David Azul

Dr David Azul (nee Scheidt) is a senior lecturer, researcher, certified practising speech pathologist, (academic and creative) writer and sound performer based at La Trobe Rural Health School, La Trobe University, Bendigo.

David has nine years of clinical experience working as a speech pathologist and clinical educator (Germany, LTU). They have worked as a lecturer of speech pathology since 2004 (Germany, LTU) and have taught writing, literary, feminist and gender studies subjects for eight years (LTU). Since 2001, David has worked as a Research Assistant, Honorary Visiting Research Fellow and Chief Investigator in a range of Health Sciences, Humanities and transdisciplinary projects. Their current collaborators include scholars based at La Trobe University, Australia; RWTH Aachen University, Germany; Karolinska Institute, Sweden; The George Washington University and University of California Santa Barbara, USA.

David’s work focuses on exploring options of cross-fertilization between feminist and (trans)gender studies theories, creative practice, clinical research and clinical practice and takes a transdisciplinary and transgeneric approach to knowledge production. Since 2002, they have mainly focused on bringing theoretical and methodological innovation to the nexus between gender diversity and voice. Recently, David has expanded their research interests to include the interactions between voice, communication, sociocultural belonging and wellbeing (with a particular focus on mindfulness and (self-)compassion).
Key projects have been supported by the Heinrich Böll Foundation, Germany, an Endeavour International Postgraduate Research Scholarship and by internal research grants from La Trobe University. For their postgraduate research, David has received a La Trobe University Institute for Advanced Study postgraduate Writing-Up Award and the RWTH Aachen University medal.

David has more than 20 publications in peer-reviewed outlets, presented at over 30 conferences and was invited to give guest lectures and workshops to students, health professionals and the public. David is an active peer-reviewer for speech pathology, qualitative and creative research journals and a member of consultative boards to support LGBTIQ communities. Their research is aligned with LTU’s Research Focus Areas "Building Healthy Communities" and "Transforming Human Societies" and the Research Program "Sex, Gender and Sexuality" at the Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society (ARCSHS).