معرفی
Dr. Deirdre Drake serves as a Senior Lecturer in Psychology within the School of Arts and Humanities at Edith Cowan University (ECU). She has maintained her academic position at ECU since 2000, following prior teaching experience as a Psychology tutor and Criminology lecturer at The University of Melbourne. Her academic career spans over two decades with consistent contributions across teaching, research, and supervision in psychological science.
Dr. Drake completed her Doctor of Philosophy at The University of Melbourne in 2000. Her academic path began unconventionally as she initially trained as a lawyer before returning to education as a mature-aged student to pursue psychology.
Her research program demonstrates remarkable interdisciplinary breadth while maintaining clear thematic coherence. Dr. Drake's work consistently examines human adaptation to life transitions across the lifespan, with particular attention to legal contexts and human-animal relationships. She has made significant contributions to understanding how individuals navigate environmental displacement, family transitions, aging processes, and justice system interactions. Her research on companion animals has illuminated the psychological significance of human-animal bonds across developmental stages, while her forensic psychology work has advanced understanding of juvenile justice processes and pre-sentence evaluations in Australia. The interdisciplinary nature of her work is evident in collaborations spanning psychology, criminology, environmental studies, and health sciences.
Dr. Drake's research portfolio includes substantial grant funding, most notably the $127,000 National Disaster Risk Reduction Grant (2024-2025) for the REVAL project examining natural disaster risk, and the $80,791 Constable Care grant (2020-2021) evaluating ethical leadership programs. Her earlier funded research includes investigations of family financial norms, FIFO living arrangements, and family violence court practices.
- Responding to Natural Disaster Risk: Evaluating Vulnerability, Awareness and Liveability (REVAL) - $127,000 (2024-2025)
- An Evaluation of the Ethical Leadership Program - $80,791 (2020-2021)
- Families and Money: Norms and behaviours between and within cultures - $17,086 (2016)
- New Directions in FIFO living - $58,979 (2012-2013)
- Victims' voices in Family Violence Courts - $39,000 (2005-2008)
- Public expectations of appropriate arrangements for children - $5,995 (2004-2005)
As a dedicated supervisor, Dr. Drake currently guides ten doctoral candidates as Principal, Co-principal, or Associate Supervisor, with research topics spanning personality disorders, violence risk assessment, false guilty pleas, aging experiences, and coercive control in legal systems. Her completed supervision record includes twenty-five doctoral students whose work addresses diverse psychological phenomena including terrorism discourse, intimate partner violence, dog relinquishment, and interethnic relationships. Her supervision approach integrates theoretical rigor with practical application, particularly in forensic and clinical contexts.
Dr. Drake maintains active professional engagement through membership in the Australian Psychological Society. Her scholarly impact is reflected in consistent publication across high-quality journals in psychology, criminology, and interdisciplinary fields, with recent work addressing contemporary issues including LGBTQA+ family dynamics, environmental migration, and personality disorder classification systems.
