Focus areas
Economic security; social security; financial wellbeing; work; poverty

Principal Research Fellow, Work and Economic Security and Honorary Principal Fellow, University of Melbourne

Dr Dina Bowman joined BSL in 2009. She has a PhD in sociology, a post-graduate diploma in policy and law, and a Bachelor of Arts. Her current focus is on financial capability and wellbeing.

Contact dbowman@bsl.org.au

Selected BSL publications

Porter et al 2024 Saver Plus at 21: building resilience that lasts

Bowman D & Harrison, U 2024  Inequality in Australia: insights from the Life Chances Study 1990–2024

Harrison, U & Bowman, D 2024  Finding a balance? Work, family and economic security: insights from parents in the Life Chances study

Bowman, D, Porter, E, Kabare, M 2024 Making ends meet: fostering security and dignity in tough times

Stewart, M, Porter, E, Bowman, D & Millane, E 2023  Growing pains: Family Tax Benefit issues and options for reform

Buick, J, Bowman, D, Pinney Meddings, R & Kabare, M 2023  Sustaining Economic Empowerment and Dignity for Women: conceptual framework

Kabare, M & Bowman, D 2022  Flip it: reframing issues affecting women’s economic security in Seymour

Harrison, U & Bowman, D 2022  Return to the family safety net? Economic security as Life Chances participants turn 30

Porter, E & Bowman, D 2021  Losing traction: lessons in financial wellbeing from the COVID crisis

Porter, E & Bowman, D 2021  A brief reprieve? Financial wellbeing after the 2020 COVID-19 lockdowns

Soldatic, K, Bowman, D, Mupanemunda, M & McGee, P 2021  Dead ends: how our social security system is failing people with partial capacity to work

Porter, E & Bowman, D 2021,  Shocks and safety nets: financial wellbeing during the COVID-19 crisis

Bowman, D, Mupanemunda, M & Wickramasinghe, S 2021, Towards a brighter future for low-income women 

Harrison, U, Curry, M & Bowman, D 2020, Setbacks at 30: Life Chances and COVID-19

Porter, E, Bowman, D & Curry, M 2020, All in it together? Financial wellbeing before COVID-19

Bowman, D, Banks, M, Whiteford, P, de Silva, A, Anantharama, N, Csereklyei, S & Mallett, S 2020, Everyone counts: uncovering patterns of Newstart Allowance

Thornton, D, Bowman, D & Mallett, S 2020, Safety net to poverty trap? The twentieth-century origins of Australia’s uneven social security system

Bowman, D & Wickramasinghe, S 2020, Trampolines not traps: enabling economic security for single mothers and their children

Brown, JT & Bowman, D 2020, Economic security and dignity: a financial wellbeing framework

Hart, A, Bowman, D & Mallett, S 2019, Improving the health of older aged care workers

Bowman, D, Allan, M & Levin, I 2019, Getting to work: insights about the transition from education to employment from the Life Chances Study, Stage 11

Bowman, D, Thornton, D & Mallett, S 2019, Reclaiming social security for a just future: a principled approach to reform

Wickramasinghe, S & Bowman, D 2019, Not simply business as usual: insights from Money For Jam, a micro-enterprise initiative for older women

Boese, M, van Kooy, J & Bowman, D 2018, Humanitarian migrants, work and economic security on the urban fringe: how policies and perceptions shape opportunities

Bowman, D & Banks, M 2018, Hard times: Australian households and financial insecurity

Bowman, D, Randrianarisoa, A & Wickramasinghe, S 2018, Working for everyone? Enhancing employment services for mature age jobseekers

Wickramasinghe, S & Bowman, D 2018, Help, but not real help: mature age jobseeker perspectives on employment services in Australia

Randrianarisoa, R & Bowman, D 2018, On the front line: employment services staff perspectives on working with mature age jobseekers

Bowman, D & Randrianarisoa, A 2018, Missing the mark: employer perspectives on employment services and mature age jobseekers in Australia

Banks, M & Bowman, D 2017, Juggling risks: insurance in households struggling with financial insecurity

Bowman, D, Banks, M, Fela, G, Russell, R & de Silva, A 2017, Understanding financial wellbeing in times of uncertainty, Brotherhood of St Laurence and RMIT University, Melbourne.

Bowman, D, Borlagdan, J & Bond, S 2015, Making sense of youth transitions from education to work

Selected external publications

Bowman, D & Soldatic, K 2022 ‘Dead ends: how our social security system is failing people with partial capacity to work’, Social Security Rights Review, 22 February.

Hart, A, Bowman, D & Mallett, S 2021, 'Time for good care and job quality: managing stress among older workers in the aged care sector', Journal of Aging & Social Policy, DOI: 10.1080/08959420.2021.1926202

Yanotti, M, Banks, M, de Silva, A, Anantharama, N, Whiteford, P, Bowman, D & Csereklyei, Z 2021, The utility of new data in understanding housing insecurity, AHURI final report no. 351, Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute Limited, Melbourne. DOI:10.18408/ahuri5321801.

Brown, JT, Banks, M & Bowman, D 2020, 'From me to us: strengthening our financial capabilities', Economic Papers: a Journal of Applied Economics and Policy. First view 28 August. DOI: 10.1111/1759-3441.12295

Hart, A, Bowman, D & Mallett, S 2020, 'Extending the working lives of older personal care workers in the aged care sector', Australian Nursing and Midwifery Journal, vol. 26, no. 11, pp.36–9

Hart, A, Bowman, D & Mallett, S 2020, 'Scheduling longer working lives for older aged care workers: a time and income capability approach', Time and Society, published online 3 May. DOI: 10.1177/0961463X20914099

Banks, M & Bowman, D 2019, 'Bad timing: the temporal dimensions of economic insecurity', Critical Sociology, published online 13 November.

Bowman, D, Mallett, S & Cooney-O'Donoghue, D 2019, 'Diversion ahead? Change is needed but that doesn’t mean that basic income is the answer', in E Klein, J Mays & T Dunlop (eds) 2019, Implementing a basic income in Australia: pathways forward, Palgrave Macmillan.

van Kooy, J & Bowman, D 2018, ‘"Surrounded with so much uncertainty": asylum seekers and manufactured precarity in Australia', Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, published online 23 January. DOI: 10.1080/1369183X.2018.1427563

McGann, M, Ong, R, Bowman, D, Duncan, A, Kimberley, H & Biggs, S 2016, 'Gendered ageism in Australia: changing perceptions of age discrimination among older men and women', Economic Papers, published online 26 September.

Biggs, S, Bowman, D, Kimberley, H & McGann, M 2016, 'Introduction: Policy responses to ageing and the extension of working lives', Social Policy and Society, vol. 15, no. 4, published online 20 September. DOI: 10.1017/S1474746416000269

Bowman, D, McGann, M, Kimberley, H & Biggs, S 2016, 'Activation and active ageing? Mature-age jobseekers' experience of employment services', Social Policy and Society, published online 20 June.

Bowman, D, McGann, M, Kimberley, H & Biggs, S 2016, 'Rusty, invisible and threatening: ageing, capital and employability', Work Employment & Society, first published online 7 June.

McGann, M, Kimberley, H, Bowman, D & Biggs, S 2016, 'The netherworld between work and retirement', Social Policy and Society, FirstView article, published online 3 June.

Biggs, S. McGann, M, Bowman, D & Kimberley, H 2016, 'Work, health and the commodification of life's time: reframing work–life balance and the promise of a long life', Ageing and Society, FirstView article, published online 23 May.

Bowman, D, 2015, 'Caught in transition', Insight, issue 12, pp.18–21.

Bowman, D & Maker, Y 2015, No! Not equal, Future Leaders, Albert Park, Vic.

Bowman, D 2015, ‘The Brotherhood of St Laurence’, Encyclopaedia of world poverty, Sage.