Shannon Longhurst

Shannon Longhurst holds a Bachelor of Socio-Legal Studies (1st Class Honours) from the University of Sydney, Australia. Over the past ten years, she has volunteered and worked for a variety of not-for-profit, human rights and community sector organisations. This has included advocacy and policy work across a range of topics, specifically gender and human rights, poverty/inequality, and Indigenous peoples’ rights – with a focus on criminal justice reform, family violence, child protection and Indigenous intellectual property and cultural rights. Most recently, Shannon was Principal Advisor to the Change the Record Coalition, a group of leading Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, legal, community and human rights organisations working collaboratively to address the disproportionate rates of violence and imprisonment experienced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Prior to this, she worked in a number of research assistant roles, including at the Australian Council of Social Service, a national advocate for action to reduce poverty and inequality and the peak body for the community services sector in Australia. She has also been an active member of Amnesty International Australia, having served in a number of leadership roles, including Convenor of the New South Wales (NSW) Women’s Network, and member of the NSW Branch Committee and National Board’s International Issues Committee.

Shannon has a particular interest in applied research, with a focus on exploring parallels and intersections between major domestic and global public policy challenges. Throughout her studies at UNC-Chapel Hill, she hopes to expand her understanding of themes related to peace and conflict across the global landscape, to act as a basis for analysing policy trends across jurisdictions.