Lorna Hallahan
Associate ProfessorQualifications
Biography
Associate Professor Lorna Hallahan is an educator and researcher in Social Work at ACAP University College in South Australia. She brings more than four decades of experience as a social worker across disability advocacy, human services, and social policy, and has been a leader in social work education and research ethics for over 20 years.
Lorna has played a significant role in shaping disability policy in Australia, contributing to the development and evaluation of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) and serving as Senior Research Advisor to the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability. She is a member of the Independent Advisory Council to the NDIS, the Australian Research Council (ARC) Advisory Committee, and the Grattan Institute Disability Policy Reference Group.
A longstanding contributor to community and sector organisations, Lorna is Chair of The Achieve Foundation and Deputy Chair of Relationships Australia (South Australia). She also serves as a non-executive director for Achieve Australia and the National Disability Research Partnership.
Teaching
Lorna teaches and mentors students in social work and human services, with a focus on preparing graduates for ethical and effective practice in complex service environments. Her teaching spans professional practice, social policy, and disability social work, drawing on extensive experience across advocacy, community services, and policy reform.
She has held a number of leadership roles in social work education, including serving as President of the Australian Council of Heads of Schools of Social Work.
Research
Lorna’s research and policy work focuses on disability rights, social policy, and ethical practice in human services.
She was appointed Senior Research Advisor to the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability, where she established the Commission’s research framework and led work on the socio-cultural history of disability in Australia. She is currently an investigator on an ARC Discovery Grant exploring the history of disability and the family in Australia from 1945.
Lorna also supervises higher degree by research projects in disability theory, social work, and theology.
Honours, Awards and Professional Associations
- Member of the Independent Advisory Council to the NDIS
- South Australian Women’s Honour Roll, 2011
- Joint winner, Australian Book Review Calibre Prize (2010) for On Being Odd