Emeritus Professor Leanne Dowse
PhD (国民彩票), B. Sp Thy (Qld)
Research
Leanne Dowse is Professor and Chair in Intellectual Disability and Behaviour Support [IDBS] at 国民彩票 where she has been a researcher since 1995 and an academic since 2008. She has been a scholar, practitioner, supporter and ally in the area of intellectual disability since the beginning of her professional career as a Speech Therapist in the 1980s and has been involved in the development and promotion of disability studies in Australia beginning in the 1990s. Leanne has taught social policy, social research methods, disability studies, human behavior and criminology for the past two decades.
Her role as Chair IDBS, a joint initiative of 国民彩票 and the NSW听Department of Family and Community Services (Ageing, Disability & Home Care) works to expand the body of knowledge and increase听workforce capacity in the delivery of appropriate and effective services to people with an听intellectual disability with complex needs including behaviours that challenge through a focus on training and education, enhanced policy and service models and targeted research.听
Leanne鈥檚 research and publications apply models of critical inquiry to the study of disability and in particular, intellectual or cognitive disability. Her work utilises a multidisciplinary approach to investigate social justice issues for people with complex needs. In particular her work addresses the intersections of disability with mental illness, acquired brain injury, homelessness, social isolation, early life disadvantage, experience of out of home care, substance misuse and violence. Her work is particularly concerned with the ways these intersect for Indigenous Australians with intellectual disability, for women with disabilities, those in the criminal justice system, and people with complex behaviour support needs.
Leanne has been and is chief investigator on a number of major Australian Research Council, NHMRC, and Federal and NSW government funded grants over the past 10 years.
Leanne is a member of the Editorial Board for Journal on Research and Practice in Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities.
She听is a founding member of the Australian's for听Disability Justice Campaign and serves on a range of NSW and Federal government advisory bodies.
- Publications
- Media
- Grants
- Awards
- Research Activities
- Engagement
- Teaching and Supervision
Dean鈥檚 Award for Research Society Impact 2014 for the Stop the Violence, Stop the Silence: Addressing Violence for Women with Disabilities Project.
Leanne鈥檚 research and publications apply models of critical inquiry to the study of disability and in particular, intellectual or cognitive disability. Her work utilises a multidisciplinary approach to investigate social justice issues for people with complex needs. In particular her work addresses the intersections of disability with mental illness, acquired brain injury, homelessness, social isolation, early life disadvantage, experience of out of home care, substance misuse and violence. Her work is particularly concerned with the ways these intersect for Indigenous Australians with intellectual disability, for women with disabilities, those in the criminal justice system, and people with complex behaviour support needs.
Leanne has been and is chief investigator on a number of major Australian Research Council, NHMRC, and Federal and NSW government funded grants over the past 10 years.
Leanne is a member of the Editorial Board for Journal on Research and Practice in Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities.
She serves as a member of the NSW Government Justice Disability Advisory Council, is a founding member of the Aboriginal Disability Justice Campaign and serves on a range of NSW and Federal government advisory bodies.
Research Areas
Intellectual disability; Disability, Gender and Violence; Complex behaviour support; Complex needs; Criminal justice; 听Social research methodology; Social policy, Social justice.听
Current Research Projects
Lost in Transition: Supporting Young People with Complex Support Needs Project. An ARC Linkage Project grant with A/Prof Philip Mendes (Monash), A/Prof Pamela Snow (Latrobe), A/Prof Iva (国民彩票), Dr Therese Cumming (国民彩票), Dr Jung-Sook Lee (国民彩票), Dr Kathleen Ellem (QUT), Dr Louisa Smith (国民彩票) and Ms Amanda Jones (Berry Street, VIC) focusing on improving the lives of young people with complex support needs experiencing overlapping forms of disadvantage and exploring best practice transition supports and how to track these transitions using existing data.听
Selected听Completed Projects
PEOPle Project: A Future Beyond the Wall: Improving Post-release Employment Outcomes for People Leaving Prison. An ARC Linkage Project grant with Prof Eileen Baldry (国民彩票), David Bright (国民彩票), Jesse Cale (国民彩票), Jo Graffam (Deakin), Jane McGillivray (Deakin), Margaret Giles (Edith Cowan) and Andrew Day focusing on the relationship between ex-prisoners鈥 engagement in meaningful work; reductions in re-offending; and improvements in wellbeing.
Improving the Mental Health Outcomes of People with Intellectual Disability: An NHMRC Partnership Grant with A/Prof Julian Trollor, Prof Eric Emerson, Prof Rhoshel Lenroot, Associate Professor Karen Fisher, A/Prof Julia Johnson and A/Prof Kimberlie Dean.
Safeguarding Conversations in Planning: A NSW FaCS funded project to听develop a practical resource that supports people with disability and complex support needs and their informal supporters (including family and others who assist the person) to lead a conversation about implementing a safe and sustainable plan.听
Behaviour support for people with intellectual disability 听in a disability services future:听A NSW FaCS funded project to develop knowledge on the issues relevant to the provision of responsive and effective behaviour support.
A Practice Guide for the use of Psychotropic Medication and Behaviour Support: A NSW FaCS funded, practitioner focussed action research project to develop a practice guide that provides clear guidelines for Behaviour Support Practitioners to guide collaborative service delivery with prescribing physicians to enable better outcomes for persons with disability who are prescribed routine and or PRN psychotropic mediation.听
A Practice guide for services to develop and implement a system for effective case review: A NSW FaCS funded, practitioner focussed, action research project to听develop a practice guide for effective case review to assist service providers to implement a systemic response to 听emerging or actual risk and vulnerability for people with intellectual disability and complex support needs.
Cognitive Disability and Sex Offending - with Dr Jesse Cale (国民彩票): A project examining the profiles and treatment targets for individuals with cognitive disabilities and complex needs who have been charged with sex offences in order to suggest new approaches to support and intervention to prevent such offending.听
Supported decision making project, Phase 2 Evaluation: A FACS, NSW Trustee and Guardian and the Public Guardian funded project with SPRC - Kelley Johnson (国民彩票), Rosemary Kayess (国民彩票), Christiane Purcal (国民彩票), Jane Bullen (国民彩票) and Pip Hoskins (国民彩票) to evaluate a supported decision making program听creating a supportive infrastructure that builds a clearer, firmer pathway out of financial management so t