Sierra Angelina Willow
ܱǰ:Maree Higgins, Ariella Meltzer, Leanne Dowse
Sierra Willow Bromwich is a PhD candidate in the UNSW School of Social Sciences, investigating how young people with intellectual disability navigate agency and identity during transitions to adulthood in contemporary Australia. Sierra’s work attends closely to transitions to adulthood as socio-culturally situated, embodied, and relational experiences, drawing on threads of narrative, relational, and critical theory. She draws on critical sociological approaches to phenomenological research, examining how individual experiences intersect with broader social structures through participatory methods.
Raised on the unceded territories of the and W̱SÁNEĆ, Ktunaxa and Sinixt First Nations (the Gulf Islands and West Kootenay regions of British Columbia, Canada), A qualified teacher in both primary school and special/inclusive education, and a trained trauma-informed practitioner, Sierra has previously worked across inclusive health and education research projects in Australia. She now brings that grounding to her doctoral research, which focuses on inclusive, qualitative, and visual research methodologies. Her broader interests include social and environmental justice, disability-led enquiry, and neuro-affirming and community-oriented scholarship.
Sierra co-facilitates the , a university-wide interdisciplinary collective focused on peer support and inclusive scholarship.
- Research area
- Research outputs
Co-producing a framework for multi-system self-determination development for and with children and young people with intellectual disability.
Book chapters
- Strnadová, I., Danker, J., Willow, S. A., Dowse, L., Lowe, K., Tso, M., & Xavier, A. (in press - 2025). Students with disability transitioning to post-school life: Facilitators and barriers to transition support. In Jindal, S. (Ed.), The Palgrave Handbook of Multiple and Multi-Dimensional Educational and Life Transitions. Springer Nature.
- Strnadová, I., Danker, J., Dowse, L., Lenne, B., Alonzo, D., Tso, M., Loblinzk, J., & Willow, S. A. (2024). Learning environments for students with moderate and high support needs: Listening to student voices. In K. Bishop & K. Dimoulias (Eds.), Routledge.
Peer-reviewed articles
- Jackaman, K. M., Strnadová, I., Willow, S. A., Loblinzk Refalo, J., Scully, J. L., Palmer, E. E., & Terrill, B. (2025). European Journal of Human Genetics : EJHG. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41431-025-01865-2
- Willow, S. A., Strnadová, I., & Danker, J. (2024). Journal of Applied Research in Intellectual Disabilities.
- Strnadová, I., Dunn, M., Molnar, C., ... Willow, S. A., ... Palmer, E. E. (2025). Genetics in Medicine, 101371.
- Molnar, C., Strnadová, I., Dunn, M., ... Willow, S. A., ... & Palmer, E. E. (2024). Frontiers in Psychiatry, 15, 1346423–1346423.
- Strnadová, I., Loblinzk, J., Leach Scully, J., ... Willow, S. A., ... & Palmer, E. E. (2023). European Journal of Human Genetics.
- Strnadová, I., Dowse, L., Lowe, K., Danker, J., Willow, S. A., Tso, M., & Xavier, A. (2023). International Journal of Educational Research, 120, 102188.
Research reports
- Strnadová, I., Scully, J.L., Loblinzk, J., Boyle, J., Danker, J., Tso, M., Dunn, M., Willow, S.A., Molnar. C., Hansen, J., Terrill, B., Sarfaraz, S., Jackaman, K.M., Hayes, S., Hurd, S., & Palmer, E.E. (2023). New South Wales genomic health care inclusive of people with intellectual disability: Co-production and evaluation of the GeneEQUAL Educational Toolkit. A final report. Sydney.
- Strnadová, I., Dowse, L., Lowe, K., Danker, J., Classen, S. A., Tso, M., & Xavier, A. (2022). Supporting students with disability in successfully transitioning to and from high school: Review and synthesis of literature. Final Report. UNSW Sydney.
- Strnadová, I., Scully, J.L., Loblinzk, J., Boyle, J., Danker, J., Tso, M., Dunn, M., Classen, S.A., & Palmer, E.E., (2022). GeneEQUAL: New South Wales Genomic Health Care Inclusive of People with Intellectual Disability. UNSW Sydney.
Conference Presentations
- Australasian Society for Intellectual Disability (ASID) Conference, 2022
- Special Education Principals’ and Leaders’ Association National Conference (SEPLA-CON), 2024
Research Interests
- Self-determination and agency for young people with intellectual disability in their transitions to adulthood
- Transitions across the lifespan for people with disability
- Policy development to address systemic issues and agency in the lives of people with disability, particularly children and young people
- Inclusive research partnering with people with disability, particularly children and young people, and other multiply marginalised populations
- Multi-system approaches to addressing systemic issues in the lives of children and young people with disability
- Critical, feminist, crip, decolonial and emerging theory lenses in disability research