Professor Gillian Abel

Background

Gillian Abel's early background was in haematology before taking a career change to public health. She joined the Department of Public Health and General Practice at the University of Otago, Christchurch in 1997 and holds a PhD in public health from this University.

Gillian is expert in mixed methods research using community-based participatory approaches. Her research focuses on vulnerable populations such as sex workers, vulnerable youth and Pacific people. Sex work research is a field in which she has extensive expertise. Her research in this field is firmly located in public health but she applies a sociological lens by analysing data in the context of structural opportunities and constraints faced by sex workers, drawing on concepts of stigma; theories of social exclusion; theories of risk; and feminist theories.

She led a large Health Research Council funded national research project looking at the impact of the Prostitution Reform Act (2003) on the health and safety of sex workers and this study has been influential in informing policy both in New Zealand and internationally. She is currently a collaborator on a large Canadian team project looking at vulnerabilities in the Canadian sex industry.

Gillian teaches two papers in the post-graduate Diploma in Public Health and also teaches into the undergraduate medical programme. She has supervised many students on a variety of public health and health sciences topics.

She is particularly keen to supervise Masters and PhD students with an interest in

• Vulnerable or stigmatised population groups
• Community-based research approaches
• Qualitative and mixed methods research approaches

Teaching

• PUBH 724 Introduction to Qualitative Research Methods (Convenor)
• PUBH 744 Healthy Public Policy
• Qualitative Research Methods (ALM 4th year medical students)

Research interests

• Sex work research
• Youth health
• Community-based participatory research
• Qualitative research

Public lectures

• The Christchurch Street-Based Sex Work Collaborative Project: A community development approach.
  ^{Lecture to Sex and Consequences New Zealand Update, Oxford Terrace Baptists Church Lounge, 12 June 2019.}
• No longer a disposable population?: Decriminalization and social justice for sex workers in New Zealand.
  ^{Lecture to Probus group, Russley Golf Club, 19 November 2018.}
• Street-based sex work in Christchurch.
  ^{Presentation at Community meeting on street-based sex work, Salvation Army, Christchurch, 24 July 2018}
• From harm minimisation to social justice: a public health perspective on decriminalisation of sex work in New Zealand.
  ^{Lecture to University of the Third Age, 11 July 2017, Christchurch.}
• The NZPC and me: A long and productive collaboration.
  ^{Keynote Speaker at Insights" Sex work in New Zealand and Beyond Symposium, 12 February 2016, Wellington}
• Decriminalisation of sex work: Has the Prostitution Reform Act resulted in healthier and safer sex workers?
  ^{Winter Lecture Series: Illuminating New Knowledge, University of Otago, Auckland Centre, 28 July, 2011}.
• Decriminalisation of sex work: Has the Prostitution Reform Act resulted in healthier and safer sex workers?
  ^{Winter Lecture Series: Illuminating New Knowledge, University of Otago, James Cook Hotel Grand Chancellor, Wellington, 27 July, 2011.}
• The Impact of the Prostitution Reform Act on the Health and Safety of Sex Workers,
  ^{Going All the Way Seminar, Parliament Buildings, Wellington, 25 June 2008.}
• The Prostitution Reform Act _ New Zealand's experience,
  ^{University of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, 31 October 2007}

Projects

• ESRC: Understanding sexual violence in sex working populations: Law, legal consciousness and legal practice in four countries. Funded by Economic and Social Research Council (UK). July 2021-December 2023.
• Contexts affecting adolescent sexual initiation [completed]
• The impact of the PRA on the health and safety practices of sex workers
• Exiting the sex industry: an indepth exploration of strategies used by ex-sex workers
• Team Grant on contexts of vulnerabilities, resiliencies and care among people in the sex industry.
• The 'lived experience' of HIV: aging, place and social support
• Exploring Migrant Sex Workers' experience of working in New Zealand
• Street-based sex workers in the community: exploring community tensions, and experiences of violence and coercion
• Work practices and safety of internet-based sex work in New Zealand

Student supervision