Diversity & Belonging: This Australian Life

Peter Pecotić is an entrepreneur, campaigner, and emerging film maker, Australian born of Croatian/ Dalmatian decent. As an entrepreneur he started a communications agency in Sydney specialising in business, cultural, and political communications which expanded into operations in China, Singapore and across the Indo-Pacific. For many years he was based in China and was on the Board of Austcham Sha...

Dr Gen Ford is a single, happily childfree woman living in Melbourne. She has a PhD in international relations and has spent her career loitering around universities in various capacities, holding strong beliefs in the power of education to change people's lives. Gen started Solo Advocacy Australia in early 2022 in recognition of the way people doing life solo are still largely unrecognised and di...

When life suddenly changes, so do your dreams and aspirations. Shaun never imagined becoming a Paralympian or a disability advocate. Shaun shares his incredible life story; how he overcame expectations and how you can create a more meaningful life despite all life’s curveballs. Every day he helps people living with disability and disadvantage to find meaningful and sustainable employment through E...

Dr Sophie-May Kerr is a Research Associate at City Futures Research Centre UNSW. With experience across the University and non-profit sectors, Sophie-May has worked on contemporary urban challenges including planning for diversity in high-density housing, transportion and neighbourhood amenity; refugee settlement and workplace inclusion. She is an advocate for city design, governance, and practice...

Dr Scott Avery is a Senior Lecturer in Indigenous Disability at Western Sydney University and the research partner of First Peoples Disability Network (Australia). He is a descendant from the Worimi people and is profoundly deaf. His research area on the intersection of Indigenous and disability rights and social policy. He has authored the research monograph Culture is Inclusion: A narrative of A...

Melissa Cooke has worked in the community services sector for over 18 years completing a bachelor’s degree in community and human services. Melissa has worked across disability, aged care, young adults in a mental health setting, leaving care, youth, crisis work, residential care, homelessness, family, and children work and community during her career to date. Melissa believes that how we engage w...

Dr Kathleen McPhillips is a sociologist of religion and gender and teaches at the University of Newcastle, Australia. Kathleen employs feminist, psychoanalytic and sociological frameworks to issues around gender and religion and explores women's status and participation in religious traditions and the institutional child sexual abuse crisis in religious organisations. Kathleen has extensive experi...

Dr Rachael Jacobs who is a lecturer in Creative Arts Education at Western Sydney University and a former secondary arts teacher (Dance, Drama and Music). Her research interests include creativity and assessment, language acquisition through the arts and decolonised approaches to embodied learning. Rachael has facilitated art projects in community settings all over Australia, including in refugee c...

Karen Loon is a Non-Executive Director and a former Financial Services Partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers. She is a 4th generation Asian-Australian; she has been based in Singapore for nearly 30 years. Karen led numerous audit and financial due diligence assignments with many of the world’s leading banks, funds and capital markets players operating in the Asia-Pacific. Further, she was their Asia-P...

Mark is a youth researcher through the Explore program, run jointly by the Centre for Multicultural Youth and the Centre for Resilient and Inclusive Societies. He completed an Honours in Criminology at the University of Melbourne in 2021 while working casually across the youth and community sectors. He has a migrant background, having been born in China, and came to Australia aged 4.

Dr Catherine Barrett is the founder and director of Celebrate Ageing, a not for profit challenging ageism and building respect for older people. Catherine has worked with older people for over 35 years as a nurse in residential aged care, and then as a senior research fellow at a La Trobe university, Melbourne and in her current role for the past 6 years Catherine believes that building a culture...

Rhonda is an early career researcher interested in geographies of diversity, multiculturalism and belonging in urban spaces. Her PhD research on the geographies of Islamophobia in Sydney, Australia and the San Francisco Bay Area, USA revealed the need for local and context-specific anti-racism policy practice, public education campaigns and policy initiatives that respond to the spatial imaginarie...

Dr Peter Bansel is a sociologist and member of Sexualities and Gender Research in the School of Sciences at Western Sydney University. His scholarship and research interests respond to political questions about how social differences are made, not given, and how thinking differently about difference might inform both a diagnosis of the present and anticipate future possibilities for human becoming...

Our guests are Cat Pause is a Fat Studies scholar and fat activist in Aotearoa New Zealand. Dr. Pause's scholarship focuses on the impact of fat stigma on the health and well-being of fat people. Mneme (Nee Mee) or Mne, is a 30 year old, fat, queer, disabled and chronically/mentally ill artist and content creator living on Kaurna Yerta (so called Adelaide) She/They has a long history of being invo...

This episode opens up with an introduction of Nida and what has influenced nearly two decades of research on racism and anti-racism. Nida Denson is an Associate Professor at Western Sydney University. Her research aims to combat racism and discrimination, to improve the health and wellbeing of various marginalised groups (e.g., people of colour, people from culturally and linguistically diverse (C...

Rachel Sharples is a Sociologist in the School of Social Sciences at Western Sydney University. She is a member of the Challenging Racism Project and the Diversity and Human Rights Research Centre. Rachel’s research interests are interdisciplinary, spanning sociology, anthropology, race and ethnic studies, cultural studies and political science. Key areas of research involve displaced persons, ref...

Dr. Matt Fisher is a Senior Researcher in Public Health at the Southgate Institute for Health, Society and Equity, at Flinders University. He has worked in public health research for over 10 years, focused on the intersection between public policy and social determinants of health equity in Australia. Matt’s passion lies in understanding the social factors that affect chronic stress and mental ill...

Dr Alanna Kamp is Lecturer in Geography and Urban Studies in the School of SocialSciences at Western Sydney University. She is an academic member of theChallenging Racism Project (WSU), Diversity and Human Rights Research Centre(WSU), Young and Resilient Research Centre, and think-tank consortium Centre ofResilient and Inclusive Societies. Dr Kamp’s research contributions lie in the areas of Austr...

Sharlene Cruickshank is an Aboriginal person. She is a descendant of the Wandi Wandandian - Wodi Wodi and Jerrinja peoples of the Yuin nation on the New South Wales’ South Coast. Her story line or song line covers from one end of the state to the other, from Far West New South Wales to the South Coast of New South Wales with a few diversions along the way. Sharlene has over 30 years experience wor...

Dr Susan Sisko is a registered psychologist, clinical supervisor and lecturer at a major university. She is engaged in research with the Challenging Racism Project | Diversity and Human Rights Research Centre at Western Sydney University. With a background in counselling and psychology, Susan brings her clinical expertise to academia. Susan strives to develop meaningful learning communities, which...