Lecturer and Course Coordinator in Social Science
PhD, BA, Msc, MPhil
Telephone Number
02 9000 9604
penny.kansiime@excelsia.edu.au
Dr Peninah Kansiime has been a social work practitioner for over twelve years. She has both domestic and international practice in the areas of child protection, gender-based violence, social administration, forced migration, HIV/AIDS, and disability, with a range of individuals from diverse cultural backgrounds. Her social work lecturing career started almost three years ago, working as a sessional lecturer at the University of Western Sydney, University of Newcastle, as well as the Australian College of Applied Psychology in Sydney. Penny uses a holistic and critical approach to social work and aims at helping students become critically reflective practitioners.
Peninah has a PhD in Social Work from the University of Newcastle. She also holds a Master of Philosophy in Public Mental Health from Stellenbosch University and a Master of Science with a major in Social Work and Human Rights from the University of Gothenburg. Penny completed her Bachelor of Social Work and Social Administration degree from Makerere University Kampala.
Penny has been awarded the AFFIRM Fellowship at the Alan J. Fisher Centre for Public Health, which is a joint initiative of the Department of Psychology at Stellenbosch University and the Department of Psychiatry and Mental Health at the University of Cape Town. Penny is also a recipient of the University of Newcastle International Postgraduate Research Scholarship and University of Newcastle Research Scholarship, as well a scholarship from the Swedish foundation Linneus/Palme.
Peninah’s research interests include human rights, forced migration, mental health and psychosocial wellbeing, sexual and gender-based violence, plus child protection, and other aspects of social work.
Peninah is currently working on several research projects in the field of forced migration and Ubuntu as a framework for education and practice.
Penny is a member of the Australian Association of Social Workers, and the National Association of Social Workers of Uganda. She is also a member of the Kaldor-Africa research group and the African Studies Association of Australasia and the Pacific.
Tusasiirwe, S., Kansiime, P., Eyaa, S., Namisango, F., & Bulamu, N. (2021). Living and Revitalizing Ubuntu: Challenges of Passing on Ubuntu Values to the Younger Generation and Attempted Strategies to Overcome Them. In Understanding Ubuntu for Enhancing Intercultural Communications (pp. 85-101). IGI Global. https://www.igi-global.com/chapter/living-and-revitalizing-ubuntu/276725
Namisango, F., Eyaa, S., Kansiime, P., & Tusasiirwe, S. (2021). Ubuntu in the Diaspora: Its Conservation and Comparison with Other World Views. In Understanding Ubuntu for Enhancing Intercultural Communications (pp. 228-242). IGI Global. https://www.igi-global.com/chapter/ubuntu-in-the-diaspora/276735
Kansiime, P., van der Westhuizen, C., & Kagee, A. (2018). Barriers and facilitators to physical and mental health help-seeking among Congolese male refugee survivors of conflict-related sexual violence living in Kampala. Social Work and Social Sciences Review, 19 (3), 152-173. https://journals.whitingbirch.net/index.php/SWSSR/article/view/1196
Kansiime, P., & Tusasiirwe, S. (2017). Social work practice with war-related humanitarian refugees through the Refugee Law Project in Uganda. In M. Gray (Ed.), The Handbook of Social Work and Social Development in Africa. https://www.routledgehandbooks.com/doi/10.4324/9781315557359
Namara, W. S., Kikambuse, S. M., and Kansiime, P., (2013) Local government councils’ performance and public service delivery in Uganda. Wakiso District Council score-card report, 2011/2012. Advocates Coalition for Development and Environment, Kampala.
Kansiime, P (2010) The Obsatcle of HIV/AIDS related stigma and discrimination in HIV prevention, care, and treatment in Sweden; a study of People Living with HIV/AIDS and service providers. Available at https://gupea.ub.gu.se/handle/2077/23777
Kansiime P (2006) Pregnant women and mothers with children in prison. A case study of Luzira Women’s prison. (Undergraduate Research, Makerere University library).
Social work with male survivors of conflict-related sexual violence in Uganda: The experiences of practitioners and their intervention methods – The African Studies Association of Australasia and the Pacific (AFSAAP) 42nd Annual Conference, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand, November, 2019.
Addressing Health Inequalities Faced by Children with intellectual disabilities in Low Income Countries; the Case of Nodding Disease Victims in Uganda – Joint World Conference on Social Work, Education and Social Development, Melbourne, Australia, July, 2014.
Ensuring the dignity and worth of persons in Uganda – the role of the National Association of Social Workers of Uganda (NASWU) – Voices for Development Conference, South Africa, September 2013.