Anne Graham

Biography

Professor Anne Graham is the Founding Director of Southern Cross University’s Centre for Children and Young People (CCYP). A leading international childhood studies and children’s rights scholar, Anne began her career as a primary school teacher before moving into teacher education at SCU for over 20 years, including as Head of School. Under her leadership the CCYP positioned Southern Cross University as a key collaborator regionally, nationally and internationally in providing high quality, high impact interdisciplinary research aimed at improving children’s wellbeing and safety. Anne’s work has been recognised by numerous awards including Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) (2018) for her contribution to higher education in the area of childhood studies and children’s rights. She was appointed Distinguished Professor at SCU in 2024 in recognition of her achievements.

Anne's work contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals

Research

Anne Graham's research and professional interests include children's social and emotional well-being, children’s rights, ethical issues in research involving children and young people, school improvement and teacher learning. Over the past 20 years Anne has been awarded over $10 million in external research funding involving over 80 projects to date, including 8 Australian Research Council (ARC) funded studies. She has published over 300 research outputs, including more than 100 high quality peer reviewed articles and book chapters. Anne authored the highly successful evidence-informed psychosocial loss and grief education program, Seasons for Growth, with over 370,000 children and young people in 5 countries now having participated in the program.

Community engagement

Anne’s long-standing collaborative research partnerships with local community organisations, regional services, major state and Commonwealth government departments, key statutory bodies, major national and international NGOs have resulted in a wide range of evidence-informed resources (wellbeing programs, accredited professional learning, good practice guides) aimed at improving children’s lives.