Janeen Baxter

Janeen Baxter is Director of the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Children and Families over the Life Course and Kathleen Fitzpatrick Laureate Fellow at the Institute for Social Science Research, Faculty of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences at the University of Queensland. She is an elected fellow of both the Academy of Social Sciences and the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, and serves on multiple government advisory committees including the Commonwealth Department of Social Services Child Support Expert Committee and the Australian Bureau of Statistics Life Course Data Initiative Household and Family Structures Working Group.

Professor Baxter's research focuses on social disadvantage, gender inequality, household and family dynamics, life course and longitudinal studies. Her work investigates gender inequality in paid and unpaid work, changing pathways through the life course focusing on family transitions and wellbeing outcomes, and the transmission of social disadvantage over the life course and across generations. She has published extensively in these areas and has supervised numerous higher degree students and research fellows.

Her recent publications demonstrate a strong emphasis on family dynamics across the life course, with particular attention to gender inequality, parenting transitions, and social disadvantage. The research employs both qualitative and quantitative methods, often using longitudinal data to track changes over time. Key themes include household economic arrangements, child wellbeing in various family contexts, and the impact of social policies on family formation and stability. There is a notable focus on out-of-home care, domestic violence, and the experiences of vulnerable populations including Indigenous children and immigrant communities.

• ARC Laureate Fellow
• Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences
• Fellow of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences
• Member of CEDA Council on Economic Policy
• Member of Social Policy Research Centre Advisory Board
• Former Chair of the College of Experts for the Australian Research Council

Professor Baxter has supervised over 20 PhD students to completion and currently supervises five PhD candidates. She has attracted over $122 million in competitive research funding to drive her research program, including the ARC Centre of Excellence for Children and Families over the Life Course (2021-2027) and the "Bringing Equality Home: A New Gender Agenda" Laureate Fellowship (2024-2029). Her research evaluations have directly influenced national policy on paid parental leave and Dad and Partner Pay.

As Director of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Children and Families over the Life Course, Professor Baxter leads a multidisciplinary research team organized around three interconnected programs: People (individual-level factors), Places (community-level factors), and Opportunities (system-level factors). The Centre's work focuses on breaking the cycle of deep and persistent disadvantage in Australia through evidence-based research, policy development, and capacity building.