Professor Kathleen Clapham

Investigator

Professor Clapham is a senior Aboriginal researcher and anthropologist with extensive health and social research experience. Within the broad area of Indigenous health, her research focuses on the safety, health and wellbeing of children and young people, community-based interventions, the social and cultural determinants of health, and health services improvements.

She is guided by a strong commitment to social justice, health equity and Indigenous human rights. She brings specific expertise and skills in Indigenous research methodologies, qualitative research methods, ethnography, and evaluation of community interventions. She employs a critical Indigenous research methodological approach in which community engagement, sustainable partnership, research benefit to Aboriginal communities and capacity building are crucial components.

Professor Clapham has been chief investigator on 12 NHMRC and ARC funded studies and has led or contributed to government-funded health services research, with grants totalling more than $17.5 million. Based at the University of Wollongong, she has developed strong collaborative partnerships with Aboriginal community organisations across south eastern NSW. She currently leads an ARC research project focused on developing a place based model for community led solutions to complex health and social issues. She also leads a collaboration addressing Aboriginal community research and evaluation capacity building.