The role of community connectedness in retaining skilled migrant women in Australia. Australia faces a severe skills shortage in areas central to its social fabric and that are traditionally dominated by women: nursing, childcare and teaching. While we are successful in attracting skilled migrants to fill these gaps, one third choose to leave Australia within 5 years. This is a very unfavourable outcome in view of the continuing skills shortage and the unrecoverable costs associated with attract ....The role of community connectedness in retaining skilled migrant women in Australia. Australia faces a severe skills shortage in areas central to its social fabric and that are traditionally dominated by women: nursing, childcare and teaching. While we are successful in attracting skilled migrants to fill these gaps, one third choose to leave Australia within 5 years. This is a very unfavourable outcome in view of the continuing skills shortage and the unrecoverable costs associated with attracting skilled migrants. The project will gain insight into factors that influence the retention rates of skilled female migrants and, in doing so, enable government agencies to develop targeted retention measures.Read moreRead less
Intra-household resource allocations of older couples. This project aims to analyse processes and outcomes within older households using national, large-scale representative data and mixed methods research design. In an ageing population where households are becoming responsible for provisioning retirement needs, understanding what happens in older couple households is important. The project expects to influence policy by generating evidence relevant to the design of regulations governing the al ....Intra-household resource allocations of older couples. This project aims to analyse processes and outcomes within older households using national, large-scale representative data and mixed methods research design. In an ageing population where households are becoming responsible for provisioning retirement needs, understanding what happens in older couple households is important. The project expects to influence policy by generating evidence relevant to the design of regulations governing the allocation of superannuation assets, tax incentives for alternative forms of retirement savings, asset and income tests on the Age Pension, and initiatives targeting older Australians’ financial literacy.Read moreRead less
The Smith Family VIEW Clubs of Australia: From Philanthropy towards Social Enterprise. This project offers the opportunity to do original and innovative research with one of Australia's most successful women's community service organisations, The Smith Family VIEW (Voice, Interests and Education of Women) Clubs. The research will investigate the clubs' response to The Smith Family plan for them to play a new role in social development and social change, and whether this response differs among cl ....The Smith Family VIEW Clubs of Australia: From Philanthropy towards Social Enterprise. This project offers the opportunity to do original and innovative research with one of Australia's most successful women's community service organisations, The Smith Family VIEW (Voice, Interests and Education of Women) Clubs. The research will investigate the clubs' response to The Smith Family plan for them to play a new role in social development and social change, and whether this response differs among clubs in rural and regional and metropolitan areas. Conducted in collaboration with a major national community organisation, the project will provide multi-disciplinary training in social policy in the specialist research environment of the Social Policy Research Centre.Read moreRead less
Negotiating caring and employment - the impact on carers' wellbeing. Work and caring compete for carers? time. Little is known about the difficulties of combining work with the care of adults or children with disabilities. Between 40 and 60 percent of Australian carers combine employment with caring responsibilities. The project proposes to adopt a life-course perspective to study the effect of caring on income security, social participation and the health of employed carers. It makes innovative ....Negotiating caring and employment - the impact on carers' wellbeing. Work and caring compete for carers? time. Little is known about the difficulties of combining work with the care of adults or children with disabilities. Between 40 and 60 percent of Australian carers combine employment with caring responsibilities. The project proposes to adopt a life-course perspective to study the effect of caring on income security, social participation and the health of employed carers. It makes innovative use of existing data sources, including new longitudinal survey data, supported by a specially designed program of qualitative research to study key transitions, possible workplace solutions and the effective provision of human services.Read moreRead less
The Costs of Foster Care in Australia. The aim of the study is to determine adequate and appropriate levels of reimbursement for carers by undertaking empirical research on the economic and social costs associated with fostering. For the first time in Australia the indirect costs to carers will be examined and a model developed for reimbursing foster carers similar to other paid carers in the community. In collaboration with the Industry Partner it will explore the feasibility of using budget st ....The Costs of Foster Care in Australia. The aim of the study is to determine adequate and appropriate levels of reimbursement for carers by undertaking empirical research on the economic and social costs associated with fostering. For the first time in Australia the indirect costs to carers will be examined and a model developed for reimbursing foster carers similar to other paid carers in the community. In collaboration with the Industry Partner it will explore the feasibility of using budget standards methodology to estimate the direct costs of care of children by refining and adapting budgets to reflect costs specific to different types of foster care.Read moreRead less
Refugee Women at Risk: protection and integration in Australia. The potential for long-term settlement problems for vulnerable refugee groups has serious implications for the wider Australian community in terms of social cohesion and the weakening of the social fabric. Concern has been expressed by service providers and refugee and migrant communities, about the social and economic consequences of the failure to adequately respond to the needs of these refugees, most of who come from traumatic b ....Refugee Women at Risk: protection and integration in Australia. The potential for long-term settlement problems for vulnerable refugee groups has serious implications for the wider Australian community in terms of social cohesion and the weakening of the social fabric. Concern has been expressed by service providers and refugee and migrant communities, about the social and economic consequences of the failure to adequately respond to the needs of these refugees, most of who come from traumatic backgrounds. The research will identify models of best practice service provision and will analyse the role these play in supporting and accelerating successful integration and in promoting social harmony in our diverse cultural society.Read moreRead less
Markets, migration and the work of care in Australia. The objective of this project is to strengthen the conceptual foundations for social policy in the critical domains of aged care and child care. Projected child care and aged care labour shortages and shifts in government policy towards consumer-directed provision, including in-home care, have intensified calls for increased care migration in Australia. Yet the links between care markets and migration, and their consequences for the provision ....Markets, migration and the work of care in Australia. The objective of this project is to strengthen the conceptual foundations for social policy in the critical domains of aged care and child care. Projected child care and aged care labour shortages and shifts in government policy towards consumer-directed provision, including in-home care, have intensified calls for increased care migration in Australia. Yet the links between care markets and migration, and their consequences for the provision of care and the care workforce are poorly understood in the Australian context. The project aims to explain the links between care policies, employment regulation and migration in cross-national perspective, generating new analytical insights and strengthening the evidence base for policy.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE130100028
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$369,720.00
Summary
Promoting work-life balance: do flexible work arrangements really work for employees in Australia? The research investigates the impact of flexible work arrangements available in the workplace on the time use and work-life balance of employees. It establishes which arrangements most effectively support employees to balance work and non-work time, with significant implications for social and organisational policy.
Job quality and care quality in aged care. The project aims to investigate how job quality and the quality of care are linked in residential and community-based aged care services. Population ageing and fewer informal carers place pressure on aged care provision across the OECD There is little understanding, at either the policy or workplace levels, of how the quality of aged care jobs affects the viability and quality of that provision. The project expects to improve knowledge about how job qua ....Job quality and care quality in aged care. The project aims to investigate how job quality and the quality of care are linked in residential and community-based aged care services. Population ageing and fewer informal carers place pressure on aged care provision across the OECD There is little understanding, at either the policy or workplace levels, of how the quality of aged care jobs affects the viability and quality of that provision. The project expects to improve knowledge about how job quality affects aged care quality; and identify care markets, policy regimes and work organisation that best support sustainable quality aged care.Read moreRead less