Assessing the national productivity impacts of chronic ill health. The project aims to address one of the biggest gaps in health and productivity research by designing a novel composite national metric that will rank lost productivity due to chronic illness The project brings together tax/transfer modelling, health modelling and epidemiological modelling specialists to develop a highly innovative microsimulation model: Health&WorkMOD to then quantify the costs of health-related productivity loss ....Assessing the national productivity impacts of chronic ill health. The project aims to address one of the biggest gaps in health and productivity research by designing a novel composite national metric that will rank lost productivity due to chronic illness The project brings together tax/transfer modelling, health modelling and epidemiological modelling specialists to develop a highly innovative microsimulation model: Health&WorkMOD to then quantify the costs of health-related productivity loss. The proposed model, an international first, will be a powerful tool to comprehensively model the cost impacts of illness and simulate policy options related to health and productivity. This will provide answers to critical policy questions for government with potential significant economic benefits.Read moreRead less
Optimising the roles of online communities in rural resilience . This research will use data from online communities to identify roles they do, and could play, in rural resilience. It uses social media analytics and spatial methodology to taxonomise and map service topics and social resilience from online communities. Governments call for rural service innovation. To date, robust evidence about online versus local services needed, is lacking. This is partly due to lack of data about diverse cons ....Optimising the roles of online communities in rural resilience . This research will use data from online communities to identify roles they do, and could play, in rural resilience. It uses social media analytics and spatial methodology to taxonomise and map service topics and social resilience from online communities. Governments call for rural service innovation. To date, robust evidence about online versus local services needed, is lacking. This is partly due to lack of data about diverse consumers' priorities and gaps. Social media could offer latent insights, but ethical methodology producing useful de-identified policy insights has been lacking. This study exemplifies applying social media data analytics at scale to address policy problems and will produce up-to-date co-designed data use guidelines.Read moreRead less
Activating social connection to address isolation in Australia. Surveys of wellbeing repeatedly emphasise social isolation, but there is a gap in positive approaches that can be used to grow connection. This research aims to design an approach to activate social connection for people and communities. Using a pre-tested evidence-based framework, experiences of vulnerable cohorts, and affordances of ways to connect on and offline, this project takes a strengths focus to develop a joined-up place-b ....Activating social connection to address isolation in Australia. Surveys of wellbeing repeatedly emphasise social isolation, but there is a gap in positive approaches that can be used to grow connection. This research aims to design an approach to activate social connection for people and communities. Using a pre-tested evidence-based framework, experiences of vulnerable cohorts, and affordances of ways to connect on and offline, this project takes a strengths focus to develop a joined-up place-based strategy. Expected outcomes include world-first practical tools and guidance for local social connection activation and new knowledge about how interwoven on/offline services assist social connection. Increasing social connection is expected to improve individuals’ mental wellbeing and community resilience.Read moreRead less
Confronting everyday harms: preventing abuse of people with disability. The findings of the Disability Royal Commission necessitate new approaches to prevent violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation. Framed by recognition theory, this project proposes empirical research with young people with cognitive disability, using a new concept of ‘everyday harms’ in their paid relationships. The results will inform early responses to poor quality interactions in disability support. The strategic alliance ....Confronting everyday harms: preventing abuse of people with disability. The findings of the Disability Royal Commission necessitate new approaches to prevent violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation. Framed by recognition theory, this project proposes empirical research with young people with cognitive disability, using a new concept of ‘everyday harms’ in their paid relationships. The results will inform early responses to poor quality interactions in disability support. The strategic alliances with the government, industry and community partners will develop a practice framework to prevent everyday harms and the escalation to abuse, and to promote safety and wellbeing. The research has policy benefits for capacity-building in the sector to act on the rights and voices of people with disability. Read moreRead less
Conditional welfare: A comparative case study of income management policies. Using an innovative methodology that incorporates a cross-national comparison of policy design and practice, this project aims to explore the effects of income management policies. The research will provide new insights into compulsory income management in Australia, and its more recent introduction in New Zealand. The expected outcomes will provide benefits, such as a richer understanding of human agency, autonomy and ....Conditional welfare: A comparative case study of income management policies. Using an innovative methodology that incorporates a cross-national comparison of policy design and practice, this project aims to explore the effects of income management policies. The research will provide new insights into compulsory income management in Australia, and its more recent introduction in New Zealand. The expected outcomes will provide benefits, such as a richer understanding of human agency, autonomy and social identity in the context of social policy.Read moreRead less
Strengthening Relationships for Young People in Residential Care. Young people in residential care face major challenges in forming positive relationships, many having experienced adults as a source of threat rather than safety. This project aims to investigate practices within therapeutic residential care that enable or limit young people’s identity formation, positive social connections, safety and wellbeing. This research will generate nuanced knowledge informing interpersonal and institution ....Strengthening Relationships for Young People in Residential Care. Young people in residential care face major challenges in forming positive relationships, many having experienced adults as a source of threat rather than safety. This project aims to investigate practices within therapeutic residential care that enable or limit young people’s identity formation, positive social connections, safety and wellbeing. This research will generate nuanced knowledge informing interpersonal and institutional change. Expected outcomes include improved approaches to therapeutic care and to methods for enabling the participation of young people in care in matters that may change their life trajectory on exiting care. Expected benefits include more responsive policies and frameworks for practice.Read moreRead less
Beyond safety: Ethical practice involving children. This project aims to investigate the role of ethical practice in improving child safety. Focusing especially on those who are at greater risk of harm, the findings will contribute to ensuring Australia’s children are safe and treated with dignity and respect. Expected outcomes include better-targeted, child-informed policy and practice for organisations involved with children, and important knowledge for organisations seeking to optimise, promo ....Beyond safety: Ethical practice involving children. This project aims to investigate the role of ethical practice in improving child safety. Focusing especially on those who are at greater risk of harm, the findings will contribute to ensuring Australia’s children are safe and treated with dignity and respect. Expected outcomes include better-targeted, child-informed policy and practice for organisations involved with children, and important knowledge for organisations seeking to optimise, promote and protect children’s safety and wellbeingRead moreRead less
Adjudicating rights for a sustainable National Disability Insurance Scheme. The aim of the National Disability Insurance Scheme is to redress unfairness for disabled Australians. The sensitive question for government and citizens is how to determine what support is fair? The goal is support based on the perceived needs and choices of individuals. The government is additionally concerned to ensure financial sustainability by limiting expectations about reasonable and necessary support. This proje ....Adjudicating rights for a sustainable National Disability Insurance Scheme. The aim of the National Disability Insurance Scheme is to redress unfairness for disabled Australians. The sensitive question for government and citizens is how to determine what support is fair? The goal is support based on the perceived needs and choices of individuals. The government is additionally concerned to ensure financial sustainability by limiting expectations about reasonable and necessary support. This project will identify the dominant operating principles and debates concerning funded support, by analysing relevant frameworks, decisions, appeals and internal reviews. By taking an administrative justice perspective, it contributes to a critical debate about the values guiding funded support decisions and fairness outcomes.Read moreRead less
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
ARC Centre of Excellence for Children and Families over the Life Course. The 2020 ARC Centre of Excellence for Children and Families over the Life Course (LCC2020) aims to deliver transformative research and translation to break the cycle of deep and persistent disadvantage for Australians. Critically, LCC2020 will tackle disadvantage in specific context to understand how people negotiate it daily in real places, and how best to design policies and programs that support improved life pathways. B ....ARC Centre of Excellence for Children and Families over the Life Course. The 2020 ARC Centre of Excellence for Children and Families over the Life Course (LCC2020) aims to deliver transformative research and translation to break the cycle of deep and persistent disadvantage for Australians. Critically, LCC2020 will tackle disadvantage in specific context to understand how people negotiate it daily in real places, and how best to design policies and programs that support improved life pathways. By understanding life course contexts much more finely and using new methods and better data to personalise responses to disadvantage, LCC2020 will deliver the evidence, infrastructure, capacity and partnerships to reduce disadvantage and better equip Australian children and families for emerging challenges. Read moreRead less