Kirsten Ridley is a senior global development professional with expertise in co-designing, evaluating and managing international social impact and health programs. She has led multi-stakeholder collaborations and diverse impact and change initiatives in university settings and international NGOs in Australia and abroad.
Since joining the Kirby Institute in 2021 Kirsten has been responsible for managing multi-country global health programs and consortia. Currently she is the Program Manager for the Strengthening Laboratory and Diagnostic Capacity in the Indo-Pacific (IndoPacLab) Program. The aim of the IndoPacLab Program is to strengthen laboratory functions for accurate, timely and scalable testing of COVID-19, HIV, TB and Malaria across Papua New Guinea, Cambodia and Laos PDR. Previously Kirsten was the Program Manager for the Accelerating uptake of COVID-19 Ag RDTs in the Indo Pacific program (the Accelerator Program). This program aimed to support and inform the effective and efficient uptake of diagnostic technologies for SARS-CoV-2, with a central focus on antigen rapid diagnostic tests (Ag RDTs), to strengthen COVID-19 responses.
Kirsten holds a Master of Management specialised in non-profit management. Before joining the Kirby Institute, she worked with a range of purpose-driven organisations in Australia and abroad, including Action Against Hunger Bangladesh, the School for Social Entrepreneurs, Caritas Australia, and the Institute for Global Development at UNSW Sydney. She has experience leading program design and evaluations, quality standards and compliance accreditations, complex grant submissions and donor liaison, sustainability reporting, and organisational development initiatives. In 2023 she was honoured to be appointed a director on the board of the Australian Himalayan Foundation (AHF).