Dr Jen Cleary is a human geographer, with a background spanning social services and social policy; vocational and higher education; and regional, rural and remote research and development. She is currently the Chief Executive Officer of Centacare Catholic Country SA, a for-purpose organisation providing social services in regional, rural and remote communities in South Australia, across a footprint of some 980,000 km2.
Dr Cleary is an alumna of UniSA, where she was awarded a PhD in Geography in 2014. She maintains connections to all three South Australian universities, holding adjunct positions with the University of Adelaide and the Centre for Social Impact at Flinders University. She is also a member of the UniSA Justice and Society Arts Program Advisory Panel.
Dr Cleary is a member of the SEGRA (Sustainable Economic Growth for Regional Australia) National Steering Committee, which engages in practice-based research to contribute to evidence-driven policy for regional Australia.
She is also a Board Member of the South Australian Council of Social Services (SACOSS), and TAFESA. Dr Cleary is frequently sought to provide advice and policy input to governments about regional populations, communities and social and economic development, most recently supporting the development of wellbeing indicators for the national budget, through the University of NSW.
