DrMandy Henningham

BA(FA), BHealthMvt(Spt), GCert PubHlth, GCert EdStud(HigherEd), DipEdStud, MHlthSc(Sexual Hlth), PhD(Medicine)

Pronouns: she/they

Dr Mandy Henningham is an Indigenous early career researcher at the School of Social and Political Sciences and has a strong passion for gender and sexuality, sexual health, mental health, and marginalised populations. Their postgraduate studies in sexual health led her to be a dedicated advocate for LGBTIQA+ human rights which lead her to complete her mixed-methods, multidisciplinary PhD project where they explored the lived experiences of people with intersex variations/variations in sex characteristics.

Their PhD thesis project titled "Born This Way: The Healthcare, Sexuality, and Social Experiences of People with Intersex Variations" generated new insights and knowledge based on grounded theory that is ethically considerate to people with intersex variations. The international project explored the narratives of people with intersex variations including topics such as school experiences, sexual and romantic relationships, sexual satisfaction, friendships, family dynamics and experiences in healthcare and mental health services.This thesis has spawned a number of publications and was invited by the Australian Human Rights Commission Inquiry to submit her thesis and published papers to their "inquiry into medical interventions for people with variations in their sex characteristics".

Mandy has since worked on a number of other research projects including young people and body image, Aboriginal recruitment and retention in tertiary settings, lived experiences of people with dual/multiplicity of identities, Aboriginal people in the workplace, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and cancer (as part of her Fellowship with Cancer Council Australia), and bisexuality (bi+) identities.