Janet Hunt joined CAEPR in late 2004 to manage the Indigenous Community Governance Project, an ARC Linkage Project with Reconciliation Australia which ran until the end of 2008. She then began research on the socio-economic benefits of Aboriginal engagement in managing 'country' in NSW, a project which continued until the end of 2013.  In addition she was a Chief Investigator on two ARC Projects, one on Indigenous Philanthropy and Education, the other a major international project on development of a more gender-sensitive measure of poverty. The latter is now in a new phase 'Preparing the Individual Deprivation Measure for Global Use by 2020' with funding from DFAT. She has also undertaken research on international non government organisations and their work in Indigenous Australia.  Janet was until the end of 2017 a member of the Central Land Council's Community Development Reference Group  and  was a member of the Independent Reference Group for the International NGO Accountability Charter until early 2014. She has undertaken  a range of governance research for the NSW Government and the Closing the Gap Clearinghouse and is currently researching success factors in Indigenous development, public value and Aboriginal organisations in the Kimberley and New Public Management and urban Aboriginal Organisations in NSW. She also leads the Indigenous sub-project in the ANU Grand Challenge winner of 2018, Zero Carbon for Asia-Pacific, researching Indigenous people's opportunities in the development of a renewable energy industry in Northern Australia. From July 2018- March 2019 Janet was Interim Director of CAEPR.

Prior to her work at CAEPR, Janet worked in international development since 1985, specializing in non-government organizations in the Asia-Pacific region, as well as gender and development. She has been the Executive Director of the Australian Council for Overseas Aid (now the Australian Council for International Development) the peak body for international aid and development NGOs, and the International Women's Development Agency, and has worked extensively in the Asia-Pacific region. Since 1999 she has spent considerable time working with and researching local NGOs in East Timor. She has lectured in International Development at Deakin and RMIT Universities.

In a previous career, Janet taught, lectured in education, and worked in educational research. Her interest in indigenous Australia has spanned over thirty years and she been associated, mostly voluntarily, with communities and organizations on the NSW South Coast and Central-West NSW.

Reciprocal Accountability and Public Value: Aboriginal Organisations in the Kimberley

Indigenous and community engagement in a Renewable Energy Industry in Northern Australia

NSW Aboriginal Affairs Research Agenda : Self-Determination

SeaChange: Marine Cultural Mapping ( Mogo and Bateman's LALCs)