis and project management. She has contributed to the development of budgets for project proposals, overseen budget execution and supported effective delivery of financial management for ICPS.
Highly pro-active and “hands on”, Anna is innovative and passionate about continuous improvement. She has an exceptionally strong aptitude in financial accounting, budgeting, business operations, achieving and exceeding key performance indicators, processing improvement initiatives, reducing costs and optimising profitability.
As Finance and Administration Officer, Anna is responsible for day-to-day management of ICPS finances. She is instrumental in developing and maintaining effective relationships and constructive engagement with internal units, external funding bodies and ACU stakeholders to advise and support in applying administrative and financial processes.
In previous roles, Anna managed a portfolio of accounts at the Royal Australasian College of Medical Administrators , and was a financial consultant with PricewaterhouseCoopers for Capital Markets Infrastructure.
Anna has a postgraduate degree in Finance from the Academy of Science (Moldova) and a Bachelor of Finance and Banking Degree from the Chisinau State University (Moldova).
The following students are undertaking postgraduate research at ACU. Their work is being supervised by ICPS staff. Read more about their research interests below.
Ulrike is undertaking a Doctorate of Philosophy researching the following question: Family violence typology in the context of statutory child protection practice: how differentiating between types of intimate partner violence could improve practice and outcomes for women and children in the child protection system. Her research is informed by a professional career as a social worker for Families SA, now Department for Child Protection, and the Tasmanian Department for Health and Human Services Child Safety. Professor Daryl Higgins (ICPS) is Principal Supervisor and Dr Tom Whelan (Faculty of Health Sciences) is Co-Supervisor.