Dr Donnah Anderson began work as a lecturer within the School of Psychology at CSU, Port Macquarie in 2016. This followed three years working as a full-time researcher in the Centre for Children and Young People at Southern Cross University. Donnah’s research takes an interdisciplinary approach that bridges psychology, sociology and education. She has a particular interest in children and young people’s rights, voice and wellbeing and has worked on a range of collaborative mixed-method research projects with local, national and international scope.

Donnah is a passionate teacher who delivers undergraduate subjects in psychology – including research methods and statistics, psychology of learning, and other psychology subjects. She enjoys helping students overcome their fear of statistics and also supervises honours and masters students in their psychology research projects. Donnah is strongly committed to her students’ learning and their personal and professional growth.

• PSY201 and PSY451: Research Methods and Statistics in Psychology
• PSY301: Advanced Research Methods and Statistics in Psychology
• PSY308: Psychology of Learning

Donnah’s research takes an interdisciplinary approach that bridges psychology, sociology and education. She has a particular interest in children and young people’s rights, voice, and wellbeing, and the adults who work with or care for them.

After completing her PhD at the University of New England, NSW in 2012, Donnah held a research position at the Centre for Children and Young People at Southern Cross University for three years where she worked with an interdisciplinary team. Donnah continues her work with the CCYP team on several research projects. The current project is:

Beyond Safety: Ethical Practice Involving Children (the EPIC project). ARC Discovery (DP180100465).

The recent Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse has clearly identified children’s safety in institutions as an area requiring urgent attention. This project aims to investigate the role of ethical practice in improving child safety. Ethical understandings and practice are being explored in three institutional contexts – schools, residential care and disability services. Focusing especially on those who are at greater risk of harm the findings will contribute to ensuring Australia’s children are safe and treated with dignity and respect. Expected outcomes include better-targeted, child-informed policy and practice for organisations involved with children.