Sandra Croaker is a Lecturer in Social Work with an interest in field education, ecosocial work, and professional identity development, acknowledging how any of these three interest areas interconnect and are linked to key topics relevant to contemporary social work practice, such as social justice, decolonisation, social policy, and community development.

Sandra has been a member of the AASW since 2017 and has been actively contributing as a committee member of her local branch since 2019. Her reasons for becoming active in her branch are the same as those that led her to the Board: a strong commitment to contributing to the social work community and seeing branches as an essential entity in building a strong professional association that advocates for and with members through connection, accountability and responsibility.

As an adopted North Queenslander, Sandra brings a commitment to representing social workers from across remote, rural and regional areas. Before joining academia, Sandra worked in direct practice in Germany, her home country, and in Australia. She worked in the government and non-profit sectors, informed by critical social work, counter-oppressive practice and feminist theory.