Maree Petersen

Associate Professor Maree Petersen is an academic at the School of Nursing, Midwifery and Social Work, The University of Queensland. She holds a Bachelor of Arts, Postgraduate Diploma, and Doctor of Philosophy from The University of Queensland. Petersen leads a research program focused on disadvantaged older populations, examining housing insecurity, homelessness pathways, elder abuse interventions, and rural service provision through critical social work and policy lenses.

Her research investigates:

• Precarious housing trajectories across the life course
• Elder abuse prevention in diverse communities
• Structural barriers to aged care access
• Retirement village contractual frameworks
• Rural service delivery models

Petersen's extensive publication record demonstrates consistent focus on housing instability among older Australians, particularly women. Her work employs qualitative methodologies to examine systemic failures at housing-health-income policy intersections. Recent articles explore migrant elder abuse, rental housing health impacts, and care coordination in rural communities.

She has secured significant funding including ARC Discovery Projects (2021-2025) for elder abuse theoretical frameworks and life course housing studies (2018-2024). Additional grants support evaluations of homelessness interventions, retirement village regulations, and rural wellness initiatives.

Petersen actively supervises doctoral candidates researching elder abuse interventions, CALD community experiences, aged care reforms, and healthy aging among migrants. She contributes to policy development through government reports on homelessness prevention and retirement village reforms.