Research Affiliates | The Centre

Professor Matthew Clarke

Deakin Distinguished Professor and Deputy Vice-Chancellor Research and Innovation

Available for: Consultancies, HDR Supervisions, Industry partnerships

Prof Matthew Clarke has previously held formal roles with the Centre for Humanitarian Leadership, including as Chair and Deputy Chair, and separately as Head of Centre and Interim Centre Director. In 2010, he co-edited a volume on the Reconstruction of Aceh following the Indian Ocean Tsunami and a review of humanitarian workers’ experience during this response (published in 2008). Since the Centre’s establishment, he has continued undertaking research in this field as well as supervising a number of the Centre’s PhD students.

Prof Clarke has attended the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative and Save the Children US office as part of a Fulbright Fellowship in Non-Profit Leadership which was awarded due to his leadership of the Centre. His current research considers the nexus between religion and development/humanitarian work, and he maintains an interest in humanitarian education.

Dr Zouhir Gabsi

Senior Lecturer, Arabic and Islamic Studies

Available for: Consultancies, Industry partnerships, HDR Supervisions

Dr Zouhir Gabsi is passionate about making a positive change to society. His current research focuses on Tunisian youth’s marginalisation and minority communities in the Arab world. He is also engaged in research on xenophobia and Islamophobia, which is the subject of his forthcoming book. Dr Gabsi is multilingual with an intimate understanding of global societies. His interest in youth studies emanates from marginalisation – in North Africa, particularly, there is an unfolding humanitarian crisis due to clandestine migration and suicide. Dr Gabsi’s research attempts to understand the psychology of these youth, their concerns, and culture.

Dr Leanne Kelly

Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Alfred Deakin Institute, Deakin University

Available for: Industry partnerships

Dr Leanne Kelly is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow on an Australian Research Council linkage project led by Associate Professor Anthony Ware and Professor Greg Barton. The project explores appropriate humanitarian-development NGO responses to preventing and countering violent extremism in Asia and Africa. Dr Kelly also works as the National Evaluation Advisor for Emergency Services at the Australian Red Cross.

Dr Kirstin Kreyscher

Associate Lecturer School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Deakin University

Available for: Consultancies, Industry partnerships

Dr Kirstin Kreyscher is an Associate Lecturer in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at Deakin University. Her research explores the barriers and enablers to the livelihoods of youth living in disaster and conflict-prone regions of the Philippines. This includes the critical analysis of underlying causes of vulnerability in the daily life of youth, and the identification of risks and challenges to all forms of hazards that from a fragile lifestyle for them. The research seeks to support affected minority groups by highlighting practical examples of meaningful agency of youth upholding their rights to be heard. Dr Kreyscher employs methodologies in digital and visual ethnography to create new ways of working with local knowledge. Previous research includes youth’s knowledge and agency in participatory settings on disaster risk in the Philippines.

A/Prof Fiona McKay

Senior Lecturer, School of Health and Social Development, Deakin University

Available for: Consultancies, HDR Supervisions, Industry partnerships

Fiona is an Associate Professor of Health Equity in the School of Health and Social Development and Institute for Health Transformation at Deakin University. A/Prof McKay has a considerable body of work exploring ways to measure and respond to community hunger, and has strong relationships with the emergency and community food sector in Victoria and is skilled in various methods to enable the exploration of hunger and service provision across the sector, including qualitative approaches, policy analysis, and co-design.

A/Prof Max Kelly

Associate Professor, International and Community Development, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Deakin University

Available for: Consultancies, HDR Supervisions, Industry partnerships

A/Prof Max Kelly is strongly committed to critical reflection on the theory and practice of development and humanitarian field of research. She has a strong background in analysing the political and economic structures that contribute to ongoing marginalisation and the many diverse voices that make up the development and humanitarian sector. Her focus has been primarily international and community development, mostly in Africa with some focus on post-conflict contexts (Timor Leste and Northern Uganda).

A/Prof Kelly’s recent research focuses on the localisation debate, as a way of trying to centre critical theorising of humanitarian discourse. This nascent research, in partnership with A/Prof Mary Ana McGlasson and Dr Maree Pardy, is designed to focus discourse towards the complex engagement (or lack thereof) between international and local stakeholders, with a focus on power, and the amplification of diverse voices.

EmPr Sue Kenny

Emeritus Professor, Faculty of Arts and Education/Office of the Executive Dean Arts and Education, Deakin University

Available for: HDR Supervisions, Consultancies, Industry partnerships

EmPr Sue Kenny has been involved as an activist, teacher and researcher in a number of areas concerned with humanitarianism, including work in Kyrgyzstan, Vladivostok, Albania and Indonesia. Her work is grounded in a community development approach, which takes as its starting points the wisdom, understandings and actions of ordinary people. EmPr Kenny believes community development involves disruption, promoting a world constructed on the principles of social justice, inclusivity, equality and sustainability. These aims inevitably involve critique of the ways in which societies are currently organised, which in turn requires deep analysis of the current forms of hegemony. EmPr Kenny is currently involved in research on community responses in COVID-19 in Aceh, as well as with a group working with Afghan women.

Dr Tebeje Molla

ARC Future Fellow, School of Education, Deakin University

Available for: HDR Supervisions, Consultancies, Industry partnerships

Dr Tebeje Molla’s research focuses on educational inequality and policy responses. Theoretically, his work is informed by critical sociology and the capability approach to social justice and human development. Currently, Dr Molla is leading an Australian Research Council project that explores higher education participation among African refugee youth. The study also analyses the relationship between educational attainment and refugee integration. Preliminary findings of the project have been published in academic journals and on The Conversation.

Miss Emma Pearce

Graduate Researcher, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Deakin University

Available for: Consultancies, Industry partnerships

Ms Emma Pearce is undertaking a PhD by Folio on the role of women and girls with disabilities in humanitarian action, drawing on her previous research with populations affected by crisis and conflict, undertaken while working with the Women’s Refugee Commission. Her work reflects participatory feminist research approaches which places the lived experiences of women and girls with intersecting identities and from diverse backgrounds at the centre of knowledge production.

Ms Pearce has conducted research in collaboration with UN agencies, NGOs and local civil society organisations in a range of humanitarian contexts. In her PhD, Ms Pearce critically analyses existing knowledge across multiple disciplines, including disability, gender and humanitarian disciplines, as well as her own field research to expand understanding of diversity and inclusion, and draw implications for the changing humanitarian landscape.

Prof Yin Paradies

Deakin Distinguished Professor and Chair in Race Relations, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Deakin University

Available for: Consultancies, Industry partnerships, HDR Supervisions

Prof Yin Paradies’ work connects to the CHL through its focus on decolonisation, a key consideration in his scholarship. His research interests include health, social and economic effects of racism; anti-racism theory, policy, and practice; race and intercultural relations; and Indigenous knowledges and decoloniality.

Professor Matthew Clarke

Dr Zouhir Gabsi

Dr Leanne Kelly

Dr Kirstin Kreyscher

A/Prof Fiona McKay

A/Prof Max Kelly

EmPr Sue Kenny

Dr Tebeje Molla

Miss Emma Pearce

Prof Yin Paradies

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