Meet the team

Dr Ben Mathews is a Research Professor in the School of Law at Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane, Australia, Principal Research Fellow in the QUT Faculty of Business and Law, and Adjunct Professor at Johns Hopkins University, Bloomberg School of Public Health.  He was a Professorial Fellow to the Royal Commission Into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

Dr Mathews is an internationally renowned researcher on child maltreatment, conducting innovative, transformative research to assist in preventing, detecting, and responding to child abuse and neglect.  He is especially recognised for his research into how legal and social systems can best define, prevent, identify, and respond to child sexual abuse.

Dr Zac Seidler is a clinical psychologist, researcher and leading men’s mental health expert. 

He currently holds dual roles as Global Director of Men’s Health Research at Movember and Senior Research Fellow with Orygen at the University of Melbourne. If you meet for a beer, don’t get him started on gender politics. 

Zac has dedicated his academic and professional career towards further understanding men’s mental health and masculinity. His ultimate goal is to help reduce the staggering rates of male suicide and domestic violence worldwide.

Tarang Chawla is a recovering lawyer, storyteller, campaigner and activist. Tarang is the co-founder of Not One More Niki, a campaign to end violence against women and children, named in honour of his younger sister Nikita who was murdered in 2015. Tarang is a Victorian Multicultural Commissioner, sessional academic at Monash University and is on the Board of the Australian Republic Movement. In 2022, Tarang hosted “There’s No Place Like Home”, a double award-winning podcast about domestic abuse, has been named a Young Australian of the Year Finalist, the Young Community Achiever of the Year Award Winner, twice listed as one of the Top 25 Most Influential People Working for Social Change and one of Australia’s Top 40 Under 40 Most Influential Asian-Australians. Tarang’s work has appeared across all Australian media outlets on TV, print, online and internationally on the BCC, Times of India and Hindustan Times.

Natasha has an international and national profile as a human rights and gender equality expert, working with governments and agencies in the region to build knowledge and technical capacity. 

While specialising in the rights of women at work, Natasha brings to this a holistic and intersectional understanding of disability rights, age discrimination and racial equality. Natasha has 20 years of experience as a senior manager and leader in the government sector and prior to establishing Intersection, led significant national policy reforms including: 

Set the Standard, the Independent Review into Commonwealth Parliamentary Workplaces (2021), Respect@Work, the National Inquiry into Sexual Harassment in Australian Workplaces (2020), and Change the Course, on sexual assault and harassment at Australian Universities (2017).

As the Director of the NSW Office for Women, Natasha led the NSW Government response to domestic and family violence under the NSW Blueprint for Reform focusing on system reform, primary prevention and support for women experiencing violence. 

Natasha is a Justice of the Peace in NSW and has degrees in Arts and Commerce in international development and economics and a Master of Global Law from the University of Sydney. Natasha sits on the boards of Full Stop Australia, Plan International Australia and Monte Sant’ Angelo Mercy College.

Kate Jenkins was appointed for a five-year term as Sex Discrimination Commissioner in April 2016. Her term was extended to April 2023. During her term, her purpose was to advance gender equality and the rights of LGBTIQ+ communities, consistent with the Sex Discrimination Act and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women. Her work responded to national conversations, sparked cultural change, and improved law, policies, practices and funding to foster greater gender equality and address sexual harassment, particularly in Australian workplaces.

Prior to joining the Commission, Kate spent three years as the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commissioner, 20 years as lead equal opportunity partner with Herbert Smith Freehills and many years serving on the boards of Berry Street Victoria, Heide Museum of Modern Art and Carlton Football Club. She is also an Ambassador for the FIFA2023 Women’s World Cup.

Padma Raman PSM is Executive Director of the Office for Women (OFW) at the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. Prior to joining OFW in September 2023, she was the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Australia's National Research Organisation for Women's Safety Limited (ANROWS) from 2021. In her time as CEO, Padma established ANROWS as the widely recognised leading authoritative voice on evidence to end violence against women and children.

Before starting as CEO of ANROWS, Padma was the Chief Executive of the Australian Human Rights Commission for 11 years. Prior to that she established and was Chief Executive Officer of the Victorian Law Reform Commission for 9 years and served as a part-time commissioner of the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission for 5 years.

Padma has a wealth of experience as a senior executive at both the state and federal level, and in 2018 was awarded the Public Service Medal (PSM) for outstanding service leading significant cultural, technological and governance change. She has a Master of Laws by research focusing on the experiences of immigrant and Indigenous women under the Australian legal system.

Padma is also appointed by the Commonwealth Government as an independent member of the ANU Council and further serves on the Students Safety and Wellbeing Committee of Council.

Maree has worked with young people – and on issues affecting young people – since 1993. She has developed and delivered programs focusing on sexual violence prevention, sexual diversity, pornography, and prevention of sexually transmissible infections. Maree presents about pornography, its impact on young people, and what we can do about it, at conferences, professional learning workshops and parent events in Australia and around the world. She has been interviewed for radio and television, and published articles on young people, sexuality and pornography in online and print media.

Jessica Sanders is an author and social worker; however she considers herself as more of a ‘social impact entrepreneur’. Jess has a passion for creating resources that nurture positive mental health and promote gender equality. Jess spends her day writing books, facilitating school based workshops, drinking ridiculous amounts of coffee and running a social justice campaign for young people.

Jayneen Sanders (aka Jay Dale) is an experienced author, publisher, elementary school teacher, mother of three and an active advocate for body safety, gender equality and respectful relationship education being taught both in homes and in schools. She is also lead author of Engage Literacy published by Capstone Classroom, and has published over 100 stories for children. Jayneen feels passionately that we can do so much more to keep our children safe by teaching them age-appropriate and empowering prevention education.

Raewyn is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia, a recipient of the American Sociological Association's award for distinguished contribution to the study of sex and gender, and of the Australian Sociological Association's award for distinguished service to sociology in Australia. Raewyn's teaching fields have included general sociology, social theory, sociology of education, gender relations, sexuality, and research methods. Raewyn has conducted applied studies and given policy advice to governments about poverty and education, AIDS prevention, gender equity, and other fields.

Dr Michael Flood is an Associate Professor and researcher who focuses on gender, sexuality, and interpersonal violence. At present his research is focused on interpersonal violence and its prevention, particularly with reference to men and masculinities. He has made a significant contribution to scholarly and community understanding of men’s and boys’ involvements in preventing violence against women and building gender equality.

Dr Nicky McWilliam is a mediator with Sydney Mediation Partnership, a mediation and dispute resolution practice in Sydney which she co-founded with her colleague Danielle Jaku-Greenfield. Nicky holds a Masters of Law in dispute resolution and PhD (majoring in mediation and dispute resolution) from UTS and also has undergraduate law and arts degrees from the University of Sydney. She has experience in community, commercial, workplace, construction, family and general mediation and is currently involved with government, commercial and community organizations in relation to implementing community mediation programs in workplace, commercial and corrections communities.

Moving between academia, industry and policy audiences, Joy’s focus is to translate complex research findings into practical, applied insights and recommendations that result in impactful change for individuals and collectives. Her research prioritises an understanding of peoples lived experience for effective policy-making and implementation. Her experience working with organisations across both the public and private sector has equipped her with significant knowledge of the common but complex problems faced by organisations, and the ability to provide evidence-based advice on a range of issues related to organisational culture.

Elaine Unterhalter is a Professor of Education and International Development at the Institute of Education, University College London. Dr Unterhalter works on themes concerned with gender, race and class inequalities and their bearing on education. Her specialist interests are in the capability approach and human development and education in Africa, particularly South Africa. Her current concerns are with education, poverty and global social justice.