Evaluating Community Consultation: Criteria and Tools for Assessing Processes and Outcomes. Planning agencies are expected to include community consultation as an element of the decision-making process. Past research has focussed on developing effective consultation techniques. Little research attention has been given to guidelines for evaluating consultation activities. The proposed project will contribute fundamental knowledge on evaluation of consultation programs. It will do this through ....Evaluating Community Consultation: Criteria and Tools for Assessing Processes and Outcomes. Planning agencies are expected to include community consultation as an element of the decision-making process. Past research has focussed on developing effective consultation techniques. Little research attention has been given to guidelines for evaluating consultation activities. The proposed project will contribute fundamental knowledge on evaluation of consultation programs. It will do this through assessing a major regional planning exercise (SEQ 2021). It will develop and test comprehensive evaluation criteria and tools. The project will result in ready-to-use evaluation materials for SEQ 2021, and for other planning and decision-making authorities in Australia, representing a significant breakthrough in evaluation research and practice.Read moreRead less
Growing Sustainable Regions: Developing a Rural Statistical Sustainability Framework. Given the challenges facing rural and regional Australia, it is essential that communities and decision-makers have the information and resources to make informed and sustainable decisions. While there is a plethora of data that can provide this evidence-base, it is often complex, disorganised and inaccessible to those who need it. Hence, to facilitate smart information use, this research develops and implement ....Growing Sustainable Regions: Developing a Rural Statistical Sustainability Framework. Given the challenges facing rural and regional Australia, it is essential that communities and decision-makers have the information and resources to make informed and sustainable decisions. While there is a plethora of data that can provide this evidence-base, it is often complex, disorganised and inaccessible to those who need it. Hence, to facilitate smart information use, this research develops and implements a Rural Statistical Sustainability Framework and decision support modelling tool that integrates environmental, economic and social data into a single user-friendly source. This will provide a platform for evidence-based decision-making that will lead to a sustainable future for rural and regional Australia.Read moreRead less
DETERMINANTS OF QUALITY OF LIFE IN CITIES: The South East Queensland Urban Region in Comparative Perspective. This is the Australian component of an international project on quality of life (QOL) in cities. It examines people's perceived QOL and relates this to objective indicators such as employment levels and neighbourhood safety. We examine the South East Queensland urban region; our collaborators focus on Detroit (USA) and Belo Horizonte (Brazil). Our research tests the recent propositio ....DETERMINANTS OF QUALITY OF LIFE IN CITIES: The South East Queensland Urban Region in Comparative Perspective. This is the Australian component of an international project on quality of life (QOL) in cities. It examines people's perceived QOL and relates this to objective indicators such as employment levels and neighbourhood safety. We examine the South East Queensland urban region; our collaborators focus on Detroit (USA) and Belo Horizonte (Brazil). Our research tests the recent proposition that QOL is the key element in the rise of the new economy characterised by increasing emphasis on consumption and expansion of the services sector. Understanding the relationship between QOL and the new economy is vital for future urban planning.Read moreRead less
The high cost of financial insecurity: exploring the role of the 'fringe economy' in the lives of low-income Australians. The national benefit from this research has a number of dimensions. The first is to draw the community's attention to the high costs and charges associated with fringe lenders in Australia and the economic and social consequences of accessing these services. The second benefit relates to establishing what sorts of financial products and regulatory measures would offer low-inc ....The high cost of financial insecurity: exploring the role of the 'fringe economy' in the lives of low-income Australians. The national benefit from this research has a number of dimensions. The first is to draw the community's attention to the high costs and charges associated with fringe lenders in Australia and the economic and social consequences of accessing these services. The second benefit relates to establishing what sorts of financial products and regulatory measures would offer low-income Australians a better outcome. A number of states in Australia have recently introduced legislation to limit the interest rates charged by pay-day lenders. The study is very timely in that it offers an opportunity to monitor the impact of these new regulatory measures and consider opportunities for further reform.Read moreRead less
Youth civic participation and social connection in post-industrial society: a comparative analysis. The project generates important new knowledge about youth civic participation and will develop more effective indicators for contemporary meanings of citizenship and connection that are relevant to young people today. It will make a direct contribution to youth, education and welfare policies on issues of youth participation and connection, helping to shape a timely and responsive approach on the ....Youth civic participation and social connection in post-industrial society: a comparative analysis. The project generates important new knowledge about youth civic participation and will develop more effective indicators for contemporary meanings of citizenship and connection that are relevant to young people today. It will make a direct contribution to youth, education and welfare policies on issues of youth participation and connection, helping to shape a timely and responsive approach on the part of policy makers, service providers and programme designers. The project will also contribute significantly to the development of ongoing international collaborations between researchers in Australia and Europe, and to the research training of the next generation.Read moreRead less
Understanding, modelling and preventing alcohol-related crime, violence and injuries in Surfers Paradise - a high-crime community. This Project aims to understand, model and prevent alcohol-related crime, violence and injuries in a high-crime community - Surfers Paradise. It also aims to overcome the traditional barriers to sustaining crime reductions. Information from multiple agencies will be collated in an integrated database. The subsequent modelled estimates will generate user-friendly crim ....Understanding, modelling and preventing alcohol-related crime, violence and injuries in Surfers Paradise - a high-crime community. This Project aims to understand, model and prevent alcohol-related crime, violence and injuries in a high-crime community - Surfers Paradise. It also aims to overcome the traditional barriers to sustaining crime reductions. Information from multiple agencies will be collated in an integrated database. The subsequent modelled estimates will generate user-friendly crime profiles for the community to analyse environmental and situational factors precipitating violence, crime and injury in their area. The Project is innovative because it integrates multiple sources of information, analyses them and enables prevention programmes to be matched to the social, temporal and spatial idiosyncrasies of any high-crime community.Read moreRead less
Enhancing services to Australian children and families: linking workforce characteristics, job quality, and quality and outcomes in social services. This project aims to promote best practice in child and family welfare services, and to improve the industrial and social recognition of child and family welfare work in Australia. The CIs will construct an analytical framework for explaining the links between the nature and deployment of the child and family services workforce, service delivery sys ....Enhancing services to Australian children and families: linking workforce characteristics, job quality, and quality and outcomes in social services. This project aims to promote best practice in child and family welfare services, and to improve the industrial and social recognition of child and family welfare work in Australia. The CIs will construct an analytical framework for explaining the links between the nature and deployment of the child and family services workforce, service delivery systems and outcomes, and social policy regimes, with wider application to other personal social services. Judicious use of international comparison will assist identification of best practice. The project will inform policy and research in social service provision to vulnerable families, and the aged and disabled.Read moreRead less
Evaluating processes and outcomes of age-friendly standards: the case study of public transport. Age-friendly standards are being developed worldwide in anticipation of a major demographic shift in the next few decades. The aim of this project is to develop, implement and evaluate age-friendly standards. Public transport will be used as a case study. Outcomes of this project not only include evidence about the effectiveness of age-friendly standards and the processes used in their development, b ....Evaluating processes and outcomes of age-friendly standards: the case study of public transport. Age-friendly standards are being developed worldwide in anticipation of a major demographic shift in the next few decades. The aim of this project is to develop, implement and evaluate age-friendly standards. Public transport will be used as a case study. Outcomes of this project not only include evidence about the effectiveness of age-friendly standards and the processes used in their development, but also theory development surrounding universalism (that is whether age-friendly standards are people-friendly standards) and whether current disability standards include older people.Read moreRead less
The contribution of youth development programs in preventing youth crime, drug and alcohol misuse and suicide. The key question is how much youth organizations (e.g., Scouts) promote positive development in at-risk youth and reduce crime and other problems. The effectiveness of youth programs in achieving this goal will be assessed through an audit of organizational activities, interviews and questionnaires with leaders and young people, and observation. Despite reports that up to 20% of partici ....The contribution of youth development programs in preventing youth crime, drug and alcohol misuse and suicide. The key question is how much youth organizations (e.g., Scouts) promote positive development in at-risk youth and reduce crime and other problems. The effectiveness of youth programs in achieving this goal will be assessed through an audit of organizational activities, interviews and questionnaires with leaders and young people, and observation. Despite reports that up to 20% of participants are at-risk young people, there is no evidence to support claims of positive outcomes for this group. This project will measure how much risk factors for youth crime are reduced and participation in school, family and community organizations is enhanced through involvement in youth programs, and analyse the ways in which positive outcomes are achieved.Read moreRead less
ARC/NHMRC Research Network in Ageing Well. The ARC Research Network on Ageing Well will support interdisciplinary, high quality research in the National Research Priority Goal of Ageing Well, Ageing Productively. It will build scale and focus on Australia's notable research strengths in ageing, promote collaborative research, and extend research capacities. The Network will link outstanding researchers from many disciplines, nurture developing researchers, relate social to health researchers, s ....ARC/NHMRC Research Network in Ageing Well. The ARC Research Network on Ageing Well will support interdisciplinary, high quality research in the National Research Priority Goal of Ageing Well, Ageing Productively. It will build scale and focus on Australia's notable research strengths in ageing, promote collaborative research, and extend research capacities. The Network will link outstanding researchers from many disciplines, nurture developing researchers, relate social to health researchers, strengthen international collaboration, and involve and inform end-point users. It will foster research which responds to the aspirations and needs of older Australians and informs action that can improve experiences of individual and population ageing.Read moreRead less