Uploaded November 2025 | Updated September 2026, 51 minutes ago
New England North West Branch Meeting 2025-1 of the Royal Society of NSW — 29 October 2025
"Building resilient futures: Understanding rural youth through the lens of place, risk, and prevention"
Dr Kyle Mulrooney
Co-Director, Centre for Rural Criminology
University of New England
Panellists: Professor Vicki Bitsika, Sam Coupland, Samantha Guilbert, and Sam Davis
https://www.royalsoc.org.au/events/nenw-branch-meeting-2025-1/
Dr Mulrooney's talk commences at 01:58
Timing Marks:
00:00:00 Introduction: Professor Vicki Bitsika AM FRSN, University of New England
00:01:58 Presentation: Dr Kyle Mulrooney
00:33:32 Panel session and audience Q&A: moderated by Professor Vicki Bitsika
01:55:14 Vote of thanks: Professor Chris Armstrong FRSN, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research), University of New England
02:02:05 Meeting close
Summary: Youth crime prevention is often framed through universal policies and urban experiences. Yet, for young people growing up in rural and regional Australia, the dynamics of opportunity, belonging, and marginalisation are uniquely shaped by place. This presentation explores how rural environments influence both the risks of offending and the possibilities for prevention, drawing on emerging research in rural criminology and community resilience.
In rural settings, young people often navigate complex social geographies such as tight-knit communities with deep social capital, yet also constrained access to services, education, and employment. The same rural features that foster collective efficacy can also amplify disadvantage when social exclusion, poverty, or substance use take hold. Through this lens, prevention becomes not only about deterring crime but about strengthening the social and spatial conditions that enable youth to thrive.
Using examples from research on rural drug use, policing, and community safety, this presentation highlights how locally grounded, place-sensitive strategies can build resilience among rural youth. It argues for a shift from deficit-based approaches that pathologise rural young people to models of prevention that recognise rural assets, including connection, creativity, and community cohesion, as key to reducing harm and building safer, more inclusive futures.
New England North West Branch Meeting 2025-1 of the Royal Society of NSW — 29 October 2025
"Building resilient futures: Understanding rural youth through the lens of place, risk, and prevention"
Dr Kyle Mulrooney
Co-Director, Centre for Rural Criminology
University of New England
Panellists: Professor Vicki Bitsika, Sam Coupland, Samantha Guilbert, and Sam Davis
https://www.royalsoc.org.au/events/nenw-branch-meeting-2025-1/
Dr Mulrooney's talk commences at 01:58
Timing Marks:
00:00:00 Introduction: Professor Vicki Bitsika AM FRSN, University of New England
00:01:58 Presentation: Dr Kyle Mulrooney
00:33:32 Panel session and audience Q&A: moderated by Professor Vicki Bitsika
01:55:14 Vote of thanks: Professor Chris Armstrong FRSN, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research), University of New England
02:02:05 Meeting close
Summary: Youth crime prevention is often framed through universal policies and urban experiences. Yet, for young people growing up in rural and regional Australia, the dynamics of opportunity, belonging, and marginalisation are uniquely shaped by place. This presentation explores how rural environments influence both the risks of offending and the possibilities for prevention, drawing on emerging research in rural criminology and community resilience.
In rural settings, young people often navigate complex social geographies such as tight-knit communities with deep social capital, yet also constrained access to services, education, and employment. The same rural features that foster collective efficacy can also amplify disadvantage when social exclusion, poverty, or substance use take hold. Through this lens, prevention becomes not only about deterring crime but about strengthening the social and spatial conditions that enable youth to thrive.
Using examples from research on rural drug use, policing, and community safety, this presentation highlights how locally grounded, place-sensitive strategies can build resilience among rural youth. It argues for a shift from deficit-based approaches that pathologise rural young people to models of prevention that recognise rural assets, including connection, creativity, and community cohesion, as key to reducing harm and building safer, more inclusive futures.
