Associate Professor Deb King

Associate Professor Debra King is a sociologist with expertise in qualitative research methods and survey research. She has an overall interest on the meaning and experience of work and, in particular, the emotional dimensions of work.

Debra has conducted extensive research on the aged care workforce. She was the lead investigator and project manager for the National Aged Care Workforce Census and Survey, 2012 (DoHA); has conducted over 200 interviews with direct care workers on their experience of working in the sector and with 100 managers on their experience of employing workers from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds; she was the co-author (with Bill Martin) of the report, 'Who Cares for Older Australians?' (2008). She has numerous academic publications on the aged care workforce.

Debra is currently a Chief Investigator on a project titled: Quality Care and Quality Jobs: Improving work practices to deliver quality aged care jobs and aged care services for older Australians (2014-2016) with Sara Charlesworth (RMIT). The project is funded by the Department of Social Services and is conducted in partnership with Helping Hand, Brightwater Care, HammondCare and United Voice. See: Quality Jobs and Quality Care Project.

Debra was previously the Chief Investigator on a two year project examining the mental health and wellbeing of farmers who have been through a drought. She has also been a senior researcher on projects relating to employment and homelessness; employment for jobless families; mapping the work-related life-course for men and women in South Australia; and in understanding the experiences of retrenched workers from the Mitsubishi factory in Adelaide.

Debra's PhD research investigated how activists constructed their work in bringing about social change.