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
Fear and licensing in Australia: Investigating the social licence to operate of an emerging coal seam gas industry. Australia’s nascent coal seam gas (CSG) industry is the site of substantial social tension. For some the industry can transform and safeguard national energy sources and fuel booming Asian exports. For others it damages both the environment and communities. This tension is vividly expressed by local protests and regulatory bans. Communities, mining companies and government invoke a ....Fear and licensing in Australia: Investigating the social licence to operate of an emerging coal seam gas industry. Australia’s nascent coal seam gas (CSG) industry is the site of substantial social tension. For some the industry can transform and safeguard national energy sources and fuel booming Asian exports. For others it damages both the environment and communities. This tension is vividly expressed by local protests and regulatory bans. Communities, mining companies and government invoke a 'social licence to operate' as fundamental to industry viability. This landmark project explores the concept of a social licence to operate in Australia's CSG industry to tease apart the dynamic risks, opportunities and tensions at work between corporations, rural and regional Australian communities and government, and offers policy and practice recommendations. Read moreRead less
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE0453801
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$102,900.00
Summary
Asia/Pacific HIV/AIDS Database: Support for Regional Policy Research. HIV/AIDS is one of the greatest contemporary threats to global human security, and its rapid growth in parts of the Asia/Pacific region makes it a major concern for Australia. Appropriate responses to the threat require accurate and regularly updated policy information. The construction of an interactive HIV policy data bank will support considerable research in a number of disciplines directly relevant to HIV control. This pr ....Asia/Pacific HIV/AIDS Database: Support for Regional Policy Research. HIV/AIDS is one of the greatest contemporary threats to global human security, and its rapid growth in parts of the Asia/Pacific region makes it a major concern for Australia. Appropriate responses to the threat require accurate and regularly updated policy information. The construction of an interactive HIV policy data bank will support considerable research in a number of disciplines directly relevant to HIV control. This project draws on multiple sources to construct a research and policy tool which will be drawn on by the partner organizations in a variety of HIV-related research projects.
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Special Research Initiatives - Grant ID: SR0354484
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$10,000.00
Summary
AUSSGRID:The Australian Social Science Data Grid
. The establishment of AUSSGrid will enhance the ability of social scientists in academic, government and private sectors, to digitise, preserve and disseminate social science data holdings of national significance. AUSSGrid will allow social scientists to better co-ordinate research, avoid unnecessary duplication of data collection, and maximise researcher access to the products of government funded research. It will create a resource base that ....AUSSGRID:The Australian Social Science Data Grid
. The establishment of AUSSGrid will enhance the ability of social scientists in academic, government and private sectors, to digitise, preserve and disseminate social science data holdings of national significance. AUSSGrid will allow social scientists to better co-ordinate research, avoid unnecessary duplication of data collection, and maximise researcher access to the products of government funded research. It will create a resource base that will enable the social sciences to take advantage of emerging grid technologies. These developments will have implications for how research is devised, conducted and disseminated, with major applications in government administration and policy-making.Read moreRead less
Managing and mitigating social risks of major infrastructure projects. This project aims to reduce social risks of major infrastructure projects by generating an evidence-based social risk management framework. It brings together leading ANU researchers with top organisations in Australia's infrastructure sector, already working together via the ANU Institute for Infrastructure in Society. The project seeks to improve social risk management in a multi-billion dollar sector, vital to all Australi ....Managing and mitigating social risks of major infrastructure projects. This project aims to reduce social risks of major infrastructure projects by generating an evidence-based social risk management framework. It brings together leading ANU researchers with top organisations in Australia's infrastructure sector, already working together via the ANU Institute for Infrastructure in Society. The project seeks to improve social risk management in a multi-billion dollar sector, vital to all Australians. The project is significant because it adopts a sector-wide view to systematically define social risk, co-create a social risk management framework and implement it via a new social risk management toolkit. This should lessen harm to communities, reduce delays and costs and benefit national infrastructure delivery.Read moreRead less
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE0989083
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$550,000.00
Summary
Australian Social Science Data Archive: Provision of Advanced Research Infrastructure and Collaborative Environment. The Australian Social Science Data Archive (ASSDA) supports researchers in a wide range of social science and humanities disciplines. These researchers are both primary and secondary users of data collected across a range of economic, social, political and cultural areas. Increasingly, complex public policy problems require multi-disciplinary solutions based on a range of data sou ....Australian Social Science Data Archive: Provision of Advanced Research Infrastructure and Collaborative Environment. The Australian Social Science Data Archive (ASSDA) supports researchers in a wide range of social science and humanities disciplines. These researchers are both primary and secondary users of data collected across a range of economic, social, political and cultural areas. Increasingly, complex public policy problems require multi-disciplinary solutions based on a range of data sources to address these problems. This proposal provides a means for Australia's leading edge researchers to advance the knowledge base that can lead to the development of strong evidence based policy. The open access policies of ASSDA ensures that the general public, media, non-government organisation (NGOs) and government agencies are able to examine the public use data sets that are used by researchers to arrive at their conclusions.Read moreRead less
Financing aged care in Australia: Mitigating fiscal gaps and maintaining intergenerational equity. Aged care has been identified as a significant contributor to the growing fiscal problems predicted for Australian government finances during the next 10 to 20 years. This project will develop the cutting-edge modelling tools needed to allow Australia to make informed decisions about possible reforms in aged care financing. It will create significant national benefits by allowing detailed assessmen ....Financing aged care in Australia: Mitigating fiscal gaps and maintaining intergenerational equity. Aged care has been identified as a significant contributor to the growing fiscal problems predicted for Australian government finances during the next 10 to 20 years. This project will develop the cutting-edge modelling tools needed to allow Australia to make informed decisions about possible reforms in aged care financing. It will create significant national benefits by allowing detailed assessment of the distributional impact of a wide range of possible reforms, including how the outcomes of any policy change will affect disadvantaged sections of our society, whether different generations will be fairly treated, and the impact by gender.Read moreRead less
Resolving patients' complaints about hospitals: Responsive regulation by health ombudsmen. Ombudsmen help ensure integrity and accountability in societal institutions. This study of patients' complaints about hospitals to health ombudsmen in two states, and the responses of hospitals, will produce evidence on strategies for making hospitals more responsive to the public and more accountable for the quality of their care. Australia was a world leader in establishing health ombudsmen and this stud ....Resolving patients' complaints about hospitals: Responsive regulation by health ombudsmen. Ombudsmen help ensure integrity and accountability in societal institutions. This study of patients' complaints about hospitals to health ombudsmen in two states, and the responses of hospitals, will produce evidence on strategies for making hospitals more responsive to the public and more accountable for the quality of their care. Australia was a world leader in establishing health ombudsmen and this study will explore their impact upon the hospital system. Evidence-based strategies are needed to improve the accountability of service providers and regulators. Social and economic benefits flow from empowering patients and from improving hospital performance.Read moreRead less
The Distributional Impact of Health Outlays: Developing the Research and Modelling Infrastructure for Policy Makers. The Commonwealth recently concluded that the projected increase in health outlays over the next few decades is unaffordable. Policy makers are therefore going to face difficult decisions about health funding, the balance between government and consumer contributions to health costs, and about taxes (which fund public health outlays). They do not currently have adequate modelling t ....The Distributional Impact of Health Outlays: Developing the Research and Modelling Infrastructure for Policy Makers. The Commonwealth recently concluded that the projected increase in health outlays over the next few decades is unaffordable. Policy makers are therefore going to face difficult decisions about health funding, the balance between government and consumer contributions to health costs, and about taxes (which fund public health outlays). They do not currently have adequate modelling tools to help them make sound decisions. This project aims to redress this situation, by constructing a microsimulation model of the health sector, with a capacity to assess the likely distributional impact of possible policy changes and their revenue or expenditure implications.Read moreRead less
Managing the world's most precious resource: The role of water accounting. This project contributes to the National Research Priorities goal to develop sustainable ways of improving water productivity, using less water in agriculture and other industries, and providing increased protection of rivers and groundwater. Robust and rigorous water accounting and assurance will allow water managers to identify and address system water losses, and will underpin increased market and investment confiden ....Managing the world's most precious resource: The role of water accounting. This project contributes to the National Research Priorities goal to develop sustainable ways of improving water productivity, using less water in agriculture and other industries, and providing increased protection of rivers and groundwater. Robust and rigorous water accounting and assurance will allow water managers to identify and address system water losses, and will underpin increased market and investment confidence in water information among water users. The collaborations between industry, academia, government and the accounting and water management professions will provide and demonstrate high profile, significant and timely international thought leadership in the emerging discipline of water accounting standards. Read moreRead less