Ruth Phillips

Professor Ruth Phillips serves as Professor of Social Policy in the Social Work and Policy Studies program within the Sydney School of Education and Social Work, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, at the University of Sydney, where she has been a full-time academic teaching undergraduate and postgraduate social work and social policy courses since 2002. She earned her BA Honours from Murdoch University and PhD from the University of New South Wales. Her academic interests and research specializations encompass social policy, feminism, the third sector including not-for-profit organizations and NGOs, democracy, social justice, postcolonial perspectives, domestic violence, ageing, gender equality, and civil society, with emphases on Australia, Southeast Asia, and East Asia. Phillips coordinates the BSW Honours program and teaches units such as SCWK3007 Social Justice, Social Citizenship and Social Work, and SCWK4004 Ageing.

Phillips has made significant contributions through authorship and editorship, including the monograph Practising Feminism for Social Welfare: A Global Perspective (2022) and the edited volume Generational Change and Social Policy Challenges: Australia and South Korea (2007). Her influential publications include 'What does the Fourth Wave Mean for Teaching Feminism in Twenty-First Century Social Work?' (Social Work Education, 2014, cited 198 times), 'Undoing an activist response: Feminism and the Australian government's domestic violence policy' (2006, cited 118 times), 'The third sector and democracy in Australia: neoliberal governance and the repression of advocacy' (Australian Journal of Political Science, 2023), and 'Exploring the Role of Frontline Domestic and Family Violence “Advocate-Providers”' (2023). She has supervised around 30 PhD and other research degree students, many international. Recognized for excellence, she received the SUPRA Supervisor of the Year Award in 2023 and the Faculty of Education and Social Work Teaching Excellence Award. In professional leadership, Phillips served as President of the International Society for Third Sector Research (ISTR) for a term, on its Board of Directors, and as a leader in the Australia and New Zealand Third Sector Research (ANZTSR). Her work advances understanding of neoliberal governance's impact on advocacy, feminist practice in social welfare, and policy processes involving NGOs.

Professional Email: ruth.phillips@sydney.edu.au