Professor Joanne Bryant | UNSW Research

My Expertise

Critical perspectives of youth, substance use, and sexual health; social construction of youth; social organisation of health and health knowledges

Keywords

Fields of Research (FoR)

Sociology, Sociology of health, Infectious diseases, Social determinants of health

SEO tags

Substance Abuse

Infectious Diseases

Youth/child development and welfare

Biography

Joanne Bryant is Professor of Sociology in the School of Social Sciences, Faculty of Arts, Design and Architecture. She is an Australian Research Council Future Fellow (2023 -2026).

Joanne leads research on young people’s substance use and sexual health, aiming to improve treatment experience and outcomes by focusing on how social conditions rather than individual attributes shape their opportunities. Joanne has published over 100 peer review papers and forty technical research monographs. She has secured over $11M in research funding, including from the ARC and NHMRC, and is a member of several government and sector expert advisory committees.

Joanne is Editorial Board member for the journals Health Sociology Review, International Journal of Drug Policy, and Culture Health and Sexuality She is a member of The Australian Sociological Association.

Joanne's most recent research projects include:

From resilience to capabilities: Rethinking strengths-based approaches in youth health https://www.unsw.edu.au/arts-design-architecture/our-schools/social-sciences/our-research/engagement-impact/our-projects/rethinking-strengths-based-approaches-in-youth-health

Resource landscapes for young people leaving residential drug and alcohol services https://www.unsw.edu.au/arts-design-architecture/our-schools/social-sciences/our-research/engagement-impact/our-projects/resource-landscapes-young-people-leaving-residential-drug-alcohol-services

What we do well: Stories of love, sex and relationships https://www.unsw.edu.au/research/csrh/our-projects/what-we-do-well#:~:text=This%20project%20focuses%20on%20the,draw%20on%20to%20do%20so.

My Grants

Selected Projects

Australian Research Council Future Fellowship 2023-2026 “Reimagining strengths approaches to drug and alcohol care for young people” Bryant. $1,115,000

Australian Research Council Discovery Grant 2020-2023 “Aftercare for young people: A sociological study of resource opportunities” Bryant, MacLean, Skattebol, Hallam, Ferry. $308,000

Australian Research Council Linkage Grant 2018-2020 “Fostering the sexual well-being of Aboriginal young people by building on social, cultural and personal strengths.” Bryant, Bell, Bolt, Graham, Doyle, Murphy, Treloar, Browne, Aggleton. $211,000

NSW Health COVID-19 Research Grants Round 1 Existing Projects 2020-2021 “A rapid qualitative assessment of COVID-19 health needs in an urban Aboriginal community.” Bryant, Bolt, Beetson, Doyle, Graham, Bell, Murphy, Newman, Gardner, Wilms, Penning, with partner organisations South Western Sydney Local Health District, Nepean Blue Mountains Local Health District. $152,092

Network of Alcohol and Other Drug Agencies NADA 2019-2020 “Access and Equity Project: research enquiry into the current barriers and enablers associated with access and equity in NGO alcohol and other drug treatment in NSW.” Bryant, Brener, Horwitz, Lafferty. $77,000

NSW Health NGO Evaluation Grants. 2017-2019 “Evaluation of the Ted Noffs Street University Program.” Bryant, Ferry, Noffs, Palmer, Mao, Treloar $150,000

National Health and Medical Research Council Synergy Grant, 2020-2025 “Eliminating endemic sexually transmissible infections in remote Australia using targeted multidisciplinary strategies.” Ward, Guy, Kaldor, Bryant, Liu, Whiley, Donovan. $5M.

Australian Research Council Discovery Grant, 2016-2018 Critical perspectives on serodiscordance in family life. Newman, Persson, valentine, Hamilton, Bryant, Wallace. $355,000

My Qualifications

BSc, MSc, PhD

My Awards

UNSW Arc Outstanding Postgraduate Supervisor Award 2020

UNSW Arc Postgraduate Supervisor Award 2018

My Research Supervision

Areas of supervision

Joanne supervises postgraduate students with an interest in the social construction of youth, critical studies of illicit drug use, harm reduction, sexuality and sexual health. She supervises research projects that draw on qualitative and mixed methods approaches.

Higher Degree Graduates:

Brandon Bear (Masters 2025) Exploring salutogenic influences and understandings of health and wellbeing in sexuality and gender diverse adults

Theresa Caruana (PhD 2025) Interpersonal and structural dimensions of opioid agonist treatment stigma in New South Wales pharmacies

Ellen Finlay (PhD 2025) Growing old well in the 21st century. Perspectives of Elders and older Aboriginal people living in the greater Sydney region

Sujith Kumar (PhD 2021) Sexual citizenship among minority ethnic LGBTQ youth in Australia

Kristy Gardner (Masters 2021) The role of technology in facilitating access to sexual health education and services for Aboriginal youth in an urban setting

Naveed Noor (PhD 2019) The social logic of sexual risk taking among homeless young people in Pakistan

Hannah Wilson (Masters 2014) Exploring the potential role of tattooists delivering harm reduction to at risk clients

Maude Frances (PhD 2014) Consuming information about hepatitis C: Reflexivity, sociality and practice

Dana Paquette (PhD 2011) The role of respondent-driven sampling in the behavioural surveillance of people who inject drugs

Currently supervising

Kacey Martin (PhD) Understanding Maori experiences of eating disorders in Aotearoa/New Zealand and Australia: A sociological inquiry into Mauiui Kai across the Maori diaspora.

Teneale Lavender (PhD) Learning from Aboriginal approaches of drug and alcohol treatment to improve treatment outcomes in NSW utilising yarning methodology

Kristy Gardner (PhD University of Melbourne) How Aboriginal young people's perceptions and experiences of sexual health fit with service providers views

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