School of Regulation and Global Governance (RegNet)

Ashley is a Braithwaite Fellow in the School of Regulation and Global Governance (RegNet) and Deputy Director of the Menzies Centre for Health Governance. From 2017-2019 Ashley led a programme of research on policy evaluation in an NHMRC Centre of Research Excellence in the Social Determinants of Health Equity.

Her research investigates the regulation, governance, policy, and politics of the social determinants of health inequities. Focal areas include food systems, trade and investment liberalisation, noncommunicable diseases, and sustainable development.

She is currently an investigator on several projects including an ARC Discovery Project examining how ideas, norms, institutional rules and relationships between actors can be used to rebalance power in policy making for better nutrition outcomes; a Medical Research Future Fund project mapping and critically evaluating Australia’s food and nutrition regulation and governance regime to identify evidence-informed options to facilitate Australia’s transition to a nutritious food system; and an Asia-Pacific Innovation Project exploring the utility of Twitter as a forum to better understand public sentiment to regulation through a study of narrative around the lockout laws in Sydney. She has recently undertaken a contract with the World Health Organization for work related to trade and nutrition.

Ashley is an author on 35+ peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters, including publications in Nature Food, Addiction, Public Health Nutrition, International Journal of Health Policy & Management, Health Policy, and Social Science and Medicine. She previously worked in the Office of International Affairs for the Health Portfolio providing research, analysis, and advice for the Government of Canada on matters related to international trade and investment policy and domestic health regulation. She has also co-facilitated several workshops, roundtables and training sessions for academics, practitioners, policymakers and nongovernmental organisations on trade and investment and health. Ashley has been invited to speak on trade and health at more than 10 international events.

Research Interests

• Food systems
• International trade and investment
• Governance for health
• Public health nutrition
• Public policy
• Social determinants of health and health equity
• Noncommunicable disease
• Sustainable development