Dr John van Kooy joined the Institute in February 2023 and works in the Longitudinal and Lifecourse area, conducting research and analysis of the Building a New Life in Australia study.
John is a social researcher, policy analyst, and evaluation practitioner with over 15 years of experience working in communities across Australia, Southeast Asia, and East Africa. He has previously worked for the Scanlon Foundation Research Institute, Welcoming Australia, AMES Australia, the Brotherhood of St Laurence, and World Vision International.
John completed a PhD with the Migration and Inclusion Centre at Monash University in 2022. His dissertation focused on the neighbourhood conditions for refugee settlement in Australia, using BNLA data to examine the relationships between social connections and the ’three Es’ of employment, education, and English language. He has published numerous reports and articles on issues of settlement, integration, inclusion and participation of migrants and refugees.
Experience
2023–present
Research Fellow, Australian Institute of Family Studies
2022–2023
Senior Research Analyst, Scanlon Foundation Research Institute
2021–2022
Senior Technical Advisor, Research and Evaluation, ARC Justice
2019–2021
Research and Policy Lead, AMES Australia
2018–2019
Research Associate, Monash University
2014–2017
Research Fellow, Brotherhood of St Laurence
2007–2013
Knowledge Management Lead, World Vision International
Education
2022
Monash University, PhD (Arts)
2007
Australian National University, Master of Arts (International Relations)
2005
La Trobe University, Bachelor of International Relations
Publications
2021
'Boat People' and Discursive Bordering: Australian Parliamentary Discourses on Asylum Seekers, 1977-2013, Refuge: Canada's Journal on Refugees
2020
‘Now I'm just like anyone else in the community’: Work, welfare, and community expectations of refugees in Australia, Journal of Refugee Studies
2019
‘Surrounded with so much uncertainty’: asylum seekers and manufactured precarity in Australia, Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies