Top of page

Student/Staff Portal
Global Site Navigation

School of Arts and Humanities

Local Section Navigation
You are here: Main Content
  • Dr Catriona Stevens

    Dr Catriona Stevens

Related Contents

  • See Also
  • Google Scholar
    https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=6uP2WfgAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao
  • Google Scholar
  • LinkedIn
    https://www.linkedin.com/in/catriona-turnbull-stevens-28731967/
  • LinkedIn
  • Academia
    https://edithcowan.academia.edu/CatrionaStevens
  • Academia

Dr Catriona Stevens

Vice Chancellor's Research Fellow

Staff Member Details
Email: c.stevens@ecu.edu.au
Campus: Mount Lawley  
ORCID iD: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2207-687X

Dr Catriona Turnbull (Stevens) is a Vice Chancellor’s Research Fellow and ARC DECRA Fellow in the School of Arts and Humanities.

Background

Dr Catriona Turnbull (Stevens) is a Vice Chancellor’s Research Fellow and ARC DECRA Fellow in the ECU Research Program in Migration, Diversity and Care. Cat is a sociologist and anthropologist with expertise in migration, ageing, care workforce, transnational caregiving, and the abuse of older people (elder abuse).

Prior to joining ECU, Cat was Manager of Research Engagement with the Social Care and Ageing (SAGE) Living Lab at UWA. She has significant experience in applied social research through collaborations, evaluations, and consultancies with government and NFP sector partners.

She has previously held Associate Lecturer teaching positions at Murdoch University and at UWA and is an Alumnus of the Forrest Research Foundation having been awarded a Forrest Prospect Fellowship in 2021-23.

Research areas and interests

Cat’s research engages four intersecting project areas:

Abuse of older people
Cat leads several ECU SAGE Lab research initiatives relating to the abuse of older people. Her DECRA project, commencing 2026, investigates how migration intersects with older adult abuse and aims to reduce the risk, impact and acuity of abuse for older migrants living in Australia.She is a CI and WA lead on the No More Shame study that aims to remove stigma and improve the recognition of, and response to, elder abuse by health providers. Cat has led research to develop Best Practice Guidelines for Interviewing Older People at Risk.

Class and migration
Cat’s research contributes to new analyses of social class in both Australian and global migration studies. Cat received the Jean Martin Award for the Best Sociology Thesis in Australia 2020-21 for a PhD dissertation that advances new theories of class and migration titled Unlikely settlers in exceptional times. She is the lead editor of a new special issue titled ‘Translation and transformation of class through migration’ that will be published in Current Sociology in early 2026.

Transnational ageing and caregiving
Cat is an ECU CI on the Decentering Migration Knowledge (DemiKnow) project, which brings together four research entities in Canada, India, China and Australia, to compare family migration decision making in these four contexts with a focus in Australian on transnational grandparenting. She was previously the research associate responsible for the China-born grandparent sample on the ARC Discovery Project ‘Ageing, Migration and New Media’. Cat now leads a new study that explores the transnational ageing and care strategies of older men of European ancestry living in north Thailand.

Migration, care practice and social policy
One of Cat’s projects, initially funded through a fellowship with the Forrest Research Foundation, seeks to understand the experiences of migrants working in aged care and to develop policy responses to support recruitment, retention, and the delivery of quality care to older Australians. Cat is also a CI on Befriending with GENIE, an MRFF study that trials an intervention to reduce loneliness, and increase social support and service access for people living with dementia and caregivers from CaLD communities

Professional associations

  • 2023-2027 - International Sociological Association - Board Member of RC31 Sociology of Migration
  • 2021-2025 - The Australian Sociological Association - Migration, Ethnicity and Multiculturalism Thematic Group Convenor
  • 2021-present - Alliance for the Prevention of Elder Abuse WA - Member of APEA:WA
  • 2020-present WA Migration and Mobilities Update - Steering Committee Member
  • 2023-2024 - ECU TRACS Migration Research Network -Establishment Committee Member
  • 2024 - National Accreditation Authority for Translators and Interpreters - Translator Chinese>English
  • 2024 - Elder Abuse Action Australia
  • 2024 - IMISCOE – International Migration Research Network member

Awards and recognition

University and National teaching awards

  • 2020 - Murdoch University College of Arts Business Law and Social Sciences Teaching Award
  • 2019 - Murdoch University College of Arts Business Law and Social Sciences Teaching Award
  • 2019 - UWA Higher Degree by Research Achievement Prize (Qualitative Research Category)

National and International research awards

  • 2026 – ARC Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (DECRA)
  • 2025 – ECU Research Excellence Early Career Researcher Award
  • 2024 - ECU Vice Chancellor’s Research Fellowship
  • 2021 - Jean Martin Award (TASA Biennial Award for Best PhD Thesis in Sociology)
  • 2021 - Forrest Prospect Fellowship, Forrest Research Foundation
  • 2021 - Chinese Studies Association of Australia Thesis Prize (Runner up)

Qualifications

  • Doctor of Philosophy, The University of Western Australia, 2020.

Research Outputs

2026

Journal Articles

2025

Journal Articles

  • Brijnath, B., Cavuoto, M., Feldman, P., Dow, B., Antoniades, J., Ostaszkiewicz, J., Nakrem, S., Stevens, C., Reyes, P., Renshaw, G., Peters, MD., Gilbert, A., Manias, E., Mortimer, D., Enticott, J., Cooper, C., Durston, C., Appleton, B., O'Brien, M., Eckert, M., Markusevska, S. (2025). Codesigning for health provider training to improve detection and response to elder abuse. The Gerontologist, 65(4), article number gnae153. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1093/geront/gnae153.
  • Nguyen, H., Stevens, C., Baldassar, L. (2025). Transnational grandparent migration and care-giving: a systematic scoping review. Ageing and Society, 45(9), 1785-1825. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1017/S0144686X24000436.
  • Stevens, C. (2025). Split nationality households: A strategic response to optimise the citizenship constellations of transnational families. Journal of Sociology, 61(2), 255-272. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1177/14407833241310563.
  • Stevens, C., Murphy , R., Huang, Y., Baldassar, L. (2025). Descending asymmetry in proximate, mobile and digital care: Chinese older people grandparenting across distance within China and overseas. American Sociological Review, 73(4), 807-825. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1177/00380261251347746.
  • Baldassar, L., Nguyen, M., Jones, B., Stevens, C., Krzyzowski, L., Lozeva, S., Marino, S., Du Plooy, C., Eldridge, J., Almeida, OP., Ghosh, M. (2025). The impacts of COVID-19 restrictions on care-givers of people with cognitive impairment and their support needs: a mixed-methods systematic review. Ageing and Society, 45(4), 796-826. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0144686X23000752.

2024

Book Chapters

  • Stevens, C., Baldassar, L., Wilding, R. (2024). Friendship, Connection and Loss: Everyday Digital Kinning and Digital Homing among Chinese Transnational Grandparents in Perth, Australia. Doing Digital Migration Studies: Theories and Practices from the Everyday (113-131). Amsterdam University Press. https://doi.org/10.2307/jj.11895524.11.

Journal Articles

  • Cavuoto, MG., Markusevska, S., Stevens, C., Reyes, P., Renshaw, G., Peters , MD., Dow, B., Feldman, P., Gilbert, A., Manias, E., Mortimer, D., Enticott, J., Cooper, C., Antoniades, J., Appleton, B., Nakrem, S., O'Brien, M., Ostaszkiewicz, J., Eckert, M., Durston, C., Brijnath, B. (2024). The impact of elder abuse training on subacute health providers and older adults: study protocol for a randomized control trial. Trials, 25(1), Article number 338. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1186/s13063-024-08160-3.

2023

Book Chapters

Journal Articles

Reports

  • Stevens, C., Du Plooy, C., Baldassar, L. (2023). Best practice guidelines for interviewing older people at risk. Perth. Northern Suburbs Community Legal Centre. https://ro.ecu.edu.au/ecuworks2022-2026/3589.
  • Stevens, C., Baldassar, L., O'Brien, E., Cokis, E., Krzyzowski, L., Du Plooy, C., Jones, B., Noonan, G., Ottolini, F. (2023). Everyone's Business: Research into responses to the abuse of older people (elder abuse) in Western Australia. Perth. Social Ageing (SAGE) Futures Lab. https://ro.ecu.edu.au/ecuworks2022-2026/3593.

2022

Book Chapters

  • Stevens, C. (2022). The classed frustrations of middling migrants from China in Australia: Suzhi discourse meets the neoliberal logics of selective migration policies. Rethinking Privilege and Social Mobility in Middle-Class Migration (29-47). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003087588-3.

Journal Articles

  • Baldassar, L., Stevens, C., Wilding, R. (2022). Digital Anticipation: Facilitating the Pre-Emptive Futures of Chinese Grandparent Migrants in Australia. American Behavioral Scientist, 66(14), 1863-1879. https://doi.org/10.1177/00027642221075261.

Reports

  • Baldassar, L., Nguyen, H., Stevens, C. (2022). Working Paper. Literature review on transnational grandparent migration: A view from Australia. Toronto, Canada. Toronto Metropolitan University. https://ro.ecu.edu.au/ecuworks2022-2026/2630.

2021

Journal Articles

Reports

  • Baldassar, L., Krzyzowski, L., Stevens, C., Lozeva, S. (2021). Raising awareness about ageing in rural and remote communities: An evaluation of an anti-ageism campaign in Pingelly. Perth. University of Western Australia. https://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.10286.64324.

2020

Book Chapters

  • Fozdar, F., Stevens, C. (2020). Measuring mixedness in Australia. The Palgrave International Handbook of Mixed Racial and Ethnic Classification (605-627). Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-22874-3_32.

Reports

  • Baldassar, L., Hill, E., Hamilton , M., Brennan, D., Dymond, T., Withers, M., Stevens, C., Kintominas, A. (2020). Submission to the Select Committee on Temporary Migration on the impact temporary migration has on the Australian economy, wages and jobs, social cohesion and workplace rights and conditions: Submission 58. Canberra. Government of Australia.

2019

Journal Articles

Conference Publications

  • Stevens, C. (2019). Flexible Non-Citizens: Class, Strategic Citizenship and the Citizenship Dilemmas of Migrants from China in Australia. Proceedings of The Australian Sociological Association Conference (33-39). The Australian Sociological Association.

2018

Journal Articles

2017

Journal Articles

Conference Publications

  • Stevens, C. (2017). Maintaining and subverting Chinese class boundaries in Australia: Do 'people from different backgrounds keep to their own circle'. Belonging in a Mobile World: The Australian Sociological Association Conference proceedings (27-32). The Australian Sociological Association.

Reports

  • Baldassar, L., Stevens, C., Millard, A. (2017). Successful planning for Age-friendly Communities: Evaluation of the Department of Local Government and Communities Age-friendly Communities Local Government Grants Program. Perth. University of Western Australia.

Research Projects

  • Elder abuse and migration: Addressing the abuse of older migrants to support safer ageing in Australia, Australian Research Council, Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (DE26), 2026 ‑ 2029, $919,793.
  • Strengthening university ecosystems for research implementation and impact, Australia Awards Papua New Guinea, Higher Education Partnerships Grant, 2026 ‑ 2027, $199,937.
  • BEFRIENDING WITH GENIE: An intervention to reduce loneliness and increase social support and service access for people living with dementia and their caregivers from CaLD backgrounds, National Health and Medical Research Council, MRFF - Dementia, Ageing and Aged Care Mission - 2025 Dementia, Ageing and Aged Care Grant, 2023 ‑ 2027, $1,480,065.
  • For the Provision of Research on Elder Abuse and Cognitive Impairment, Attorney-General - Commonwealth, Tender, 2025 ‑ 2026, $15,180.
  • No More Shame: Changing health providers recognition and response to elder abuse to reduce associated stigma, National Health and Medical Research Council, MRFF - Dementia, Ageing and Aged Care Mission - 2025 Dementia, Ageing and Aged Care Grant, 2022 ‑ 2026, $75,733.
  • DemiKnow – Decentering Migration Knowledge through an international coalition of research centres in migration, Toronto Metropolitan University, Grant, 2022 ‑ 2025, $31,934.
  • Report on elder abuse in regional, rural and remote communities, Attorney-General - Commonwealth, Grant, 2024 ‑ 2025, $10,977.
  • Guide to interviewing older people and identifying/responding to abuse, Northern Suburbs Community Legal Centre, Grant, 2023, $20,000.
  • Understanding our migrant aged care workforce to create safer, healthier futures for older Western Australians, Forrest Research Foundation, Research Fellowships, 2022 ‑ 2023, $95,518.
  • Home Care Client and Family Caregiver Experience, Southern Cross Care (WA) Inc, Grant, 2023, $9,399.

Research Student Supervision

Current Supervisions

Principal Supervisor

  • Doctor of Philosophy, Filial Care Proxies and filial responsibility: A study of the roles and identities of aged care workers and the factors influencing care quality in Hohhot, Inner Mongolia, China.
  • Doctor of Philosophy, Models of youth ministry in Western Australia
  • Doctor of Philosophy, Youth work in Mongolia: practice and theory

Co-principal Supervisor

  • Doctor of Philosophy, Rural Aging and Psychosocial Care: Unveiling Support Networks of Older Adults in Western Australia

Associate Supervisor

  • Doctor of Philosophy, Exploring the transnational identity experiences of Bhutanese female students in Western Australia
  • Doctor of Philosophy, Dynamic intergenerational relationship of Chinese migrant families in Australia and Canada
  • Doctor of Philosophy, DEMENTIA CARE ACROSS BORDERS

Completed Supervisions

No data available
Skip to top of page