About Maria
Maria is a research and evaluation specialist with a strong interest in social policy.
Combining her extensive experience in applied research with a practical and solutions-oriented approach, she is committed to delivering robust evaluation insights in purpose-driven settings.
Maria’s experience in evaluation and review is informed by working across a range of public-value settings including tertiary education, not-for profits, and international research institutions.
Her background in research and evaluation has seen Maria work with a diverse array of stakeholders both locally and internationally in areas including mental health, public health, education, early childhood, human services, and community development. Through her work in Australia and Southeast Asia, Maria has established sensitive stakeholder engagement to produce rigorous evidence-based outcomes with a practical lens. This builds on her academic background which has seen Maria publish widely in peer-reviewed journals on topics relating to gender, migration and social policy and author the book “Marriage, Gender and Islam in Indonesia” based on her PhD research.
Experience | Highlights
Maria's recent work includes:
Evaluation and review
Leading a multi-year independent evaluation of an expansion of an Autistic-led in-school mentoring program funded by the Victorian department of education (2024- current)
Managing a series of lapsing program evaluations to assess state government investment in creative industries. (2023-2024)
Managing a multi-year evaluation of a state government literacy assessment initiative (2023-current)
Supporting the evaluation of a national telephone and web-based service for women, parents and carers and recommending a range of potential improvements to the service to increase its reach and effectiveness (2024)
Collaboration and Cross-Sector Problem Solving
- Supporting a major health, education, and NGO partnership to successfully bid for the adult and older adult consortia of the Victorian Collaborative Centre for Mental Health & Wellbeing (the Collaborative Centre)
System transformation
Supporting the development of journey maps of to understanding current inclusion supports kindergarten children with additional needs to inform the design of a new system that better supports children, families, and services.
Education | Accreditation | Boards
PhD (Anthropology)
Bachelor of Applied Science (Hons) (Public Health)
Diploma Project Management
Member of the AES (Australian Evaluation Society)
Partnership Brokerage Association Training (2021)
