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1992 …2026

Research activity per year

Personal profile

Biography

Professor Andrea Whittaker is in the Human Geography, Anthropology and Development Studies Program in the School of Social Sciences, Faculty of Arts.  

She has achieved international standing in the field of medical anthropology/sociology and is a former ARC Future Fellow.  Her current research projects include the study of global medical trade and mobility; oocyte mobilities in Southern Africa; reproductive travel and biotechnologies in the Asia Pacific; socio-cultural aspects of uterus transplants; and lay publics and antimicrobial resistance. Her research spans the disciplines of anthropology, sociology, international public health, Asian studies and gender studies.  Currently, she is a Lead Researcher for the Centre for Impact on AMR, a cross-faculty centre at Monash University and Lead of the Global Reproductive Futures research program at the School of Social Sciences.  She is a Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia and a Member of the Australian Research Council College of Experts.

She has held 11 major Australian Research Council grants including 1 Postdoctoral fellowship and 1 Future Fellowship. She currently leads an ARC funded- anthropological study of the global networks and emerging markets for assisted reproduction in Southern Africa, focusing upon the mobilities of regional patients, ova providers and medical staff across and to and from Southern Africa. In this she collaborates with colleagues from University of Amsterdam and University of the Witwatersrand. She Co-Chaired a major international conference on 'Re-worlding Reproduction' with Professor Nolwazi Mkhwanzi at the University of Pretoria in 2024 as a result of this grant. She also leads an ARC DP project on socio-cultural aspects of uterus transplantation with colleagues from the University of Illinois, Chicago.  

Her ARC Future Fellowship project investigated cross-border reproductive care - the movement of patients across international borders to undertake reproductive treatments, usually to avoid restrictions on services such as commercial surrogacy, egg donation, or sex selection. The research generated new information relevant to bioethics, reproductive health, family formation, legal regulations and understanding the new Asian bioeconomies.

She led a former ARC Discovery Project on other forms of medical travel in Thailand and Malaysia. This study gathered first-hand experiences of 117 patients seeking services at hospitals in these countries. 

She has conducted research on migrant understandings of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in Australia and on AMR survivors. 

She was Chief Investigator on an ARC Linkage project on Contraceptive use among migrant women in Melbourne which explored womens' choices and decision-making with regards to various contraceptive technologies. She was also Chief Investigator on a collaborative ARC Linkage project entitled 'Living positive in Queensland: A qualitative longitudinal study of aging, place and social isolation'. This research explored the intersections between the experience of living with HIV, aging and social isolation in diverse communities in regional and rural Queensland across time to inform planning for service delivery models.

Prior to this she completed an ARC Discovery Project on infertility and IVF in Thailand. 

In addition, she has been a Chief Investigator in a Large ARC grant on 'Perceived influences on family formation decisions in Australia,' in collaboration with demographers from the ANU. She has been involved in a number of other studies of public health importance in Australia. These included an early ethnography of general practice in an Australia community; this resulted in publications on general practice, environmental health and cancer, self-medication and cultural constructions of heart disease. She also collaborated on a GPEP funded grant on diabetes type II in NSW. She has collaborated on a UNFPA consultancy on maternal mortality in Timor Leste and in the supervision and collaboration of projects on maternal morbidity in PNG and on the termination of pregnancy in the Northern Territory. She has also undertaken consultancy work for the WHO on medical travel.

She has supervised 27 PhD and 6 Masters students to completion and was the recipient of Monash University's Vice Chancellor's Award for Postgraduate Supervision in 2023 and the Faculty of Arts Dean's Award for Excellence in Postgraduate Supervision 2023. 

Expertise related to UN Sustainable Development Goals

In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. This person’s work contributes towards the following SDG(s):

  • SDG 3 - Good Health and Well-being
  • SDG 5 - Gender Equality
  • SDG 10 - Reduced Inequalities
  • SDG 11 - Sustainable Cities and Communities
  • SDG 13 - Climate Action
  • SDG 16 - Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions

Research area keywords

  • Anthropology
  • Asian studies
  • Cross border reproductive care
  • Gender studies
  • Global medical travel/tourism
  • HIV/AIDS
  • Infertility and new reproductive technologies
  • International public health
  • Medical anthropology
  • Reproductive health
  • Research methodologies
  • Thailand
  • Women's health
  • Antibiotic resistance

Collaborations and top research areas from the last five years

Recent external collaboration on country/territory level. Dive into details by clicking on the dots or