Associate Professor Deirdre Howard-Wagner

Dr. Deirdre Howard-Wagner is a sociologist and socio-legal scholar and a Fellow at the Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research (CAEPR) at the Australian National University (ANU). She is currently the President of the Law and Society Association of Australia and New Zealand, co-convenor of the Australian Sociological Association Sociology of Indigenous issues thematic group, and co-editor of the Australian Journal of Social Issues. Deirdre has broad and internationally recognised experience in carrying out Indigenous policy relevant research with a social and socio-legal focus. This includes, but is not limited to, a series of journal articles and book chapters analyzing, for example, various aspects of Northern Territory National Emergency Response laws and related initiatives, as well as ongoing policy and legislative changes, Australian Indigenous policy in relation to Overcoming Indigenous Disadvantage, and urban Indigenous policy issues. She recently completed a four-year place-based study of Aboriginal success in addressing Aboriginal disadvantage and improving Aboriginal wellbeing funded by an ARC Discovery Early Career Researcher Award. Prior to coming to ANU, Deirdre was a research fellow (2012-2016) and lecturer and senior lecturer in socio-legal studies in the Department of Sociology and Social Policy at the University of Sydney (2006-2012) and Deputy Director of the Justice Policy Research Centre in the School of Law at the University of Newcastle (2004-2006). Prior to undertaking her PhD she worked in the Australian Public Service (1992-2000), including as a Senior Policy Officer in the Office of Indigenous Policy in the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (1997-1999).