Professor Paula McDonald

Profile image of Professor Paula McDonald

Academic Division,
Office of the SDVC


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 4 - Quality Education
  • SDG 5 - Gender Equality
  • SDG 8 - Decent Work and Economic Growth
  • SDG 10 - Reduced Inequalities

Personal details

Positions

Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research)
Academic Division,
Office of the SDVC

Keywords

Work and organisation studies, Social Policy, Sociology of work, Workplace Discrimination and Harassment, Public/private boundaries, Social media in employment, Youth education to work transitions, Work in the digital economy

Research field

Business and Management, Sociology, Psychology

Field of Research code, Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification (ANZSRC), 2008

Qualifications

  • Doctor of Philosophy (Queensland University of Technology)

Professional memberships and associations

Academy of Social Sciences in Australia (ASSA)

Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA): Registered Psychologist

University of California Berkeley Comparative Equality Group

UK Higher Education Academy

International Sociological Association

Association of Industrial Relations of Australia and New Zealand (AIRAANZ)

Australian Work and Family Roundtable

Teaching

Teaching Areas

  • Research design and methods: quantitative and qualitative
  • Research and professional ethics
  • Sociology of work
  • Organisational behaviour
  • Professional and career development

Teaching and Supervision Philosophy: Teaching and learning is a socially-situated practice. The approaches and strategies used in my teaching are framed by four broad principles: (1) that scholarly learning requires sustained engagement with bodies of knowledge derived from diverse disciplinary perspectives; (2) a focus on connecting phenomena of interest at different analytic levels (regulatory, organisational, individual); (3) engagement between students and teachers is enhanced through imparting relevant, pragmatic experience gained through practice in the field; and (4) a need to understand the current employment, educational or practice environment in which students seek to participate.

These philosophies are closely aligned with the research-intensive academic roles I have undertaken since completing my PhD. My teaching has comprised unit coordination and lecturing at under-graduate and post-graduate levels, the supervision of higher degree research students (Honours, Masters, PhD), career mentoring for early career academic staff, and delivering capacity building seminars to research students and academic staff.

Experience

Publications

QUT ePrints

For more publications by Paula, explore their research in QUT ePrints (our digital repository).

View more publications

Filter publications:

A complete list of publications is available at: https://www.qut.edu.au/about/our-people/academic-profiles/p.mcdonald

Awards

Selected research projects

Projects listed above are funded by Australian Competitive Grants. Projects funded from other sources are not listed due to confidentiality agreements.