Participatory Decision Making and Policy Production in Child Welfare. Our research focuses on one of the most sensitive and complex areas of citizen participation - the participation of families in child welfare decision making and policy production. The project will build practical models for participatory practices with families with young children who are engaged with child welfare services. By enhancing family members' participation in decision making and policy production this project wil ....Participatory Decision Making and Policy Production in Child Welfare. Our research focuses on one of the most sensitive and complex areas of citizen participation - the participation of families in child welfare decision making and policy production. The project will build practical models for participatory practices with families with young children who are engaged with child welfare services. By enhancing family members' participation in decision making and policy production this project will contribute to strengthening the family safety net for young vulnerable children and to the creation of policies that better recognise the diverse concerns of young families engaged in child welfare systems. Read moreRead less
Vulnerable families: A study of the impact of parental offending and incarceration on children's developmental outcomes. The limited evidence available suggests that parental incarceration severely compromises the development and well-being of children and increases the risk of delinquency. The financial and personal costs to the community of individuals embarking on an offending career are substantial. Significant cost-savings and prevention of victimisation could result from effectively target ....Vulnerable families: A study of the impact of parental offending and incarceration on children's developmental outcomes. The limited evidence available suggests that parental incarceration severely compromises the development and well-being of children and increases the risk of delinquency. The financial and personal costs to the community of individuals embarking on an offending career are substantial. Significant cost-savings and prevention of victimisation could result from effectively targeting this high-risk population. This research will identify where and when scarce government resources should be targeted. Appropriately timed programs can deliver a range of long-term benefits for children, families and communities. The research will also investigate the reintegration of prisoners into their families, with the aim of reducing prisoner recidivism.Read moreRead less
Pathways to better practice: developing human resources in child protection services for Indigenous communities in Western Australia and Queensland. This study addresses the serious and escalating problem of providing child protection services to Indigenous children and their families in rural and remote areas. Service delivery to rural and remote environments in Australia is a high cost exercise and, to date, little research has been conducted to understanding the complex nature of professiona ....Pathways to better practice: developing human resources in child protection services for Indigenous communities in Western Australia and Queensland. This study addresses the serious and escalating problem of providing child protection services to Indigenous children and their families in rural and remote areas. Service delivery to rural and remote environments in Australia is a high cost exercise and, to date, little research has been conducted to understanding the complex nature of professional (non-medical) interventions in communities with high proportions of Indigenous families and children. The study, conducted across two states, will contribute to national benefit in 3 key areas: the health and wellbeing of Indigenous children; skills shortage in rural areas and intergenerational change in professional disciplines.Read moreRead less
Understanding and Managing the Occupational Health Impacts on Investigators of Internet Child Exploitation. Through developing best practice models for managing vicarious trauma in investigators of Internet child exploitation, the project will result in enhanced job satisfaction and less burnout of workers, and reduced health costs for policing organisations. Thus the project addresses a serious occupational health issue and contributes to the goal of promoting and maintaining good health. Furth ....Understanding and Managing the Occupational Health Impacts on Investigators of Internet Child Exploitation. Through developing best practice models for managing vicarious trauma in investigators of Internet child exploitation, the project will result in enhanced job satisfaction and less burnout of workers, and reduced health costs for policing organisations. Thus the project addresses a serious occupational health issue and contributes to the goal of promoting and maintaining good health. Further, by better managing the occupational health of investigators, the project will enhance the capacity of police organisations to deliver on their mission of investigating and preventing Internet child exploitation. This in turn contributes to the reduced consumption of Internet child exploitation and the associated traumatisation of abused victims. Read moreRead less
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.
iMATCH: Independent mobility, active travel and children's health. Policy interventions are used across Australia to improve children's independent mobility, to increase children's physical activity levels and social interaction, and to generate more sustainable travel behaviour, particularly for the journey to school. iMATCH provides a holistic and inter-disciplinary evaluation of policy interventions than is undertaken for most evaluations of school travel and children's travel behaviour polic ....iMATCH: Independent mobility, active travel and children's health. Policy interventions are used across Australia to improve children's independent mobility, to increase children's physical activity levels and social interaction, and to generate more sustainable travel behaviour, particularly for the journey to school. iMATCH provides a holistic and inter-disciplinary evaluation of policy interventions than is undertaken for most evaluations of school travel and children's travel behaviour policies and programs. By controlling for the influence of the built and social environment, the project will provide the necessary support to justify these policy interventions and to identify key improvements for their delivery, supporting more sustainable and healthy lifestyles for Australia's children.Read moreRead less
Advancing prevention science: application of social marketing to change the drinking culture of young Australians. This project will provide a comprehensive cluster randomised control trial of an innovative social marketing education intervention, which focuses on moderating adolescent attitudes and intentions to drink alcohol.
Improving teacher assessment using exemplars and online moderation. This project aims to assess the dependability of teacher judgement using psychometric scaling and online moderation. The project will use an innovative approach to connect achievement standards and judgement-practice for middle-year students in Australian education system. Expected outcomes of the project include the development of scaled work samples exemplifying A-E standards of achievement, refined methods for the consistency ....Improving teacher assessment using exemplars and online moderation. This project aims to assess the dependability of teacher judgement using psychometric scaling and online moderation. The project will use an innovative approach to connect achievement standards and judgement-practice for middle-year students in Australian education system. Expected outcomes of the project include the development of scaled work samples exemplifying A-E standards of achievement, refined methods for the consistency and comparability of assessment decisions, and a new approach to moderating teacher judgements. This project should provide significant benefits in building teachers’ assessment capabilities, shaping policy and teacher preparation.Read moreRead less
Strength in uniformity - novel clonal technologies for a more productive avocado industry. Cost and time efficient clonal propagation protocols to multiply elite avocado rootstocks for increased productivity is a major industry gap. This project will develop novel approaches coupling tissue culture with recent advances in root induction, which will profitably deliver large numbers of uniform and high yielding avocado plants to national and international growers.
Infrastructure project delivery: a life cycle evaluation model for public private partnerships. Governments continue to embrace public-private partnerships so as to obtain value for money and provide financial accountability to taxpayers. This project will determine the most appropriate way to engage the private sector in infrastructure delivery and develop a dynamic life cycle evaluation model to ensure projects are delivered effectively and efficiently.