Community spirit, social transformation, sustainable partnership: community capacity building for community transformations. This partnership is at the forefront of developments in the provision of community services. The project will contribute to a growing international field of research focused on developing integrated frameworks for measuring community wellbeing. The community capacity building approach will serve as a best practice model for other Australian municipalities. The indicators a ....Community spirit, social transformation, sustainable partnership: community capacity building for community transformations. This partnership is at the forefront of developments in the provision of community services. The project will contribute to a growing international field of research focused on developing integrated frameworks for measuring community wellbeing. The community capacity building approach will serve as a best practice model for other Australian municipalities. The indicators are a tool for engaging communities in making informal decisions and developing shared goals; a policy tool for evidence based planning; and a reporting tool to track and communicate progress towards agreed goals and outcomes. The outcomes will be efficient use of available funding for community services and lower cost of provision of social welfare.Read moreRead less
Creating Age Friendly Communities. The project aims to explore ways in which Australian communities can enhance the social belonging of their older citizens. The study addresses significant questions at the heart of age care: how to ensure that older people are able to remain active members of their communities, without feeling isolated as they age. The research will take place in an inner city community which is multi generational, economically and culturally diverse. The main expected outcome ....Creating Age Friendly Communities. The project aims to explore ways in which Australian communities can enhance the social belonging of their older citizens. The study addresses significant questions at the heart of age care: how to ensure that older people are able to remain active members of their communities, without feeling isolated as they age. The research will take place in an inner city community which is multi generational, economically and culturally diverse. The main expected outcome is the development of age friendly practices at community level. The project embodies concepts central to the mission of the Industry partner, St Ives Aged Care Services.Read moreRead less
Effectiveness of a whole-school intercultural approach aimed at removing barriers to learning for students from non-mainstream backgrounds. This project will involve the study of localising, implementing and evaluating a whole-school intercultural approach that emphasises inclusion, diverse curricula and the monitoring of attitudes. It is anticipated that the approach will remove barriers to learning for non-mainstream students to help to address systemic inequity.
Social auditing for positive change and indigenous life-world experiences in the resource rich Pilbara. Roebourne is an impoverished Indigenous community in the heart of the booming resource industries of the Pilbara. The town symbolises the challenges and opportunities for contemporary Australia. This project has been initiated by the Ngarluma and Yjindibarndi Peoples and will be co-funded and directed by these Peoples. The Project will adapt and extend approaches developed by Indigenous commun ....Social auditing for positive change and indigenous life-world experiences in the resource rich Pilbara. Roebourne is an impoverished Indigenous community in the heart of the booming resource industries of the Pilbara. The town symbolises the challenges and opportunities for contemporary Australia. This project has been initiated by the Ngarluma and Yjindibarndi Peoples and will be co-funded and directed by these Peoples. The Project will adapt and extend approaches developed by Indigenous communities in Canada to record the needs, hopes and ambitions of the people of the Roebourne region and in doing so document their solutions to real and significant problems. The project does not just enable consultation with an Indigenous community rather it helps create a platform for that community, if it chooses, to make decisions for the future.Read moreRead less
Social inclusion through community embedded, socially supported university education. Through the collaboration of community agencies and tertiary institutions this research project identifies key impacts of community embedded socially supported higher education upon enhancing the social inclusion of disadvantaged Australians. It identifies the educational and social support factors which contribute to the effectiveness of this strategy and the cost and benefits of this innovative educational pa ....Social inclusion through community embedded, socially supported university education. Through the collaboration of community agencies and tertiary institutions this research project identifies key impacts of community embedded socially supported higher education upon enhancing the social inclusion of disadvantaged Australians. It identifies the educational and social support factors which contribute to the effectiveness of this strategy and the cost and benefits of this innovative educational pathway to social inclusion for governments and the community. Read moreRead less
Australian, transnational and postnational identities: affective aspects of social inclusion. The population of Australia is expected to reach 35 million in 40 years. This research will help us understand how Australians feel about their identities and how identity affects social cohesion. It will provide a basis for the design of policy to deal with the potential challenges and opportunities raised by doubling the migrant population of Australia.
Getting a job: vocationalism, identity formation and schooling in communities at disadvantage. This research will use young people's stories to investigate the barriers and obstacles to getting a job, and from their vantage point, identify the educational, policy and practice contexts that need to be created and more widely sustained in order to assist their career aspirations and life chances.
An exploration of the frequency, outcomes, enablers and constraints of bystander anti-racism. Bystander anti-racism involves ordinary people speaking up and taking prosocial action when witnessing racism. This project will develop empirical understandings of this underexplored, yet potentially powerful, form of anti-racism, including its frequency, the outcome of action, and factors that enable and constrain bystander anti-racism.
Employment literacy:young people, job readiness and employability in Western Australia. This research will construct a model of employment literacy - a novel concept moving beyond notions of employability and social literacy - by developing a critical understanding of the personal and social characteristics that comprise a job ready young person among the clients of a range of employment services in Western Australia. Job readiness and employability are widely used to describe the desired outcom ....Employment literacy:young people, job readiness and employability in Western Australia. This research will construct a model of employment literacy - a novel concept moving beyond notions of employability and social literacy - by developing a critical understanding of the personal and social characteristics that comprise a job ready young person among the clients of a range of employment services in Western Australia. Job readiness and employability are widely used to describe the desired outcomes of employment programs, but are inadequately defined and measured. A model of employment literacy will enhance the academic literature and provide assistance to young people and organisations seeking to integrate employability skills into training and employment programs.Read moreRead less
Stewarding thin markets: improving public sector market effectiveness. This project aims to develop methodologies to identify thin markets in the public service sector. Thin markets, where there are a low number of buyers or low number of sellers, are a major risk for governments utilising a personalised approach to service delivery. This project will develop new methodologies for identifying thin markets and determine ways emerging markets can be stewarded to better achieve their aims.