Dr. Ciara Smyth

Biography

Ciara Smyth is a Senior Research Fellow at the Social Policy Research Centre at UNSW Sydney. With 20 years of extensive experience in applied social policy evaluation research, her work primarily addresses domestic family violence, disability, homelessness, and parenting in child protection contexts. She has successfully managed large-scale evaluation research projects, particularly those funded by the government, which have had a significant impact on informing policy, enhancing program design, and improving service quality. Ciara’s research program is committed to improving services and support for excluded, marginalized, and disadvantaged groups. Her contributions include conducting thorough literature reviews, policy analysis, research design, as well as qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis. She utilizes mixed-method data synthesis to generate high-quality research outputs that contribute to the knowledge evidence base in her fields of expertise.

Research Interests