Associate Deans

Professor Julian Grant

BN (Hons 1A), Grad’ Cert’ Paeds, Grad Cert CCHN, PhD

Julian has national and international standing in the discipline of child and family health nursing in research that attends to health inequities experienced by children and young people. Her research focuses on understanding the individual and systemic barriers for the nursing and interdisciplinary workforce tasked with promoting the wellbeing of children and young people. Particularly those who are vulnerable due to the intersections of race, gender and class and those at risk of, or exposed to abuse or neglect. This has involved working with families and mothers, nurses, midwives and the interdisciplinary workforce across health, education and social welfare. Her research has subsequently moved into developing and trialling innovations and resources that can improve health and wellbeing for vulnerable children. After working substantially with refugee mothers and families, and due to her increasing reputation as a culturally safe researcher, Julian has been invited to work with children and families from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander backgrounds. Having worked in clinical practice and education with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in Ceduna (SA) Port Lincoln (SA) and Gunnedah (NSW) Julian is committed to working collaboratively for change.

As immediate outgoing President of Maternal, Child and Family Health Nurses Australia, Julian led the core professional workforce providing primary health care for well infants, and young children in Australia. She is regularly invited to make expert submissions on national issues related to infant and child health, wellbeing and child protection. Her work strengthens the child health, education and welfare workforce, and shapes policy to enable families to optimise their children’s health and wellbeing.

Julian believes that teaching is about enabling and developing courageous, critical global citizens. It is about nurturing the pursuit of knowledge where that pursuit takes students to unimagined places and spaces. At a time of immense global tension, culturally, environmentally and economically, there is urgent need for committed guides to foster excellence in those who have a passion to explore, engage and innovate. Education in the university sector is the ultimate combination of research and education for change, where the university as an institution for public good, is responsible to promulgate knowledge for future society. In the School of Nursing, Midwifery and Indigenous Health we must attend to health inequities and work together for improvements in health care for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and all peoples living and working in regional Australia.

Julian is an engaged and collaborative HDR supervisor with domestic and international students pursuing excellence in new knowledge.

Julian was the lead architect of Post Graduate curriculum across 13 specialisations from Graduate Certificate to Masters level at Flinders University in South Australia. This included programs for research preparation. She has also developed Masters level paediatric and child health curriculum for Stikes jenderal A Yani Cimah University, Bandung, West Java.

Julian has secured $1,077,526.00 in research support income since 2010. Two grants are from category 1 sources, one from category 2, and five from category 3 sources. The remainder are from alternate sources. Julian has taken the lead in writing and researching all but four of these applications. As an ethnographer her primary aim is to be insightful; understanding people and the world. She explores the juncture between child health care needs and interdisciplinary workforce capacity, with an aim of improving health outcomes for children rendered vulnerable due to the intersections of race, gender and class and those experiencing, or at risk of experiencing abuse and neglect.

Current funded research includes:

2019 Innovation Partnership Seed Grant (IPSG) - Intergenerational rhythms of care: translating knowledge for an innovative co-location between a dementia aged care facility and a Montessori middle school – CI 2 - RSO ID 3000012232 CAT 3 $50,000

2018 Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF) – Translation SA – Safely Sleeping Aboriginal Babies in SA-Doing it Together – Lead CI RSO ID 3000011180 CAT 1 $196,860.00

Associate Editor-Journal of Child Health Care

Immediate Past President-Maternal Child and Family Health Nurses Australia, 2011-2015, 2018

View Professor Grant's publications on CRO.