DIsrupting Child Exploitation - the DICE project. Child sexual exploitation is an insidious social problem which impacts the most vulnerable children and young people in Australia. The DICE project (Disrupting Child Sexual Exploitation) aims to develop a multi-agency response which pivots the focus of intervention to the sexual exploitation predators who target vulnerable young people in statutory care. Previous interventions have prioritised protecting (and controlling) the young people, with l ....DIsrupting Child Exploitation - the DICE project. Child sexual exploitation is an insidious social problem which impacts the most vulnerable children and young people in Australia. The DICE project (Disrupting Child Sexual Exploitation) aims to develop a multi-agency response which pivots the focus of intervention to the sexual exploitation predators who target vulnerable young people in statutory care. Previous interventions have prioritised protecting (and controlling) the young people, with limited success. Through a trauma informed approach which supports young people, combined with disruptive police strategies targeting perpetrators, and co-ordinated multiagency working, it is anticipated that there will be measurable changes to the protection of vulnerable young people. Read moreRead less
Mental health, job quality and workforce participation: evidence from population health research to address complex problems and conflicting policies. Mental disorders such as depression are a major cause of disability. Improving mental health can increase productivity and workforce participation. However, the psychosocial quality of work is a factor that overlays the relationship between work and health. Poor quality work (for example, unreasonable time pressure, insecurity) increases the risk ....Mental health, job quality and workforce participation: evidence from population health research to address complex problems and conflicting policies. Mental disorders such as depression are a major cause of disability. Improving mental health can increase productivity and workforce participation. However, the psychosocial quality of work is a factor that overlays the relationship between work and health. Poor quality work (for example, unreasonable time pressure, insecurity) increases the risk of poor mental health, absenteeism, and exit from the workforce. This project will analyse data following people over time to investigate the long-term health and employment consequences of poor psychosocial job quality, and consider the special case of mature age workers. It will identify those individuals at greatest risk, and factors that can buffer against the adverse effects of poor quality work.Read moreRead less
Working longer, staying healthy and keeping productive. Working longer, staying healthy and keeping productive. This project aims to develop a policy suite to respond to an older workforce. By 2060, nearly half of Australians aged 64 or older will be employed. Failure to address their health problems could threaten Australia’s economy, tax base and provision of health and care services. This collaboration between national policy portfolios (employment, social services, workplace health and socia ....Working longer, staying healthy and keeping productive. Working longer, staying healthy and keeping productive. This project aims to develop a policy suite to respond to an older workforce. By 2060, nearly half of Australians aged 64 or older will be employed. Failure to address their health problems could threaten Australia’s economy, tax base and provision of health and care services. This collaboration between national policy portfolios (employment, social services, workplace health and social equity) and expert scientists in work, health, social equality and policy process intends to reveal the diversity of older workers’ work-health dilemmas and effective ways for national policies to solve them. The policy suite will promote financial independence and meet social goals of equity and healthy ageing.Read moreRead less
Enhancing mothers' engagement with the workforce in the preschool years. Increasing the workforce participation of mothers is a key national policy agenda. This project will produce unique data that provides insights into how leave arrangements, childcare, flexibility, job characteristics and individual circumstances interact to influence mothers' workforce engagement and how this varies for different groups of mothers.
Upholding the right to cultural connection for children in care. A positive sense of cultural identity is critical to wellbeing, yet children in out-of-home care often lose their cultural identities and connections. There is little evidence to guide out-of-home care agencies to support a culturally meaningful foster care placement for non-Indigenous culturally and linguistically diverse children. This project tests promising practices identified by the partner organisations and research literatu ....Upholding the right to cultural connection for children in care. A positive sense of cultural identity is critical to wellbeing, yet children in out-of-home care often lose their cultural identities and connections. There is little evidence to guide out-of-home care agencies to support a culturally meaningful foster care placement for non-Indigenous culturally and linguistically diverse children. This project tests promising practices identified by the partner organisations and research literature to produce an exemplary model of cultural care, with input from children, carers and birth families. Trial implementation in the partner organisations will inform guidelines and recommendations so that the model can inform policy and practice in out-of-home care across Australia.
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Creating pathways to child wellbeing in disadvantaged communities. This project aims to test, in nine disadvantaged communities, a model for action that blends new human and digital resources to support respectful, data-driven collaborations between schools, families and community agencies.
The project expects to generate new knowledge in the area of translational prevention science about how to influence risk and protective factors for child wellbeing in a cost-efficient manner and at a scale ....Creating pathways to child wellbeing in disadvantaged communities. This project aims to test, in nine disadvantaged communities, a model for action that blends new human and digital resources to support respectful, data-driven collaborations between schools, families and community agencies.
The project expects to generate new knowledge in the area of translational prevention science about how to influence risk and protective factors for child wellbeing in a cost-efficient manner and at a scale within existing service systems. Project benefits should include a methodology for achieving lasting improvements in child wellbeing, behaviour and school success.
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Creating the conditions for collective impact: transforming the child serving system in disadvantaged communities. No one institution can close the gap in child wellbeing and school achievement between poor and affluent areas. This project will draw schools, child serving agencies and community members into coalitions in disadvantaged areas to build, test and evaluate an integrated 'backbone support system' designed to foster healthy development of the whole child.
ARC Centre of Excellence for Integrative Brain Function. The Centre of Excellence for Integrative Brain Function will address one of the greatest scientific challenges of the 21st century to understand how the brain works. We will investigate complex functions such as attention, prediction and decision-making, which require the coordination of information processing by many areas of the brain. This will require a highly collaborative approach involving neurobiologists, cognitive scientists, eng ....ARC Centre of Excellence for Integrative Brain Function. The Centre of Excellence for Integrative Brain Function will address one of the greatest scientific challenges of the 21st century to understand how the brain works. We will investigate complex functions such as attention, prediction and decision-making, which require the coordination of information processing by many areas of the brain. This will require a highly collaborative approach involving neurobiologists, cognitive scientists, engineers and physicists, allowing us to translate our discoveries into novel technologies for the social and economic benefit of all Australians. We will also train a new generation of multidisciplinary researchers, and contribute our expertise to a range of public education and awareness programs.Read moreRead less