NCSEHE People
Directory
Current Staff
Professor Ed Carson Director
Professor Ed Carson commenced in the position of Director: National Centre for Student Equity in Higher Education on Monday 23rd January 2012. He is also Professor of Social Policy in the School of Psychology, Social Work and Social Policy. Prior to his current appointments, he held the position of UniSA Dean of Graduate Studies from 2003 to 2009, and before that he was Dean of Research, Division of Education Arts and Social Sciences, from 1995 to 2003.
His research interests are in the area of government/third sector relationships, with particular reference to human services, and he has a long history of the evaluation of policy and programs that aim to alleviate social disadvantage. His most recent research project concerned labour market disadvantage in the Northern Adelaide Region, and included an analysis of those residents disconnected from employment and training, as well as strategies and programs available to support them.
Dr Lalita McHenry Centre Manager
Lalita's research has been strongly informed by her own work in the community services and disability sectors. Her PhD 'Beyond the visible: disability and performing bodies' explores the ways that performance works by people with disabilities are shifting the focus and insisting on the centrality, rather than marginality, of the disabled body. Her MA concentrated heavily on policy and politics as they relate to questions of difference and equity issues for people with disabilities. Dr McHenry has a long-standing interest in issues of equity and questions of difference.
Dr Grant Banfield Research Fellow
Grant Banfield is the Project Manager and a key researcher in the Centre's Mapping Aspirations and Achievement in Northern Adelaide (MAANA) project. The two-year research project focuses on the effects that UniSA's University Aspirations Project has on the aspirations and achievement of school students across northern Adelaide. Grant's broader research interests rest in bringing critical realist philosophy and Marxist social theory to a consideration of the field of radical educational enquiry. Grant is an advisory editor to the Journal for Critical Educational Policy Studies and has published in the areas of social class, pedagogy and curriculum. His scholarship and research is underpinned by a commitment to social justice that understands education as not simply a vehicle for social mobility but vital to any critical and ethically informed engagement with the social and natural worlds.
Adrijana Ašćerić Research Support Officer
Adrijana Ašćerić is a Research Support Officer in the National Centre for Student Equity in Higher Education and an editorial assistant for the journal Critical Studies in Education. Adrijana holds an honours degree in International Studies from the University of South Australia. Her thesis investigated 'honour' killings in Jordan as an entwined issue of culture, religion and state laws. Currently, Adrijana is undertaking a PhD at UniSA on the role and use of women in Bosnia and Herzegovina during the 1992-1995 conflict. Her research explores "visibility" and "invisibility" of certain women in furthering extreme forms of nationalism and constructing ethnic and national identities. Her particular concern is with women who were able to overcome victimisation and ethnic differences, empower themselves and organise to build peace.
Adrijana has a particular interest in the following areas of research: social justice, rurality and student equity, nationalism and women's rights, peace studies, gender and militarism. Adrijana currently works as a Research Officer on the Rural Reconnect Project, established in 2009 at the University of South Australia with the assistance of the Thyne Reid Foundation. The Project is a five year trial program designed to improve the access, participation and achievement of rural and remote students in Higher Education. She also works as a Research Officer on the Social Inclusion (low socioeconomic status) aspiration/philanthropy project (Component C - Principles of Partnership for Widening Participation in Higher Education), a collaboration between Queensland University of Technology and Griffith University, funded by DEEWR. The research is specifically concerned with identifying the elements of partnership (principles and strategies) particular to, or which have greater significance within, a widening participation agenda. Adrijana is also passionate about humanitarian work. Seeing education as a priority, she is currently raising funds for a charity group to build a school in Sierra Leone.
Rosie Roberts Research Assistant
Rosie Roberts holds a Bachelor of Media from the University of Adelaide and an honours degree in Communication, Information and New Media from the University of South Australia. Her honours thesis investigated the working holiday experience as represented by young Australian graduates in the UK. Rosie is currently undertaking a PhD at UniSA in the School of Communication, International Studies and Languages. Her PhD research explores conceptions of home, belonging and professional identity amongst tertiary educated migrants for whom Australia is either a destination or departure point.
In 2008 Rosie was awarded the Maurice de Rohan International Scholarship to undertake data collection and presentation of her doctoral research in the UK and USA. She is also completing a Graduate Certificate in Education (University Teaching) and is currently a guest editor on a forthcoming special edition of Social Alternatives on the theme of Shifting Cultures. Her research interests include social justice and equity issues, mobility, cultural geography and cross cultural identities.
Scott Wright
Project Coordinator: equity101
Scott Wright is Project Coordinater, equity101. Previously, he acted as a Project Officer, contributing to research and academic support, graphic and publication design and administration. He was an Executive Officer on the Social Inclusion (low socioeconomic status) aspiration/philanthropy project (Component C - Principles of Partnership for Widening Participation in Higher Education), a collaboration between Queensland University of Technology and Griffith University, funded by DEEWR. Scott completed publication and type-setting duties on the Interventions Early in School: as a means to improve higher education outcomes for disadvantaged (particularly low-SES) students project, commissioned by DEEWR in June, 2008 and republished by NCSEHE in June, 2010, and has had extensive involvement in organising the Second Annual Student Equity in Higher Education National Conference, held in Melbourne, October 11-12. Scott has presented at several conferences and has been published in the International Journal of the First Year in Higher Education.
Past Staff
Professor Trevor Gale Former Director
Professor Trevor Gale is founding director of the National Centre for Student Equity in Higher Education and has been instrumental in the development of the National Centre and it's research agenda.
Trevor has now taken up a role as Chair in Education Policy and Social Justice at Deakin University. You can contact him via his Deakin University staff page, found here.