Vanessa McDermott

Vanessa specialises in research that focuses on understanding how governance frameworks, and the decision-making that underpins them, can increase the risk / compliance burden for those subject to those rules, inadvertently contributing to inequality and poor outcomes. She is also interested in risk perception and the way that ideas around risk and responsibility inform regulatory responses. Evaluations of initiatives on well-being and/or safety at work or in the community and that seek to inform behaviour change are key themes in her work.

Vanessa has considered the impact of regulatory responses for workers in a range of contexts, such as in early childhood education and family day care, women in project management, professional orchestral musicians in Australia, worker safety in civil construction, and for athletes subject to anti-doping policies in elite sport. Vanessa has researched and led evaluations of organisational behaviour change programs in both the private and public sector, translating findings into actionable recommendations for change to influence policy.

Her book The War on Drugs in Sport: Moral Panics and Organizational Legitimacy was published by Routledge in 2015.