
My Expertise
Social aspects of: LGBTQI+ health and wellbeing; sexuality and gender diversity; sexual and reproductive health; HIV and viral hepatitis
Fields of Research (FoR)
Sociology of health, Sociology of family and relationships, Sociology of gender, SexualitiesBiography
Christy E. Newman (they/them) is Professor at the Centre for Social Research in Health and Associate Dean Engagement and Impact in UNSW Arts, Design and Architecture.
Christy is a qualitative social researcher of health, gender, and sexuality, with a background in sociology, communications, and cultural studies. They have worked in partnership with communities, governments, and clinical services for two decades to understand the social...view more
Christy E. Newman (they/them) is Professor at the Centre for Social Research in Health and Associate Dean Engagement and Impact in UNSW Arts, Design and Architecture.
Christy is a qualitative social researcher of health, gender, and sexuality, with a background in sociology, communications, and cultural studies. They have worked in partnership with communities, governments, and clinical services for two decades to understand the social dimensions of bloodborne viruses, sexual and reproductive health, as well as queer, trans, and intersex health and rights. They have authored 140 peer reviewed publications, and received 26 research grants totaling AUD$6.9 million from the Australian Research Council, National Health and Medical Research Council, as well as public sector and for-purpose health agencies. This research has also made contributions to the intersecting fields of mental health, Aboriginal health, harm reduction, disability, cancer prevention, violence prevention, youth and family wellbeing, aged care, and gender and sexuality studies.
Christy is a queer/bi+ and non-binary person who integrates lived experience and research expertise in contributing to public discussions on diverse genders, sexualities, relationships, and families. Examples include a video project on trans and gender diverse students and staff in UNSW Arts, Design and Architecture, an SBS Insight episode on multi-gender attraction, a Centre for Ideas digital conversation on gender, faith and family with Daniel M. Lavery, and a Sydney Mardi Gras public lecture on queer families.
In their role as Associate Dean, Christy leads initiatives to enhance the capacity and visibility of UNSW Arts, Design and Architecture researchers to partner with public, private and for-purpose sector organisations on collaborative projects aiming to achieve positive and sustained change. They have a passion for promoting the distinctive contributions of the arts, humanities, and social sciences, and facilitating multidisciplinary collaborations across and beyond the university. Visit Creating Impact on the ADA website to learn more.
Selected current projects include:
- UNSW Community of Practice for inclusive research with Queer, Trans and Intersex people (CoPQTI)
- Routledge Handbook of Sexuality, Gender, Health and Rights (forthcoming: Dec 2023)
- Elgar Encyclopaedia of Queer Studies (forthcoming: 2024)
- ARC Discovery Project: The sociology of health data for sexuality and gender diverse people
- ARC Linkage Project: When caring ends: Understanding and supporting informal care trajectories
- NHMRC Partnerships Project: Enhancing behavioural surveillance to address gaps and disparities in Australia's HIV response in a changing epidemic
- BiSHH: Bi+ Sexual Health and HIV Survey
- Dementia Australia Research Foundation Grant: Co-designing training and engagement resources to help community visitors to make and maintain social connections with LGBT+ people with dementia
- Aust Govt Dept of Health: Vax4Health (HPV vaccination in special schools)
- WWBA Small Grant: Beyond women's health: Bringing gender inclusion into gynaecological research
Selected past projects include:
- Waiting to be seen: social perspectives on trans health
- my health, our family: documenting stories of family life in the context of HIV, hepatitis B and hepatitis C
- Trust in digital health among communities affected by BBVs and STIs in Australia
- Sustaining sexual and reproductive health through COVID-19 pandemic restrictions
- Trans inclusive cervical cancer screening
- Queer generations: belonging and citizenship among gender and sexual minority youth
- What we do well: strengths based research about Aboriginal young people's sexual wellbeing
- Positively women: project and exhibition
- Understanding disparities in PrEP access
- StraightMSM study: heterosexually-identified men who have sex with men
- You, Me and HIV: serodiscordant couple's study
- Managing HIV in general practice settings
- Primary health care project on HIV and depression
- Cultural politics of health magazine reader letters
- Industries, genres and citizenships in dance music magazines
My Awards
- 2020 - Research Supervisor Award, UNSW Arc Postgraduate Council
- 2017 - Mid-Career Interdisciplinary Achiever Award, Australasian Sexual Health Alliance
- 2010 - Paul Bourke Award for Early Career Research, Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia
- 1998 - University Medal in Arts, Murdoch University
My Research Supervision
Currently supervising
- Heather McCormack: Optimising the MBS 715 Adult Health Check to improve sexual health testing in routine care for Aboriginal people in NSW
- Tierney Marey (part-time): Embodied equity: Equity labour in higher education
- Shannon Harvey (part-time): Disrupted bodies: Interrogating the gender binary in family violence policy and practice
- Ava del Tufo (part-time): The multifaceted health impacts of living in a rural community for transgender and gender diverse people
- Bella Bushby: Assessing the sexual health and HIV needs of Bi+ people in Australia
Doctoral graduates
- Dr Anthony KJ Smith: PrEP in Practice: a sociological study of HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis prescribing
- Dr Giselle Newton: Everyday belongings: Exploring Australian donor-conceived adults' social, linguistic and digital practices across private and public domains
- Dr Elena Cama: Navigating safety and sexual harms in the context of dating and hookup platform use among adult Australians
- Dr Lisa Wojciechowski: Young + Positive: Young people living with HIV in Australia
- Dr Elan Lazuardi: Navigating the social dynamics of HIV care: A qualitative study in urban Indonesia in the era of scaled-up testing and treatment
- Dr Jialing (Angela) Cui: Understanding the empowerment of people with severe mental illness in the community through the eyes of social work practitioners in Sydney and Hong Kong
- Dr Jessica Botfield: Engaging young people from migrant and refugee backgrounds with sexual and reproductive health care
- Dr Jamee Newland: Safety in the silence: A qualitative social network analysis of hepatitis C risk and prevention in three networks of Australians who inject drugs
- Dr Denton Callander: Just a Preference: Exploring concepts of race among gay men looking for sex or dates online
- Dr Dean Murphy: ‘A child of one’s own’: enacting kinship among gay men pursuing parenthood through surrogacy
- Dr Rebecca Gray: The dynamics of shame: navigating professional complexities when counselling in alcohol and other drug settings
My Engagement
- Associate, Australian Human Rights Institute
- Member, Ally@UNSW Network
- Member, NSW Health LGBTIQ+ Health Strategy Implementation Committee
- Member, LGBTIQ+ Health and Wellbeing Research Network Steering Committee
- Editorial Board, Health Sociology Review
- Editorial Board, Journal of the International AIDS Society
- Member, The Australian Sociological Association (TASA)
- Member, Australian Professional Association for Trans Health (AusPATH)
- Member, Rainbow Families
Contact
Publications
ORCID as entered in ROS
