Emeritus Scientia Professor Peter Aggleton
PhD, FAcSS FASSA
Peter Aggleton is a social scientist with a background in policy studies, education, international development, and health. For over 30 years, he has worked with UN system agencies, national governments and community organisations in Africa, Europe, the Americas, Asia and the Pacific to strengthen policy and practice with respect to gender, sexuality, HIV and sexual health.
Before joining UNSW Sydney, Peter worked at the Institute of Education in London (where he was Director of the Thomas Coram Research Unit and Dean of Research) and at the University of Sussex (where he was inaugural Head of the School of Education and Social Work). Prior to that, he held a senior position within the World Health Organisation’s headquarters in Geneva. He has worked as a senior adviser to WHO, UNESCO, UNFPA, UNAIDS and other international agencies for work on cultural and social norms, comprehensive sexuality education, HIV prevention, and sexual and reproductive health .
Peter is well known for his work on sexual and reproductive health and rights.His interests include equality, inclusion and justice and the ways in which these issues are engaged with in national and international development, education and health. He has been chief investigator on research projects funded by research councils in Australia and the UK, international agencies, and charitable foundations.His lifetime research grant income is over $50 million.
Peter has published over 300 scientific papers and chapters and has authored and edited more than 60 books. He has a Hirsch (h-) index of 74, making him one of the most cited social scientists internationally. He appears in the Stanford University - Elsevier list of the top 2 per cent of the most cited scientists in the field of public health, and in the ScholarGPA list of the top 5 per cent of of scientists working on HIV/AIDS, based on the productivity, impact and quality of his work.
Peter is editor-in-chief of two highly rated (Q1) international journals -Culture, Health & Sexuality ԻSex Education – and the long established Health Education Journal, now in its 83rd year of publication He is an associate editor of AIDS Education & Prevention,Global Public HealthԻHealth Education Research, and co-edits three international book series - on sexuality, culture and health (for Routledge); on the social aspects of HIV (for Springer), and on foundations and futures of education (for Routledge)
Beyond his position at UNSW Sydney, Peter is an honorary professor in the Institute for Global Health at UCL in London, and a distinguished honorary professor in the School of Sociology at The Australian National University. He is an adjunct professor in the Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society at La Trobe University in Melbourne.
- Publications
- Media
- Grants
- Awards
- Research Activities
- Engagement
- Teaching and Supervision
Ongoing and recently completed funded research includes:
2010-14:Top Girls: Middle class privilege and agentic practice(with Claire Maxwell, UCL Institute of Education), UK Economic and Social Research Council funded
2013:Review of Sexual Health in School Project, New South Wales Health funded
2013-Community-based organising against HIV and for rights among same-sex attracted men in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania(with Kare Moen, University of Oslo and Melkizedeck Leshabari, Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences), Norwegian Research Council funded
2013- Men, Mobility and Money: A qualitative study to examine the role of mining development on sexual health risks amongst landowners, their sexual partners and others affected by resource extraction development (with Angela Kelly, PNG Institute of Medical Research and other partners), Internal Competitive Research Award Scheme, PNG Institute of Medical Research funded
2013- Sexuality, Health & Human Rights of Marginalised Men in Papua New Guinea (with Angela Kelly, PNG Institute of Medical Research and other partners), Internal Competitive Research Award Scheme, PNG Institute of Medical Research funded
2015- Queer Generations: Belonging and Sexual Citizenship among Gender and Sexual Minority Youth(with Rob Cover, University of Western Australia; Daniel Marshall, Deakin University; and Mary Lou Rasmussen, Monash University),Australian Research Council funded
2017-Crystal, pleasure and sex between men(ɾٳCarla Treloar,(ARCSHS, La Trobe University),,,, Joanne Bryant and Kerryn Drysdale), NHMRC funded
2018-Fostering the sexual well-being of Aboriginal young people by building on social, cultural and personal strengths and resources (withJoanne Bryant, Steve Bell, Reuben Bolt, Simon Graham, Michael Doyle, Libby Brown, Linda Stanbury, Bronwyn Leece, Voula Kougelos, Karen Beetson, Megan Brooks, Christy Newman, Carla Treloar, Dean Murphy, Annette Browne, Rob Hardy ԻJessica Botfield),Australian Research Council funded
2020- Sexual health experiences and needs of sexually and gender diverse young Aboriginal people, including sistergirls and brotherboys (with Stephen Bell, Elke Mitchell, Robert Whybrow, Michelle Dickson and Julie Mooney-Somers)., Australian Government Department of Health funded
Peter has led major policy and programme reviews and evaluations for agencies including DFID, UNAIDS, UNDP UNESCO, UNICEF and WHO.
2017- Fellow, Royal Society of New South Wales
2015- Fellow, Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia
2004- Fellow, Academy of Social Sciences (UK)
2001- Fellow, Higher Education Academy
2000- Fellow, Royal Anthropological Institute
2000- Fellow, Royal Society for Public Health
1996- Fellow, British Psychological Society
My research encompasses four broad fields:
Social and cultural dimensions of sex, sexuality and sexual relationships (includingstrengths and vulnerabilities;sexual and reproductive health; culture and transnationalism; and sex, sexuality and relationships education)
Social aspects of HIV and AIDS (including research into cultural and contextual factors influencing risk and vulnerability; the nature, effects and effectiveness of education about HIV; social stigma and discrimination; men and masculinity; and gender and sexual minorities and HIV)
Youth, health and inequality (including studies of gender and sexual diversity;sexual citizenship and youth;elites and their education;Indigenous youth experiences and other issues)
Multi-disciplinary capacity building through research (including writing for publication, bookand book series development, and the editorship of high profile book series and international journals)
2018- Member, Growing and Developing Healthy Relationships Advisory Group, Government of Western Australia - Department of Health
2018-21 Independent Chair, Family Planning Victoria Research Committee
2013- Member, Australasian Sexual Health Alliance (ASHA) Executive
2012- Founding Member, Australia Forum on Sexuality, Education & Health (AFSEH)
2008- Chair, Australian Development Research Awards Panel (HIV/AIDS)
2005-10 Member, ESRC Research Grants Board (Education, Psychology, Sociology and Health)
2001-2 Member, Wellcome Trust Society Awards Panel
2000- Reviewer for UK Medical Research Council, Australian Research Council, Research Council of Norway, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, World Health Organization, UNAIDS, and other international bodies
My Research Supervision
Horas Wong (2015-completed) -Chinese diasporic gay men in Australia: intersectionality, social generations and health
Christopher Tumwine (2015-completed) -Access to and use of HIV testing, treatment and care: experiences and perspectives of HIV positive fisherfolkin Uganda
Sujith Kumar Prankumar (2017-completed) - Sexual citizenship among Anglo, Indian and Lebanese gender and sexual minority young Australians