“I chose La Trobe for its strong focus on social justice, equity and inclusion. This aligned well with my desire to help reduce barriers for people accessing support in the housing and homelessness sector,” Hannah says.
During her Bachelor of Arts (Crime, Justice and Legal Studies) and Master of Arts (Research), Hannah developed valuable skills in research, stakeholder engagement and communications.
“As part of my thesis, I gained practical experience through a research partnership with a council in Melbourne’s inner suburbs,” she says. “I learnt how to manage the expectations of external stakeholders, deliver actionable recommendations and translate complex research findings into more digestible formats.”
She credits this experience as being “instrumental” in helping her find postgraduate work in the community sector.
Hannah is now a Senior Research and Evaluation Officer at Tenants Victoria, where she recently led and authored a study into the legal help-seeking journeys of single-parent renters.
“The findings from this project provided us with a deeper level of understanding of the barriers facing renters as they navigate housing and legal systems, insights that have helped shape service design and delivery decisions,” she says.
For Hannah, the most rewarding part of her work is ensuring research reflects the voices and experiences of the community.
“I love that I get to design research projects that allow me to speak directly to the communities we are here to support, listen to their stories, platform their voices and provide insights that can influence service and system design on an organisational level and in the broader legal sector.”
You can find the report on single-parent renters here.
