Ashley is an Associate Professor in the School of Regulation and Global Governance (RegNet) and Deputy Director of the Australian Research Centre for Health Equity (ARCHE).

She is an interdisciplinary health researcher investigating the relationships between social structures, policy, governance, equity, and human wellbeing. Her work critically analyses, measures, and monitors systemic changes – shifts in rules, norms, power dynamics, and resource distribution that stratify society and influence health outcomes.

Her programme of research focuses on:

• investigating the governance mechanisms that control the distribution of money, power, and resources across society, with particular attention to their impacts on social inequity and population health outcomes
• examining structures, practices, policies, and outcomes that create and sustain privilege and advantage in social systems, focusing on who benefits and how these mechanisms operate
• exploring the role of finance and financialisation in driving societal maldistribution of resources, while critically evaluating the emerging impact investment movement for its risks and transformative potential
• developing MAPPS (Multidimensional Analysis of Privilege in Policy Systems), an innovative framework guiding policy analysis through a critical lens that examines how power and privilege operate within policy systems
• developing methodological tools for analysing policy silences, including creation of a new typology that categorises different forms of silence in public policy discourse and decision-making

Available Projects:

I am always eager to hear from potential Masters and PhD students who have an interest in working on projects in the following areas:

• projects examining how specific policies or governance structures distribute resources and opportunities across society, with emphasis on identifying mechanisms that create or reduce social and health inequities
• research investigating privileged groups and the systems that benefit them, exploring how advantage is constructed and maintained through institutional practices and policy frameworks
• studies analysing the social impact claims of financial innovations (like impact investing, social bonds, or ESG frameworks) and critically assessing their potential to address or reinforce existing inequalities
• applications and expansions of the MAPPS framework to analyse real-world policy cases, revealing hidden power dynamics and privileged interests within policy design and implementation processes
• explorations of meaningful silences in public discourse, policy debates, and institutional decision-making, particularly around issues of equity, resource allocation, and social determinants of health

• the production of social and health inequities
• privilege and the distribution of socioeconomic advantage
• food systems governance
• investment governance
• public policy