Dina Bowman

Principal Research Fellow, Work and Economic Security and Honorary Principal Fellow, University of Melbourne

Dr Dina Bowman, who joined the Social Policy and Research Centre in 2009, leads the team that examines work and economic security.

She has a PhD in sociology, a post-graduate diploma in policy and law, and a Bachelor of Arts.

Dina’s research focuses on the drivers, experience and impacts of inequality and insecurity and what can be done to enable inclusive employment and economic security. 

Dina is an honorary principal fellow in the School of Social and Political Sciences, University of Melbourne . She is a member of the Work + Family Policy Roundtable.

Contact dbowman@bsl.org.au

Selected BSL publications

Harrison, U & Bowman, D 2024, Finding a balance? Work, family and economic security: insights from parents in the Life Chances study

Bowman, D, Porter, E, Kabare, M 2024 Making ends meet: fostering security and dignity in tough times

Stewart, M, Porter, E, Bowman, D & Millane, E 2023  Growing pains: Family Tax Benefit issues and options for reform

Buick, J, Bowman, D, Pinney Meddings, R & Kabare, M 2023  Sustaining Economic Empowerment and Dignity for Women: conceptual framework

Kabare, M & Bowman, D 2022  Flip it: reframing issues affecting women’s economic security in Seymour

Harrison, U & Bowman, D 2022  Return to the family safety net? Economic security as Life Chances participants turn 30

Porter, E & Bowman, D 2021  Losing traction: lessons in financial wellbeing from the COVID crisis

Porter, E & Bowman, D 2021  A brief reprieve? Financial wellbeing after the 2020 COVID-19 lockdowns

Soldatic, K, Bowman, D, Mupanemunda, M & McGee, P 2021  Dead ends: how our social security system is failing people with partial capacity to work

Porter, E & Bowman, D 2021,  Shocks and safety nets: financial wellbeing during the COVID-19 crisis

Bowman, D, Mupanemunda, M & Wickramasinghe, S 2021, Towards a brighter future for low-income women 

Harrison, U, Curry, M & Bowman, D 2020, Setbacks at 30: Life Chances and COVID-19

Porter, E, Bowman, D & Curry, M 2020, All in it together? Financial wellbeing before COVID-19

Bowman, D, Banks, M, Whiteford, P, de Silva, A, Anantharama, N, Csereklyei, S & Mallett, S 2020, Everyone counts: uncovering patterns of Newstart Allowance

Thornton, D, Bowman, D & Mallett, S 2020, Safety net to poverty trap? The twentieth-century origins of Australia’s uneven social security system

Bowman, D & Wickramasinghe, S 2020, Trampolines not traps: enabling economic security for single mothers and their children

Brown, JT & Bowman, D 2020, Economic security and dignity: a financial wellbeing framework

Hart, A, Bowman, D & Mallett, S 2019, Improving the health of older aged care workers

Bowman, D, Allan, M & Levin, I 2019, Getting to work: insights about the transition from education to employment from the Life Chances Study, Stage 11

Bowman, D, Thornton, D & Mallett, S 2019, Reclaiming social security for a just future: a principled approach to reform

Wickramasinghe, S & Bowman, D 2019, Not simply business as usual: insights from Money For Jam, a micro-enterprise initiative for older women

Boese, M, van Kooy, J & Bowman, D 2018, Humanitarian migrants, work and economic security on the urban fringe: how policies and perceptions shape opportunities

Bowman, D & Banks, M 2018, Hard times: Australian households and financial insecurity

Bowman, D, Randrianarisoa, A & Wickramasinghe, S 2018, Working for everyone? Enhancing employment services for mature age jobseekers

Wickramasinghe, S & Bowman, D 2018, Help, but not real help: mature age jobseeker perspectives on employment services in Australia

Randrianarisoa, R & Bowman, D 2018, On the front line: employment services staff perspectives on working with mature age jobseekers

Bowman, D & Randrianarisoa, A 2018, Missing the mark: employer perspectives on employment services and mature age jobseekers in Australia

Banks, M & Bowman, D 2017, Juggling risks: insurance in households struggling with financial insecurity

Bowman, D, Banks, M, Fela, G, Russell, R & de Silva, A 2017, Understanding financial wellbeing in times of uncertainty, Brotherhood of St Laurence and RMIT University, Melbourne.

Bowman, D, Borlagdan, J & Bond, S 2015, Making sense of youth transitions from education to work

Selected external publications

Bowman, D & Soldatic, K 2022 ‘Dead ends: how our social security system is failing people with partial capacity to work’, Social Security Rights Review, 22 February.

Hart, A, Bowman, D & Mallett, S 2021, 'Time for good care and job quality: managing stress among older workers in the aged care sector', Journal of Aging & Social Policy, DOI: 10.1080/08959420.2021.1926202

Yanotti, M, Banks, M, de Silva, A, Anantharama, N, Whiteford, P, Bowman, D & Csereklyei, Z 2021, The utility of new data in understanding housing insecurity, AHURI final report no. 351, Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute Limited, Melbourne. DOI:10.18408/ahuri5321801.

Brown, JT, Banks, M & Bowman, D 2020, 'From me to us: strengthening our financial capabilities', Economic Papers: a Journal of Applied Economics and Policy. First view 28 August. DOI: 10.1111/1759-3441.12295

Hart, A, Bowman, D & Mallett, S 2020, 'Extending the working lives of older personal care workers in the aged care sector', Australian Nursing and Midwifery Journal, vol. 26, no. 11, pp.36–9

Hart, A, Bowman, D & Mallett, S 2020, 'Scheduling longer working lives for older aged care workers: a time and income capability approach', Time and Society, published online 3 May. DOI: 10.1177/0961463X20914099

Banks, M & Bowman, D 2019, 'Bad timing: the temporal dimensions of economic insecurity', Critical Sociology, published online 13 November.

Bowman, D, Mallett, S & Cooney-O'Donoghue, D 2019, 'Diversion ahead? Change is needed but that doesn’t mean that basic income is the answer', in E Klein, J Mays & T Dunlop (eds) 2019, Implementing a basic income in Australia: pathways forward, Palgrave Macmillan.

van Kooy, J & Bowman, D 2018, ‘"Surrounded with so much uncertainty": asylum seekers and manufactured precarity in Australia', Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, published online 23 January. DOI: 10.1080/1369183X.2018.1427563

McGann, M, Ong, R, Bowman, D, Duncan, A, Kimberley, H & Biggs, S 2016, 'Gendered ageism in Australia: changing perceptions of age discrimination among older men and women', Economic Papers, published online 26 September.

Biggs, S, Bowman, D, Kimberley, H & McGann, M 2016, 'Introduction: Policy responses to ageing and the extension of working lives', Social Policy and Society, vol. 15, no. 4, published online 20 September. DOI: 10.1017/S1474746416000269

Bowman, D, McGann, M, Kimberley, H & Biggs, S 2016, 'Activation and active ageing? Mature-age jobseekers' experience of employment services', Social Policy and Society, published online 20 June.

Bowman, D, McGann, M, Kimberley, H & Biggs, S 2016, 'Rusty, invisible and threatening: ageing, capital and employability', Work Employment & Society, first published online 7 June.

McGann, M, Kimberley, H, Bowman, D & Biggs, S 2016, 'The netherworld between work and retirement', Social Policy and Society, FirstView article, published online 3 June.

Biggs, S. McGann, M, Bowman, D & Kimberley, H 2016, 'Work, health and the commodification of life's time: reframing work–life balance and the promise of a long life', Ageing and Society, FirstView article, published online 23 May.

Bowman, D, 2015, 'Caught in transition', Insight, issue 12, pp.18–21.

Bowman, D & Maker, Y 2015, No! Not equal, Future Leaders, Albert Park, Vic.

Bowman, D 2015, ‘The Brotherhood of St Laurence’, Encyclopaedia of world poverty, Sage.