Dr Lester Thompson

This person does not currently hold a position at QUT.
Biography
Lester began teaching at QUT in 2000. He previously taught at:- James Cook University's School of Behavioural Sciences
- Charles Darwin University's Faculty of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies.
He has practical experience caring for people with disabilities, and working with homeless people.
Lester has a child protection worker and worked in Indigenous housing policy.
Research interests
- ideology and culture
- welfare and wellbeing
- social policy processes
- indigenous issues
- person/environment interaction
- practice, motivation and self-esteem in human service organisations.
His research interests are interdisciplinary, drawing analyses from a range of fields and focusing upon ideological and cultural interpretations of social welfare and well-being.
This analysis has been particularly useful in considering policy processes and the disempowerment of Indigenous people in Australia and Melanesia.
Personal details
Discipline
Sociology, Policy and Administration, Political Science
Field of Research code, Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification (ANZSRC), 2008
Qualifications
- Doctor of Philosophy (University of Queensland)
- Master of Regional Science (University of Queensland)
Professional memberships and associations
- member and the Public Officer - Welfare Rights Centre Queensland.
Teaching
2005: QUT TALSS Teaching Fellowship A
Teaching interests
- the development of practice wisdom in social work proto-professionals
- a taxonomy for explicit contextual learning
- online environments and the promotion of professional competencies
- professional change agents and practice wisdom
- developing rich learning environments
- capability, confidence and commitment and motivation to learn.
Experience
Lester is involved in ongoing collaborations, researching and writing papers with staff at the Welfare Rights Centre Inc. Queensland regarding disempowerment within Australian society.
He works with:
- the Bellingen Institute regarding Indigenous issues
- Save the Children Australia (Honiara office) regarding child protective arrangements in the Solomon Islands.
He has regular research collaborations with:
- Dr D Wadley - Department Geography Planning and Architecture at UQ
- Dr R Hil - Southern Cross University.
Selected publications
QUT ePrints
For more publications by Lester, explore their research in QUT ePrints (our digital repository).