Research Strengths

Professor Chris Goddard

Professor Goddard has a major research and publication record, undertaking research in health, welfare and legal settings. He undertook his basic social work education in England where he worked in social service departments.

On arrival in Australia he established the Child Protection Team at the Royal Children's Hospital in Melbourne. With other professionals Professor Goddard founded Australians Against Child Abuse, an agency which offers counselling for abused children, as well as advocacy, research, education and prevention programs.

Chris is Director of the National Research Centre for the Prevention of Child Abuse, a joint initiative between the Australian Childhood Foundation and the Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences which was established in 2004.

Chris has also worked as a freelance journalist in Asia and has maintained his links with the broader media. He has published some 50 opinion pieces in major Australian newspapers in the last five years on issues concerning family violence, child abuse, child protection and children’s rights, including children in detention centres. He has also written more than 50 refereed journal articles and many government and non government reports. His latest book (with Dr Neerosh Mudaly) The Truth is Longer than a Lie: Childrens experiences of abuse and intervention was published in May 2006 in the US and UK.

Professor Thea Brown

Professor Brown became Professor of Social Work in 1987, serving as Head of Department for almost seven years.

Earlier she worked as a social worker and social work manager in NSW as well as Victoria prior to being appointed as a lecturer in Social Work at the University of Melbourne.  Thea was the second social worker in Australia to graduate with a PhD in Social Work and during her candidature she won a grant to review social welfare planning policies in the USA.

Her research interests include social work education and she was editor of Advances in Social Work and Welfare Education, 1990 - 93.  She has undertaken accreditation of overseas social work courses, for example in Hong Kong and Malaysia.  Her most recent research interests are in social work and social services management, family violence and child protection in the context of parental separation and divorce.  She was a member of the federal government committee, the Family Law Pathways Advisory Group, 1999 - 2001, and the Child Abuse Advisory Committee of the Family  Court, 1998 - 2002.  She has published in Australia and overseas in the area of career achievements and in social work, employment in social work, social work management, child protection and the family court. 

Associate Professor Max Liddell

Dr Liddell is currently Head of the Department of Social Work. He is a highly experienced practitioner and manager of family and children's services in both Australia and North America, with extensive practice in casework, family work, group work, management, community development and lobbying.

Prior to joining Monash in 1989 he had many years experience in planning and leading successful lobbies in the human services, and a number of years as a private consultant, specialising in program planning and evaluation and management issues.

His research interests currently are into the functioning of the child welfare and protection systems, and local citizens' roles in community development. He is most recently a co-author of Young People Leaving Care and Protection, published by the Australian Clearing House for Youth Studies and Developing Human Service Organisations, published by Pearsons. He is one of Australia's most experienced human service program evaluators.

Dr Philip Mendes

Dr Mendes joined the Department of Social Work in 1995 after a number of years of practice in the areas of child protection and income security. He is an acknowledged expert on community welfare lobby groups, having completed his PhD on the peak community welfare body, the Australian Council of Social Service (ACOSS).

Philip has also published widely on child abuse and child protection, including leaving care policies, globalisation welfare lobby groups, welfare politics and ideology, and drug law reform. He is currently a member of the Editorial Board of Australian Social Work, and has also been a committee member of both the Victorian Council of Social Service and the Australian Association of Social Workers Victorian Branch.  Philip's book Australia's Welfare Wars: the Politics, the Players and the Ideologies was published by UNSW Press in March 2003.

Dr Rosemary Sheehan

Dr Sheehan  joined the department of social work in 1989 after working both in Australia and overseas as a social worker in the areas of oncology, mental health and women's health.

Rosemary  has undertaken post graduate training in family therapy and has also worked in the family welfare area. Her MSW from LaTrobe University focused on computers in Social Work and issues relating to the challenges new technology presents for confidentiality and privacy.

Rosemary's PhD research investigated the factors that influence magistrates’ decision-making in child protection cases. The study was undertaken in the Victorian Children’s Court. She is also a pre-hearing conference convenor at the Melbourne Children's Court.

Dr Chris Trotter

Dr Trotter worked for almost 20 years as a social worker and a regional manager in child protection and corrections prior to his appointment to Monash University in 1991.

He has published widely on the subject of 'effective casework' particularly in public welfare settings. His research on the relationship between worker intervention styles and client outcome has achieved international recognition and the casework model developed in his research is being used in several countries.

In recent years Dr Trotter has received a number of research grants to continue his work and he has been in demand, both in Australia and overseas, for papers and consultancies. His latest book Working With Involuntary Clients has been published by Allen and Unwin.

Ms Lesley Hewitt

Ms Hewitt  joined the Department of Social Work in 1991 after working for several years in child protection services in both policy and direct service. Lesley was the inaugural co-ordinator of the first 24 hour hospital based sexual assault counselling service operating at the former Queen Victoria Medical Centre.

She has published in the area of sexual assault, family violence and child abuse. Her MSW thesis explored factors that influenced the decisions of child protection workers investigating allegations of child abuse. Her current research interests included family violence with particular emphasis on the impact on children, and she is a member of the Departmental research team that includes Thea Brown and Rosemary Sheehan who are examining how the Family Court of Australia deals with child abuse allegations.

Lesley has been involved in utilising on-line technology in the teaching of the undergraduate social work degree and has completed post graduate qualifications in this area.

Dr Bernadette Saunders

Prior to working at Monash, Dr Saunders  worked in the field of Medical Social Work, particularly in the areas of cancer and terminal illness. As part of her MSW at Monash, she conducted and wrote a report on a program evaluation at a foster care agency, and she published a non-commercial book on child abuse risk assessment.

In 1996, she was invited to join the Child Abuse & Family Violence Research Unit at Monash University (now known as the National Research Centre for the Prevention of Child Abuse - NRCPCA) as a researcher, and the Social Work department as a sessional teacher. The Australian Research Council funded research project in which she participated explored risk assessment in child protection practice and the response of community professionals to mandatory reporting legislation. This, and subsequent, research in the NRCPCA resulted in publications in both national and international refereed journals on child abuse risk assessment; language and children’s rights; child abuse and the media; and the physical punishment of children. She also co-authored, with Chris Goddard, a chapter on child sexual abuse and the media, as part of a Queensland Crime Commission inquiry: Project Axis.

Bernadette has completed her PhD, which was funded by the Australian Research Council and The Australian Childhood Foundation as part of an Australian Post-Graduate Award (Industry). Her PhD research focused on legally sanctioned physical punishment of children, children’s rights, and the intergenerational transmission of family violence. Her most recent publication is a chapter on the physical punishment of children, co-authored with Chris Goddard, in a Jessica Kingsley book, Mason, J. and Fattore, T. (Eds), ‘Children Taken Seriously’.