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 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. More recently, she completed a postdoctoral research fellowship 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. Naomi’s doctoral research examined men’s engagement with intimate partner violence primary prevention programs. Naomi was also engaged by Our Watch to evaluate a family violence primary prevention intervention targeting parents. 

More recently, she has worked on the Victorian family violence reforms including conducting comissioned 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. Naomi is nationally and internationally recognised for her research on gender-based violence and help-seeking behaviours during COVID-19. 

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.