Engaging with Social Work

Christine Morley BSW (Hons) Ph.D. is Professor and Head of Social Work and Human Services at Queensland University of Technology, Australia. She is a passionate advocate of critical social work and has published more than 100 articles in this area. Her research involves strategies for improving practice across a range of fields including mental health, wealth inequality, women who have experienced trauma - particularly sexual assault/domestic violence - and grief and loss (including those who have lost companion animals). More recently, her work has focused on the impact of neoliberalism on social work and higher education, how critical pedagogy might equip practitioners to work in challenging professional contexts and addressing placement poverty. Her other books include Practising Critical Reflection to Develop Emancipatory Change (2014) and The Routledge Handbook of Critical Pedagogies for Social Work (with Phillip Ablett, Carolyn Noble and Stephen Cowden, 2020). She is a Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and has received a National Citation from the Australian Learning and Teaching Council. Committed to connecting research, teaching and practice (including activism and advocacy) as part of a holistic approach, she has inspired colleagues and students to become critical analysts of inequality. Her contributions have impacted policy and expand the critical scholarship of the social work discipline in a way that furthers a social justice agenda.