The Girl on the Roof

Name: The Girl on the Roof
Price: 32.99 AUD
Availability: PreOrder
ISBN: 9781761382208

the life of a change-maker

Valerie A. Brown

$32.99

Paperback

Forthcoming
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English

Scribe Publications
02 June 2026

Biography; Social & cultural history; Social theory; Public administration; Public health & preventive medicine

Nine decades, one life - a remarkable memoir by an Australian living treasure.

Valerie Brown was a bookish, rebellious child who had made an important discovery when she escaped to the roof of her large family home. As she watched the activities of her family down below, she found that they did not match the ideals her parents had taught to her. Nor did her family's actions meet the ideals put forward in the books she was reading.

This simple observation led to a lifetime of concern about the damage done to a society when there are gaps between their community's good intentions and their practices. She and her team delivered pioneering change programs to bridge such gaps - in partnership with a prime minister, each of the three levels of government, four universities, multiple communities, and several activist groups.

Her interests in health and the environment led her to design and deliver initiatives such as the first Australian science degree in health education; change an outdated public health department into the emerging New Public Health; design and deliver the country's first national drug summit; and establish community health training for doctors and nurses at Tribhuvan University in Nepal. After a stroke in her eighties, she recovered to supervise doctoral students and co-author five books on social change, including the highly successful Tackling Wicked Problems.

Valerie Brown AO is still promoting, discussing, and thinking about positive social changes. After nine decades, she is still that girl on the roof.

By: Valerie A. Brown
Imprint: Scribe Publications
Country of Publication: Australia
Dimensions: Height: 1mm, Width: 1mm,
Weight: 1g
ISBN: 9781761382208
ISBN 10: 1761382209
Pages: 160
Publication Date: 02 June 2026
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

Valerie Brown AO is an Australian scholar known for pioneering interdisciplinary and collective-thinking approaches to complex social and environmental problems. As the foundation director of the Local Sustainability Project at the Australian National University, she led research integrating science, policy, and community knowledge. The author of numerous books on collective decision-making and sustainability, she has advised governments, NGOs, and international agencies. Her work focuses on strengthening democratic processes, enabling community engagement, and supporting cross-sector collaboration to address global challenges.