Dr Kerryn Drysdale
Doctor of Philosophy (2016) University of Sydney.
Master of Arts (2009) Gender Studies (with merit), University of Sydney.
Bachelor of Arts with Honours (2002) University of Sydney
Kerryn Drysdale is a Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for Social Research in Health (CSRH), a specialist research centre located in the Faculty of Arts, Design, and Architecture at UNSW Sydney. Through her disciplinary background in Cultural Studies, Kerryn endeavours to bring a critical cultural lens to everyday lived experiences as they pertain to public health concerns.听
Kerryn currently conducts research in two broad programmes of work:听听
- Responding to health inequities and social determinants of health, particularly by working with marginalised or vulnerable populations to determine their health and wellbeing needs.
- Tracking social scenes for LGBTQ+ people, with a specific focus on the sex-based social norms and affects in precarious urban contexts that give rise to innovative and intra-community forms of health promotion and harm reduction.听
In a concurrent position 2020-2021, Kerryn was Community Partnerships Fellow at the Health Equity Research and Development Unit (HERDU), jointly held by the Centre for Primary Health Care and Equity, UNSW Sydney, and Clinical Services Integration and Population Health, Sydney Local Health District. In this newly created role, she championed community-engaged processes for working with affected communities on reducing health inequities, continuing her emphasis on accessible health research translation and dissemination. Previously she lectured in the Department of Gender and Cultural Studies at the University of Sydney.
Kerryn鈥檚 disciplinary background lies broadly within Cultural Studies, though her interdisciplinary expertise includes theoretical and methodological approaches from Gender Studies, Anthropology, Sociology and Philosophy. She has developed an innovative framework on 鈥榮cenes鈥 that extends the theoretical tradition of scene studies to include a consideration of affect, mobile human geographies, the sociology of storytelling, and ethno-archival practices in scenes鈥 emergence and decline of public feelings. This approach maps any scene鈥檚 consolidation into collective meaning and their retrospective coalescence into forms of social memory. Kerryn has been invited to teach this method to international audiences. She has since applied her framework to other complex phenomena, such as 鈥榗hemsex鈥 (the combination of sex and drugs) in order to better harness participants鈥 agency in determining how scenes take form, the relations they support and the practices they enable.
To date, Kerryn has authored high-quality peer reviewed publications in quartile-1 journals, including one monograph, as well as non-traditional research outputs. She has presented research extensively at international conferences, community fora and research symposia, and as part of invited guest lectureships. In addition to academic publication, Kerryn actively participates in research dissemination and translation for policy makers, community organisations and public scholarship.
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- Publications
- Media
- Grants
- Awards
- Research Activities
- Engagement
- Teaching and Supervision
- 鈥Public Understandings of Immunity Systems and Human-Microbial Relations鈥 (2025-2028), Lupton, D., Davis, M., and Drysdale, K., Australian Research Council Discovery Project ($534,923).
- Dean鈥檚 Award for Inclusion, Faculty of Arts, Design and Architecture Staff Awards, UNSW Sydney 2024.
- Nominated: UNSW Vice-Chancellor鈥檚 Award on behalf of the UNSW Community of Practice for Inclusive Research with Queer and Trans people, and people with innate variations of sex characteristics (Intersex) or 鈥楥oPQTI鈥, UNSW Sydney, 2024.
- SAGE Athena Swan (Gender Equity) Cygnet Award for LGBTQIA+ inclusion in which the Community of Practice on Inclusive Research with Queer and Trans people, and people with variations in sex characteristics (Intersex people) or 鈥楥oPQTI鈥 was featured, 2024.
- Wiley鈥檚 Top Cited Article 2021-2022, in Sociology of Health and Illness for 鈥淔amily imaginaries in the disclosure of a blood-borne virus鈥 (co-author) between January 2021 and December 2022.
- Early Career Academics Network Awards for Research Excellence 2022 (Traditional Research Output) for 鈥楽ex in placemaking activism: lesbian and queer women鈥檚 sex-based sociality in Sydney, Australia鈥 journal article; Faculty of Arts, Design & Architecture, UNSW.
- Awarded participant, Women in Leadership (WIL) Program 2022 (competitive entry), UNSW Sydney 鈥 awarded to high performing and high potential leader.
- Early Career Academics Network Awards for Research Excellence 2021 (Traditional Research Output) for 鈥楶riorities and Practices of Risk Reduction among Australian Gay and Bisexual Men who Use Crystal Methamphetamine for Sex鈥 journal article; Faculty of Arts, Design & Architecture, UNSW.
- Early Career Academics Network Publication Awards 2020 (Non-traditional Research Output) for 鈥楥rystal Clear: Negotiating pleasures and risk around sex on crystal鈥 podcast series; Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, UNSW.
- Awarded participant, Kathleen Fitzgerald Laureate Mentorship Scheme, University of Melbourne, 3 鈥 7 December 2018 - awarded to outstanding early career female researchers to complete an intensive mentoring programme with a focus on research leadership and enhancing career progression (competitive entry; flights and accommodation provided for the duration of the program).
- Finalist, Rita and John Cornforth Award (2016), Graduate Medal, University of Sydney - awarded to a person who has achieved the highest standard of academic proficiency in a doctoral thesis, and contributed to the diverse life of the University and broader community (one of four finalists; over 160 submissions).
- Dean鈥檚 Citation for Excellence in Tutorials (2013), Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, University of Sydney - awarded for tutorial-style teaching, with special mention of ability to teach with sensitivity and for lesson planning.
Current projects
- 鈥Public Understandings of Immunity Systems and Human-Microbial Relations鈥, led by Professor Deborah Lupton, (2025-2028), Australian Research Council Discovery Project 鈥 co-investigator
- 鈥Review of Community Based Alcohol and Other Drugs Treatment Service Delivery and Referral Pathways鈥, led by Professor Alison Ritter, 2024-2025, Mental Health, Alcohol and Drug Directorate, Tasmanian Department of Health 鈥 co-investigator
- 鈥淭rans Community Consultation and Recommendations on Women NSW鈥檚 Menopause Toolkit and Resources鈥, led by Dr Kerryn Drysdale, 2024, ACON tendered research 鈥 lead investigator.
- 鈥淟GBTQ+ Inclusion in Cancer Clinical Trials鈥, led by valentine k, 2024, ACON tendered research 鈥 Co-investigator.
- 鈥淎nalysis of qualitative data collected by NSW MoH: Focus testing potential online sexually transmissible infections (STI) and blood-borne viruses (BBV) testing models in NSW鈥, led by Dr Kerryn Drysdale, 2023, BBV, STIs and Viral Hepatitis Research Program 2020-2024 (BRISE) 鈥 Lead investigator.
- UNSW Community of Practice for Inclusive Research with Queer and Trans people, and people with variations of sex characteristics (Intersex people) or 鈥楥oPQTI鈥, 2023 ongoing 鈥 Co-lead
- 鈥淎 comprehensive social framework for LBQ women鈥檚 sexual health in Australia鈥, led by Dr Kerryn Drysdale, 2024, ADA Internal Research Grants 鈥 Seed Scheme 鈥 Lead investigator.
- 鈥淩eimagining Menopause Narratives and Reimagining Menopause Responses roundtables鈥, led by Dr Kerryn Drysdale, 2024, The Australian Sociological Association鈥檚 Workshop Program 鈥 Lead investigator.
- 鈥淗ealth Monitoring and Evaluation Framework for the Decriminalisation of Sex Work鈥, led by Professor Carla Treloar, 2022-2027, Department of Health and Human Services Victoria 鈥 Co-investigator.
Current positions
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Senior Research Fellow - Centre for Social Research in Health, Faculty of Arts, Design and Architecture, UNSW Sydney, June 2017 to current (promotion to level C 1 July 2023).
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Detailed Assessor, Australian Research Council (ARC), January 2021 to current.
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Associate Editor, Health Sociology Review, March 2023 to current.
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Editorial Board Member, Capacious: Journal for Emerging Affect Inquiry, August 2019 to current.
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Associate, Australian Human Rights Institute, UNSW Sydney, 2021-current.
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Advisor, Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP), 2022 to current.
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Academic Co-Lead, Community of Practice on Inclusive Research with Queer and Trans people, and people with innate variations in sex characteristics (Intersex people) or 鈥楥oPQTI鈥, 2023 to current.
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Board member, Board of Directors, Working it Out, Tasmania, 2023 to current.
Professional affiliations and memberships
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Affect and Emotion Network, 2021 to current.
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Association for Cultural Studies, 2016 to current.
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Australian Professional Association for Trans Health (AusPATH), 2024 to current.
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Australasian Health and Medical Humanities Network, 2021 to current.
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Australasian Society for HIV Medicine (ASHM), Affiliate Member, 2018 to current.
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Australian Women鈥檚 & Gender Studies Association, 2017 to current.
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Community Health Worker Community of Practice, 2021 to 2022.
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Cultural Studies Association of Australasia, 2012 to current.
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Gender and sexuality diverse AOD worker network, convened by Network of Alcohol and other Drugs Agencies (NADA), Member, 2022 to current.
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International Network on Health and Hepatitis in Substance Users (INHSU), Member, 2022 to current.
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LGBTIQ+ Health Australia, Affiliate Member, 2022-2023.
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Socially-Engaged Design Research Network (SEDR), 2024 to current
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The Australian Sociological Association, 2017 to current.
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UNSW鈥檚 Women鈥檚 Wellbeing Academy, 2023 to current.
My Teaching
While I am in research-focussed roles at UNSW Sydney, I regularly accept invitations to guest lecture in the areas of:
- social determinants of health
- health equity for marginalised communities
- qualitative methodologies, including sensory ethnography and the art of interviewing
- queer performances, performativity and LGBTQ scenes
- scene theory and practices