Professor Caroline Taylor AM
Current Teaching
- Supervision of postgraduate students
- Casual lectures, by invitation to Victoria Police Academy training courses on child and adult sexual offences
Background
Professor S. Caroline Taylor is the Foundation Chair in Social Justice and Head of the Social Justice Research Centre at Edith Cowan University. She was appointed to this role in November 2008. She is an Honorary Research Associate at the Indigenous Law Centre, University of New South Wales. Professor Taylor is recognised as one of Australia's leading experts in the field of child and adult sexual violence and domestic violence and the criminal justice response to victim/survivors and social models of trauma and recovery. She has applied innovative methodologies to draw out and elucidate a deeply nuanced and critical understanding of sexual violence and its interface with socio-legal structures that have influenced proactive law reform in Australia. Professor Taylor provides expert opinion evidence in sexual offence proceedings and is the author of several monographs, books, journal articles, reports and media opinion pieces.
Professor Taylor has been an invited and funded Visiting Academic to Kings College, London and Plymouth University, UK. She is an academic advisor to Interpol’s Specialist Group on Crimes Against Children and has undertaken several international benchmarking trips to examine all aspects of the criminal justice system and welfare/advocacy service responses to child and adult victims of sexual violence. This has included site visits across South Africa (2007); the UK (2008; 2009; 2011) for site visits to Scotland Yard; London Metropolitan Police and the Sapphire Units; Merseyside Police and the Unity Team; Cornwall and Devon Police; The Havens; Twelves Company; St Mary’s SARC; Papua New Guinea (2009) Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary; Office of Public Prosecutions; Australian Federal Police; AusAid and United Nations Programs on violence against women and children.
Professor Taylor was appointed to the Advisory Committee for the Victorian Law Reform Commission's Inquiry into Sexual Offences Law and Procedure (2002-2004). The commission drew heavily on Professor Taylor's research to inform their Interim and Final Reports with the latter report detailing 201 recommendations for law reform. Professor Taylor's PhD thesis received the prestigious 'Jean Martin Award' from The Australian Sociological Association for the most outstanding PhD in social sciences from an Australian university for 2000-2001. By invitation she conducts training seminars and workshops for police, judges, lawyers, medical practitioners, psychologists and teachers on the topic of sexual violence, children's rights, trauma impact, and healing and recovery. She also conducts closed workshops for survivors. Professor Taylor founded a charity organisation in 2004 (Children of Phoenix) that provides education and training scholarships and mentors for children, adolescents and adults affected by childhood sexual abuse. In recognition of her contribution to law and policy reform, public education and awareness and her ongoing advocacy for the rights of children and women, Professor Taylor was awarded a Human Rights award from HREOC in 2006.
She currently leads a Large ARC Linkage Grant 5 year project with Victoria Police ($1.3 million) to improve their response, investigation and management of adult sexual offences. Her most current work on social exclusion and identity wounding for rape survivors will be released as a book in 2012.
Recent Invited External Appointments
- 2011 Expert Consultant to LIME Culture, UK
- 2011 Advisor to Dragonfly Foundation, WA
- 2009 and current Committee member of the Eliminating Violence Against Women Media Awards
- 2009 and current member of the Editorial Board of the The Journal of Criminal Justice Research (JCJR)
- 2008 and current Founder, Chair and Director and Board member of the registered charity Children of Phoenix Org.
- 2007 and current reviewer for the International Journal of Police Practice and Research.
- 2008 and current Editorial Advisory Board of the Women’s Studies International Forum Journal.
- Appointed by invitation to the Australian Centre for the Study of Sexual Assault Advisory Board (2007-2008)
- Appointed by invitation to the Bravehearts Advisory Board (Qld) (2006-2010).
- Appointed by invitation to the Victorian Law Reform Commission Inquiry into Sexual Offences Advisory Committee (2004-2004)
- Appointment by invitation to the Beyond Belief Project Committee conducted by the Discrimination and Disability Legal Service, Melbourne, and funded by the Reichstein Foundation. The project examined ongoing discrimination and difficulties for adults with a cognitive impairment accessing police and the criminal justice system following a sexual offence. (2004)
- Appointed by invitation to the Ballarat Health Services Centre Against Sexual Assault Advisory Committee (2001-2005)
Professional Memberships
- The Australian Sociological Association
- The Australia and New Zealand Society of Criminology
- The Australasian Council of Women and Policing
- Australasian Society for Traumatic Stress Studies
Awards and Recognition
National and International Awards
- 2012, January 26: The Australia Day Honors announced the appointment of Professor S. Caroline Taylor as a 'Member of the Order of Australia' (AM) for her services and contribution to the community and social welfare organisations as a researcher and author.
National and International Research Positions
- 2011: Recipient of funded award as International Visiting Academic to Kings College, London and Plymouth University, UK
Other
- 2011: Certificate of Excellence Award presented by the Office of the Vice-Chancellor for "ECU's Top RAI (Academic) Performers for 2010"
- 2011: Certificate of Excellence Award presented by the Office of the Vice-Chancellor for "Top Researcher for the School of Psychology and Social Sciences for 2010"
- 2010: Winner of the 'Excellence in Research' Award presented by the Australian Institute of Policing and the Australasian Council of Women and Policing.
- 2010: Certificate of Excellence Award presented by the Office of the Vice Chancellor for “ECU’s Top RAI (Academic) Performers for 2009”
- 2010: Certificate of Excellence Award presented by the Office of the Vice Chancellor for “Top Researcher for the School of Psychology and Social Sciences for 2009”
- 2007-2008 Nominated and included in the publication ‘Among Ballarat’s Finest’ a compendium of outstanding women from regional Victoria. Published by Women’s Health Grampians in 2008.
- 2007 Nominated and selected for inclusion in the 2007 Australian Who’s Who of Women and 2008 edition.
- 2006 Human Rights Award from Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC) The High Commendation Award in the prestigious Individual Medal Category.
- February 2007 Masterfoods Community Award for Outstanding Contribution to Ballarat and District Community in the area of advocacy and community work regarding child abuse.
- Jean Martin Award for Best PhD Thesis in Social Science from an Australian academic institution (2001) (joint winner). Biennial award from The Australian Sociological Association (TASA). Award also noted on perpetual list of previous prize winners on the TASA Website.
- Golden Key Scholarship awarded 2001 for ‘Superior Scholastic Attainments and Outstanding Academic Merit.’ (Prize included framed, embossed award and prize money)
- 1995 Awarded University of Ballarat Scholarship (full 3 year stipend) to undertake PhD commencing in 1996.
Research Areas and Interests
- Child sexual abuse
- Adult sexual abuse
- The criminal justice response to sexual violence
- Psycho-social impacts of sexual violence and recovery and healing
- Social death and sexual violence
- Policing and jurisprudence in the area of sexual violence
- Conceptual frameworks around human rights and social justice relating to violence against women and children
- Policy, praxis and education issues for professionals in the area of child sexual abuse
- Online child abuse material and child exploitation material and the challenges of policing this area
- Victim identification in child abuse material and trafficking
- Child abuse and delayed disclosure
- Animal welfare and animal rights
- Vulnerable victims of crime
- Police and criminal justice responses to sexual violence
- Social death post disclosure of sexual assault
- Education and training around sexual violence for police and school teachers
Staff Qualifications
- PhD, University of Ballarat, 2001 .
- BAHons (Bachelor of Arts Honours), University of Ballarat, 1996 .
Research
Recent Research Grants
- Adult Sexual Assault: An Evidence-Based Policy, Practice and Advocacy Model for Victoria Police, Australian Research Council, Grant - Linkage (Projects), 2011, $75,749.
- Adult Sexual Assault: An Evidence-Based Policy, Practice and Advocacy Model for Victoria Police, Australian Research Council, Grant - Linkage (Projects)(**), 2010, $350,841.
- Happy, Healthy Women: Not Just Survivors: Briefing Paper, Victorian Medical Womens Society, Grant(**), 2010, $11,818.
- Adult Sexual Assault: An Evidence-Based Policy, Practice and Advocacy Model for Victoria Police, Australian Research Council, Grant - Linkage (Projects), 2009, $444,281.
Recent Publications (within the last five years)
Book Chapters
- Taylor, C., (2011), The Pornification of Intrafamilial Child Abuse. Big Porn Inc, 195-201, Melbourne.
Journal Articles
- Taylor, C., Pugh, J., Goodwach, R., Coles, J., (2012), Sexual trauma in women: The importance of identifying a history of sexual violence. Australian Family Physician, 41(7), 538-541, South Melbourne, Victoria.
- Taylor, C., Norma, C., (2011), The ?Symbolic Protest? Behind Women?s Reporting of Sexual Assault Crime to Police. Feminist Criminology, 7(1), 24-47, DOI: 10.1177/1557085111420416.
- Guilfoyle, A., Taylor, C., (2010), Racism, Cultural Competency and Indigenous Australians: Critical reflections on the veracity of a psychodynamic discourse. International Journal of Interdisciplinary Social Sciences, 4(12), 131-154, Australia.
- Taylor, C., Gassner, L., (2010), Stemming the Flow: challenges for policing adult sexual assault with regard to attrition rates and under-reporting of sexual offences. Police Practice and Research: an international journal, 11(3), 240-255, United Kingdom, DOI: 10.1080/15614260902830153.
- Cripps, K., Taylor, C., (2009), White Man's Law, Traditional Law, Bullshit Law: Customary Marriage Revisited. Balayi: culture, law and colonialism, 10(July), 59-72, Australia.
- Kennedy, J., Easteal, P., Taylor, C., (2009), Rape Mythology and the Criminal Justice System: A pilot study of sexual assault sentencing in Victoria. ACSSA Aware , 2009(23), 13-22, Melbourne.
- Taylor, C., Gassner, L., (2009), Stemming the Flow: challenges for policing adult sexual assault with regard to attrition rates and under-reporting of sexual offences. Police Practice and Research: an international journal, 1(1-16), 1-16, London, DOI: 10.1080/15614260902830153.
- Taylor, C., (2008), Incest: From Taboo to Insult. Domestic Violence and Incest Resource Centre, 2(Winter), 3-9, Melbourne, DOI: N/A.
- Cripps, K., Davis, M., Taylor, C., (2008), Sexual Violence in Aurukun: The Queen V BP, DK, PA, Koowarta, Wikmunea, Woolla 2007. Indigenous Law Bulletin, 7(9), 14-17.