Professor Christy Newman

Professor Christy E. Newman (they/them) is an LGBTQIA+ health sociologist at the Centre for Social Research in Health, and Deputy Dean Research in UNSW Arts, Design and Architecture. 

Over the last 20 years, Christy has contributed expertise on qualitative social research, critical health sociology, and gender and sexuality diversity to multidisciplinary projects on the social aspects of sexual and reproductive health. More recently, this scope has expanded through new collaborations investigating the care and support needs of populations whose experiences challenge a range of normative assumptions about health, identity, embodiment, and relationships, including in the context of digital health, mental health, adolescent health, dementia care, violence prevention, and cancer prevention. 

Christy is committed to supporting community-partnered and peer-led approaches, and to amplifying the voices of populations historically neglected or collapsed into broader population categories, particularly trans and gender diverse people, bi+ and other multi-gender attracted people, and people with innate variations of sex characteristics (intersex). This research has been funded by >$18 million in grants from the Australian Research Council (Discovery and Linkage grants), National Health and Medical Research Council (MRFF, Project and Partnership grants), public sector and for-purpose health agencies. 

Christy is regularly consulted on inclusive health, education and research practices as a social researcher, a queer/bi+ and non-binary person and parent, and as a co-lead of CoPQTI: the UNSW Community of Practice for inclusive research with Queer and Trans people, and people with Innate variations of sex characteristics (Intersex). They also post research updates on Instagram as @thisprofesh.

Selected past projects and publications include: 

• Routledge Handbook of Sexuality, Gender, Health and Rights
• Social Perspectives on Trans Health
• Reimagining menopause: mobilising radical imaginaries across social, creative and clinical domains
• Gender diversity and social change: transgressions, translations, transformations
• my health, our family: documenting stories of family life in the context of HIV, hepatitis B and hepatitis C (ARC DP160100134)
• Trans inclusive cervical cancer screening
• What we do well: strengths based research about Aboriginal young people's sexual wellbeing (ARC LP170100190)
• Dynamic Gender Project
• Queer families: valuing stories of diversity, adversity and belonging
• Trust in digital health among communities affected by BBVs and STIs in Australia
• Sustaining sexual and reproductive health through COVID-19 pandemic restrictions
• Queer generations: belonging and citizenship among gender and sexual minority youth (ARC DP150101292)
• StraightMSM study: heterosexually-identified men who have sex with men
• Managing HIV in general practice settings (NHMRC 1021790)