Senior Lecturer
Dr Maree Higgins
Doctor of Philosophy (Social Work), ACU National
Bachelor of Social Work (Hons First Class), UNSW
Arts,Design & Architecture
School of Social Sciences
Maree Higgins is Senior Lecturer and the Social Work Honours Program Convenor at UNSW. Maree undertakes research on human rights priorities of people from refugee backgrounds, those with disability, older people and missing girls. Maree provides research supervision and teaches professional ethics and practice courses. She is an Associate of the Australian Institute of Human Rights and is affiliated with the Forced Migration Research Network, the Kaldor Centre and the Gendered Violence Research Network.
- Publications
- Media
- Grants
- Awards
- Research Activities
- Engagement
- Teaching and Supervision
Evans P, Baldry E, Sheehan R, Newton BJ, Higgins M, Trotter C, Flynn C & Urquhart R Missing girls: from childhood runaways to criminalised woman (2022-2025) Total Grant Awarded: $204,307
Newton, BJ, Higgins, M, Trotter, C., & Sheehan, R., Missing girls: from childhood runaway to criminalised woman (2019) Total Grant Awarded: $5,000
Baldry, E., Evans, P., Newton, BJ, Higgins, M., Trotter, C., & Sheehan, R., Missing girls: from childhood runaway to criminalised woman (2019) Total Grant Awarded: $5,000
Lenette, C., Banks, S., Milne, EJ, Nunn, C., Higgins, M., Atem, A., & Nguyen, D., (2019) Ethics and community-based participatory research in refugee studies: Co-designing a framework with refugee-background co-researchers (2019) Total Grant Awarded: $5,000
Sole: WIL Futures. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, UNSW (2019) Total Grant Awarded: $10,000
Ravulo, Fox, Higgins, Blakemore: NUW Alliance Community Hub (NUWACH). Newcastle, UNSW and Wollongong University Scheme (2018) Total Grant Awarded: $1,500
Maree's research focuses on social justice, human rights and contextualised lived experience. She is an investigator on the following projects:
- Ethics and community-based participatory research in refugee studies: Co-designing a framework with refugee-background co-researchers
- Missing girls: from childhood runaway to criminalised woman
- SESLHD 'Beyond Respite' Project
- WIL Futures: Love to Life!
- NUW Alliance Community Hub (NUWACH)
I proudly engage with social work bodies including the Australian Heads of Schools of Socal Work, the National field Educational Network. and the Australian and New Zealand Social Work and Welfare Education and Research group as well as human rights and policy bodies including the Kaldor Centre, the Gendered Violence Research Network and the African Studies Association of Australasia and the Pacific.
My research engages with people with lived experience of forced migration, incarceration, disability and older age, and the organisations working to promote their safety and inclusion including STARTTS, Foundation House, The Black Dog Institute and the Prince of Wales Hospital.
My Research Supervision
PhD: Karen Daniels (2019, Principal): Experiences of people with SMI in Forensic Settings; Danya Schonberger (2021, Joint-Principal): Social work tele-practice with people with disability. Honours: Jordii Burke (2022), Kate Mesaglio (2022), Rona Zaire-Sasson (2022) and Abbey Somers (2022).
Completions
Masters: Ms Miki Hachigo (2021, Principal): Transition into aged care for people who have experienced long-term homelessness and chronic alcohol use;
Honours: Meghan Sproule (2021): Inclusive sexual education with people with Autism Spectrum Disorder; Patricia Ho (2021): Human rights, displacement, conflict and war. Kaydee Jackosalem (2021): Accessibility, engagement, and culturally responsive practice with people from CALD backgrounds; Marina Aguirre (2020): Guatemalan Mayan women’s lived experiences of safety, freedom and identity. Jessica Totenhofer (2020): Social Work Acts of Resistance to Australia’s Refugee and Asylum Seeker Policies; Danya Schonberger (2019): Use of strengths-based approaches with people with intellectual disability; Timothy Indsto (2019): Media representations about male forced migrants.
My Teaching
- SOCW1001 Introduction to Social Work
- SOCW2100 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People in Social Work
- SOCW3009 Ethics and Reflective Practice
- SOSS3006 Social Policy in the Workplace
- SOCW4015 Social Work Honours (Thesis)
- SOCW4016 Social Work Honours (Practice Portfolio)