Ethnographies of housing: exploring the role of housing officers in public housing service provision. This research examines the everyday practice of public housing officers working in the Victorian Office of Housing. It aims to analyse the ways that workers exercise discretion, and the patterns of meanings that they construct, through their interactions with clients, departmental managers and other human service providers. It is the first ethnographic study of front-line work in housing servi ....Ethnographies of housing: exploring the role of housing officers in public housing service provision. This research examines the everyday practice of public housing officers working in the Victorian Office of Housing. It aims to analyse the ways that workers exercise discretion, and the patterns of meanings that they construct, through their interactions with clients, departmental managers and other human service providers. It is the first ethnographic study of front-line work in housing services in Australia and builds on comparable work done in the United Kingdom and America. The knowledge generated will inform innovation in public housing services, housing policy debates and emerging programs designed to integrate housing with other human services.Read moreRead less
The Intended and Unintended Impact of Policy for Adaptive Policy Management. The project aims to advance knowledge about the intended and unintended consequences of policy on health and well-being. It expects to innovate through new methods and novel data to integrate policy evaluation into the policy cycle in a timely fashion to prevent harm from occurring. It also leverages technology to track policy effects in real time. Expected outcomes of this project include new knowledge and enhanced pol ....The Intended and Unintended Impact of Policy for Adaptive Policy Management. The project aims to advance knowledge about the intended and unintended consequences of policy on health and well-being. It expects to innovate through new methods and novel data to integrate policy evaluation into the policy cycle in a timely fashion to prevent harm from occurring. It also leverages technology to track policy effects in real time. Expected outcomes of this project include new knowledge and enhanced policy infrastructure using new methods and interdisciplinary approaches. Significant benefits include improvements to: (1) policy management by government departments; (2) the health and wellbeing of the Australians they serve; (3) our Partners' capacity to consult governments on how technology can assist policy management. Read moreRead less
Strategic assessment of research performance indicators. The use of quantitative measures of research performance in higher education sends powerful messages to those being evaluated, because the choice of measures signals what is considered most important. However, little critical assessment has been undertaken on the use of performance indicators or their impact on research practice. This project will create a knowledge base on performance measures - their validity, fairness, transparency and ....Strategic assessment of research performance indicators. The use of quantitative measures of research performance in higher education sends powerful messages to those being evaluated, because the choice of measures signals what is considered most important. However, little critical assessment has been undertaken on the use of performance indicators or their impact on research practice. This project will create a knowledge base on performance measures - their validity, fairness, transparency and impact on research, and the cost of implementation. By assessing an extensive range of measures, it will provide Australian science management and science policy makers with rigorous information on which to base informed judgements on their utilisation.Read moreRead less
Modelling the lifetime social and economic impacts of fragile x syndrome and the benefits of early diagnosis and intervention. This project falls within the National Research Priority, promoting and maintaining good health, through a healthy start to life and strengthening of social and economic outcomes over the course of life. Fragile X is a group of associated genetic disorders affecting individuals across generations. It is the most common identifiable cause of inherited intellectual disabil ....Modelling the lifetime social and economic impacts of fragile x syndrome and the benefits of early diagnosis and intervention. This project falls within the National Research Priority, promoting and maintaining good health, through a healthy start to life and strengthening of social and economic outcomes over the course of life. Fragile X is a group of associated genetic disorders affecting individuals across generations. It is the most common identifiable cause of inherited intellectual disability. About 1 in 4000 males and 1 in 8000 females have Fragile X, but up to 1 in 250 females are carriers. For the first time in Australia, this study will reveal the social and economic impacts on the individual, on their family members who are often the lifelong carers, and on the Australian community, and show how these impacts may be minimised through early intervention.Read moreRead less
Intercultural understanding in primary and secondary schools. What facilitates or impedes intercultural understanding in children, adolescents and schools? How can this be addressed? How can we know what makes a difference? This project answers these questions at the individual, school and national level using a novel cultural systems approach and methodological and technological innovations.
International franchising success factors: A guide for Australian franchise systems. Australia is considered the most 'franchised' nation in the world. With 850 franchisors, it has over three times the number of systems per capita than the United States. However, Australian franchises are small due to the country's limited population, with 60% of systems holding fewer than 30 units. One third of Australian franchisors now operates internationally, however little is known about how they plan an ....International franchising success factors: A guide for Australian franchise systems. Australia is considered the most 'franchised' nation in the world. With 850 franchisors, it has over three times the number of systems per capita than the United States. However, Australian franchises are small due to the country's limited population, with 60% of systems holding fewer than 30 units. One third of Australian franchisors now operates internationally, however little is known about how they plan and implement their expansion strategies. It appears that franchisors are reacting to approaches made by overseas investors rather than proactively developing international expansion strategies. This research will examine the practices of successful exporters to develop a model of best practice for future activity in the sector.Read moreRead less
Caring at end of life: understanding the nature and effect of informal community care networks for people dying at home. This project will provide an understanding of the function and purpose of caring networks for people at the end of their life, specifically for people who are dying at home. This understanding will enable the development of communities capacity in addition to informing a national health promotion approach to palliative care.
Cohort discovery and activity mining for policy impact prediction. Cohort discovery and activity mining for policy impact prediction. This project aims to develop an intelligent systematic framework to predict policy impacts on Australian patients, by discovering inherent patient cohorts and assessing the impact of the policies on these cohorts. The proposed methods lay the theoretical foundations for building intelligent automated tools for policy assessment. Expected outcomes are data-driven p ....Cohort discovery and activity mining for policy impact prediction. Cohort discovery and activity mining for policy impact prediction. This project aims to develop an intelligent systematic framework to predict policy impacts on Australian patients, by discovering inherent patient cohorts and assessing the impact of the policies on these cohorts. The proposed methods lay the theoretical foundations for building intelligent automated tools for policy assessment. Expected outcomes are data-driven patient group discovery, which could more precisely identify the patient cohorts most likely to benefit from a specific policy; and a model to predict the efficacy of policy options, which could increase the sustainability of the national health system by enabling smarter, more efficient policy decision-making.Read moreRead less
Citizen engagement: Listening to citizens' views about Australia's health system and prevention. This project will yield new and important perspectives from citizens on preventive health and health promotion, which can be used to develop better targeted and more effective prevention and promotion policies and strategies. Citizens views will be investigated in relation to vexed issues such as: new approaches to financing and program delivery, reorienting the health insurance sector, reorienting ....Citizen engagement: Listening to citizens' views about Australia's health system and prevention. This project will yield new and important perspectives from citizens on preventive health and health promotion, which can be used to develop better targeted and more effective prevention and promotion policies and strategies. Citizens views will be investigated in relation to vexed issues such as: new approaches to financing and program delivery, reorienting the health insurance sector, reorienting the health system to focus more on prevention and health promotion, improving current approaches of consumer participation in prevention and chronic disease management, tackling broader issues in public policy trade-offs between health and non-health, diversifying workforce roles and involving health professionals in prevention and promotion.Read moreRead less
Patient and nurse outcomes and the cost of nurses' turnover in Australian hospitals. An adequate supply of nurses is fundamental to all of the National Health Priority disease areas where quality care cannot be delivered without an adequate number of motivated nurses. Designing cost-effective methods of retaining nurses requires understanding reasons why they leave the workforce and the impact this has on patient care and system costs. The findings will assist policy makers and workforce planner ....Patient and nurse outcomes and the cost of nurses' turnover in Australian hospitals. An adequate supply of nurses is fundamental to all of the National Health Priority disease areas where quality care cannot be delivered without an adequate number of motivated nurses. Designing cost-effective methods of retaining nurses requires understanding reasons why they leave the workforce and the impact this has on patient care and system costs. The findings will assist policy makers and workforce planners at both local and national levels, to design strategies to effectively recruit and retain nurses as demands for health care and market competition for staff both increase.Read moreRead less