Elizabeth Smith PhD

Elizabeth's research interests have revolved around discrimination and marginalization of different populations over the last ten years and their relationship to mental health, well-being, access, and inclusion. Her Ph.D. looked at the effects of stigmatizing discourses about sex, gender, and sex work on women working in sex work in Victoria, Australia as well as the ways that they practiced Foucault's ethics of care of the self.

In 2014 she was the lead author of a report into the mental health and well-being of gender-diverse and transgender young people in Australia. This research titled From Blues to Rainbows was funded by beyondblue and looks at not only the mental health effects of discrimination, abuse, and harassment experienced by this cohort of young people, but also protective factors such as support, self-care, and activism.

This over-arching theme of marginalization brought Elizabeth to the Living with Disability Research Centre where she works on a randomized control trial in an education program about support decision-making. This is a four-year Linkage grant held by Professor Christine Bigby in conjunction with many academics and industry partners in Victoria, Queensland, and New South Wales.