Brian earned his Ph.D. in Criminology from Griffith University, as well as an M.Ed. in Youth and Family Extension Education and a B.S. in Administration of Justice, both from Penn State University, as well as a graduate certificate in School Violence Prevention from the Harvard School of Public Health. Prior to his nearly 20-year tenure in academia, Dr Bumbarger served as a probation and parole officer, Drug and Gangs Specialist for the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, and Project Manager for the Pennsylvania Office for Safe Schools.

For nearly two decades, Brian has conducted research and advised policymakers on the dissemination, implementation, and sustainment of evidence-based programs and practices to promote positive youth development and strengthen families and communities, and to prevent and reduce delinquency and youth crime. Dr Bumbarger has served on federal Expert Panels for the U.S Department of Education’s Office of Safe and Drug Free Schools, National Institute on Drug Abuse, Centers for Disease Control, and the Administration for Children and Families, and regularly provides testimony before state legislatures, and Congress. Through the Fulbright Specialist Program and the Agency for International Development, he has provided consultation to the governments of Canada, Ireland, Sweden, South Africa, Cyprus, and Australia. He was elected to the Board of Directors of the international Society for Prevention Research (SPR), and was the recipient of the Society’s 2014 Translational Science Award for his research on dissemination and implementation of evidence-based practices. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of both the National Prevention Science Coalition and the Coalition for the Promotion of Behavioral Health. He is a member of the American Society of Criminology and a founding member of the Society for Implementation Research Collaboration.

Brian currently serves as a Public Systems Capacity Building Consultant to the Annie E. Casey Foundation, supporting the Foundation’s work scaling evidence-based policy and practice in Alabama, Utah, and Rhode Island; a consultant to the Utah Division of Substance Abuse and Mental Health, supporting that state’s Intergenerational Poverty Initiative; a faculty member of the California Child Welfare Directors Training Institute; consultant to the Administration for Children and Families supporting the Child Welfare Capacity Building Center for the States; and a consultant to the Centers for Disease Control’s National Youth Violence Prevention Initiative, working with public health agencies in eighteen of the largest U.S. cities. In Australia, Dr Bumbarger serves on the project team of the CREATE collective impact project, a partnership between Griffith University, the Australian Department of Social Services, and several national NGO’s to strengthen the impact of the Communities for Children initiative through prevention science and data-informed decision making.

With an extensive background in public health, administration, community development and research, her work has made significant contributions in areas such as sexual and reproductive health, family violence, gender issues, access and equity, service provision, and harm minimisation. Her professional experience has seen her recognised as an Australian of the Year Finalist in 2010 and recipient of the prestigious JG Crawford Prize for Academic Excellence at Australian National University in 2011. She was the inaugural Co Chair of the National Congress of Australia’s First People’s and the inaugural CEO of the Lowitja Institute.

She is currently a member of the Aboriginal Economic Board in Victoria, OzChild, Indigenous Community Volunteers, Kinnaway Aboriginal Chamber of Commerce and the Victorian Aboriginal Economic Board of Development. She is an author and business owner; a mother and a grandmother with interests in achieving equity for all Australians.

Prior to joining ACU, Prof Higgins was the Deputy Director (Research) at the Australian Institute of Family Studies, where he had responsibility for the research program, knowledge translation and exchange functions focusing on issues affecting families in Australia.

Prof Higgins has extensive experience in managing and supervising research, and has led projects looking at child abuse and neglect, child protection, children in out-of-home care, child-safe organisations, family law and allegations of child abuse, disability and family care, welfare reform, family and interpersonal violence, jobless families, past adoption and forced family separation practices, and community development approaches to child and family welfare issues. He has considerable experience in qualitative and quantitative evaluation methodology and frameworks, and a sound knowledge of state and territory policy and service delivery contexts across Australia.

During that time, Red Cross grew to be a significant provider of homelessness services, child and family support programs, youth development and community development programs, and developed unique collaborative governance models for work in remote Indigenous communities. Matthew has developed particular experience in applying collective impact methodologies in the local context, and has also led numerous place-based, sector integration and collaborative practice projects.

Earlier Matthew had a career in local government and in marketing and communications.  Matthew has four kids and lives in Brisbane.