Background

Amy Kirwan is an applied researcher with a long history of operationalising research in sensitive and challenging environments with populations experiencing social and structural disadvantage. Their work is informed by a career in multicultural health, policy development and advocacy, harm reduction, social work and public and community health. Their research has explored the experiences, needs, structural contexts and aspirations of people who use drugs, who have been incarcerated or criminalised, who come from multicultural communities and who have cognitive disabilities. They have worked to bring the outputs of these types of research into policy and practice across systems and services. 

Alongside these studies, Amy has conducted many commissioned evaluations and other qualitative studies, completing technical reports for government and service providers that have strongly influenced policy and practice across a range of settings. Amy has led a number of design research projects with people with lived experience to explore how better models of care and responses to social and structural disadvantage can be co-designed with communities. Amy is also a qualified social worker who has undertaken roles in forensic mental health, primary care and harm reduction outreach.

Qualifications

• MSW, RMIT; MSocSci (Policy and Human Services), RMIT
• BA (Hons), University of Melbourne