Dr Susan Baidawi is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Social Work. Her research studies lies at the nexus of the child welfare and criminal justice fields, areas in which she holds significant research experience. She has conducted and authored outputs for numerous studies, reviews and evaluations in the child protection, out-of-home care, leaving care and youth justice fields. 

Dr Baidawi is funded by an Australian Research Council Discovery Early Career Research Award (DECRA) Fellowship (2019-21) for the project "Dual child protection and youth justice clients: expanding the evidence base".  This project investigates the phenomenon of children who cross over from statutory child protection systems into youth justice systems, and is being conducted in partnership with the Children's Court of Victoria. The analysis draws data from Children’s Court files and international policy, and is generating new knowledge regarding the characteristics and trajectories of crossover children, and improving understandings of how this group differs from children only involved with child protection or youth justice systems. The findings can inform novel and effective approaches to preventing and responding to the drift of children from child protection into youth justice systems which will improve social and economic outcomes for young people and the broader community. 

Dr Baidawi has also been awarded the following research grants as Chief Investigator:

• 2020: Children’s Court responses to early offending children: provisions and outcomes for 10 to 13 year-olds charged with offending. Funded by the Australian Institute of Criminology (Criminology Research Grant 41/20-21).
• 2021: Care criminalisation of young people with disability in child protection systems. Funded by the Commonwealth Government Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability (RFQ 2.20).