Dr. Susan Young

Biography

Susan Young graduated in Social Work from the University of Western Australia (UWA) in 1988 and has since worked in the Department of Community Development across various roles in remote rural Western Australia and metropolitan Perth for over 16 years. She developed a strong interest in community development processes, particularly within isolated communities and Aboriginal groups. Young began teaching part-time in the Social Work programme at UWA in 1994, and has spent years focused on rural and remote social work practice, including earlier teaching roles at Edith Cowan University in Bunbury. She specializes in community practice, social policy, and has advocated for decolonizing the social work curriculum. Internationally, she has been a visiting academic at the University of Stavanger (UiS), Norway, teaching the MFAMILY international Masters programme. In her roles at UWA, she is the Deputy Head of Social Work and Social Policy as well as the Graduate Research Coordinator. Young's research interests involve exploring community approaches to child protection, evaluating Full Service Schools in WA, and understanding the contributions of whiteness theory to social work and social policy.

Research Interests

Experience