Jo Barraket

University of Melbourne

Biographical Abstracts

Jo Barraket, Ph.D., is a professor of policy studies and director of the Melbourne Social Equity Institute. A political sociologist, Dr. Barraket is Australia's leading researcher of social innovation through the social economy. Her work focuses on how social equity is improved through new ways of organizing, resourcing, and scaling social change, and the relationships between state and civil society in policy processes. She was admitted as a Member of the Order of Australia in 2023 for her contributions to education and to advancing social enterprise.

Barraket leads the Melbourne Social Equity Institute, an interdisciplinary research institute which supports community-engaged and co-productive research in support of a fairer world. She conducts research with social economy organizations that generates high- quality publications, as well as interactive online tools, policy, and practice guides to support the work of social change practitioners and policymakers. She has led or co-led more than $14 million in funded research and more than 85 scholarly publications in her areas of expertise.

She is a regular advisor to community organizations, governments, and philanthropy and has been national expert advisor to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development on three initiatives related to improving social equity through the social economy. In 2024, she was expert advisor and lead drafter of the National Not-for-Profit Sector Development Blueprint. Prior to her current role at the University of Melbourne, she was founding director of the Centre for Social Impact Swinburne, which she built into the largest social economy research centre in the world.

Areas of Expertise

• Social innovation, enterprise, and economy
• Not-for-profit management
• New public governance