Barbara Blundell

Dr. Barbara Blundell is a Senior Lecturer in the Curtin School of Allied Health within Curtin University's Faculty of Health Sciences. She serves as Director of Graduate Research and is affiliated with Curtin's enAble Institute, focusing on dementia and ageing. Her work emphasizes elder abuse, disability care, human rights advocacy, and social policy responses.

Education: BSW (Hons) from UWA and PhD from Curtin University. Research spans 20+ years, collaborating with governments and NGOs in WA and Queensland. Awards include the 2020 Adam Sutton Crime Prevention Award for her elder abuse research. Teaching responsibilities include Social Work with Older People and Lifespan, Resilience and Risk units.

Her research investigates rurality as a vulnerability factor, advocacy competencies, and grandparent caregiving gaps. Key projects include the WA/Queensland elder abuse prevalence study and policy reviews. She co-authored the WA Elder Abuse Protocol and contributed to parliamentary inquiries.

Professional memberships include the Australian Association of Gerontology (Fellow & WA branch chair), Elder Abuse Action Australia, and ANZSWWER. Her lab work involves lived experience educators in social work training and interdisciplinary policy development.