Riley Ellard
Associate Director, Research, Advocacy and PolicyRiley is an experienced researcher, consultant and trained lawyer with over a decade of experience in social policy. She has experience and technical expertise in qualitative research, evaluation, program and system reviews, service design, and reform implementation, and a particular interest in working with people with lived experience, whether in the context of research participation, consultation, or co-creation of knowledge and solutions.
At the CIJ, Riley has worked primarily across domestic, family and sexual violence, and currently leads a program of research focused on children and young people – including their experiences of violence, use of violence, and contact with the justice system. She has led projects for Government departments, courts, and community-based services, including designing service models, practice frameworks and tools for improving responses to children and young people and ensuring that they are recognised as victim survivors in their own right.
Riley has co-authored multiple research reports, including ANROWS-funded projects focused on young people’s use of violence in different contexts. She has also contributed to the CIJ’s wider research on crime victimisation, including leading a major review and redesign of victim services and evaluating several court-based and legal sector responses to family violence. She is currently leading a significant study examining the transitional support needs of incarcerated young people.
Prior to joining the CIJ, Riley worked on landmark reforms in Victoria and other Australian jurisdictions, including within the Family Violence Reform Branch at the Magistrates’ Court of Victoria and as a Senior Consultant in KPMG’s Health, Ageing and Human Services team.