Rate My Professor Lesley Laing

Lesley Laing is an Honorary Associate Professor in the Sydney School of Education and Social Work at the University of Sydney. Holding a Bachelor of Social Work (Honours), Graduate Certificate in Educational Studies (Higher Education), Certificate IV in Assessment and Workplace Training, and a PhD in social work from the University of New South Wales (1996), she brings extensive practical experience to her academic role. Before joining the University in 2003 as a Lecturer—later promoted to Senior Lecturer in 2006 and Honorary Associate Professor since 2017—Laing worked as a social worker in community health, child and family mental health, and child protection. She directed the NSW Education Centre Against Violence, developing statewide training programs for health professionals on responses to sexual assault, domestic violence, and child abuse. In 2000, she founded the Australian Domestic and Family Violence Clearinghouse at UNSW.

Laing's scholarship centers on domestic violence, its intersections with family law and child protection systems, violence prevention, and social work practice. Her major publications include "Therapy with Harming Fathers, Victimized Children and their Mothers after Parental Child Sexual Assault: Forging Enduring Safety" (Routledge, 2018, co-authored with D. Tolliday and J. Spangaro); "Social Work and Domestic Violence: Developing Critical and Reflective Practice" (Sage, 2013, with C. Humphreys); and edited volume "Challenging Silence: Innovative Responses to Sexual and Domestic Violence" (Allen & Unwin, 1999, with J. Breckenridge). Peer-reviewed articles feature "Secondary Victimization: Domestic Violence Survivors Navigating the Family Law System" (Violence Against Women, 2016), "Practitioner Perspectives on Collaboration Across Domestic Violence, Child Protection, and Family Law: Who's Minding the Gap?" (Australian Social Work, 2018), and "Exploring Gender Differences in Domestic Violence Reported to the NSW Police Force" (Current Issues in Criminal Justice, 2020). She has earned Faculty Teaching Excellence Awards in 2003 and 2009, and the Edna Ryan Award. Laing contributes to policy through statutory roles on the NSW Domestic Violence Death Review Team and past leadership in preventing violence against women councils, alongside research projects evaluating integrated services for violence survivors.