Health insurance design: choices, consumer behavior and policy challenges . Rising health costs is a global challenge. Creating an efficient health insurance system is a key policy concern in all developed countries. This project aims to study choices, consumer behaviors, and policy challenges in two health insurance markets: Australian private health insurance (PHI) and US Medicare prescription drug insurance.
Expected outcomes include new evidence needed to develop a new framework for PHI, ne ....Health insurance design: choices, consumer behavior and policy challenges . Rising health costs is a global challenge. Creating an efficient health insurance system is a key policy concern in all developed countries. This project aims to study choices, consumer behaviors, and policy challenges in two health insurance markets: Australian private health insurance (PHI) and US Medicare prescription drug insurance.
Expected outcomes include new evidence needed to develop a new framework for PHI, new knowledge on how consumers respond to complex pricing structures, and new policy proposals to improve the overall efficiency of the health system. The research will benefit the re-design of PHI and the health system to improve Australians’ health while saving health costs.
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Transforming tobacco policy to deliver societal benefits. This project aims to develop new regulatory options for tobacco to minimise the legal market while avoiding the adverse societal and economic impacts of transferring consumer demand to illegal tobacco products. It addresses a significant current concern about a growing illegal tobacco market and seeks to improve understanding of the impact of tobacco control policies on the illegal market, and the societal impacts. The project also seeks ....Transforming tobacco policy to deliver societal benefits. This project aims to develop new regulatory options for tobacco to minimise the legal market while avoiding the adverse societal and economic impacts of transferring consumer demand to illegal tobacco products. It addresses a significant current concern about a growing illegal tobacco market and seeks to improve understanding of the impact of tobacco control policies on the illegal market, and the societal impacts. The project also seeks to draw insights from illicit drug policy to understand potential consequences of greater restrictions on the legal tobacco market. The expected outcomes include an enhanced monitoring system for illicit tobacco and policy recommendations to achieve government goals of reducing smoking rates.Read moreRead less
Food and beverage price promotions: An untapped policy target . We aim to generate evidence on the influence of price promotions on foods and beverages considered to be of concern for human and planetary health. We further aim to identify if, and how, policies can be designed to reduce these types of price promotions and understand the feasibility and acceptability of doing so, from a range of perspectives.The significance of this project is substantial - unhealthy diets are the leading cause of ....Food and beverage price promotions: An untapped policy target . We aim to generate evidence on the influence of price promotions on foods and beverages considered to be of concern for human and planetary health. We further aim to identify if, and how, policies can be designed to reduce these types of price promotions and understand the feasibility and acceptability of doing so, from a range of perspectives.The significance of this project is substantial - unhealthy diets are the leading cause of disease and death and unhealthy foods account for >30% of the food-related environmental footprint. By understanding if, and how, this novel policy target can be designed to improve population food choices, this project will ultimately deliver benefits for human and planetary through improved dietary choices.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE240100616
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$411,500.00
Summary
Sustained innovations to promote healthier food in the retail environment. This project aims to provide empirical evidence to drive sustained retailer change in favour of healthier food offerings. Australian food environments drive unhealthy diets and are a major cause of social, productivity and wellbeing loss. Using implementation science methods applied to rigorous real-world trials and policy collaborations, the project will test the effectiveness of innovative methods for sustaining organis ....Sustained innovations to promote healthier food in the retail environment. This project aims to provide empirical evidence to drive sustained retailer change in favour of healthier food offerings. Australian food environments drive unhealthy diets and are a major cause of social, productivity and wellbeing loss. Using implementation science methods applied to rigorous real-world trials and policy collaborations, the project will test the effectiveness of innovative methods for sustaining organisational change across a range of retail settings. Outcomes would deliver significant benefits by enabling retailers, governments, and public health advocates nationally and internationally to make the lasting changes to retail environments needed to improve productivity and population wellbeing.Read moreRead less
National research impact policies: Uncovering the ‘value’ in evaluation. This project aims to identify the conceptions of value that underpin national research impact policies and to examine the consequences for research activities, outputs, and outcomes. By studying four countries with different national policy approaches to research impact, it is expected that significant new knowledge about the role of research in society will be produced. Expected outcomes include a framework that links mark ....National research impact policies: Uncovering the ‘value’ in evaluation. This project aims to identify the conceptions of value that underpin national research impact policies and to examine the consequences for research activities, outputs, and outcomes. By studying four countries with different national policy approaches to research impact, it is expected that significant new knowledge about the role of research in society will be produced. Expected outcomes include a framework that links markers of value (i.e. what counts as valuable research) to research policy and assessment principles. Expected benefits include policy learnings to improve how research is evaluated in Australia, thereby enhancing the alignment between what is valued by those who fund research, those who produce it, and those who use it.Read moreRead less
The new digital governance of welfare to work. This project aims to analyse the implementation of a 'digital first' employment services system, its effects on frontline services and governance, and its potential for policy learning. It expects to generate new knowledge on how digitalisation changes interactions between jobseekers, providers, employers and the government, by working with our industry partners in a collaborative innovation lab. Expected outcomes of this project include a theoretic ....The new digital governance of welfare to work. This project aims to analyse the implementation of a 'digital first' employment services system, its effects on frontline services and governance, and its potential for policy learning. It expects to generate new knowledge on how digitalisation changes interactions between jobseekers, providers, employers and the government, by working with our industry partners in a collaborative innovation lab. Expected outcomes of this project include a theoretically informed, and practically tested, model of how digitalisation can promote service design and policy innovation that benefits jobseekers and employers. This should provide significant benefits for welfare system design, service outcomes, and policy learning nationally and internationally. Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE200101396
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$422,689.00
Summary
Reducing modern slavery with new digital and enforcement technologies. Forced and bonded labour, as well as poverty wages, have been uncovered in Australia's meat and fashion industries and eight government inquiries since 2016 have identified inadequate enforcement tools as an impediment to effective regulation. This DECRA aims to assess whether and in what ways enforcement can be enhanced by adapting advances in digital technologies to the needs of labour regulators for their strategies to red ....Reducing modern slavery with new digital and enforcement technologies. Forced and bonded labour, as well as poverty wages, have been uncovered in Australia's meat and fashion industries and eight government inquiries since 2016 have identified inadequate enforcement tools as an impediment to effective regulation. This DECRA aims to assess whether and in what ways enforcement can be enhanced by adapting advances in digital technologies to the needs of labour regulators for their strategies to reduce modern slavery. This will be achieved by case studies of enforcement efforts in domestic meat processing and fashion supply chains, as well as studies of practical applications of digital technologies. The findings will identify new tools to aid detection of this largely hidden workforce and bolster enforcement. Read moreRead less
Rethinking collaborative federalism in Australian schooling policy. The governance of schooling in the Australian federation is in flux and undergoing significant contestation, with serious questions being asked about whether national policy arrangements are fit for purpose and decision-making processes are achieving the policy aspirations of collaborative federalism. This project aims to examine how Australian governments engage in collaborative schooling reform by focussing on processes associ ....Rethinking collaborative federalism in Australian schooling policy. The governance of schooling in the Australian federation is in flux and undergoing significant contestation, with serious questions being asked about whether national policy arrangements are fit for purpose and decision-making processes are achieving the policy aspirations of collaborative federalism. This project aims to examine how Australian governments engage in collaborative schooling reform by focussing on processes associated with the formulation of the new post-2023 National School Reform Agreement. The research will engage in ‘real time’ policy analysis, engaging with policy stakeholders to examine collaborative processes centred on the new agreement, and to consider how to improve future national decision-making processes.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
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