Angelika Papadopoulos

My research aims to:

·         Identify and advance understanding of policy-generated social inequities, and to contribute collaboratively to their remediation.

·         Explore and document the conceptual histories of professional practices that shape contemporary policy and practice formations.

·         Promote integrated, interprofessional and interdisciplinary practice as a response to contemporary social challenges.

I pursue these aims through analysis of the impacts of social and institutional change on the discursive formulation of policy problems and responses, and the social equity implications of policy settings in social security, mental health, housing, higher education, and social work practice. Policy is understood as a discursive technology that theorises and constructs the social problems that it claims to discover and ameliorate. From this perspective, policy discourses structure the social-institutional field, social and professional practices, and life course possibilities, in both transformative and inequitable ways. 

Using a range of methods - including critical discourse analysis, conceptual analysis, secondary data analysis and critical policy studies approaches - I conduct conceptual and empirical research that understands policy-in-practice, both in the production of social inequity, and as a site of its remediation. My research monitors existing policy impact through the identification of unintended consequences that take the form of ‘unfair, avoidable or remediable differences among groups of people.’ (World Health Organisation) and contributes to the development of policy and practices that promote social equity.

Social Work, Policy and Administration, Sociology, Education Systems, Performing Arts and Creative Writing, Other Economics