Professor Christine Bigby

Professor Christine Bigby AO founded the Living with Disability Research Centre at La Trobe University and is an Australian social work academic and disability researcher. She has a long track record of working in partnership with disability support and advocacy organisations investigating the effectiveness of programs and practice to support the social inclusion of adults and older people with intellectual disabilities, and has led a team studying the practice of supported decision making since 2015. She co-developed the Support for Decision Making practice framework, which is widely used by supporters. Professor Bigby is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences Australia and has published extensively in the academic and practice literature. She is the founding editor of Research and Practice in Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities and has served as President of the Australasian Society of Intellectual Disability since 2022. She was made an Officer of the Order of Australia in 2025.