Laura Dodds

Laura Dodds is an Associate Lecturer at UniSC, in the School of Law and Society, and a Core Member of the Sexual Violence Research and Prevention Unit. Her social work career spans over 20 years of clinical practice in the areas of children’s safety & risk, and complex family matters. Laura was a highly regarded child expert witness for the Family Court of Australia. She is sought after to develop and deliver industry training for legal and social science professionals who work with complex risk matters. Laura’s industry expertise underpins her curriculum development and research as an academic. Her doctoral thesis explores children’s rights within decision-making in the existing adversarial family court system in Australia. She has led and contributed to external grant-funded research reports on child sexual abuse responses and prevention for the Qld Government. Laura is also recognised as a leader in Teaching and Learning, having been awarded her Senior Fellowship in Higher Education in 2024.