Anne Graham

Biography

Professor Anne Graham is the Founding Director of the Centre for Children and Young People (CCYP). A primary school teacher and sociologist by background, Anne has worked in teacher education for 20 years.Under Anne's leadership the Centre for Children and Young People has built the reputation of Southern Cross University as a key player regionally, nationally and internationally in providing high quality, high impact interdisciplinary research aimed at improving policy and practice in key areas of children and young people's lives. Anne also holds a conjoint Professorial appointment at the University of New South Wales.

Research

Professor Anne Graham's research and professional interests include children's social and emotional well-being, children’s rights (especially concerning their participation), ethical issues in researching with children and young people, and teacher learning. Over the past 12 years Anne has led over 60 research projects, including 5 ARC Linkage grants and 2 ARC Discovery grants, all focused primarily on children's rights and wellbeing in different contexts. This program of research has attracted well over $8 million in funding to date.

Community engagement

To help ensure relevance and strong industry engagement, Anne’s research has been undertaken collaboratively with State and Commonwealth government departments, as well as key statutory bodies, major national and international non government organisation's, and many other community based organisations. Anne has published extensively in scholarly journals and books, and provides a substantial number of presentations, seminars and collaboratively run workshops to help ensure partner organisations benefit from research undertaken with the Centre. Anne's research has also resulted in her authorship of a highly successful psycho-social education program, Seasons for Growth, which provides children, young people and parents with knowledge and skills to adapt to significant change in family life following death, separation, divorce and other loss experiences. Over 300,000 children and young people in 5 countries have now participated in the program.