Shelley Mallett
Director, Social Policy and Research Centre, and Professorial Fellow, University of Melbourne

Shelley Mallett is the Professorial Fellow in Social Policy in the School of Social and Political Sciences at the University of Melbourne and Director, Social Policy and Research Centre, at BSL.
Shelley’s career has been diverse, spanning service delivery, service development and training, as well as academic research and teaching. Shelley gained her PhD from La Trobe University after completing earlier degrees in Arts and speech pathology.
While her research interests are broad, she has particular expertise in homelessness and housing research, especially youth homelessness.
A former member of the Victorian Drug and Alcohol Prevention Council and longstanding board member of the Council to Homeless Persons, she currently co-chairs the Australian Bureau of Statistics Homelessness Reference group.
Shelley is the author of two books, including Moving out and moving on: young people’s pathways in and through homelessness, and the recipient of several research awards, including the DM Myers award, and the VicHealth Public Health Research award.
Contact smallett@bsl.org.au
Selected BSL publications
Mallett, S, James, S, Borlagdan, J, Thornton, D & Brown, D 2022, Applied systemic change: an implementation guide for building capability in human service systems
Connolly, J & Mallett, S 2022, Home learning with HIPPY: results and learning from the HIPPY Longitudinal Study and the HIPPY Tutors Study
Brown, D & Mallett, S 2021, Environmental scan part 1: Current research and interventions to promote economic participation of people with disability
Mallett, S, Brown, D & Finnis, J 2021, Environmental scan part 2: Views of experts on effective employment interventions for people with disability
Thies, A, Warr, D, Mallett, S & Brown, D 2021 10 strategies for improving employment outcomes for people with disability
Connolly, J & Mallett, S 2020, Changing children’s trajectories: results of the HIPPY Longitudinal Study
Bowman, D, Banks, M, Whiteford, P, de Silva, A, Anantharama, N, Csereklyei, Z & Mallett, S 2020 Everyone counts: uncovering patterns of Newstart Allowance
Clarke, K, Borlagdan, J & Mallett, S 2020, Young people and vocational education and training (COVID-19 Insights)
Thornton, D, Bowman, D & Mallett, S 2020, Safety net to poverty trap? The twentieth-century origins of Australia’s uneven social security system
Thornton, D, Politanski, D, Borlagdan, J & Mallett, S 2020, Children and young people on the edge of care, out of home and alone (COVID-19 Insights)
Coddou, M, Borlagdan, J & Mallett, S 2019, Starting a future that means something to you: outcomes from a longitudinal study of Education First Youth Foyers
Bowman, D, Mallett, S & Cooney-O’Donoghue, D 2017, Basic income: trade-offs and bottom lines
Hart, A, Borlagdan, J & Mallett, S 2017, Paying attention to the future: piloting the Certificate 1 in Developing Independence in out-of-home care settings
Selected external publications
Kavanagh, A, Brown, D, Dickinson, H, Mallett, S, Marck, C & Weld-Blundell, I 2021, Economic participation and employment – summary report, The University of Melbourne.
Kavanagh, A, Brown, D, Dickinson, H, Mallett, S, Marck, C & Weld-Blundell, I 2021, Evidence review: Strategies to increase employment and economic participation for people with a cognitive disability, The University of Melbourne.
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
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
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.
Mallett, S, Thornton, D & Bryant, D 2018, Steering social innovation: community agencies and the commissioning of Education First Youth Foyers , case study written for and published by the Case Program, The Australia and New Zealand School of Government, anzsog.edu.au
Levin, I, Borlagdan, J, Mallett, S & Ben, J 2015, 'A critical examination of the youth foyer model for alleviating homelessness: strengthening a promising evidence base', Evidence Base, issue 4.
Azpitarte, F & Mallett, S 2015, 'Who’s on the outer? Uncovering poverty’s many faces', in The Conversation, 22 July.