Iva Strnadová is a Professor in Special Education and Disability Studies at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia. Her research aims to contribute to better understanding and the improvement of the life experiences of people with disabilities, especially people with intellectual disabilities. Combining research with advocacy is essential in her research program, which builds on supporting the self-determination (including self-advocacy) of people with intellectual disabilities, and is grounded in an innovative inclusive research approach, in which people with intellectual disabilities are included in the role of researcher.
She has a particular research interest in the well-being of people with developmental disabilities (intellectual disabilities and autism) and their families over the life span, diverse transitions in the lives of people with disabilities (particularly intellectual disabilities and autism); girls and women with intellectual disabilities; parents with intellectual disabilities; people with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities, and inclusive research.
Iva Strnadová has a strong history of securing national and international research grants. Since 2005, she has been one of the CIs on more than forty different research projects on both national and international levels. She conceptualised the research projects, managed research teams, and in some of the projects mentored fellow CIs in the application of the grounded theory approach, inductive content analysis and art-based methods (Photovoice, body-mapping).