Dr Herbert is a social researcher and evaluator focused on the development, implementation, and delivery of effective social programs. In particular his research focuses on the interaction of criminal justice, child protection, and mental health systems in responding to children affected by abuse, and characteristics of successful collaborations across sectors.
PhD Thesis: The influence of evaluation on human service practitioner learning : an analysis of two case studies of practitioners' experiences of evaluation: https://researchdirect.westernsydney.edu.au/islandora/object/uws:21258
About me
Dr Herbert is a social researcher and evaluator focused on the development, implementation, and delivery of effective social programs. In particular his research focuses on the interaction of criminal justice, child protection, and mental health systems in responding to children affected by abuse, and characteristics of successful collaborations across sectors.
PhD Thesis: The influence of evaluation on human service practitioner learning : an analysis of two case studies of practitioners' experiences of evaluation: https://researchdirect.westernsydney.edu.au/islandora/object/uws:21258
About me
Associate Member of the Promise Barnahus Network
Member of the Scottish Barnahus International Research Advisory Group
About me
Doctor of Philosophy University of Western Sydney
Master of Criminal Justice Edith Cowan University
Bachelor of Arts (Psychology) Edith Cowan University
Multi-Agency Deliberation: Stemming from my previous research on multi-agency responses to child sexual abuse, I am interested in exploring the effects of multi-agency case review deliberation on child safety decisions. This research will examine whether case review meetings incorporating different disciplines and agencies result in changed perceptions of risk and ultimately decisions that are more predictive of risk in historical case vignettes. The intent of this research is to inform how to implement an effective multi-agency deliberation process for child abuse teams but equally applies to other types of multi-agency teams.
Accessibility of Therapy Post-Disclosure: Also related to my previous work on multi-agency... Read more
Research
Excludes commercial-in-confidence projects.
Co-design implementation support and evaluation for the Specialist Harmful Sexual Behaviours Pilot Program, WA Dept of Communities, 08/01/2024 - 07/07/2026
Parkerville – Responding Effectively to Child Sexual Abuse Research Program, Parkerville Children and Youth Care Inc., 01/03/2018 - 07/05/2023
SCHEDULE 5 OFFICIAL ORDER 90013947 - IMS Part A, Cwth Dept of Social Services, 16/12/2021 - 28/02/2023
Research support for the NSW Ombudsmans Review of the Joint Investigation Response Team, New South Wales Ombudsman, 07/10/2016 - 31/01/2017
Research
Research outputs for the last seven years are shown below. Some long-standing staff members may have older outputs included. To see earlier years visit ORCID, ResearcherID or Scopus
Open access indicates that an output is open access.
| Year | Output |
|---|---|
| 2021 |
Open access
|
| 2021 |
Open access
|
| 2021 |
5
5
3
|
| 2020 |
Open access
4
4
4
|
| 2018 |
Open access
|
| Year | Output |
|---|---|
| 2023 |
|
| 2023 |
|
| 2023 |
|
| 2023 |
|
| 2020 |
|
| Year | Output |
|---|---|
| 2024 |
Open access
|
| 2023 |
Open access
3
2
|
| 2022 |
Open access
2
2
|
| 2022 |
2
2
9
|
| 2021 |
5
5
3
|
| 2021 |
Open access
8
8
|
| 2021 |
7
6
|
| 2020 |
Open access
4
4
4
|
| 2019 |
Open access
39
34
17
|
| 2019 |
Open access
18
12
5
|
| 2018 |
Open access
20
18
8
|
| 2018 |
2
1
|
| 2017 |
79
74
|
| 2016 |
Open access
47
41
9
|
| 2015 |
4
2
|
| 2015 |
2
5
|
| 2014 |
14
|
| 2014 |
18
13
|
| 2014 |
Open access
33
|
| Year | Output |
|---|---|
| 2024 |
Open access
|
| 2024 |
Open access
|
| 2023 |
Open access
|
| 2022 |
|
| 2022 |
Open access
|
| 2022 |
Open access
|
| 2022 |
|
| 2022 |
|
| 2022 |
Open access
|
| 2021 |
Open access
|
| 2021 |
Open access
|
| 2021 |
Open access
|
| 2018 |
Open access
|
| 2017 |
Open access
3
|
| 2017 |
Open access
3
|
| 2017 |
Open access
3
|
| 2016 |
Open access
|
Research
Multi-Agency Deliberation: Stemming from my previous research on multi-agency responses to child sexual abuse, I am interested in exploring the effects of multi-agency case review deliberation on child safety decisions. This research will examine whether case review meetings incorporating different disciplines and agencies result in changed perceptions of risk and ultimately decisions that are more predictive of risk in historical case vignettes. The intent of this research is to inform how to implement an effective multi-agency deliberation process for child abuse teams but equally applies to other types of multi-agency teams.
Accessibility of Therapy Post-Disclosure: Also related to my previous work on multi-agency responses I am engaged in research on improving the accessibility of therapy for children and young people following disclosure of child sexual abuse. The quality of systems to support children and families following disclosure have a strong effect on the likelihood of completing and in turn benefiting from therapy. I hope to undertake research to inform the development and design of interventions to improve the accessibility of therapy following a forensic interview.
Post-Doctoral Fellowship on Effective Cross-Agency Responses: My previous fellowship focused on research and evaluation on approaches to improving responses to sexual abuse in Western Australia. This included undertaking evidence reviews on the effectiveness of cross-agency teams, undertaking a review of practices across Australia, research with the University of New Hampshire on the components of Children's Advocacy Centres in the United States, and the development and evaluation of a new cross-agency approach in Western Australia called the Multi-agency Investigation & Support Team (MIST). This body of work resulted in the adoption of MIST as the preferred model for child abuse investigations for WA Police.
National Children’s Alliance (US) – One in Ten Podcast (2021). Multidisciplinary Teams: What’s the Secret Sauce?, with Dr. James Herbert. https://oneintenpodcast.org/episodes/multidisciplinary-teams-whats-the-secret-sauce/
Australian Institute of Family Studies – Webinar. (2021). Using data to inform therapeutic responses to child sexual abuse. https://aifs.gov.au/cfca/webinars/using-data-inform-therapeutic-responses-child-sexual-abuse
External engagement & recognition
| Organisation | Country |
|---|---|
| Aboriginal Health Council of South Australia | AUSTRALIA |
| Bond University | AUSTRALIA |
| Boost Child & Youth Advocacy Centre | CANADA |
| Canopy Children’s Advocacy Center | UNITED STATES |
| Cleveland State University | UNITED STATES |
| Dongguk University | KOREA, REPUBLIC OF (SOUTH) |
| Griffith University | AUSTRALIA |
| Harbor-UCLA Medical Center | UNITED STATES |
| James Cook University | AUSTRALIA |
| Laval University | CANADA |
| National Children’s Alliance | UNITED STATES |
| PwC Indigenous Consulting (PIC) | AUSTRALIA |
| Queensland University of Technology | AUSTRALIA |
| Rainbow Babies & Children's Hospital | UNITED STATES |
| RMIT University | AUSTRALIA |
| UH Rainbow Center for Child Health and Policy | UNITED STATES |
| University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign | UNITED STATES |
| University of New Hampshire | UNITED STATES |
| University of New South Wales | AUSTRALIA |
| University of Newcastle | AUSTRALIA |
| University of Quebec at Montreal (Canada) | CANADA |
| University of South Australia | AUSTRALIA |
| University of Southern Queensland | AUSTRALIA |
| University of Technology Sydney | AUSTRALIA |
| University of Wollongong | AUSTRALIA |
| Western Sydney University | AUSTRALIA |
External engagement & recognition
| Engagement/recognition | Year |
|---|---|
Member of the Scottish Barnahus Expert Advisory GroupUniversity of Edinburgh |
2021 |
MemberAustralasian Evaluation Society |
2018 |
Teaching & student supervision
Supervisions from 2010 shown
| Thesis title | Student status |
|---|---|
| Children's problematic sexual behaviour in schools: Identifying and addressing collaborative responses to incidents | Current |
| Risks of harm and child sexual abuse in Australian family law cases: do judicial and legislative responses uphold a child¿s right to protection? | Current |
| Exploring collaborative practice and shared goals for families known to child protection | Completed |
| Knowledge of sexual consent and the dynamics of grooming and abuse: the development and validation of two survey instruments | Completed |
