Associate ProfessorMary Iliadis

Dr Mary Iliadis is an Associate Professor of Criminology at Deakin University, and founding co-convenor of the Deakin Network Against Gendered Violence - Deakin's first University-wide, interdisciplinary research network addressing gender-based violence. She is also a member of Deakin's Cyber Research and Innovation Centre. 

A/Prof Iliadis is an award winning criminologist, recognised for her research expertise on legal and non-legal regulation and responses to domestic, family and sexual violence. She pioneered the first transnational study on victim-focused reforms that offer victims of sexual violence enhanced rights to participation and information in criminal legal systems across Australia, England and Ireland. She is particularly interested in legal mechanisms designed to protect sexual assault victims' private information in court - this includes counselling, therapeutic and medical records; prior sexual experiences; digital data; education and employment records; and other private data. A/Prof Iliadis has spent over 15 years researching whether and how independent legal representation for sexual assault victims can protect their private records in legal processes, and improve their procedural experiences more generally. 

A/Prof Iliadis employs violence- and trauma-informed methodologies, and culturally safe and responsive principles, to ensure and prioritise victim-survivors' wellbeing. Her research practice embodies collaborative engagement with researchers, research participants and stakeholders to foster mutually beneficial and non-extractive partnerships. 

A/Prof Iliadis leads competitively funded research projects in the areas of trauma-informed responses to sexual offence victims through the role of independent legal representation to safeguard private information from use in legal proceedings (medical/counselling records, prior sexual experiences, digital communications). She has also completed research examining how technologies are weaponised to perpetrate violence, as well as harnessed by advocates, victim-survivors and practitioners to enhance responses to gendered violence. Technology-informed funded projects have included:

• Police body-worn camera technologies in response to domestic and family violence: A national study of victim-survivor perspectives and experiences (CRG 35/20-21)
• Can CCTV provide safety and security to victim-survivors of domestic and family violence? (CRG 09-21-22);
• Technology-facilitated abuse and domestic violence in the Pacific: Findings from Fiji, Tonga, and Vanuatu (access report here).

A/Prof Iliadis has a strong track record of high impact publications that have informed national and international commissions of inquiry and reform agendas. She was extensively consulted for and cited in the Australian Law Reform Commission's Inquiry into Justice System Responses to Sexual Offences (2025), Northern Ireland's Gillen Review into Sexual Offences (2021), Women's Safety and Justice Taskforce: Hear Her Voice (2022), Royal Commission into Family Violence (2016), Victorian Law Reform Commission's report on Improving the Justice System Response to Sexual Offences (2021), Victorian Law Reform Commission's report on The Role of Victims of Crime in the Criminal Trial (2016), among others.

Awards

Deakin University's Vice-Chancellor's Award for Multidisciplinary Research Collaboration 2025

Deakin University's Faculty of Arts and Education Mid-Career Researcher Award 2025

Deakin University's Vice-Chancellor’s Award for (ECR) Research Excellence 2022

World Society of Victimology Award 2022

Australian and New Zealand Society of Criminology Award for Outstanding Police Research 2022

Australian and New Zealand Society of Criminology New Scholar Prize 2019