Sandy Ross

I am currently working as Executive Officer at the Financial and Consumer Rights Council Inc, which is the professional body in Victoria for Financial Counsellors, and co-teaching the intensive subject Publics, Policy and Public Services (PPMN 90035) with Yehudi Blacher. Prior to this I worked on complex complaints and in stakeholder engagement roles at the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman.

I completed my PhD examining the legitimacy of the World Food Programme and the international food aid regime in 2008.

This work was published in 2011 as the book The World Food Programme in Global Politics (Boulder Co: First Forum Press/Lynne Rienner Publishers). I was a research fellow (2008-2011) on a project, led by Professor Jenny M Lewis, looking at academic networks and networking, how they relate to research productivity, and the significance of factors such as discipline, gender, seniority and research policy for the forms and effectiveness of academic networking. The project conducted extensive interviews (totalling more than 500) in two time series with academics at three universities - Birmingham (UK), Auckland (New Zealand) and Melbourne (Australia). Our analysis of the first round of data and its implications for research evaluation policy was published in Policy and Politics in September 2010.

My research interests are generally concerned with governance in domestic and international spheres. In particular, I am interested in norms and forms of governance in both government and non-government organisational contexts, and the construction of democratic processes to resolve conflicts and generate accountable decision making in complex national and international social and economic settings.

Prior to undertaking my PhD, I worked for 12 years as a union official for the CSIRO Staff Association and Community and Public Sector Union, representing staff in Commonwealth Government scientific agencies. I have also had extensive community involvements, including a period on the Board (1988-2006) and as Chair of the Board (2003-2006) at the Fitzroy Learning Network, and more recently on the Board (2008-2016) and as Board Chair (2013-2016) at UnitingCare ReGen (2008-2016). As an alumnus of the Williamson Community Leadership Program (2000) I am involved with the Leadership Victoria skillsbank,