From entitlement to experiment: The new governance of welfare to work. This project aims to model and explain the governance dynamics of welfare to work in Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. Australia regularly undertakes major governance reforms in providing welfare to the unemployed and other groups in need. In this dynamic environment, welfare agencies are struggling to deliver benefits to the most disadvantaged people. Services must balance the need to meet central performance re ....From entitlement to experiment: The new governance of welfare to work. This project aims to model and explain the governance dynamics of welfare to work in Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. Australia regularly undertakes major governance reforms in providing welfare to the unemployed and other groups in need. In this dynamic environment, welfare agencies are struggling to deliver benefits to the most disadvantaged people. Services must balance the need to meet central performance requirements against the desire to help clients. The project aims to create a new framework for understanding how policy instruments and design experiments can improve services for those who are in need.Read moreRead less
The new digital governance of welfare to work. This project aims to analyse the implementation of a 'digital first' employment services system, its effects on frontline services and governance, and its potential for policy learning. It expects to generate new knowledge on how digitalisation changes interactions between jobseekers, providers, employers and the government, by working with our industry partners in a collaborative innovation lab. Expected outcomes of this project include a theoretic ....The new digital governance of welfare to work. This project aims to analyse the implementation of a 'digital first' employment services system, its effects on frontline services and governance, and its potential for policy learning. It expects to generate new knowledge on how digitalisation changes interactions between jobseekers, providers, employers and the government, by working with our industry partners in a collaborative innovation lab. Expected outcomes of this project include a theoretically informed, and practically tested, model of how digitalisation can promote service design and policy innovation that benefits jobseekers and employers. This should provide significant benefits for welfare system design, service outcomes, and policy learning nationally and internationally. Read moreRead less
Federalism in Australian schooling: Its impact upon quality and equity. The project is designed to support the objectives for schooling in Australia that have been identified by the Council of Australian Governments. These objectives are in the face of growing inequities in the distribution of educational resources, growing concentrations of students with high levels of educational needs, and imbalances in the distribution of resources across key stages, especially in early childhood education. ....Federalism in Australian schooling: Its impact upon quality and equity. The project is designed to support the objectives for schooling in Australia that have been identified by the Council of Australian Governments. These objectives are in the face of growing inequities in the distribution of educational resources, growing concentrations of students with high levels of educational needs, and imbalances in the distribution of resources across key stages, especially in early childhood education. By examining the ways in which federalism contributes to the structural barriers to these objectives and by developing and validating a set of structural reforms the project will contribute to these national objectives. Read moreRead less
Catching capital: Understanding and influencing corporate tax strategy. This project aims to analyse the factors which influence the tax strategies of large multi-national corporations, and explain variations in behaviour between firms and industry sectors. Identifying reforms that exert the greatest influence over corporate behaviour will enable reforms which refine and improve the efficacy of international tax regimes. The expected outcomes will provide an evidence base for policy makers to ev ....Catching capital: Understanding and influencing corporate tax strategy. This project aims to analyse the factors which influence the tax strategies of large multi-national corporations, and explain variations in behaviour between firms and industry sectors. Identifying reforms that exert the greatest influence over corporate behaviour will enable reforms which refine and improve the efficacy of international tax regimes. The expected outcomes will provide an evidence base for policy makers to evaluate and refine corporate tax reform initiatives.Read moreRead less
Emerging from the shadows: the evaluation of intervention strategies to reduce social isolation amongst the aged. Social isolation imposes a high cost on affected individuals and the community at large. This project will determine what interventions work in addressing social isolation amongst the older population.
Protecting while they prosper? Organisational responses to whistleblowing. This project aims to examine the adequacy of organisational responses to whistleblowing (employee reporting of wrongdoing). So far, research into public-interest whistleblowing has revealed much about the incidence, significance and experience of whistleblowers. This project now extends the research to the other side of the issue — the organisations. By comparing employee and managerial experience in multiple public and p ....Protecting while they prosper? Organisational responses to whistleblowing. This project aims to examine the adequacy of organisational responses to whistleblowing (employee reporting of wrongdoing). So far, research into public-interest whistleblowing has revealed much about the incidence, significance and experience of whistleblowers. This project now extends the research to the other side of the issue — the organisations. By comparing employee and managerial experience in multiple public and private sector organisations in Australia and New Zealand, the project intends to identify the factors that influence good and bad responses across a range of institutions; provide a clearer basis for reform of policies, procedures and law; and set benchmarks for comparative research worldwide.Read moreRead less
A taxonomy of Australian consumers' food and health knowledge. Identification and measurement of the basic dimensions of food knowledge of consumers will inform new education curricula and community communication programs. The findings will enable better targeting of community and industry education by policy planners, education authorities, and the food industry. They will also enable monitoring and evaluation of food communication programs. In the longer term, this research may also enable cit ....A taxonomy of Australian consumers' food and health knowledge. Identification and measurement of the basic dimensions of food knowledge of consumers will inform new education curricula and community communication programs. The findings will enable better targeting of community and industry education by policy planners, education authorities, and the food industry. They will also enable monitoring and evaluation of food communication programs. In the longer term, this research may also enable citizens to deal with the changes caused by climate change, metabolic disease and increasing longevity; help educate more literate food industry workers; enhance communications between citizens, industry and government; and generate greater demand for higher quality food products.
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The Kids in Communities Study: national investigation of community level effects on children's developmental outcomes. This project (a cross-disciplinary collaboration) will investigate community level factors influencing early childhood developmental outcomes using a mixed methods approach in up to 10 communities across Australia. This will result in a potential set of measures or indicators that reflect communities that are good for children.
Increasing innovation and flexibility in social service delivery. This project will use a comparative methodology to investigate how contracted social services require careful regulation to ensure service effectiveness and improved organisational capacity. The outcome will include a practice model for understanding the relationship between regulation, contract structure and forms of service delivery innovation.
Job quality and care quality in aged care. The project aims to investigate how job quality and the quality of care are linked in residential and community-based aged care services. Population ageing and fewer informal carers place pressure on aged care provision across the OECD There is little understanding, at either the policy or workplace levels, of how the quality of aged care jobs affects the viability and quality of that provision. The project expects to improve knowledge about how job qua ....Job quality and care quality in aged care. The project aims to investigate how job quality and the quality of care are linked in residential and community-based aged care services. Population ageing and fewer informal carers place pressure on aged care provision across the OECD There is little understanding, at either the policy or workplace levels, of how the quality of aged care jobs affects the viability and quality of that provision. The project expects to improve knowledge about how job quality affects aged care quality; and identify care markets, policy regimes and work organisation that best support sustainable quality aged care.Read moreRead less