Change agents and sustainability transformations in the water sector. The pursuit of sustainable development is a major challenge for Australian communities. System transformations are urgently needed, not just incremental change. While we know much about how to incubate local innovation, how innovation can be scaled to transform systems is not well understood. This project aims to understand how change agents can influence system transformations and how their actions can be enabled and constrai ....Change agents and sustainability transformations in the water sector. The pursuit of sustainable development is a major challenge for Australian communities. System transformations are urgently needed, not just incremental change. While we know much about how to incubate local innovation, how innovation can be scaled to transform systems is not well understood. This project aims to understand how change agents can influence system transformations and how their actions can be enabled and constrained by local conditions and governance arrangements. Its focus is on change agents working to promote urban water innovations and system change. We hope to develop new knowledge on the capabilities and resources that local governments and other actors must deploy to achieve sustainability transformations in Australia.Read moreRead less
Waithood: The experience of being on the social housing waiting list. This project aims to investigate the circumstances of people on the social housing waiting-list and how they manage their everyday lives while waiting for a social housing property to become available. It also aims to conduct a review of how social housing waiting list assessments are done and profile the waiting list population. Drawing on in-depth interviews, the study expects to generate new knowledge on different groups o ....Waithood: The experience of being on the social housing waiting list. This project aims to investigate the circumstances of people on the social housing waiting-list and how they manage their everyday lives while waiting for a social housing property to become available. It also aims to conduct a review of how social housing waiting list assessments are done and profile the waiting list population. Drawing on in-depth interviews, the study expects to generate new knowledge on different groups of applicants. Expected outcomes include an enhanced understanding of the impacts of being on the waiting list for extended periods. This study will provide significant benefits as the high quality evidence produced should enhance policymakers’ understandings of applicants' circumstances and lead to better outcomes.Read moreRead less
Emerging transport technologies: finding new practices in urban governance. This project will explore the rapidly changing political economy of Australia’s urban transport systems as private companies deploy new technologies. Many new and existing policy instruments are available to governments to manage this difficult technological transition. In-depth case studies of emerging policy responses in Perth, Melbourne and Sydney will be set in the context of fast-moving international developments. T ....Emerging transport technologies: finding new practices in urban governance. This project will explore the rapidly changing political economy of Australia’s urban transport systems as private companies deploy new technologies. Many new and existing policy instruments are available to governments to manage this difficult technological transition. In-depth case studies of emerging policy responses in Perth, Melbourne and Sydney will be set in the context of fast-moving international developments. This work will deliver new insights into the design and use of better instruments for policy, planning and governance to meet the needs of businesses and the public and to ensure that the potential benefits of the new technologies are fully realised in Australian cities. Read moreRead less
Informal sport as a health and social resource for diverse young people. This project aims to investigate the contribution that informal sports participation makes to wellbeing amongst diverse young people, and ways in which governments, sport and health agencies can effectively support this participation. The project expects to generate new knowledge of how informal sports are self-organised and sustained, factors enabling and inhibiting participation, and will provide a detailed evidence base ....Informal sport as a health and social resource for diverse young people. This project aims to investigate the contribution that informal sports participation makes to wellbeing amongst diverse young people, and ways in which governments, sport and health agencies can effectively support this participation. The project expects to generate new knowledge of how informal sports are self-organised and sustained, factors enabling and inhibiting participation, and will provide a detailed evidence base for the economic and social impact of informal participation. Expected outcomes include the provision of coherent guidance for government, sport and health agencies who will be better equipped to support informal sports opportunities for diverse young people that delivers an enhanced health outcome.Read moreRead less
Social isolation and volunteering of older Chinese immigrants in Australia. This co-designed and collaborative research addresses an acute challenge since COVID-19: how to make volunteering activities more accessible to CALD immigrants who suffer from serious social isolation. The researchers will work with 5 partner organisations (POs) to study Chinese immigrants (60+) in NSW as an example. It will analyse census and GSS datasets, conduct in-depth interviews and focus groups in the settings of ....Social isolation and volunteering of older Chinese immigrants in Australia. This co-designed and collaborative research addresses an acute challenge since COVID-19: how to make volunteering activities more accessible to CALD immigrants who suffer from serious social isolation. The researchers will work with 5 partner organisations (POs) to study Chinese immigrants (60+) in NSW as an example. It will analyse census and GSS datasets, conduct in-depth interviews and focus groups in the settings of old-age care, service navigation and elderly learning. This research will produce new evidence and test the effect of peer education, and support services and policy advocacy of the POs. This research will benefit CALD older immigrants, enhance service capacity and contribute to greater social cohesion in Australia.Read moreRead less
Determining the factors influencing the success of private and community-owned Indigenous businesses across remote, regional and urban Australia. The main benefit of this project is a thorough understanding of the challenges facing Indigenous enterprises in a range of geographical, economic and social settings. The research will identify and determine the importance of a broad range of factors which influence the success of Indigenous enterprises.
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