Media Release
September 10, 2004
Family expert to fill UniSA Chair in Child Protection
Melbourne expert in child and family welfare, Professor Dorothy Scott, has been appointed as the new Chair of Child Protection at the University of South Australia.
Announcing the appointment, UniSA Pro Vice Chancellor for the Division for Education Arts and Social Sciences, Professor Michael Rowan said he believed Professor Scott’s appointment would add strength and depth to an important national research agenda into child protection.
Head of the School of Social Work and Social Policy at the University of Melbourne, Professor Scott has 30 years teaching experience and a hands-on background in social work and child protection.
“Professor Scott brings an enormous depth to the position from coal-face experience in the earliest part of her career as a social worker, right through to her impressive list of research publications including four books and more than 40 refereed publications in this field,” Professor Rowan said.
“Her latter career experience in policy development relating to strengthening families and rebuilding communities has seen her appointed an advisor to both State and Commonwealth Governments in Australia, including participation in a number of high level inquiries.”
In 1999 Professor Scott was awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia for her services to education and research in child welfare and that was followed by a Centenary Medal in 2001.
For the past 10 years she has also been a consultant in the philanthropic field and from 2000 to 2003 was the Executive Director of the Ian Potter Foundation, Australia’s largest private philanthropic foundation established to support the arts, education, the environment and conservation, health, social welfare and medical research.
Professor Scott said she was honoured to be invited to accept the position.
“It provides a wonderful opportunity to make a difference to the lives of some of the most vulnerable children in Australia,” she said.
“I am looking forward to working with people across a broad range of disciplines and in many organisations to advance a knowledge-based approach to child protection.”
Announced in March this year the new Chair of Child Protection is funded for $10million over 10 years and will foster multidisciplinary research into child abuse from around Australia. Researchers with expertise in early childhood and family studies, psychology, education and literacy, conflict management, indigenous communities and cultures, service delivery and social policy will contribute to a national research agenda aimed at looking at child abuse issues in their social context.
Professor Scott will take up the position in March 2005.
Media contact
-
Michèle Nardelli office (08) 8302 0966 mobile 0418 823 673 email michele.nardelli@unisa.edu.au