Professor Deanna Grant-Smith | UniSC | University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia

Deanna Grant-Smith is Professor of Management and Discipline Lead.

Deanna is a critical qualitative researcher with extensive experience conducting research in a government and academic context. She has research expertise in labour and responsible management practices and researches the the social, economic and cultural inequalities of work and the potential for exploitation presented by unpaid and unwaged work. With a focus on amplifying the voices of workers, Deanna highlights the institutional and policy responses required to safeguard the wellbeing of all workers, including surge and contingent workforces and those engaged in work-integrated learning placements and multilevel marketing organisations. She is also committed to advancing sustainable governance and infrastructural justice and has conducted research on a range of topics including participatory approaches to disaster preparedness and climate adaptation, gender-sensitive infrastructure and mobility policies, and the the regulation and responsibilisation of heterotopic, ludic and natural spaces. She has a particular interest in the potential for radical, grassroots and insurgent practices to create change at the local, organisational and policy level. Deanna’s work contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals: SDG8 Decent Work & Economic Growth; SDG10 Reduce Inequalities; SDG11 Sustainability Cities & Communities; and SDG 16 Peace, Justice & Strong Institutions.

To date, Deanna’s research has been funded via grants from a range of funding organisations including ACEN, Ecstra Foundation, Financial Basics Foundation, iMove CRC, National Centre for Student Equity in Higher Education, RACE 2030 CRC, Services to Youth Council, and WACE. She is open to requests to undertake funded commerical research and has expertise in providing policy analysis and advice, developing and delivering consultative approaches to inform strategic evidence-based decision-making, staff training and development, workforce planning, and organisational strategy and development.

Deanna is open to receiving requests for supervision from Honours, MPhil and PhD students seeking to undertake critical qualitative or mixed methods research broadly aligned with any of her areas of research interest  and expertise.