Christy Newman is Associate Professor at the Centre for Social Research in Health, where she has been conducting social research on health, gender and sexuality since 2004. From 2020, she is also the inaugural Associate Dean (Enterprise, Impact and Engagement) for UNSW Arts and Social Sciences.
Christy's research interests span sexual and reproductive health, blood borne virus prevention and care, and sexual and gender diversity, exploring their ever-changing meanings and influences on the ways we configure relationships, families, and care practices today. She works in partnership with advocacy, policy and health professionals, particularly those who support LGBTQ+ people, and people affected by HIV and viral hepatitis.
Christy has published more than 150 quality research outputs, including journal articles, book chapters and reports, and has led or contributed to securing over four million dollars in research funding in competitive and commissioned grants from the ARC and NHMRC, governments, industry and the university. She is Senior Editorial Advisor (and immediate past Joint-Editor in Chief) for Health Sociology Review, Joint Editor for Sexual Health, and Editorial Board member for the Journal of the International AIDS Society.
Christy was awarded the Paul Bourke Award for Early Career Research from the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia in 2010, and the Mid-Career Interdisciplinary Achiever Award from the Australasian Sexual Health Alliance in 2017. She received a University Medal for her BA with honours in communications and cultural studies from Murdoch University in 1998, and a PhD in interdisciplinary studies in health, sexuality and culture from UNSW Sydney in 2004.
Some current research-focused projects include:
- my health, our family: documenting stories of family life in the context of HIV, hepatitis B and hepatitis C (ARC Discovery DP160100134, Lead Investigator)
- Trust in digital health (Australian Department of Health, Lead Investigator)
- Queer Generations (ARC Discovery DP150101292, Senior Qualitative Researcher/Mentor)
- What we do well: Stories of love, sex and relationships (ARC Linkage LP170100190, Investigator)
- Understanding disparities in PrEP access (UNSW Collaborative Research Grant, Investigator/Researcher)
- Towards a global sociology of trans and gender diverse health (Forthcoming special issue of Health Sociology Review; Lead Editor)