Academic Staff
 | Catherine KaplunResearch Fellow Cathy’s research focuses on the early childhood years exploring modifiable risk factors in education and health, particularly their impact at transition to school for children and their families. Her work strives to incorporate children’s perspectives and to support their pro-active participation in co-design. Her Early Career Researcher Fellowship investigated a child participatory approach in design and delivery of a transition to school program and its impact on children’s early school, health and wellbeing outcomes. This program capitalised on parent engagement, understandings and interactions to support their child’s early education. Cathy works collaboratively with WSU researchers to develop and evaluate the immediate and long term impact of child and family programs and other activities particularly focused on addressing the social determinants of health and modifiable risk factors in: maternal and child health; children’s cognitive and language development; and children’s early education and learning. More recently Cathy’s work has included a focus on data sharing in the co-design of programs delivered through place based organisations to provide more equitable and early support to families and children. Cathy presently collaborates externally with representatives from health, government and place based organisations, primary schools and city councils co-designing learning contexts to enhance parent/carer-child interactions and early childhood health, learning and wellbeing. |
 | Cris TownleyResearch Fellow Cris is a sociologist whose research explores what happens when we put the child, young person and family at the centre of the nexus between service delivery and education. This requires an intersectional approach, that recognises the multiplicity of identities lived by children, young people and families, and requires listening to their voices. Cris works collaboratively with partners to ensure that research supports change through informed policy and practice. Examples of Cris’ work are an exploration of Acknowledgement of Country practices in early childhood services, and design of online learning to support educators; co-design of a theory of change for multi-agency service integration reform; a partnership with ACON to investigate LGBTQ+ experience of service provision in Western Sydney; and initiation of a project to inform what supports young people to thrive in school, and finish school well. Cris completed a PhD on identity, belonging and social support in Australian community playgroups at the Social Policy Research Centre at UNSW. Cris graduated from Cambridge University with a BA Hons and a Cert. Ed in Mathematics and Education, was a high school teacher, then undertook a Masters’ Degree in the Sociology of Gender Divisions from Essex University. |
