Selina is a Research Assistant, editor and proofreader. She has worked with the SARC team for over ten years, recently publishing her own work in our Rental Affordability Snapshot.

Selina is dedicated to improving the quality of written communication and is meticulous in her attention to detail.

Teresa has extensive experience as a social researcher in Australia and the UK. Trained as an anthropologist, she went on to use her skills in research institutes, local government, the community sector, and advocacy and campaign organisations.

Teresa developed a particular interest in how best to strengthen the voices of people who use services to ensure their lived experience is heard in legislative reform, policy development, service design, service delivery and evaluation.

After working at SARC for 15 years, Teresa is now pursuing other interests but still supports SARC on a casual basis.

Carmel is an experienced qualitative researcher with a background in public health and community development. She has worked in community service organisations, academia and government in research, project coordination, and program implementation. For over 15 years Carmel has undertaken research across a broad range of sectors including education, housing, and public health. Her research agenda is driven by projects that improve equity and have clear and obvious impact on communities and individuals. Most recently she has drawn together her own research with young people excluded from mainstream education and the research of education and youth work professionals across Australia to train to engage effectively with trauma-affected students.

Dr Lisa Stafford is a social scientist, social planner and human geographer with 20 years’ experience in the fields of disability and community planning. She works from a rights-based, place-based and anti-oppressive framework. Lisa’s areas of focus are inclusive communities and spatial justice, and social and economic participation for young people with disabilities. Lisa specialises in inclusive participatory research and engagement methods to ensure the ‘voices’ of all people, particular children and people with complex communication needs, are heard. She was awarded a highly competitive Australian Research Council DECRA Fellowship in 2019 to work on inclusive community planning for people with disabilities in regional areas (https://www.planninginclusivecommunities.com/). In addition to her work as an academic, Lisa has worked in practitioner, management and director roles in government and non-government organisations.

Lisa identifies as a disabled person and is a full member of the Planning Institute of Australia (MPIA), the Institute of Australian Geographers (IAG) and the Disability Leadership Institute (DLI).

Lisa will continue in her part time role as Senior Lecturer/ARC DECRA Fellow at QUT while working for SARC.

Mary is an economist, policy analyst and project manager with a passion for social justice and creating positive change. Before joining SARC, Mary worked for 15 years in a range of policy roles within State Government and her experience includes policy management, stakeholder relationship management, research impact analysis and measuring and communicating policy outcomes. Prior to that, she worked for 14 years in private veterinary practice.

Mary has a special interest in applying economics to understand, measure and help close the gap between the lived experience of disadvantaged Tasmanians now and a healthy community in which everyone can flourish.