Caroline Lenette

Caroline Lenette is a Senior Lecturer in Social Research and Policy, School of Social Sciences, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, and Senior Research Associate of the Australian Human Rights Institute. She is affiliated with the Forced Migration Research Network (FMRN@UNSW) and Sydney Health Ethics (University of Sydney).

Caroline is interested in the links between arts-based research and policymaking, and how storytelling through creative means can influence decision-makers towards meaningful change. She also explores how ethics in research practice is conceptualised in participatory research. Caroline undertakes social-justice focussed research in collaboration with community-based organisations on different aspects of forced migration. She is the author of Arts-based methods in refugee research: Creating sanctuary (2019, Springer).

Her current projects include: a participatory video collaboration with young people from refugee backgrounds who attend university in Sydney to share their perspectives on what the higher education system could do better to support refugee students (Australian National Commission for UNESCO); a visual ethnographic project on how meanings attached to ‘home’ take shape across settings and over time, with a comparison among the Australian, Canadian and UK contexts (Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada Insight Development grant); and an exploration of the experiences of Syrian and Iraqi refugee children and young people with disabilities who have recently arrived in Sydney via arts-based methods (South West Sydney Research Small Grant Scheme).

Caroline was awarded a University Medal (Bachelor of Human Services) from Griffith University in 2003 and was the valedictorian. She was also shortlisted for the FASS Dean’s Research Award for Achievement as ECR (2016). 

Recent research grants

1. Australian Research Council (ARC) Linkage 2014: Developing Best Practice for Settlement Services for Refugee Women-at-Risk (QUT, $225,000).

2. Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) grant: Women and girls and the Global Compact on Refugees (UNSW, $788,500).

3. Australian National Commission for UNESCO grant 2018: Changing lives one degree at a time: Refugee students' digital narratives of higher education experiences ($12,000).

4. Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) Insight Development Scheme (Ryerson CAD74,000): Finding Home: Housing, Migration & Research-Creation

5. South West Sydney Health Small Grant Scheme (STARTTS $20,000): Disability in South Western Sydney: Experiences of the Iraqi and Syrian refugee communities.

6. UNSW Research Infrastructure Scheme Cross-Faculty collaboration (del Favero): 3D Virtual prototyping system ($120,000).

7. UNSW Collaborative Research Scheme Grant 2015 ($8,000) & 2016 ($3,000).

8. UNSW School of Social Sciences Project/Conference) 2015-16 ($12,700); 2017 ($23,500).

9. Queensland Centre for Social Science Innovation (QCSSI) Grant 2013: Best Practice in Settlement Services for Refugee Women-at-Risk (QUT, $22,000). 

Fellowships

1. 2017 European Union – Durham University Co-fund International Senior Research Fellowship in Research and Enterprise: Centre for Social Justice and Community Action, Durham University, UK.
2. 2014 Endeavour Executive Fellowship ($19,500) – Visiting Scholar: Centre for Refugee Studies, York University, Canada.

Current teaching

• SRAP5102 Theory, Ethics and Social Impact
• SRAP1001 Social Research and Society

Affiliation: Forced Migration Research Network (FMRN), UNSW; Kaldor Centre Emerging Scholars Network, UNSW; Gendered Violence Research Network, UNSW.

University of Sydney: Sydney Health Ethics (2019).