Designing Gender Equality into the Future of Work. This project aims to investigate how women and men understand and experience the changing nature of work and their hopes and fears for the future. This project expects to generate new knowledge about the gendered dimensions of workplace change using an innovative and engaged research design that focuses on retail and the law, two areas where women are increasingly dominant, but which are located at distinct ends of the labour market. Expected ....Designing Gender Equality into the Future of Work. This project aims to investigate how women and men understand and experience the changing nature of work and their hopes and fears for the future. This project expects to generate new knowledge about the gendered dimensions of workplace change using an innovative and engaged research design that focuses on retail and the law, two areas where women are increasingly dominant, but which are located at distinct ends of the labour market. Expected outcomes of this project include an enhanced and coordinated capacity to build gender equality into the future of work. This should provide significant benefits such as better living standards for individuals and families and improved profitability and productivity for businesses. 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
The End of Conflict? Industrial Conflict and Dispute Resolution in Australia since the Breakdown of the Arbitral Model. Scholarly interest in industrial conflict has receded with the decline in strike levels. However, new forms of conflict (eg lockouts, union de-recognition disputes, internationalised disputes) and dispute resolution (eg private mediation) have emerged since the introduction of enterprise bargaining and the end of the classical 'arbitral model'. The highly structured, predicta ....The End of Conflict? Industrial Conflict and Dispute Resolution in Australia since the Breakdown of the Arbitral Model. Scholarly interest in industrial conflict has receded with the decline in strike levels. However, new forms of conflict (eg lockouts, union de-recognition disputes, internationalised disputes) and dispute resolution (eg private mediation) have emerged since the introduction of enterprise bargaining and the end of the classical 'arbitral model'. The highly structured, predictable twentieth century Australian model of conflict and dispute resolution is in flux and transition. The aim of this project is to map and explain the changing patterns of conflict and dispute resolution, in particular examining the impact of changes to the policy and institutional framework.Read moreRead less
Sanctuary and Security in Contemporary Australia: Muslim Women's Networks 1980 - 2005. This project makes an important contribution to Muslim women's participation in public life. It researches the scope and potential of social networks and, crucially, acknowledges that both religious practice and secular activities are legitimate facets of everyday multicultural society. The project proposes a dynamic account of Muslim women's achievements and challenges, highlighting the causes and symptoms of ....Sanctuary and Security in Contemporary Australia: Muslim Women's Networks 1980 - 2005. This project makes an important contribution to Muslim women's participation in public life. It researches the scope and potential of social networks and, crucially, acknowledges that both religious practice and secular activities are legitimate facets of everyday multicultural society. The project proposes a dynamic account of Muslim women's achievements and challenges, highlighting the causes and symptoms of past and present insecurity. The key concept of sanctuary - as - security is both innovative and significant to contemporary political debate. The project will result in a reflective organisational history, online oral history, policy recommendations for the advancement of Muslim women, and scholarly publications.Read moreRead less
Managing Productive and Collaborative Relations in Australian Workplaces. Concerns over workplace productivity are high on the agenda of policymakers. Evidence suggests that collaboration in the workplace and high involvement approaches have a productivity premium of up to 20 per cent over those without the commitment to collaborative approaches. However, collective relations do not necessarily mean union relations nor necessarily collaborative relations. This research will benefit Australia's s ....Managing Productive and Collaborative Relations in Australian Workplaces. Concerns over workplace productivity are high on the agenda of policymakers. Evidence suggests that collaboration in the workplace and high involvement approaches have a productivity premium of up to 20 per cent over those without the commitment to collaborative approaches. However, collective relations do not necessarily mean union relations nor necessarily collaborative relations. This research will benefit Australia's social and economic fabric through understanding alternative means by which collaborative workplace relations lead to productivity gains. This is consistent with the current policy approach of government in promoting productive and harmonious workplace level industrial relations.Read moreRead less
Elucidating the increasing demand for genital cosmetic surgery among girls and women in Australia. This project will identify the psychosocial context of and public communication about the dramatic rise in female genital cosmetic surgery in Australia. Results will contribute to programs for sexuality and body image education, public health campaigns about normal genital diversity, and professional development for doctors and beauty therapists.
Australia's Nuclear Choices. Australia's nuclear choices will be made in the context of a challenging and fluid international strategic environment characterised in Australia's immediate region by heightened global concerns regarding such transnational dilemmas as terrorism, energy security and nuclear proliferation. This project, through exploring the nature, evolution and consequences of contemporary strategic, military and civil nuclear developments impacting on the international non-prolifer ....Australia's Nuclear Choices. Australia's nuclear choices will be made in the context of a challenging and fluid international strategic environment characterised in Australia's immediate region by heightened global concerns regarding such transnational dilemmas as terrorism, energy security and nuclear proliferation. This project, through exploring the nature, evolution and consequences of contemporary strategic, military and civil nuclear developments impacting on the international non-proliferation regime will enable Australian policy-makers to better calibrate the costs and benefits of potential policy changes across these strategic, regime and market realms of Australia's nuclear interests.Read moreRead less
Trends in Time: Work, Family and Social Policy in Australia 1992-2006. This project will contribute to the national priority goal of 'strengthening Australia's social and economic fabric to help families and individuals live healthy, productive, and fulfilling lives', within the National Research Priority of 'promoting good health and well being for all Australians'. It will provide sound new evidence for effective strategies fostering the policy goals of reducing stress on families, maintaining ....Trends in Time: Work, Family and Social Policy in Australia 1992-2006. This project will contribute to the national priority goal of 'strengthening Australia's social and economic fabric to help families and individuals live healthy, productive, and fulfilling lives', within the National Research Priority of 'promoting good health and well being for all Australians'. It will provide sound new evidence for effective strategies fostering the policy goals of reducing stress on families, maintaining fertility and encouraging women into paid work. Identifying measures that most support men and women to balance work-family commitments, to spend adequate time with their children and social networks, and most facilitate female workforce participation, will promote national wellbeing. Read moreRead less
Peer Based Mentoring in Sport: Strategies for Best Practice. Federal and state governments and agencies have acknowleged the need to increase participation in sport. This project will support this important aim because it will generate empirical data about the value and best practice design of mentoring programs in elite and community or school based sport.Such programs are designed to ensure that sport is a forum for promoting positive social behaviours on and off the field and to increase part ....Peer Based Mentoring in Sport: Strategies for Best Practice. Federal and state governments and agencies have acknowleged the need to increase participation in sport. This project will support this important aim because it will generate empirical data about the value and best practice design of mentoring programs in elite and community or school based sport.Such programs are designed to ensure that sport is a forum for promoting positive social behaviours on and off the field and to increase participation in sport by reducing any negative behaviours associated with sporting cultures.Read moreRead less
Work and Social Cohesion under Globalisation. The project will explore how innovation and improvement in productivity can be accommodated with notions of fairness at workplace and industry level. The impact of increasingly competitive markets on the nature of work and society and the relationships between employers and employees in five industries: finance, tourism, health, ICT and automotive components, will be examined. The views of a wide cross-section of employees and managers in five key i ....Work and Social Cohesion under Globalisation. The project will explore how innovation and improvement in productivity can be accommodated with notions of fairness at workplace and industry level. The impact of increasingly competitive markets on the nature of work and society and the relationships between employers and employees in five industries: finance, tourism, health, ICT and automotive components, will be examined. The views of a wide cross-section of employees and managers in five key industries, complemented by existing survey data, will be analysed. A major outcome will be five industry workshops promoting productivity, partnership and social cohesion in a competitive global environment. Policy implications for the wider economy will be developed in the final report.Read moreRead less