Valerie Braithwaite is an interdisciplinary social scientist with a disciplinary background in psychology. She has taught in social and clinical psychology programs at undergraduate and graduate levels, and has held research appointments at the University of California, Irvine, Northwestern University and at the Australian National University in the NH&MRC Social Psychiatry Research Unit, John Curtin Medical School and the Administration, Compliance and Governability Project, Research School of Social Sciences. In 1988-89, she was Associate Director in the Research School of Social Sciences, from 1989-2005 Director of the Centre for Tax System Integrity, and from 2006-2008 Head of the Regulatory Institutions Network in the Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies.

Valerie Braithwaite is an emeritus professor in the School of Regulation and Global Governance at the Australian National University. Her work focuses on the intersection between people and regulatory institutions, developing and testing theory relating to defiance, compliance, emotional regulation, social and human capital development.

Valerie Braithwaite is a member of the National Vocational Education and Training Regulator Advisory Council and the Aged Care Quality and Safety Advisory Council and sits on expert advisory panels for the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency and for the Department of Health and Aged Care. She has conducted reviews of the vocational and university education sector for the Australian Government. Most recently, she has been an active contributor to reform in child protection through her work with Mary Ivec and Sharynne Hamilton. She is part of the La Trobe University project, “Creating Safer Futures: Raising Public Awareness of Child Sexual Abuse Among Young Adults through Digital Storytelling” led by Katie Wright.