Natasha GinnivanView profile
Academic
Dr. Natasha Ginnivan is an Adjunct Lecturer and Senior Research Associate with the School of Population Health at the University of New South Wales. She serves as an Associate Investigator with the Ageing Futures Institute, where her research focuses on psychology and attitudes to ageing, stigma and ageing, and self-perceptions of ageing. Her educational background includes a Bachelor of Science (Psychology) from UNSW, a Graduate Diploma in Psychology from Macquarie University, and a PhD in Population Health, Psychology & Ageing from the Australian National University. Dr. Ginnivan's research encompasses the lived experience of ageing and dementia, with particular focus on ageing in marginalised populations, including ageing prisoners. Her current research investigates elder abuse in the form of financial abuse and drug mule scams, alongside ageing prisoner health. She has pioneered innovative methodologies using immersive art-based approaches and virtual reality to engage with the embodied, sensory and affective experience of living with dementia. Her work often intersects criminology, gerontology, and digital health technologies. Her publication record demonstrates consistent contributions to prisoner health research, particularly for older adults in the justice system. The trajectory of her work shows progression from examining media portrayals of older people to specialized studies on ageing prisoners and dementia in custodial settings, increasingly incorporating advanced methodologies including virtual reality and text mining of research literature. Best Paper presentation by a student, Emerging Researchers in Ageing Conference, ARC Centre of Excellence in Population Ageing Research, University of New South Wales, November, 2011, $250 ANU Vice-Chancellor travel grant $3000 (travelling to the Philippines for field work / data collection), December, 2011 Dr. Ginnivan has secured multiple research grants totaling over $1 million, including funding from the UNSW Ageing Futures Institute, Australian Human Rights Institute, and ARC Centre of Excellence in Population Ageing Research. Her projects address ageism interventions, dementia care pathways, and the specific needs of older prisoners. She collaborates extensively with multidisciplinary teams across psychology, criminology, public health, and digital technology fields. Notable projects include SEASONS (Shifting Expectations and Age Stereotypes of Older persons), DECODE (Daily-life Contexts and perceived Age-based judgements in a Lab without Walls), and ASCAPE (Audio App-delivered Screening for Cognition and Age-related Health in Older Prisoners). She is actively involved with creative research initiatives such as 'The Visit' and 'Course of Empathy,' which utilize virtual reality technology to build understanding of dementia experiences and promote empathy. Her work has been presented at major international conferences including IEEE VR, International Conference on Interactive Storytelling, and the World Psychiatric Association Congress.
