Monash Social Work celebrates 50 years of impact
Monash Social Work recently celebrated its 50th anniversary with a special event to mark five decades of impact across its research, education and partnerships.
This impact was recently recognised by The Australian 2025 Research magazine, which named Monash Social Work the leading Australian research institution in the social work field for the quality and impact of its work. Monash Social Work is known for prioritising applied research for advocacy, aiming to influence policy and practice, and informing changes to social structures and systems for a more equitable and fairer community.
The celebratory event provided an opportunity to acknowledge the department’s enormous contribution to social work education, practice, policy and research in Australia, and reflect on the professional achievements of its many thousands of alumni from across its undergraduate, postgraduate and higher degree courses.
Professor Emerita Rosemary Sheehan AM, a long-serving member of the academic staff renowned for her research in child welfare and the law, emceed the event and weaved in her own valuable reflections on teaching and research at Monash over her more than twenty-five-year academic career.
Special guest speakers provided a historical perspective on the department’s growth and development from its founding in 1974 to the present. Lesley Hewitt, an early pioneer of changing attitudes about violence against women and children, spoke about the foundations of the social work course, and its focus on community initiatives and addressing systemic inequalities.
Emeritus Professor Chris Trotter reflected on the introduction of distance education, with the establishment of the Bachelor of Social Work in Singapore considered a pioneering department initiative that ran for more than a decade, and was a successful offshore collaborative teaching approach that has not been rivalled since.
Jodie Lee, a graduate from the first cohort of the Master of Social Work (Qualifying) program, reflected on the diversification of social work education, shifting from providing bachelor-level degree qualification to the MSW. She also specifically highlighted the role played by the department’s commitment to distance education in creating accessibility for a range of diverse students, including those with caring responsibilities. Minyao Xie, also an MSW graduate, reflected on the development of the international social work student cohort and noted her own learning experiences, including time spent in outback NSW, providing student support and the challenges of providing continuing social work education during the COVID-19 pandemic years.
Keynote speaker Argiri Alisandratos, Deputy Secretary of the Victorian Families, Fairness and Housing and social work alum, spoke about his journey from being a student at Monash in the late 1980s to establishing a long and successful career in child protection practice and social services administration in Victoria.
Alumni Kate Incerti and Danielle Moss, and students Robert Cavalin and Yujie Zhao also participated in a panel discussion reflecting on their own social work education at Monash and their thoughts on the main challenges now facing social work education. Professor Emerita Thea Brown summed up Monash Social Work’s 50-year journey, highlighting the many challenges the department has overcome and innovations implemented, which have set Monash Social Work in good stead for the future.
Head of Department Associate Professor Catherine Flynn said that the event was a wonderful opportunity to come together, look back and celebrate the remarkable achievements of the department over half a century. “We are proud of our collective efforts since our founding to effect change in areas such as child and family welfare, youth and adult justice, social welfare policy, tackling stigma in AOD services and supporting participatory practices in mental health,” she said. “We also look forward to the challenges ahead, taking inspiration from our foundation chair Professor Peter Boss, to continue the commitment to ‘rage against inequality.’”
About Monash University
Monash University is Australia’s largest university with more than 80,000 students. In the 60 years since its foundation, it has developed a reputation for world-leading high-impact research, quality teaching, and inspiring innovation.
With four campuses in Australia and a presence in Malaysia, China, India, Indonesia and Italy, it is one of the most internationalised Australian universities.
As a leading international medical research university with the largest medical faculty in Australia and integration with leading Australian teaching hospitals, we consistently rank in the top 50 universities worldwide for clinical, pre-clinical and health sciences.
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