Volunteering in Retirement

UniSuper recently released a report, Retire with Purpose, on retirees’ extensive contributions to the Australian economy and society (UniSuper, 2026).

Collectively, retirees’ volunteering, community leadership, mentoring, and unpaid care amount to one day a week, every week, valued at $16.5 billion annually. The report stresses:

“As 2.5 million Australians move into retirement during the next decade, how we support that transition and how we harness the extraordinary potential of retirees to contribute will define the quality of life for millions of Australians and the strength of our society itself. For UniSuper, this report reinforces our  commitment to supporting members beyond their retirement income, to help them build and continue\a meaningful life in their retirement. It’s a call to our sector, employers,and policymakers to rethink how we support this vital life stage.”

As a participant in the UniSuper study, WIN News interviewed me about volunteering with the Fairy Meadow Surf Life Saving Club since my retirement in 2022. I am the Club Registrar, a patrol member, and help nippers on Sunday mornings with water safety. Last season, 13-year-old Maddie and I (pictured below) rescued a swimmer caught in a rip.

Click here to listen to the video recording.

Volunteering in retirement is so rewarding; it helps you stay young and fit, build lasting friendships, and foster belonging and well-being.

If you are retired or retiring, explore volunteering options in your community.

Our ARC research on Enhancing the Policing of Gender Based Violence in Pacific wins an international award

Our research team is deeply honoured to have been awarded the Research Award by the Australasian Council of Women in Policing ACWAP  for our Australian Research Council (ARC) Discovery Project on “Improving Police Responses to Sexual and Domestic Violence in #Fiji #Pacific

We also thank ANZ SEBP – Australia and New Zealand Society of Evidence Based Policing for their sponsorship of the awards and conference.

We could not have done this without the generous support of the Fiji Police Force, who gave their time to support and co-ordinate the research across the Central, Western and Northern Divisions between 2022 and 2024.

We also thank the individuals, agencies and civil society representatives who shared their insights and are working in women’s rights, domestic violence agencies, justice, police reform, disability services, sexual and reproductive health and more.

Thanks to Dr Melissa Jardine for your wealth of expertise in hands-on research with global policing, Helen Margaret Singh for your local insights and lived experiences of those who contributed enormously to the research, and to Carla Chan Unger for her huge contribution to the analysis and report.

 

Thanks to the University of the Sunshine Coast for supporting the team, and especially Helen Singh the Masters student funded by the project.

None of this research would have happened without the financial support of the Australian Research Council .

You can access one of our final report, and one article about the research here.

Just Published Introduction The Palgrave Handbook of Criminology and the Global South, 2nd Edition

The introductory chapter to The Palgrave Handbook of Criminology and the Global South, 2nd Edition, has just been published. You can access it by clicking on the link below.

This gargantuan second volume contains 86 chapters organised into eight themes and features contributions from both emerging and established scholars from around the globe.

The handbook aims to substantially transform the discipline of criminology by making it more inclusive of the experiences and viewpoints of those in the global peripheries.

The contributions develop theories from the margins, where crime and violence significantly impact vulnerable populations.

The handbook advocates diverse perspectives to develop concepts, methods, and theories that bridge global divides and enhance the decolonisation and democratisation of knowledge, thereby making it more relevant to twenty-first-century global criminology.

 

Click the link to access the introduction.

https://lnkd.in/gb8nM-gD

Helen Singh has passed her Master’s Thesis

I’m delighted to report that Helen Singh, the Master’s student recruited to our Australian Research Grant, has passed her thesis examination. She did so in tough personal circumstances. Helen grew up in Fiji among extended family after losing both parents and a sister as a child. While undertaking her thesis research, her partner and father of two small children died in a tragic boxing accident in Fiji. With the support of the Graduate Research Centre at the University of the Sunshine Coast, Helen was given extra time to complete and she did so.

Helen, an overseas student, plans to travel to Queensland to graduate in April this year.  The abstract of her thesis appears below.

Bridging the Gaps: Strengthening Civil Agency Collaboration to Combat Gender-based Violence in Fiji

Helen Singh’s master’s thesis aims to improve responses to gender-based violence (GBV) in the Pacific region, where rates are significantly higher than the global average. Conducted as part of a larger Australian Research Council project, the study focused on inter-agency collaboration among community, civil, government, and police entities in Fiji, addressing GBV.

The research aimed to explore:

  1. The nature of cooperation with Fiji Police in addressing GBV.
  2. Agencies’ preparedness to work together on GBV issues.
  3. Challenges in inter-agency collaboration.

Data was collected through semi-structured interviews across two field trips to Fiji in 2023 and 2024, involving 58 participants from various agencies, including 30 police officers and practitioners from civil and non-governmental organisations.

Findings revealed that collaboration is influenced by geographical and resource constraints, professional relationships, and cultural norms, which pose challenges in balancing traditional practices with legal frameworks. The Fiji Police are typically the first point of contact for GBV victims and work closely with organisations such as Medical Services Pacific and the Fiji Women’s Crisis Centre. However, cultural protocols hinder community-level collaboration.

The study identified significant inefficiencies in communication among agencies, suggesting that enhanced collaboration could better support GBV victims and survivorswhile proposing pathways for improvement.

Gender Inequality in the Higher Education Workforce

Gender Inequality in the Higher Education Workforce

Significant gender inequities persist in Australian Universities despite extensive efforts by universities to establish policy and practice frameworks to address gender inequity.

The Facts

Women comprise 60% employees at Australian Universities. Nevertheless, there are two distinct patterns of gender division in employment across Australian Universities, one horizontal and the other vertical.  Using data extracted from Department of Education, Skills and Employment, Staff Time Series for 2021, women account for 64% of professional staff and men 36%. Among academic staff, women are concentrated in Humanities and Social Sciences and Health. Male academics outnumber women in Science, Information Technology, Agriculture and Engineering.

In terms of vertical inequity, in 2021, men comprised almost double the number of women employed full-time at Senior Lecturer Level and above, even in fields of study where women predominate as students and post-graduates, such as society and culture and health (Graphs 1 and 2).  Women account for 63% of academics employed at Level B and C and only 23% of those employed above this at D or E (Universities Australia, 2022). Conversely, men account for 37% of academics at level B and C, and 67% of academics at Levels D and E.

While women are better represented at Executive level in universities compared to the business sector, women account for a quarter of Vice-Chancellors, and 37% of Deputy Vice Chancellors (Universities Australia, 2023). The Executive leadership of universities continues to be male-dominated.

The Impacts

Inclusive organisations are more likely to be innovative and productive work-places with positive morale and corporate loyalty. Conversely, organisations characterised by rigid gender segregation across role fields where men dominate the hierarchy of command tend to stymie the academic careers of women and people from culturally diverse backgrounds. In turn, this impacts staff morale, staff retention and satisfaction (Monroe et al, 2008).

How can Universities Address this Problem?

There are several ways that universities can address this chronic problem.

  • Leading organisational culture change to enhance inclusion
  • Providing mentoring for women in higher education to improve their career success
  • Providing equity scholarships, especially for academics returning from parental leave.
  • Support the work-life balance needs in designing family-friendly teaching timetables.
  • Reviewing the unconscious bias in selection and promotion processes and criteria.

If you or your organisation want to know more about how my services can help address any of the above, please click here.

Enhancing the Policing of Gender Based Violence in Pacific Island Communities

Kerry Carrington, Melissa Jardine, Helen Singh and Carla Chan Unger

School of Law and Society, University of the Sunshine Coast

Gender-based violence (GBV) is a significant issue in Pacific Island communities, where women report lifetime prevalence rates of violence ranging from 60 to 80 per cent (UNICEF, 2017). The Pacific Island of Fiji, which is the focus of this case study, has some of the highest rates of GBV in the world. Over half of Fijian women experience intimate partner violence in their lifetime, nearly double the global average. This research aims to inform the development of more effective policing strategies, legislative reforms, and service delivery for victims, all in line with a human rights and victim-centred approach.

This research presents a detailed perspective on the challenges and opportunities in tackling sexual and domestic violence within the Fijian context. It is based on extensive interviews conducted with 58 diverse participants, including police officers, government officials, UN representatives, civil society members, and senior justice leaders.

This moment in Fiji’s history is transformative, marked by significant changes in both national leadership and the leadership of the Fiji Police Force. These shifts present a unique opportunity to rethink and reform police responses to GBV. The introduction of the Restore Blue Policy under the former Acting Commissioner Juki Fong Chew represents a significant step forward, as it aims to enhance transparency, accountability, and effectiveness within the force with renewed dedication.

The report presents the findings from an in-depth study conducted by a multidisciplinary team of researchers who specialise in criminology, gender and LGBTQI+ studies, policing, and community development. The team, which included researchers from Australia and Fiji, was funded by the Australian Research Council. This research explores the complexities of responding to gender-based violence in Fiji and examines how the police can better support victims. The study investigates how the police handle cases of sexual and domestic violence, evaluates the effectiveness of current practices, and identifies opportunities for meaningful improvements.

The key evidence-based recommendations include: prioritising leadership-driven cultural change, expanding the Sexual Offence Units to encompass domestic violence, enhancing the role of Community Posts in investigating gender-based violence, and reforming outdated laws and policies, such as the No-Drop Policy.

Acknowledge: Australian Research Council ARC DP 210100546 and the Support of the University of the Sunshine Coast.

 

Fiji-Report-WebDownload

Dr Maria Puyol wins Outstanding Thesis Award

I’m thrilled to share the news that Dr Maria Puyol, has won the Executive Dean’s Commendation for Outstanding Doctoral Thesis for 2023 for the Faculty of Creative Industries, Education and Social Justice, QUT.

Maria Puyol worked tirelessly with my ARC research team through the COVID pandemic to produce her award winning Phd thesis. Congratulations on this achievement. The title and abstract of her Phd appears below.

Policing gendered violence. A study on women’s police stations in Argentina

This thesis is the first study on establishing and transforming Women’s Police Stations (WPS) in Argentina and their impacts on policing gendered violence. It explores the opinions and representations of WPS employees regarding their practices, their links with social actors, and the cases in which they intervene. This research is a case study of WPS in Argentina that combines semi-structured interviews with 100 WPS’ workers, participant observations in 10 WPS, and documentary data analysis. Within the framework of Southern and Feminist Criminology, this thesis addresses the scarcity of studies on policing gendered violence in the Global South.      

Maria has several publications forthcoming from this important work, which I will post as they are published.

Open Call for Abstracts

 2nd Edition Palgrave Handbook of Criminology and the Global South

Kerry Carrington, Roxana Cavalcanti, David Fonseca, Russell Hogg, John Scott & Valeria Vegh Weis (editors)

Criminology – as a theoretical and empirical project – has historically overlooked the distinctive contributions from and about the global South. This second edition of the Palgrave Handbook of Criminology and the Global South will be the first major reference work (100 chapters – 750,000 words) to draw together the rapidly growing research and theory about crime, punishment, security, prisons, policing, gender violence, environmental justice, island justice and justice innovations from, of and about the Global South.

Our main purpose in assembling this second edition of the Handbook is to promote the global South as both a space to produce knowledge and as a source of innovative research and theory on crime and justice. It is hoped that it will contribute to the bridging of global divides, and reducing inequities that exist as much in the realms of knowledge as in those of economic and geo-political relations. The southernizing project is a genuinely open and pluralistic one that encourages new and emerging scholars to publish their work alongside existing pivotal works in the field. Hence the importance of this open call for abstracts.

Conceptualising the Global South for Abstract Submission

There are various ways of conceptualizing the global South. The more conventional view depicts it in essentially geographical and binary terms as the division between the rich and poor countries of the world, developing/developed, first world/third world. The rich comprise the old imperial states of Europe and their wealthy settler spin-offs like the US, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. The poor are the rest.

Understood in these terms, the global South comprises three continents (Asia, Africa and South America) and parts of Oceania and is home to roughly 85% of the world’s population and most of those living in extreme poverty. These include the parts of the world most severely torn by violent conflict, the rapacious depletion of natural resources, environmental degradation, population dislocation, and political corruption, and poor, often autocratic, governance. This ensemble of mutually reinforcing threats to human security dwarfs the crime problems that preoccupy most criminologists in the global North. Issues of vital criminological research and policy significance therefore abound in the global South, that are highly consequential for South/North relations and global security and justice.  The Handbook welcomes abstracts that address these important criminological issues.

The conventional, geographical, rich/poor dichotomous image of North/South helps throw these issues into stark relief, but it is complicated by a range of factors with which the southernizing project of criminology seeks to grapple. The global South, and its forms of economic and political life, do not exist apart from the historical, highly unequal pattern of relationships with imperial countries of the global North, shaped by the historical legacies of Empire. These patterns of expropriation, exploitation and forced migration have left enduring imprints on colonial settler societies, whether they happen to be in the North or the South and whether they are GDP-rich or not. The impacts of colonisation live on in contemporary patterns of crime and violence, armed conflict, organised crime, gang wars, practices of punishment and policing in settings where state agencies are often too weak, indifferent, or corrupt to provide security for their citizens or, worse, are themselves directly complicit in genocidal violence, extra-judicial killings and other systematic human rights abuses. The Handbook also welcomes abstracts that address the impact of the historical legacies of colonization on criminological issues.

The global South references not only geographical regions, land masses, nations, and sharply drawn lines on a map of the globe, but the flows and interrelationships – of force, influence, exchange, domination – that connect peoples and practices across the globe–shaped significantly by contemporary capitalist globalization (Mahler, 2018). This definition of the southern is inclusive of “subjugated peoples within the borders of wealthier countries, such that there are economic Souths in the geographic North and Norths in the geographic South” (Mahler, 2018). The Handbook also welcomes abstracts that engage with the concept of the South as a metaphor for unequal power relations of contemporary capitalist globalization, and how it impacts contemporary criminological issues.

Abstract Submission  – Due May 24 2024

Abstracts of 350-500 words should address one of the following themes:

The second edition contains 10 Themes. Themes number 6-10 are new.

  1. Theoretical debates and key concepts in southernizing/democratising criminology
  2. Crime and Criminalisation in the Global Peripheries
  3. Southern Penalities & Punishment in the Global South
  4. Gender, culture and crime on the global periphery
  5. Alternative Justice & Justice Innovations from the global South
  6. Colonial Legacies, Histories of Crime and Social Control 
  7. Southern Perspectives on Border Control and Crimmigration
  8. Pacifica and Island Justice
  9. Environmental Justice & the Global South
  10.  Policing and security in the global peripheries

Particularly welcomed are chapters by:

 – Scholars from a diversity of struggles including feminist, First Nations, LGBTQ, labour, migrant, prisoners and environmental movements;

– Collaborations between authors from the global South, and collaborations between authors from the global North and the global South, and

 -Chapters co-authored by established scholars, early-career researchers and activists together.

Include your name, institution, and contact email with your abstract to kcarrington@usc.edu.au

Timeline and Note on Major Reference Works

Final versions of chapters will go live online on SpringerLink as they are approved by the editors, not needing to wait to be published till all chapters are provided. This means your chapter is immediately citable. Contributors get lifetime access to all of Springer Nature’s major reference works online.

Time-line Abstract Submission 24 May 2024; First Draft Chapter Submission between 19 September 2024 and 31 March 2025.

Publication on-line upon acceptance of final submission & contracts signed. Print edition around mid to late 2025 subject to publishing schedules.

Acknowledgement of Image

Mapa Invertida Sudamérica, Joaquin Torres Garcia (1874-1949)

Embedding #domesticviolence specialists in police stations: Will they enhance DV survivor satisfaction & improve police responses?

A number of inquiries into policing responses to domestic violence have highlighted the need to strengthen inter-agency collaboration to improve system responses and outcomes for survivors of #DFV. With this in mind, a research team led by Dr Jess Rodgers undertook an evaluation of the co-location of a domestic violence specialist embedded in a regional police station in Queensland. This blog provides an overview of that research, along with links to relevant articles and government inquiries on DFV reforms.

“With widespread police failures in the response to domestic and family violence (DFV), innovation is critical. There is mounting evidence that DFV victim-survivors are more satisfied when police respond collaboratively with specialist DFV workers, but police support is critical for translation to broad practice. Using a range of data sources, our evaluation found three key benefits of co-location: strengthening of victim support, improved integrated response and enhancement of police practice. This article adds new knowledge about integrated responses to domestic violence, particularly where there are evidence gaps in police perspectives. In view of these findings, implications for practice support further implementation of co-locational responses in Australia.” (Rodgers et al, 2023)

“DFV workers in co-located services commonly offer crisis support, support in reporting to police and connection to external services. They assist clients with understanding and navigating their legal options, and may provide court support. Depending on the service, they may also explain the nature of DFV to clients, provide psychological services and/or counselling, run programmes for clients, work in various capacities with local boards and networks, provide legal services and undertake primary prevention work.”(Rodgers et al, 2023)

“This article discusses the findings of an evaluation of the co-location of a domestic violence specialist embedded in a regional police station in Queensland, Australia. The article first reviews research into co-location responses to DFV involving police and the context of the research site is then discussed. The methodology is then outlined. Results are discussed, divided into three key findings: strengthening victim support, strengthening integrated response and strengthening police practice. These finding have implications for police innovation in responding to DFV.” (Rodgers et al, 2023)

Police who participated in the trial identified a number of benefits including:

  • enhanced victim support & satisfaction
  • more timely integrated responses,
  • integrated knowledge and practice shift for frontline officers
  • enhanced police legitimacy with victim/survivors
  • enhanced trust in system responses
  • better communication
  • enhanced quality of victim statements taken by police
  • more efficient use of police role in responding to DFV
  • better court outcomes

While the research team acknowledge the limitations of the research, based only on one police station, we believe it has implications for supporting further implementation of co-locational responses in Australia. Evidence from the evaluation was presented at the Commission of Inquiry into Queensland Police Service Responses to Domestic and Family Violence (2022), contributed to the Queensland Government’s decision to fund 300 DFV workers to be located in police stations across the state (Palaszczuk and Ryan, 2022). We look forward to other research teams undertaking evaluations of these innovations.

Rodgers, J., Carrington, K., Ryan, V., & Carr, R. (2023). Embedding a domestic violence specialist in a police station: Police perspectives and engagement. International Journal of Police Science & Management, 0(0). https://doi.org/10.1177/14613557231215902

Links to recent Inquiries and Government Response on DFV Reforms in Qld

The article is available at https://journals.sagepub.com/eprint/RYSG3NQGHQNGJQFZUHZF/full

The Special Taskforce on Domestic and Family Violence in Queensland (2015) Not Now Not Ever Report and Recommendations : Putting an End to Domestic and Family Violence in Queensland (140 Recommendations

Women’s Safety and Justice Taskforce, (2021) Hear Her Voice: Addressing coercive control and DFV in Queensland Report 1 (89 recommendations)

Independent Commission of Inquiry into Queensland Police Service responses to domestic and family violence  14 November 2022 (78 Recommendations)

Hon. Shannon Fentiman, First progress report on domestic and family violence reforms Thursday, 22 December, 2022 (claim to have addressed or have underway responses to 74 or 89 recommendations)

Meet Helen Singh, Master Student on our ARC Project To Enhance Policing of Gender Violence

Helen Singh is the successful candidate for Master Scholarship funded by the ARC DP team working on a project: Improving the Policing of Gender Violence in the Global South.

The Australian Research Council funded project will investigate how to improve the policing of gender violence in the complex cultural and practical contexts of Fiji and Vanuatu. It aims to identify local innovations and explore whether/how they might be scalable across Pacific Island communities.

Helen a graduate in social science with an average of High Distinction at the University of the South Pacific, Suva, Fiji, undertook research on emotional gender violence. She is an ideal fit for the project. The research team are delighted to have her on board the project. You can read her inspiring story of loss and resilience below.

Kind Regards

Professor Kerry Carrington and Dr Melissa Jardine, Chief Investigators.

“Bula everyone.
My name is Helen Margaret Singh.
I hail from the beautiful island of Fiji and was born into a mixed race family where my father is
Indo-Fijian and mother Itaukei.
I attended Rambisessar Chaudhary Memorial Primary School and Adi Cakobau School, a
prestigious all-girls’ school in Sawani, Naitasiri.
I love reading, writing journals, crafting, socializing, exercising, listening to music and most
importantly, being a mum.
Whilst growing up, I lost my mother to pneumonia when I was 3, my sister when I was 8 and my
father to prostate cancer when I was 15. As you can imagine, I had a very traumatizing and
difficult life as a child trying to navigate life without my parents’ guidance, but faith, hard work
and my late father’s wish for me to become successful kept me going.
As a child, I always dedicated most of my time to my academic work and had big dreams to be
remembered as a hardworking and successful person in what I do. I always tell myself to strive
for greatness regardless of the trauma, the heartbreaks, and the problems life throws at me.
In 2018, I joined The University of the South Pacific, completed my Foundation of Arts
program, moved on to pursuing a Bachelors of Arts Degree in Sociology and Psychology, and
graduated in March 2023.
I pursued this majors because I wanted to understand life, society and why they are the way
they are. Mental Health was huge for me; I was deeply interested in understanding mental
health problems and what to do about it, because when I was a child no one helped me or
understood my traumas. With the knowledge gained and personal experiences, I aspire to help,
to listen, to understand people and if possible, ensure they are rightfully provided for with the
help they require.
Through faith, hard work and perseverance, I am indeed fortunate to pursue my Masters and
be part of Kerry Carrington’s research team, and hope to achieve the best outcomes from this
research.
Vinaka.”

Helen Singh, Masters Student, University of the Sunshine Coast

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