Dr Jane Hwang
PhD - UNSW School of Psychiatry
B Psychology (Hons)
RESEARCH VISION:
Achieving health equity and social justice via
A. "PHLIP" - Preventing Health Loss In Prison
B. "PREV" - Preventing Avoidable Health-related (Re)Imprisonment
RESEARCH THEMES
Preventive health screening, diagnosis and care
Improved and integrated health data collection
Diversion and decarceration (esp. mental health, disability and cognitive impairment)
Healthy reintegration
Jane is a research fellow in the Justice Health Research Program at the School of Population Health, UNSW Sydney. She completed her PhD in the School of Psychiatry, UNSW Sydney on the topic of ageing well on the autism spectrum.
Jane's research interests are in social determinants of health, health equity and social justice in marginalised populations, which have primarily included those with criminal justice involvement, older adults, and those with neurodevelopmental conditions such as autism or intellectual disability.
Her current projects include improving health and reintegration of justice-involved populations through preventative health approaches. She has a broad range of mixed-methods research experience including qualitative interviews, cross-sector consultation and co-design, longitudinal health data collection, data linkage and digital tool development.
- Publications
- Media
- Grants
- Awards
- Research Activities
- Engagement
- Teaching and Supervision
Research Funding - Current
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NHMRC Clinical Trials and Cohort Studies (Chief Investigator D) - $2,907,874.25. The Ageing in Prison Longitudinal Study (APLUS): health and frailty trajectories of older people in prison (2023-2027)
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NHMRC Investigator Grant (EL1) - $630,150. "No Place to Grow Old": Advancing health care and management of Australia's ageing prisoners (2023-2027)
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NHMRC Centres of Research Excellence (Associate Investigator) - $2,500,000. Violence Perpetration: Profiling, Prediction and Prevention (2023-2027)
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NHMRC Ideas Grants 2021 (Chief Investigator D) - $844,050. ASCAPE: Audio App-delivered Screening for Cognition and Age-related Health in Older Prisoners (2021-2023 - extended)
Research Funding - Complete
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Joint Disability Innovation and Australian Human Rights Institute Seed Funding (Lead Investigator) - $19,890. PREV ID – Preventing the (Re)Incarceration of People with Intellectual Disability (2023)
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UNSW Ageing Futures Institute Seed Funding Grant (Lead Investigator) - $25,827.61 "Turning on the HEADLITEs" towards the first health and digital literacy intervention for older Australians leaving prison. (2022)
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Australian Institute of Criminology, Criminology Research Grant (Lead Investigator) - $38,085.54. Examining the effectiveness of mental health treatment pathways for preventing violent reoffending in at-risk individuals with psychosis (2022-2023)
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Australian Association of Gerontology Hal Kendig Research Development Program 2021 (Lead Investigator)- $19,685.22. Understanding the care and service needs of older adults post-incarceration: enabling society’s most disadvantaged to successfully reintegrate and age well (2021-2022)
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UNSW Ageing Futures Institute Seed Funding Grant (Co-lead Investigator) - $49,292. The Autism ASSIST Project (Aiding and SuStaining Independence through Smart-home Technology (2020)
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UNSW Ageing Futures Institute Seed Funding Grant (Co-Investigator) - $29,992. Project Title: “No Place to Grow Old” The Ageing in Gaol Research Study (2019)
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Australian Society for Mental Health Research (SMHR) Project Pitch for Early Career Researchers $5,000. Co-design of a visual resource for assisting autistic individuals presenting to the emergency department with self harm (2019)
Commissioned Research
- Australian Association of Gerontology (2021-2022) - $20,000. Prison Leavers Project: care and support needs after leaving prison in old age - Preparation of a Background Paper, Position Paper for Government and "Things To Consider" for aged care providers.
Current Projects
- Lead Investigator (NHMRC Investigator Grant 2023-27) ""No Place to Grow Old": Advancing health care and management of Australia's ageing prisoners"
- Chief Investigator D - (NHMRC Clinical Trials & Cohort Studies 2024) APLUS: the Ageing in Prison LongitUdinal Study.
- Chief Investigator D - (NHMRC Ideas grant 2021-2023) ASCAPE: Audio delivered screening for cognition and age-related health in older prisoners - innovations in measuring the health and care needs of older prisoners both in prison and upon release
- Lead Investigator - "Turning on the HEADLITes" Towards the first health and digital literacy interventions for older Australians leaving prison (UNSW Ageing Futures Institute Seed Funding 2022)
- Lead Investigator - Understanding the care and service needs of older adults post-incarceration: enabling society’s most disadvantaged to successfully reintegrate and age well (Australian Association of Gerontology Hal Kendig Research Development Program Funding 2022)
Past Projects
- Examining the effectiveness of mental health treatment pathways for preventing violent reoffending in at-risk individuals with psychosis (Australian Institute of Criminology Research Grant 2022-23)
- ReINVEST trial: a pharmacotherapy RCT for reducing violent behaviour in impulsive men with histories of violent offending
- Implementation and evaluation of training modules for improving knowledge and confidence regarding autism in Australian Federal Police (2020-2022)
- Autism ASSIST (2020) (Aiding and SuStaining Independence through Smart home Technology) Project - a UNSW Ageing Futures Initiative
- NSW Department of Justice funded evaluation of the electronic monitoring of domestic violence offenders (DVEM) program (2019-2020)
- Understanding the relationships between psychosis, treatment and reoffending: a NSW data linkage study
- PhD - ageing well on the autism spectrum in Australia, a mixed-methods investigation
1. The Conversation, ‘Digital exclusion of people leaving prison’ https://theconversation.com/many-prisoners-go-years-without-touching-a-smartphone-it-means-they-struggle-to-navigate-life-on-the-outside-224138
2. MJA Insight, ‘Leaving prison later in life: improving care of Australia’s older inmates’, Insight+ (Medical Journal of Australia) https://insightplus.mja.com.au/2023/48/leaving-prison-later-in-life-improving-care-of-australias-older-inmates/ (December 2023)
3. Australian Ageing Agenda ‘Open the Door: There are four key lessons to help service providers more confidently support older people leaving imprisonment. (November-December 2023)
4. SBS News 'Calls for a national strategy to address alarming autism mortality rates' (Feb 2019) https://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/calls-for-a-national-strategy-to-address-alarming-autism-mortality-rates/oysmc3xro
5. ABC News 'Mortality among adults on autism spectrum almost double the rate of general population' (April 2019) https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-04-02/autism-mortality-rates-almost-double-general-population/10952064
My Research Supervision
PhD - School of Population Health, UNSW. Retaining repeat violent offenders in clinical trials & research
PhD - School of Population Health, UNSW. Cognitive risk factors for criminal behaviour in older people
PhD - School of Population Health, UNSW. ASCAPE: A serious game approach to understand and detect cognitive impairment issues in marginalised populations
Hons - Criminology, UNSW. Psychological and behavioural factors associated with violence use in women
My Teaching
Current
CRIM3022 - Public Health and Corrections
Past
SOMS1501 - Inside the Criminal Mind
PSYC 2101 - Assessment, Personality and Psychopathology