Kate is completing her PhD under the supervison of Dr Ann Joselynn (Jos) Baltra-Ulloa and Professor Bob Pease.

After completing a Bachelor of Social Work with Honours (1^st Class) in 2011, Kate worked as a social worker within the Burnie community working with young people. Her PhD project explores Whiteness within the social work profession, focusing on the practice of white social workers who work with people seeking asylum and people of refugee background.

Kate is deeply interested in Critical Whiteness Theory, the critiques of how Northern framings of knowledge are privileged and adopting a decolonising lens in relation to practice, research and education. She is also interested in exploring strategies to build social cohesion and enhancing leadership skill development within refugee arrived communities.

During her candidature, Kate has been involved in several research projects. She was involved with YoungMILE – a unique leadership and mentorship program funded by the Tasmanian Community Fund for emerging leaders from refugee arrived communities in Tasmania. Kate was also involved in an interdisciplinary project piloting a creative strengths-based mentoring approach, aimed at improving the experiences and retention rates of graduate teachers and social workers.

She has also been part of the teaching teams within the Social Work and Sociology disciplines for several years. For example, in Semester 1, 2019, Kate was the unit coordinator for HGW412 & HGW614 Intercultural Social Work Practice.