ACU Researcher

Dr Simone Rowe

Lecturer, Social Work
Allied Health

Areas of expertise: "anticolonialism"; "abolition"; "disability justice"; "alternatives to state policing"; "transformative/liberatory pedagogy"

Email: [email protected]

Location: ACU Strathfield Campus

HDR Supervisor accreditation status: HDR Supervisor (Provisional)

ORCID ID: 0000-0003-2101-1887

Dr Simone Rowe (she/her) holds a BSW (Hons) and a PhD in Criminology. Prior to joining ACU in 2026, Simone researched and taught at UNSW for over a decade. Her interdisciplinary research and scholarship brings together key insights from the fields of anticolonialism, critical/radical criminology, critical disability studies and critical/radical social work. A primary focus of her research and scholarship is to advance theory, methodology, pedagogies and praxis that can move us closer to realising more socially just and liberated worlds free from the intersecting violence of racism, ableism and carceral logics/regimes. Simone is driven by a commitment to uphold the knowledges and voices of those most impacted by the violence of coloniality and carcerality. She is currently working on a book project to be published with Routledge titled, Beyond Colonial, Carceral and Ableist Violence: (Re)building radically inclusive and liberated worlds.

Website

Google Scholar

Select publications

Book Chapters

• Rowe S, Dowse L & Wadds P (2026) 'Embedding anti-colonial abolition in a zemiology of state policing', In EJ Wright, K Dertadian, A Boukli & J Heydon (Eds) Zemiology Beyond the Critique of Capitalism: Harm, Colonialism and Decolonisation, Routledge, pp. 91-104.

• Rowe S & Dowse L (2023) 'Disability, race and the carceral state', In C Cunneen, A Deckert, J Tauri, A Porter & R Webb (Eds) The Routledge Handbook on Decolonising Justice, Routledge.

• Rowe S & Dowse L (2021) 'Enabling penal abolitionism: The need for reciprocal dialogue between critical disability studies and penal abolitionism', In MJ Coyle & D Scott (Eds) The Routledge International Handbook of Penal Abolitionism, London: Routledge, pp. 206-216.

• Cunneen C & Rowe S (2016) 'Re-considering the relationship between Indigenous people and violence' In J Stubbs & S Tomsen (Eds), Australian Violence: Crime, Criminal Justice and Beyond, Leichardt: Federation Press (pp. 106-124).

• Cunneen C & Rowe S (2015) 'Decolonising Indigenous victimisation' In D Wilson & S Ross (Eds), Crime, Victims and Policy, London: Palgrave McMillan (pp. 10-32).

Refereed Journal Articles

• Rowe S, Baker M, Wadds P, Matthews I, Dertadian G & Kaladelfos A (2025) Towards more just futures: Abolitionist pedagogy and lived experience in criminology courses, curriculum and degree program, Feminist Pedagogy, 6(4),

• Rowe S, Dowse L, Baker M & Baldry E (2022) Policing disability: Alliance building, police divestment and community investment, Current Issues in Criminal Justice, https://doi.org/10.1080/10345329.2022.2029084.

• Rowe S, Dowse L, Newton D, McGillivray J & Baldry E (2019) Addressing education, training and employment supports for prisoners with cognitive disability: insights from an Australian programme, Journal of Policy and Practice in Intellectual Disabilities.

• Jones P, Rowe S & Miles D (2017) Beyond practical preparation: A critical approach to preparing social work students for international study experiences, International Social Work, 1-12.

• Cunneen C, Rowe S & Tauri J (2016) Fracturing the colonial paradigm: Indigenous epistemologies and methodologies, Method(e)s: African Review of Social Sciences Methodology, 2(1-2), 62-78.

• Rowe S, Baldry E & Earles W (2015) Decolonising social work research: Learning from critical Indigenous approaches, Australian Social Work, 68(3), 296-308.

• Cunneen C & Rowe S (2014) Changing narratives: Colonised peoples, criminology and social work, International Journal for Crime, Justice and Social Democracy, 3(1), 49-67.

Reports

• Dowse L, Rowe S, Baldry E & Baker M (2021) Police responses to people with disability, Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability, Sydney, Australia.

• Hardcastle L, Dowse L, McGillivray J, Newton D, Rowe S, Crosbie J, Giles M (2018) A qualitative study of the experiences of ex-prisoners who are seeking employment, the experiences of practitioners who work with ex-prisoners who are seeking employment and the models of practice used, Sydney: UNSW.

• Baldry E, Bright D, Cale J, Day J, Dowse L, Giles M, Hardcastle L, Graffam J, McGillivray J, Newton D, Rowe S, Wodak J (2018) A Future Beyond the Wall: Improving Post-release Employment Outcomes for People Leaving Prison: Final Report, Sydney: UNSW.

• Dowse L, Rowe S, McGillivray J & Newton D (2017) Education, Training and Employment for Prisoners with Cognitive Disability: A Case Study, Sydney: UNSW.

• Churchill A, Sotiri M & Rowe S (2017) Access to the NDIS for people with cognitive disability and complex needs who are in contact with the criminal justice system: Key challenges, Sydney: The Community Restorative Centre.

Awards

• 2024 Recipient of UNSW teaching award: Programs that enhance learning (with the Bachelor of Criminology and Criminal Justice team).

Appointments and Affiliations

• Member - Network for Antigenocide, Decarceral and Anticolonial Criminologies.

• Advisory Committee Member - Advocacy, Research & Policy Unit, The Community Restorative Centre, Sydney.

• Member - Disability Innovation Institute, UNSW.

• Member - Alternative First Responders Project, National Justice Project.