The production, use and effect of social work research. This project aims to reform social work research to improve the quality and effectiveness of human services. The human services industry is vital to many people’s quality of life, but lacks innovation and struggles to demonstrate its effectiveness. Crucially for social work, research expands thinking about how to respond to social disadvantage. This project intends to examine the scope and quality of Australian social work research in child ....The production, use and effect of social work research. This project aims to reform social work research to improve the quality and effectiveness of human services. The human services industry is vital to many people’s quality of life, but lacks innovation and struggles to demonstrate its effectiveness. Crucially for social work, research expands thinking about how to respond to social disadvantage. This project intends to examine the scope and quality of Australian social work research in child protection, disability services, and aged care; assess the use of this research to the human services sector and its effect on generating innovation; and develop strategies to advance the production, uptake, and effect of social work research.Read moreRead less
Research Utilisation in Child Protection Policy: Understanding and Conceptualising the Role of Research in Social Policy Development. The findings of this project will have significant benefits for vulnerable children and families by enhancing the capacity for research-informed policy in child protection. In this way, the project will also have significant flow-on economic benefits for Local, State and Federal Governments by decreasing the social and economic costs associated with child abuse an ....Research Utilisation in Child Protection Policy: Understanding and Conceptualising the Role of Research in Social Policy Development. The findings of this project will have significant benefits for vulnerable children and families by enhancing the capacity for research-informed policy in child protection. In this way, the project will also have significant flow-on economic benefits for Local, State and Federal Governments by decreasing the social and economic costs associated with child abuse and neglect. Research funding will have a greater impact by the increased understanding this study will provide about how research can be more effectively used in policy.Read moreRead less
Understanding gender inequality in the post-pandemic future of work. This project examines the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and economic crisis on the working futures of young women and men in three advanced market economies where the pandemic hit with varying degrees of severity. Young people have experienced the greatest upheaval of all workers, and the impact has been gendered. Recovery strategies will have lasting consequences for women’s and men’s working futures. The project will produc ....Understanding gender inequality in the post-pandemic future of work. This project examines the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and economic crisis on the working futures of young women and men in three advanced market economies where the pandemic hit with varying degrees of severity. Young people have experienced the greatest upheaval of all workers, and the impact has been gendered. Recovery strategies will have lasting consequences for women’s and men’s working futures. The project will produce macro-level mapping of post-pandemic national work/care regimes, and micro-level survey data on young people’s experience of and attitudes to the future of work in Australia, the UK and Japan, to deliver insights on the gendered economic and social impact of the pandemic and inform a more inclusive global recovery.Read moreRead less
Taking Time: Work-family time pressure, time quality and healthy activities. Australian families report very high time stress. This project explores links between parental time pressure, health and wellbeing, innovatively capturing individual, family and social perspectives. Using new measures, it analyses time diary data from ten countries to discover how amount, composition and gender share of work-family time affect parents' time quality and healthy activities across different societal contex ....Taking Time: Work-family time pressure, time quality and healthy activities. Australian families report very high time stress. This project explores links between parental time pressure, health and wellbeing, innovatively capturing individual, family and social perspectives. Using new measures, it analyses time diary data from ten countries to discover how amount, composition and gender share of work-family time affect parents' time quality and healthy activities across different societal contexts. It also examines whether there are differences in outcomes by socio-economic status and family structure, in Australia and cross-nationally. The results are expected to inform policy, to promote health and wellbeing, and to encourage sustainable employment-childcare practices.Read moreRead less
The life course of older people in precarious housing. This project aims to identify the critical points at which intervention will prevent the emergence of housing disadvantage, particularly among older people living in private rental housing. This project will draw on life course theory to examine how personal, policy and societal factors interact to affect housing pathways of older people. The expected outcomes will address socioeconomic disadvantage among this vulnerable group and highlight ....The life course of older people in precarious housing. This project aims to identify the critical points at which intervention will prevent the emergence of housing disadvantage, particularly among older people living in private rental housing. This project will draw on life course theory to examine how personal, policy and societal factors interact to affect housing pathways of older people. The expected outcomes will address socioeconomic disadvantage among this vulnerable group and highlight potential policies and interventions across the life course that improve housing security.Read moreRead less
Grandparent childcare: negotiating work and care across generations. This project aims to investigate how and why parents and grandparents share childcare responsibilities in contemporary Australia. Using mixed methods and an innovative conceptual approach with a central focus on parent-grandparent care dyads, it expects to generate critical new knowledge of intra-family negotiations about employment and childcare provision across generations, and their relationship with social and economic poli ....Grandparent childcare: negotiating work and care across generations. This project aims to investigate how and why parents and grandparents share childcare responsibilities in contemporary Australia. Using mixed methods and an innovative conceptual approach with a central focus on parent-grandparent care dyads, it expects to generate critical new knowledge of intra-family negotiations about employment and childcare provision across generations, and their relationship with social and economic policy. The project expects to identify sustainable employment-childcare practices that meet the needs of children, parents and grandparents. Significant benefits include informing new policies aimed to enhance both gender and generational equity, promote women’s workforce participation, and boost national productivity.Read moreRead less
Understanding anger and its consequences amongst women in conflict-affected Timor Leste: Implications for enhancing sustainable development. An Australian national priority goal is to understand our region...(its) societies, politics and cultures. AusAID highlights gender within its key theme Investing in People, emphasizing that 'gender equality is integral to growth, governance and stability'. Australia has made a massive investment in the stabilization of East Timor and other post-conflict c ....Understanding anger and its consequences amongst women in conflict-affected Timor Leste: Implications for enhancing sustainable development. An Australian national priority goal is to understand our region...(its) societies, politics and cultures. AusAID highlights gender within its key theme Investing in People, emphasizing that 'gender equality is integral to growth, governance and stability'. Australia has made a massive investment in the stabilization of East Timor and other post-conflict countries including aid for women's organizations. Yet there is a notable gap in the empirical base for designing programs for women. The proposed study focusing on women's anger has the potential to ground psychosocial programming for women on a firm empirical base. The results may be transferable to other traumatized and disadvantaged communities.
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The Deprivation Approach to Poverty: Analysis and Implementation. The project aims to develop new poverty measures based on a better understanding of the specific causes and nature of poverty. Australia lags behind other countries in relying solely on income to identify and measure poverty. In contrast, the deprivation approach adopts a broader living standards perspective which identifies poverty as an inability to afford basic necessities and develops measures that embody community views about ....The Deprivation Approach to Poverty: Analysis and Implementation. The project aims to develop new poverty measures based on a better understanding of the specific causes and nature of poverty. Australia lags behind other countries in relying solely on income to identify and measure poverty. In contrast, the deprivation approach adopts a broader living standards perspective which identifies poverty as an inability to afford basic necessities and develops measures that embody community views about what is an acceptable minimum. This project aims to address this deficit by analysing important new data to provide a comprehensive national picture of deprivation. It also plans to test the robustness of alternative measurement methodologies, undertake comparisons with selected European countries and develop new academically robust methods to guide future research, data collection and practical applications.Read moreRead less
Addressing the hour-glass ceiling: new case for action on gender equality. This project aims to provide new evidence on the twin wealth and health costs and benefits of greater gender equality in work hours, and new data resources for policy modelling and testing. It also aims to provide insights into progress on gender parity which appears to have stalled despite concerted policy action. Expected benefits of this evidence include improving the health and economic security of women, and the iden ....Addressing the hour-glass ceiling: new case for action on gender equality. This project aims to provide new evidence on the twin wealth and health costs and benefits of greater gender equality in work hours, and new data resources for policy modelling and testing. It also aims to provide insights into progress on gender parity which appears to have stalled despite concerted policy action. Expected benefits of this evidence include improving the health and economic security of women, and the identification of options for new policy actions to solve the problem of gender inequality in employment and earnings.Read moreRead less
Addressing childcare flexibility. This project aims to identify how best to achieve flexible childcare for the large number of Australian shift-work, professional or casual employees who work outside or beyond standard work hours. Consecutive governments have attempted to intervene in what is now regarded as a childcare flexibility crisis, but their attempts have failed due to fundamental misunderstandings of family needs for affordable, quality care and service providers' business requirements. ....Addressing childcare flexibility. This project aims to identify how best to achieve flexible childcare for the large number of Australian shift-work, professional or casual employees who work outside or beyond standard work hours. Consecutive governments have attempted to intervene in what is now regarded as a childcare flexibility crisis, but their attempts have failed due to fundamental misunderstandings of family needs for affordable, quality care and service providers' business requirements. This project seeks to reconcile family and provider experiences with government cost and quality concerns. It aims to deliver new knowledge on the alignments between stakeholders’ interests so as to offer a way forward in the creation of an affordable, flexible, quality care system.Read moreRead less