Ms Nancarrow has held many leadership roles at state and national levels regarding domestic and family violence prevention policy and is a member of the Canadian Observatory on the justice system's response to intimate partner violence. In 2008-2009 Heather was Deputy Chair of the National Council to Reduce Violence against Women and their Children, which produced Time for Action, the blue-print for the Council of Australian Governments' National Plan to Reduce Violence against Women and their Children 2010-2022. Her work has been recognised with several awards including:- the Australian and New Zealand Society of Criminology (ANZSOC) prize for the best paper in criminology or a related discipline by an Australian or New Zealand student for her MA (Hons1) dissertation, ‘In Search of Justice in Domestic and Family Violence: An Examination of the views of Indigenous women and non-Indigenous women on the application of the criminal justice system and restorative justice practices in cases of domestic and family violence' (2004); the ‘Queenslander of the Year Community Spirit Award' (2009); and ‘Honours in recognition of outstanding leadership of the National Council to Reduce Violence against Women and their Children and advancing strategic implementation of the National Plan' awarded by Victim Support Australia (2012). Additionally, in 2010 she was named a Rotary International Paul Harris Fellow.