Professor Brophy is among 21 new Fellows to be inducted into the Academy - one of just five from Victoria - and joins some of Australia’s leading researchers and practitioners across the breadth of social science disciplines.
Her appointment follows a rigorous selection process that involves being nominated by three existing Fellows, nominees and must have demonstrated an outstanding contribution to one or more fields of social science research or practice in Australia.
Professor Brophy, the Discipline Lead in Social Work and Social Policy at La Trobe, said she was grateful to be nominated by La Trobe Adjunct Professor Allan Borowski after meeting in Israel following attendance at a conference there in 2022.
“I am delighted to be elected as a Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia, which has some of the best and brightest social science minds across Australia, and I’m excited to help shape policy for our country,” Professor Brophy said.
“This is also wonderful news for Social Work and Social Policy at La Trobe as it will enable us to have direct access to some of Australia’s most inspiring thought leaders and be involved in a range of activities that that seek to advance and promote the social sciences.”
Professor Brophy’s research focuses on people experiencing mental illness and psychosocial disability and their recovery, social inclusion, and human rights.
She is involved in local and international collaborations on mental health law and its implications for policy, law reform and direct practice, and is leading an ARC Discovery Project investigating the implementation of Community Treatment Orders (CTOs) across Australia.
She is also a member of Victoria’s Mental Health and Wellbeing Act Expert Advisory Group and a sessional community member of the Victorian Mental Health Tribunal. In 2022, she was appointed by the Minister for Mental Health to the Board of the newly established Victorian Collaborative Centre for Mental Health and Wellbeing.
Professor Brophy will be inducted as a Fellow at the Academy’s annual event on 23 November, where she will be formally welcomed and presented with a testamur.
Among the newly elected Fellows are accomplished experts whose contributions span a wide range of disciplines, from constitutional law and feminist history to urban mobility and mental health policy.
"They are the architects of progress and visionaries of social science, and I warmly welcome them to the Fellowship," said Academy President Professor Richard Holden.
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