Dr Naomi Pfitzner is a Lecturer in Criminology and a Key Researcher with the Monash Gender and Family Violence Prevention Centre at Monash University.

Naomi has extensive research experience in family violence prevention and response. She conducts research in the area of family violence, gender, family studies, social policy and law. Her work has a key focus on the primary prevention of family violence, respectful relationships education and gender equality. Naomi is currently leading a national stocktake and gap analysis of respectful relationship education for the Australian Government. Naomi has also evaluated several family violence primary prevention interventions targeted at parents. 

Dr Pfitzner is nationally and internationally recognised for her work on domestic and family violence, help seeking behaviours and service innovation during COVID-19. Her work in this area has been cited by the Washington-based Centre for Global Development. Dr Pfitzner has advised several Australian parliamentary inquiries on COVID-19 response and recovery plans for domestic and family violence. Her research is cited multiple times in the recently released report from the Inquiry into Family, Domestic and Sexual Violence by the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Social Policy and Legal Affairs.

Naomi has also worked on the Victorian family violence reforms including conducting commissioned evaluations of the Victoria Police Family Violence Body Worn Camera Trial, the Fast-Tracking Initiative in the Magistrates' Court of Victoria, the Victoria Police Specialist Investigators Support Unit, the Family Violence Information Sharing Scheme and the Enhanced Pathways to Family Violence Work Project.

Other projects have included working with clients, practitioners and stakeholders in the family violence, community services, health, education and justice sectors. She has been a part of several systems and practice evaluations of work aimed at reducing family violence and promoting gender equality at both a state and federal level. Naomi has conducted contracted research and evaluation for Our Watch, the Victorian Council of Social Services, the Magistrates’ Court of Victoria, Victoria Police Family Violence Command, the Family Law Council and Family Safety Victoria. The findings of her research have been published in leading international journals and presented at national and international conferences on criminology, family studies and family violence. 

Dr Pfitzner completed her PhD at Melbourne University in 2016 following which she was appointed as a postdoctoral researcher with the Gendered Violence and Abuse Research Alliance (GeVARA) at RMIT University. Before she was appointed a Lecturer in Criminology, she was a postdoctoral research fellow with the Monash Gender and Family Violence Prevention Centre at Monash University.