Trust in Pacific Healthcare: Transforming research, policy and practice. Medical trust is vital to building positive healthcare engagement and improving health outcomes, yet is poorly understood in non-Western contexts. Focusing on crises of trust related to type 2 diabetes and COVID-19 interventions in the Pacific, this collaborative project aims to examine the social and cultural dynamics of medical (mis)trust in Vanuatu, Fiji, and Samoa. Providing the first cross-cultural study of medical tru ....Trust in Pacific Healthcare: Transforming research, policy and practice. Medical trust is vital to building positive healthcare engagement and improving health outcomes, yet is poorly understood in non-Western contexts. Focusing on crises of trust related to type 2 diabetes and COVID-19 interventions in the Pacific, this collaborative project aims to examine the social and cultural dynamics of medical (mis)trust in Vanuatu, Fiji, and Samoa. Providing the first cross-cultural study of medical trust, an international team of researchers will generate interdisciplinary scholarly outputs, policy resources and a documentary film. Findings will assist healthcare professionals and communities strengthen trust relationships and ultimately achieve improved health engagement and delivery in the Pacific and beyond.Read moreRead less
Village democracy in Southeast Asia and the Pacific. This project aims to understand variation in village politics in Indonesia, the Philippines and Papua New Guinea, and the effects of that variation on development outcomes, democratic participation, and gender equity. It will generate new knowledge on how micro-level power structures affect citizens’ experience of government. Expected outcomes include a new framework for understanding how community power structures shape and constrain governme ....Village democracy in Southeast Asia and the Pacific. This project aims to understand variation in village politics in Indonesia, the Philippines and Papua New Guinea, and the effects of that variation on development outcomes, democratic participation, and gender equity. It will generate new knowledge on how micro-level power structures affect citizens’ experience of government. Expected outcomes include a new framework for understanding how community power structures shape and constrain government action. Benefits will include strengthening Australia’s position as a world leader in Asian and Pacific studies, generating a new framework for understanding the effects of village political dynamics, and guidance for Australian and other policy makers planning grassroots development interventions.Read moreRead less
Overcoming Violence and Building Peace in Conditions of Complexity in PNG . The project is an investigation of the drivers and inhibitors of three inter-related forms of violence in Papua New Guinea - tribal fighting, sorcery accusation related violence and family and sexual violence. The harm caused by these forms of violence is systemic and ongoing, with widespread negative impacts for women, men and children across multiple dimensions of social and economic development. The project will produ ....Overcoming Violence and Building Peace in Conditions of Complexity in PNG . The project is an investigation of the drivers and inhibitors of three inter-related forms of violence in Papua New Guinea - tribal fighting, sorcery accusation related violence and family and sexual violence. The harm caused by these forms of violence is systemic and ongoing, with widespread negative impacts for women, men and children across multiple dimensions of social and economic development. The project will produce new knowledge about how violence and peace-making initiatives emerge, connect, spread and disperse, and generate new conceptual models to better analyse the dynamics of violence and peace across time and space. These theoretical insights will inform better violence prevention initiatives for Papua New Guinea and beyond.Read moreRead less