Hyacinth Udah

Hyacinth Udah is a Senior Lecturer in Social Work and Human Services, and currently works in the College of Arts, Society and Education at James Cook University (JCU), Bebegu Yumba Campus in Townsville, Queensland, Australia. Before moving into the academia, Hyacinth worked as a teacher, editor, counsellor, social worker, and student’s success coach. He moved to Australia for further education and earned his Ph.D. in Sociology and Welfare from Griffith University. He has also a Master of Social Work degree from the Australian Catholic University, plus a Bachelor of Theology, 1st Class (Pontifical Urban University Rome), and Bachelor of Philosophy, 1st Class (Imo State University).

His teaching ethos is to support students to become lifelong evidenced based learners, problem solvers and outstanding practitioners. While teaching is a passion for him, he is also a community change agent, and an active researcher. His research projects are embedded in the interdisciplinary, overlapping, core research areas of critical social work, migration, critical race and whiteness, mental health, ecosocial work and the complex linkages between environmental change, pandemics, disadvantage (socio-economic status) and health and well-being, focusing on equity and social justice for enabling transformative social change.

Since his doctoral research, he has been working predominantly on a long-term agenda for building practice-based evidence for interventions that improve wellbeing and integration of individuals, children, and families, including migrants, and refugees from culturally and linguistically diverse populations to reach their potential. He has expertise in qualitative and quantitative research methods.

Hyacinth is committed to social justice, inclusion, and human rights, which are the principles that inform and guide his teaching and research scholarship. He works towards attaining social justice and human rights for individuals, families, and communities in a local and global context.