Strengthening Relationships for Young People in Residential Care. Young people in residential care face major challenges in forming positive relationships, many having experienced adults as a source of threat rather than safety. This project aims to investigate practices within therapeutic residential care that enable or limit young people’s identity formation, positive social connections, safety and wellbeing. This research will generate nuanced knowledge informing interpersonal and institution ....Strengthening Relationships for Young People in Residential Care. Young people in residential care face major challenges in forming positive relationships, many having experienced adults as a source of threat rather than safety. This project aims to investigate practices within therapeutic residential care that enable or limit young people’s identity formation, positive social connections, safety and wellbeing. This research will generate nuanced knowledge informing interpersonal and institutional change. Expected outcomes include improved approaches to therapeutic care and to methods for enabling the participation of young people in care in matters that may change their life trajectory on exiting care. Expected benefits include more responsive policies and frameworks for practice.Read moreRead less
Re-conceptualising services from the perspectives of young people. This project aims to contribute the perspectives and voices of vulnerable young people to debates on the need for service reform. It will actively engage children and teens who have complex support needs in service re-design and decision making, and will trial child-led service initiatives. It will also explore organisational barriers to including young people in policy debate and service decision-making. Expected outcomes includ ....Re-conceptualising services from the perspectives of young people. This project aims to contribute the perspectives and voices of vulnerable young people to debates on the need for service reform. It will actively engage children and teens who have complex support needs in service re-design and decision making, and will trial child-led service initiatives. It will also explore organisational barriers to including young people in policy debate and service decision-making. Expected outcomes include increased knowledge of how to effectively engage young people, and understanding of the impact of their participation both for young people and for services. Read moreRead less
Integrated Kids Hubs - Ensuring Equity of Access for Children. The Integrated Kids Hubs - Ensuring Equity of Access for Children project aims to determine if integrated Hubs are effective in increasing access to child and family services for disadvantaged urban and regional families with children aged 3 years and under, thus improving early identification of developmental vulnerability, parental wellbeing and capacity, and addressing unmet psychosocial needs. If these issues are not identified a ....Integrated Kids Hubs - Ensuring Equity of Access for Children. The Integrated Kids Hubs - Ensuring Equity of Access for Children project aims to determine if integrated Hubs are effective in increasing access to child and family services for disadvantaged urban and regional families with children aged 3 years and under, thus improving early identification of developmental vulnerability, parental wellbeing and capacity, and addressing unmet psychosocial needs. If these issues are not identified and addressed early, these children will go on to struggle in school and life. We will use a pragmatic trial design (meaning the research is embedded in our usual practice), determine the social return on investment, and establish what is needed to scale up the Hubs across NSW and Australia.Read moreRead less
Beyond safety: Ethical practice involving children. This project aims to investigate the role of ethical practice in improving child safety. Focusing especially on those who are at greater risk of harm, the findings will contribute to ensuring Australia’s children are safe and treated with dignity and respect. Expected outcomes include better-targeted, child-informed policy and practice for organisations involved with children, and important knowledge for organisations seeking to optimise, promo ....Beyond safety: Ethical practice involving children. This project aims to investigate the role of ethical practice in improving child safety. Focusing especially on those who are at greater risk of harm, the findings will contribute to ensuring Australia’s children are safe and treated with dignity and respect. Expected outcomes include better-targeted, child-informed policy and practice for organisations involved with children, and important knowledge for organisations seeking to optimise, promote and protect children’s safety and wellbeingRead moreRead less
Social exclusion in adolescence: risks, assets, experiences and policy action. This project aims to investigate social exclusion among young people aged 8 to 17 including the risks of exclusion they face, the assets mobilised to support their inclusion and their life experiences in the context of these risks and assets. The project intends to investigate which risks, assets and experiences are most closely related to outcomes, and how these vary by age and gender. Expected outcomes include a new ....Social exclusion in adolescence: risks, assets, experiences and policy action. This project aims to investigate social exclusion among young people aged 8 to 17 including the risks of exclusion they face, the assets mobilised to support their inclusion and their life experiences in the context of these risks and assets. The project intends to investigate which risks, assets and experiences are most closely related to outcomes, and how these vary by age and gender. Expected outcomes include a new understanding of the relationship between social exclusion and outcomes in adolescence as well as entry points for policy intervention. Addressing social exclusion in adolescence will lead to improved outcomes in health, education and productivity, and a more socially-cohesive society.Read moreRead less
Securing the next generation in farming and food careers. This project aims to investigate why and how young people (aged 15-35 years) enter, stay or leave jobs and careers in the agri-food sector, including farming, farm services and food processing. This project expects to generate new knowledge to improve youth career trajectories through using an innovative, interdisciplinary and engaged research design with young people. Expected outcomes include the co-design of youth-appropriate industry ....Securing the next generation in farming and food careers. This project aims to investigate why and how young people (aged 15-35 years) enter, stay or leave jobs and careers in the agri-food sector, including farming, farm services and food processing. This project expects to generate new knowledge to improve youth career trajectories through using an innovative, interdisciplinary and engaged research design with young people. Expected outcomes include the co-design of youth-appropriate industry and education policy proposals, new models of youth engagement in agri-food and better career outcomes for young people. This should provide significant benefits to the sustainability and growth of the agri-food sector and to rural and regional communities and their economic prosperity. Read moreRead less
Conditional welfare: A comparative case study of income management policies. Using an innovative methodology that incorporates a cross-national comparison of policy design and practice, this project aims to explore the effects of income management policies. The research will provide new insights into compulsory income management in Australia, and its more recent introduction in New Zealand. The expected outcomes will provide benefits, such as a richer understanding of human agency, autonomy and ....Conditional welfare: A comparative case study of income management policies. Using an innovative methodology that incorporates a cross-national comparison of policy design and practice, this project aims to explore the effects of income management policies. The research will provide new insights into compulsory income management in Australia, and its more recent introduction in New Zealand. The expected outcomes will provide benefits, such as a richer understanding of human agency, autonomy and social identity in the context of social policy.Read moreRead less
Social isolation and volunteering of older Chinese immigrants in Australia. This co-designed and collaborative research addresses an acute challenge since COVID-19: how to make volunteering activities more accessible to CALD immigrants who suffer from serious social isolation. The researchers will work with 5 partner organisations (POs) to study Chinese immigrants (60+) in NSW as an example. It will analyse census and GSS datasets, conduct in-depth interviews and focus groups in the settings of ....Social isolation and volunteering of older Chinese immigrants in Australia. This co-designed and collaborative research addresses an acute challenge since COVID-19: how to make volunteering activities more accessible to CALD immigrants who suffer from serious social isolation. The researchers will work with 5 partner organisations (POs) to study Chinese immigrants (60+) in NSW as an example. It will analyse census and GSS datasets, conduct in-depth interviews and focus groups in the settings of old-age care, service navigation and elderly learning. This research will produce new evidence and test the effect of peer education, and support services and policy advocacy of the POs. This research will benefit CALD older immigrants, enhance service capacity and contribute to greater social cohesion in Australia.Read moreRead less
Grandparent childcare: negotiating work and care across generations. This project aims to investigate how and why parents and grandparents share childcare responsibilities in contemporary Australia. Using mixed methods and an innovative conceptual approach with a central focus on parent-grandparent care dyads, it expects to generate critical new knowledge of intra-family negotiations about employment and childcare provision across generations, and their relationship with social and economic poli ....Grandparent childcare: negotiating work and care across generations. This project aims to investigate how and why parents and grandparents share childcare responsibilities in contemporary Australia. Using mixed methods and an innovative conceptual approach with a central focus on parent-grandparent care dyads, it expects to generate critical new knowledge of intra-family negotiations about employment and childcare provision across generations, and their relationship with social and economic policy. The project expects to identify sustainable employment-childcare practices that meet the needs of children, parents and grandparents. Significant benefits include informing new policies aimed to enhance both gender and generational equity, promote women’s workforce participation, and boost national productivity.Read moreRead less
Young people shaping livelihoods across three generations. This proposal for a third cohort to the Life Patterns longitudinal study aims to investigate how in a context of technological and structural change a new generation of young Australians builds livelihood-resilience, keeping the focus on those elements that have proven to be enabling for previous generations. The project aims to generate new knowledge about the influences of education, work, housing, relationships, wellbeing on positive ....Young people shaping livelihoods across three generations. This proposal for a third cohort to the Life Patterns longitudinal study aims to investigate how in a context of technological and structural change a new generation of young Australians builds livelihood-resilience, keeping the focus on those elements that have proven to be enabling for previous generations. The project aims to generate new knowledge about the influences of education, work, housing, relationships, wellbeing on positive trajectories. Expected outcomes of this project include systematic evidence and a new holistic livelihood-resilience framework for analysing youth trajectories. This project should provide significant benefits to the national response supporting positive youth transitions through education and work.Read moreRead less