Elena Campbell is a lawyer, speechwriter and former political staffer who has worked in legal and social policy for 25 years. Elena’s expertise includes therapeutic justice, human rights, as well as the prevention and elimination of violence against women and children.

At the Centre for Innovative Justice, Elena oversees a program of research which focuses on family and sexual violence, as well as the way in which trauma can push women and children into contact with the criminal justice system. In this capacity, Elena has led projects for Government and courts to support the implementation of recommendations from Victoria’s Royal Commission into Family Violence.

Elena has been Chief Investigator in ANROWS projects regarding interventions with adult perpetrators of family violence and leads research focusing on young people’s use of violence at home, including The PIPA project and more recent WRAP Around Families Experiencing AVITH: Towards a Collaborative Service Response. In addition, Elena will lead research recently funded by FSV examining the experiences of young victim-survivors of family violence who are unaccompanied by a protective parent – Unsafe and unseen: spotlighting unaccompanied children and young people seeking shelter. This research will be conducted in partnership with Melbourne City Mission.