Bodean Hedwards

Dr. Bodean Hedwards is the Manager of Monash University’s Global Immersion Guarantee program, an Australia-first, funded international study program that provides first-year students with the opportunity to engage with local leaders implementing innovative and sustainable solutions to some of the world’s greatest challenges in India, Indonesia, Italy, China and Malaysia. Bodean is responsible for the design and delivery of the program across all countries, including the development of a range of strategic partnerships that provide opportunities for broader, long-term engagement. Bodean is also a criminologist, with her research focusing primarily on slavery and human trafficking. She has extensive experience working on this issue with governments, NGOs and leading universities both in Australia and abroad and most recently worked alongside UN Women and the International Labour Organisation as part of the Monash University team leading research on safe and fair migration for women migrant workers around the ASEAN region. Prior to this, Bodean was a Researcher with the Walk Free Foundation where she specialised in assessing government responses to modern slavery across Asia. Bodean has also worked with the Australian Institute of Criminology in Canberra on a range of issues, including anti-human trafficking, countering violent extremism and Indigenous justice programs. Outside her formal employment, Bodean co-founded ‘A Million Hands Project’, a small NGO that supported a health clinic in Lucknow, India. Bodean holds a PhD from Monash University, during which she was a Visiting Study Fellow at Oxford University’s Refugee Studies Centre.