The lecturers of Community Development at Murdoch University

Yvonne Haigh - Image

Meet Yvonne Haigh

Lecturer, Social Sciences and Humanities

"There’s many things about teaching that I really enjoy but my main joy is to see students start to realise how theory and practice connect and what this can bring to their lives.

"I love to bring in stories from my life and people I’ve met through my research as a way to show students the connections between what the words say in the textbooks and how this can look in everyday life. It gives me a great deal of satisfaction to then hear students share their stories and connect these to ideas that have been covered in the unit.

"In my view, learning at university is about taking some time to explore your own thinking, to question why you see the world the way you do and to consider alternative ideas and views that can alter your view of yourself and others in the broader community.

"I have published articles and reports on youth and crime, housing policy and redevelopment, homelessness in Western Australia and family intervention services.

"I am also interested in exploring how organisations develop their ethical practice and how the processes within organisations act to enhance or constrain ethics in our daily lives."

Education

  • I completed a PhD at Murdoch University; my thesis explored the way in which ethics impacts on our day to day encounters with a case study that looked into ethics in the WA Police Service.


Publications

  • I’m currently writing my second book, The power of professional writing: effecting social change in a global culture (Palgrave).


Research

  • Doing research is a great deal of fun! Exploring people’s ideas about their lives and relating these to how we can make sense of the world is one of the most enjoyable things you could do. Research involves exploring an idea and being open to where that idea could take you – it is always surprising. While a lot of my research has explored the darker sides of life – crime, homelessness, child abuse and policing – the themes and ideas that I have taken from researching these areas always inspires me to do more.

    My research plays a great role in my teaching as I always refer to the stories of the people I meet in my research as examples of how policies impact on every aspect of our lives. From how young people engage in what could be seen as ‘risky’ behaviour to the ways in which decisions by policy makers impact on how we live, all provide valuable insights into how society manages to keep going. I always like to use these examples in my lectures and many of these examples provide students with great ideas for their own projects and areas of research.