Dr Lesley-Anne Ey

Dr Ey has two key research strands; (1) Harmful Sexual Behaviour and (2) Bullying in Early Childhood. Dr Ey’s research is child-centric and aims to support the wellbeing of children. Her early research focused on ‘Young children’s engagement with contemporary music media and their gender role and self-identity development’ (Doctorate 2014).  Her research has progressed to exploring children’s harmful sexual behaviour in education settings, with the aim of supporting teachers to effectively recognise and respond to such behaviour; and to inform teacher training and curriculum.  Dr Ey’s current research also explores and seeks to promote an understanding of bullying amongst young children, their parents and early childhood teachers.  She is a full member of the Research in Educational and Social Inclusion Concentration (RESI) and an affiliate member of the Australian Centre for Child Protection (ACCP). She has served on the University of South Australia Research Ethics Committee and was the Research Ethics Advisor in Education Futures (2022-2021).

Harmful Sexual Behaviour

Dr Ey’s research related to harmful sexual behaviour has attracted national and international competitive grants, as well as university funding. She is currently Lead Chief Investigator on the project ‘Children’s problematic sexual behaviour in schools: Identifying and addressing collaborative responses to incidents’ (2021-22), funded by Channel 7 Children’s Research Foundation and ‘Teachers understanding of problematic sexual behaviour and their training needs’ funded by Catholic Education WA. She was recently Lead Chief Investigator on ‘Teachers’ perspectives of and responses to children’s problematic sexual behaviours in primary schools’ (2016-17), funded by the University of South Australia. Dr Ey co-authored ‘Problematic sexual behaviours in young children and pre-teens: An educational issue’: Routledge. She is also several other research projects exploring various elements of children’s problematic sexual behaviour. She was a chief investigator on ‘Service models for children under 10 with problematic or harmful sexual behaviour’ (2018), funded by Sax Institute, and ‘A public health approach to dealing with sexting’ (2015-16), funded by University of South Australia. More recently she is a chief investigator on 'Parents' knowledge, views and experiences of service responses to children's harmful sexual behaviours' funded by the Daniel Morecombe Foundation (2021-22) and 'Protecting children online: Investigation of suspects’ opening chat grooming language and interactions with police decoys' funded by  Westpac 2021 Safer Children, Safe Communities Grant (2022-2023). Dr Ey has been seconded by ACCP to work on the projects 'Enhancing Statewide Responses to Harmful Sexual Behaviours WA' funded by the WA Department of Communities (2021-2023), and 'Enhancing Statewide Responses to Harmful Sexual Behaviours SA', funded by the SA Department for Child Protection (2021-2023).   Dr Ey is an adviser to the Department for Education South Australia and other organisations, reviewing curricula, policies, guidelines and training materials. She recently reviewed content for the Keeping Safe: Child Protection Curriculum and Responding to problem sexual behaviour in children and young people: Guidelines for staff in education and care settings and training program, as well as training material for the Responding to Abuse and Neglect program. In 2018, she provided expert advice at the Harmful sexual behaviour seminar, hosted by the Commissioner for Children and Young People Western Australia. Dr Ey’s expertise has also been sought to review Child Protection Policies and Procedures for schools and out of school care organisations. Dr Ey also writes and reviews articles on Harmful Sexual Behaviour for the Raising Children Network.

Bullying in Early Childhood  

In 2018, Dr Ey was the lead Chief Investigator on the project Co-creating anti-bullying interventions with early childhood educators (CABI-ECE):  Supporting Early childhood educators to address bullying in junior primary classes (2018), funded by the Organisation Mondiale Pour L’ Èducation Préscolaire (OMEP). In 2019, she extended this research and was Lead Chief Investigator on the project Parent’s and Teacher’s, of children aged 5-10 years, understanding of bullying. Dr Ey was also a Chief investigator on ‘Australia-India Anti-bullying research collaboration (AIARC): Facilitating intellectual and scholarly exchange about school bullying through a cross-cultural network project’ (2014-15) funded by the University of South Australia.

Awards

Dr Ey has received a number of academic distinctions including the Research in Education and Social Inclusion (RESI) Research Publication Excellence Award (2020) and the Excellence in Research Award (2020), the Division of Education, Arts and Social Sciences’ Early Career Researcher Award (2018) and a Mid-Career Teacher Commendation (2018). In the same year she received an Honourable Mention in Education for Sustainability from OMEP for her research ‘Supporting early childhood educators to address bullying in junior primary classes through the co-creation of anti-bullying interventions and resources’. Dr Ey has previously received the Pro Vice Chancellor Early Career Researcher Networking award at the University of South Australia (2015), and the Outstanding Achievements in International Engagement Award from the project ‘Australian/Indian Anti-bullying Research Collaboration’ (2015).

Teaching

Dr Lesley-anne Ey lectures in Child Development, Educational Psychology and Child Protection in the Bachelor and Master of Teaching programs. Before undertaking her PhD she taught in Preschools and Primary schools across a variety of government and independent sectors.

Member of the Centre for Research in Educational and Social Inclusion 

Affiliation with the Australian Centre for Child Protection

Research in Educational and Social Inclusion research concentration

Executive Committee Member of Early Childhood Australia, South Australia

Chair – Margaret Trembath Research Scholarship Committee

Executive Committee Member of the Australian Council on Children and the Media

Committee member (OMEP) Organisation Mondiale pour l’Education Préscolaire (World Organisation for Early Childhood Education and Care), South Australian Branch  

Member of the Society for Media Psychology and Technology, Division 46 of the American Psychological Association

Member of the Australian Human Development Association

Writer/Reviewer for the Raising Children Network

Reviewer – Journal of Early Childhood Research

Reviewer – Journal of Child Sexual Abuse

Reviewer - Journal of Sex Education

Reviewer – Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media

Reviewer/Adviser - DfE - Keeping Safe Curriculum, Responding to Problematic Sexual Behaviour in children and young people, Responding to Abuse and Neglect Training 

Qualifications

• Doctor of Philosophy University of South Australia

• Bachelor of Early Childhood Education (with Honors) University of South Australia