Prof. Dr. Karen Soldatic

Karen Soldatic was a guest in May 2024. She is a leading international scholar of disability, marginality and global inequality. Her research uses a broad lens to explore how social, cultural and political factors influence health and community well-being. 

Joining TMU from Western Sydney University, she has extensive expertise in collaborating directly with marginalized communities that experience poor health outcomes due to intensive social, emotional, cultural and economic inequality. Over the years, her unique empirical work has helped bridge numerous divides, resulting in diverse communities gaining more equitable access to disability, health and social service institutions across Australia, South Asia and South-East Asia.

Her work is internationally renowned and impactful in informing global disability and inequality policy debates, advocacy and research.

Through numerous projects, she has developed long-term partnerships with industry, public institutions and service providers across scale. These partnerships comprise a wide range of organizations, including:

• Large multinational corporations such as Microsoft UK
• Global macro policy institutes such as NATO, United Nations and Minority Rights Group
• Small, precariously funded service providers such as Diversity Arts Australia, Multicultural Disability Advocacy Association, BlaQ Aboriginal Corporation, and the National Centre for Indigenous Excellence