Professor Abigail Payne

Director, Melbourne Institute

Professor Payne is the Director of the leading Australian institute on applied economic and social research and has a longstanding research interest in empirical public economics issues with a focus on how government policy affects spending and performance.

Her work encompasses educational issues such as understanding successful transitions from high school to university, why there are gender gaps in STEM enrolments, and the role of scholarships on university participation, especially those from low-income backgrounds. Throughout her career she has played a seminal role in building, transforming, and analysing sensitive data from non-traditional resources.