Melbourne Social Equity Institute conducts and facilitates interdisciplinary research that addresses the causes and consequences of social inequities and advances knowledge about effective ways to respond.
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Overarching Approach
Melbourne Social Equity Institute is a leader in community-engaged and coproductive research. These ways of working inform all our research priorities. We also advance the use of community-engaged and coproductive methodologies through knowledge sharing and researcher training and development.
Current Research Priority Areas
Melbourne Social Equity Institute responds to many social equity issues through its interdisciplinary research training and partnerships. Reflecting current social equity challenges and complementary research across the University of Melbourne, our research priorities are:
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Gender Equity
Working to ensure the collective and individual benefits of equitable access to opportunities, resources and freedoms regardless of gender
Evidence shows improved gender equity reduces violence, fosters economic prosperity and institutional integrity, and advances social and economic innovation. The unequal status of women and girls has long been recognised as both a central cause and consequence of social inequity, with more recent movements highlighting the negative effects of gender norms on transgender and non-binary people. Climate change and the COVID pandemic are amplifying existing inequities and generate new imperatives for gender‑equitable participation.
This research priority engages with gender inequities at all levels of societal systems and with effective approaches to reducing these inequities.
This research priority is co-led by Professor Kylie Smith and Associate Professor Victor Sojo Monzon.
This priority area builds upon the work of the Melbourne research Alliance to End Violence against women and their children (MAEVe) which is auspiced by the Melbourne Social Equity Institute.
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Health Equity
Improving equity of health and wellbeing across the community
Health equity and wellbeing are shaped by social conditions, with social inequities typically associated with poorer physical and mental health. This research priority supports research related to inequities in health and wellbeing among people and communities.
It engages in the joint production and testing of strategies to redress these inequities and in initiatives that promote wellbeing. Work within this research priority uses research methods that give a central place to the voices and knowledge of people who have lived expertise of diverse health inequities.
This research priority is led by Dr Nicholas Hill.
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Inclusive and Distributive Economies
Exploring economic participation and organisational approaches that advance just and sustainable societies
Economic participation and the fair distribution of material resources are central features of social equity and drivers of community wellbeing, cohesion and prosperity. Entrenched wealth inequality, industry restructuring and the rise of precarious work inform and reflect contemporary patterns of social inequity.
At the same time, new and renewed approaches to community ownership, social enterprise and peer-led program design seek to counter inequities in the interests of people and planet. This research priority includes a focus on inclusive employment and whether and how purpose-led business models and people‑centred policy design advance more just and sustainable societies.
This research priority is led by Professor Jo Barraket.
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Migration and Mobility
Exploring the multiple dimensions of migration and mobility, and their implications for equitable participation of people and communities
The Australian population is increasingly culturally diverse, with more than a quarter of all Australians born overseas and almost half having at least one parent who was born overseas. Migrants, particularly those from backgrounds where English is not the first language, can face social exclusion and marginalisation. Regional conflicts and pandemic responses are also affecting the mobility of people both within and across countries.
This research priority focuses on the multiple dimensions of migration and mobility and their implications for equitable participation of people and communities. Together with the associated PhD Program in Migration, Statelessness and Refugee Studies, it aims to build a stronger evidence base for tackling associated inequalities and strengthen local and international opportunities for collaboration and impact.
This research priority is led by Professor Karen Farquharson and Associate Professor Karen Block.
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Digital Access and Equity (enabling theme )
Examining and improving the impact of a connected, digitally-focused society
Digital technologies have the potential for overcoming social, economic and geographic barriers and improving outcomes in health, access to justice and social services, and economic and civic participation. However, they also risk increased discrimination, differentiation and exclusion. Importantly, issues of digital equity are not just about access to technology, but also about language, content, comprehension and safety.
Recognising we live in an increasingly digital world, Digital Access and Equity is an enabling theme of research that intersects with all Melbourne Social Equity Institute research priorities. This theme supports research examining the impact of a connected, digitally-focused society on social equity. It evaluates the presumptions about knowledge, language, accessibility and consent that inform the design and implementation of new technologies. It works to develop innovative and inclusive ways to make a technologically-integrated society a fairer and more equitable one.
This research priority is led by Professor Shanton Chang.
View the Ethical and Equitable Digital Design Matrix for Community Engaged Research, developed through the work of this enabling theme.
Current Research Projects
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Activating employment through work integration social enterprise (WISE)
Understanding how Australia can improve employment outcomes for people experiencing disadvantage through social enterprise
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African Australians’ experiences of domestic violence and health service utilisation
Exploring African Australians' experiences of domestic and family violence
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Water rights for First Nations
Exploring cultural economic futures through agent based modelling
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Breaking down the barriers
Co-producing inclusive mental healthcare with young people on the margins
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SheShaka: addressing gendered and cultural barriers to participation in surfing
Responding to evidence of gendered and cultural barriers to participation in surfing for young women and girls from diverse backgrounds in coastal Victoria
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The use and impacts of direct-to-consumer genetic testing and data platforms for family tracing after adoption or out of home care
A Victorian pilot study
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Making policy reform work
A comparative analysis of social procurement
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Developing a gender-wise partnership framework
Improving investment in gender equality by increasing the understanding and application of a gender lens to philanthropic partnerships.
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Y Careers evaluation (pilot)
The Y Careers evaluation will take a co-design and reciprocal approach to engage meaningfully with people involved in the program, to produce rigours evaluation and learning insights.
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The Community Tax Project
Building capacity within and between the academic and community/welfare sectors
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Community visioning Inner North Report
'Who we want to be'
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Measuring impacts and aggregating insights about the Victorian social enterprise sector: a data and evaluation platform
Providing social enterprises with a longitudinal measurement tool
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Preventing violence against young women exposed to the criminal justice system
Developing recommendations for violence prevention programs for justice-involved young women
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Why do they do that? An investigation into the perpetrator perspective of technology facilitated abuse
Understanding the motivations and tactics of perpetrators engaging in technology facilitated abuse
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Learning from QTPOC Voices: supporting positive experiences of mental healthcare
Creating evidence with, and for, young people who have intersectional experiences of sexuality, gender, and cultural diversity
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Understanding digital inequality
An analysis of unequal connectivity in Carlton Housing Estate, Melbourne, Victoria
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Getting back on Country: traditional owner-led repatriation, digitisation and exhibition design of Olkola cultural archives
Combining participatory design, mixed reality technologies, archaeological science and digital cultural heritage to deliver innovative solutions for the repatriation of Olkola heritage
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Talking hunger: understanding food insecurity on campus
Understanding and addressing food insecurity at the University of Melbourne
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The SEREDA Project
Sexual and gender-based violence against refugees: experiences from displacement to arrival
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The living archive of Aboriginal art
Developing a digital living archive where Indigenous artists can connect their work in ways reflecting Indigenous worldviews.
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Understanding the role of mental health in online gambling choices
Identifying targets for law reform to reduce harm from gambling through an economic experiment that explores how mental health relates to problem gambling
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Invisible mothers: young Pasifika women, health inequalities and negotiating wellbeing
Exploring the priorities and practices that constitute motherhood for young Pasifika mothers in Melbourne
Completed Projects
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The WEAVERs Project
The WEAVERs are a panel of survivors of violence against women.
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Support for consumer transactions
Working with consumers and industry to develop practices and processes to improve access for consumers with disabilities.
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Developing a model for peer support in emergency departments
Improving supports for people experiencing mental distress in emergency departments
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The Burndawan Project: Co-designing technology to support Indigenous people experiencing family violence
A project with the Wadawurrung community
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Co-producing safe, inclusive work places for mental health consumer workers
How should we change the mental health system to safely include consumer workers?
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Reintegration and resettlement: Post-release family and community support for African-Australians in Victoria
Investigating the post-release support needs of African-Australians who have been imprisoned in Victoria
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Restrictive Practices
Research to inform and guide the reduction and elimination of the use of restrictive practices in the mental health, disability and aged care sectors.
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Exploring the value of rhythm-based support with children who have experienced trauma
How can drumming and hip-hop be used to support young people in out of home care?
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Violence prevention and respectful relationships
Violence prevention approaches within social policy across the life course, starting in early childhood.
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Co-designing business education programs with the African-Australian community
What are the barriers to success for African-Australians in business and how can we address them?
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Choice, control and the NDIS
To what extent is the National Disability Insurance Scheme achieving its aims and objectives from the perspective of people with disability?
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Unfitness to plead project
Practical options to address the problem of people with cognitive impairments being found “unfit to plead” and subjected to indefinite detention in Australia.
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Count me in
Promoting wellbeing and inclusion through sports participation for migrant and refugee-background young people.
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Ethical fashion and preventing violence in Bangladesh
This project examines the role of ethical fashion enterprises in Bangladesh in the primary prevention of violence against women.
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Understanding elder abuse
Definitions, evidence and interventions.
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Supported decision-making for people with severe mental health problems
Options for supported decision-making to enhance the recovery of people with severe mental health problems.
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Who cares?
Examining the invisibility of migrant women in care and domestic work in Australia.
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19 stories of social inclusion
Lessons from the lives of everyday Australians on belonging, disability and community contribution.
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Sense of belonging for African students at the University of Melbourne
Understanding and improving the student experience.
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Public attitudes towards asylum seekers and refugees
What is the basis for the attitudes Australian voters hold towards asylum seekers and what role does the media play?
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Refugee-background children in Australia
Understanding of the complex processes required for social inclusion for refugee-background children in Australia.
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Listening for (a) change
Identifying strategies for preventing family violence through dialogical research with women with refugee backgrounds.
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Improving management practices to integrate refugees and people seeking asylum
Developing effective management practices to integrate refugees and people seeking asylum into Australian workplaces.
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Is zero-tolerance to violence a zero-sum game?
Perceptions of 'dangerousness' and issues of equity in mental health settings.
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Reconceptualising and supporting disaster recovery as growth: informed by people affected by the Black Saturday bushfires
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Enabling socially-inclusive and ethical visual methodologies
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The f word: crossdisciplinary feminist art in Australia
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Imagining Muslim women: examining the effects of images in women’s human rights campaigns
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National seclusion and restraint project
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Impact and sustainability of creative social enterprises
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Disability and poverty in Cambodia
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Empathy and portrayals of mental illness in Australian visual culture
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Topographical community accessibility modelling for people with mobility impairments
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Intimate partner violence and women's economic security across the lifecourse
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How are low protection workers regulated?
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Overcoming barriers to affordable housing
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Place, health and liveability
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Transforming housing: affordable housing for all
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Getting in touch: language and digital inclusion in Australian Indigenous communities
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Strengthening the Victorian Aboriginal community's response to methamphetamine use
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Routes to the past
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Title transfers and housing quality
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Poverty, family chronic-stress and children's development
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Building the evidence: responding to the needs of recently arrived refugee and asylum seeker populations
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Enabling pluralism: eliminating educational inequity in languages provision in Victorian schools
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Revisiting disadvantage: supporting new strength-based approaches to belonging and social inclusion for young people in education
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Creating a digital platform for capturing children’s and adolescent’s views of contemporary Australian childhood from the ground up
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The bounce project: peer support training for young people leaving Out of Home Care, to improve social inclusion, mental health and wellbeing
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The citizens' agenda: exploring ways of improving political news coverage and increasing political engagement
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Assessing and building social investment opportunities that preserve Indigenous cultures
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Understanding female genital cutting in inner Melbourne
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Sharing place, learning together
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Understanding place-based racism and fostering local interculturalism
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Contested waterfronts: informality, floods and capital in Indonesian cities
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A novel cure
Current Activities and Programs
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Community Fellows Program
Supporting research collaborations between community organisations and university-based researchers.
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Graduate Researchers
Each year Melbourne Social Equity Institute provides Australian Government Research Training Program Scholarships and other PhD scholarships to students whose interest in social equity issues aligns closely to our research agenda.
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Community Engagement Grants
Supporting University of Melbourne researchers to develop interdisciplinary and community-engaged networks.
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Doctoral Academy
For each Doctoral Academy, Melbourne Social Equity Institute selects a cohort of research higher degree students from across the university to share their research, knowledge and ideas on social equity issues.
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Interdisciplinary PhD Program in Migration, Statelessness and Refugee Studies
Addressing the contemporary issues of asylum-seeking, migration and statelessness across the areas of law, health, culture, education, creative arts, history, social policy, housing, social sustainability, community wellbeing and mental health.
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Melbourne Social Equity Institute Scholarship Opportunities
The recipients of scholarships through the Institute receive additional funding and support, including automatic entry into our Doctoral Academy and/or PhD Program in Migration, Statelessness and Refugee Studies.
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Melbourne Research Alliance to End Violence against women and their children (MAEVe)
MAEVe brings together researchers from across the University of Melbourne.
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Community Engaged Research Community of Practice
The Community Engaged Research Community of Practice (CER-CoP) is a new student and early career researcher-led group auspiced by Melbourne Social Equity Institute.
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Funding Opportunities
The Institute has created a suite of funding opportunities to enable and support collaborative, interdisciplinary social equity research.
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Ethical and Equitable Digital Design Matrix for Community Engaged Research
A matrix to support the ethical and equitable design elements of digital technologies used in community-engaged research.
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The Australian Research on Refugee Integration Database (ARRID)
ARRID was developed by the Melbourne Social Equity Institute in partnership with the Refugee Education Special Interest Group.
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The Blue Nile Program
The Blue Nile African Australian Business Masterclass Program is a heavily subsidised program designed for African Australian entrepreneurs and leaders of not-for-profit organisations.
Legacy Activities
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African Research and Engagement in Australia Initiative (AREiA)
A community-driven approach to supporting the health, cultural, social, economic and political wellbeing of African Australian communities.
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Disability Research Initiative
Melbourne Social Equity Institute played a key role in facilitating disability research at the University of Melbourne.
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Podcast Series: All Being Equal
All Being Equal is an eight-episode podcast series exploring social equity issues with University of Melbourne researchers, visiting academics and community partners.
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Lecture Series for Refugees and People Seeking Asylum
Understanding Australia, the Melbourne Social Equity Institute's annual lecture series for refugees and people seeking asylum, returned for its fourth year in September 2017.
Research Reports
Annual Reports
To request any of these reports in an accessible format please email us.
Stories and Profiles from Melbourne Social Equity Institute
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‘the little things’: Snapshots of Day-to-Day Wellbeing from Young People from Migrant Backgrounds in Rural Victoria
Young people from recent refugee and migrant backgrounds have been using photography to share their knowledge about day-to-day wellbeing with communities in regional and rural Victoria, as part of research with Melbourne Social Equity Institute PhD candidate Meg Lee.
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Virtual Reality is Helping Olkola Traditional Owners Get Back on Country
Olkola Traditional Owners are working with researchers to use digital technologies to see how story interweaves with Country.
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Bendigo Street and Occupation as Protest
The Bendigo Street occupation shows that housing activists and local governments can better work together to pursue housing justice.
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Eradicating Modern Slavery in Australia
Alongside its review of the ‘Modern Slavery Act’, the Government must also address the risks of forced labour that are inherent in our visa system.
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Philanthropic Partnerships Supporting Housing
Housing insecurity disproportionately impacts women and other gender identity minorities.
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Data Protection is a Mental Health Issue for Young People
Australia’s leading use of digital technologies in youth mental health services could help inform Australia’s Privacy Act review, with lessons for mental health services along the way.
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COVID-19’s Negative Impact on Refugees’ Employment Prospects
While lockdown measures remain our best strategy to manage the COVID-19 spread as vaccination rates increase, the resulting psychological distress and economic damage cannot be ignored. For refugees and people seeking asylum, the impact is disproportionately felt, and the challenges profound.
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Protecting Older Australian Women from Homelessness
Older women are the fastest growing group of people experiencing homelessness in Australia, and crucial to change is providing greater access to social and affordable housing
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Food for Thought
University students going hungry in Australia was a persistent problem before COVID-19, now it’s time we use the crisis to come up with sustainable solutions for our campuses.
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How Could Mental Health Peer Support Workers Improve Emergency Departments?
New research suggests that people in mental distress seeking help at an Emergency Department would benefit from peer-support workers who understand their experience.
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Ending the Exploitation of Refugee and Migrant Workers
Getting work is the most important step to successful settlement in a new country, says lawyer Catherine Hemingway, but for people who have recently arrived in Australia it can also be the start of a lot of new problems.
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A Community Acting Against Family Violence
One Aboriginal community has co-designed an online family violence resource for their own people, prioritising the voices of Australia’s First Nations populations in positive change
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COVID-19 Blog Series
Researchers whose work we support consider their work in the light of responses to COVID-19.
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Understanding Diaspora Peacebuilding
Achieving lasting peace takes more than just the absence of war, says Denise Cauchi, and diaspora communities can make significant contributions toward it.
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Increasing Participant Voice in Creative Arts Therapy
The advent of the National Disability Insurance Scheme has increased the expectations of people with disability to have choice and control over the services they access and use. People with intellectual disability, however, are often excluded from and disenfranchised in planning and funding processes.
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Making Music Accessible for Young People with Disability
Mel Murphy saw the benefits of music for both young people and adults in her years as a music therapist. She had been thinking about doctoral study for a long time when she began her PhD.
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Just Justice Through Supporting Fitness to Plead
Accessing justice on an equal basis is a major issue for many people with disabilities.
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No Safe Place to Stay
As house prices increase in cities like Melbourne, it’s women most at risk of family violence who face potential homelessness.
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Trauma Informed Practice in Education
A new resource to support trauma informed practice in education has been published by Rebecca Harris, a Melbourne Social Equity Institute Community Fellow from Carlton Primary School.
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Choice, Control and the NDIS
Dave Peters was part of the research team for Choice, Control and the NDIS, a community-engaged research project funded by the Melbourne Social Equity Institute.
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Children Speak Out on Family Violence
Young people who have experienced family violence have a lot to tell us, says Dr Katie Lamb, but too often there’s nobody listening.
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How Can Retailers Improve Access and Outcomes for Consumers with Cognitive Disabilities?
Improving access and support for everyone requires change across the community.
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Making Information Accessible – For Everyone
Essential but often complex services like banks, utilities and phones need to be accessible for all, including those with cognitive disabilities. Here’s how you do it.
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Developing New Research Partnerships to Support Adult Learners from Refugee and Migrant backgrounds
Community Fellow Hayley Black and Dr Julie Choi from the Melbourne Graduate School of Education are developing new methods for teachers and graduate educators, which they are keen to share and expand with both of their professions.
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What Is Social Equity?
A blog post by Professor Bernadette McSherry, Foundation Director of the Melbourne Social Equity Institute
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Circus as a Tool for Social Change
“For people who have found that they don’t always have agency over their bodies – people across the gender spectrum – circus can be a really lovely space for them to learn how to reclaim it, surrounded by positive people and support.”
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Diversity in Decision-Making
Co-designing informed choice under the National Disability Insurance Scheme
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Men Speak out on Migration and Gender Roles
Dalal Smiley and Mohajer Hameed share their research experiences with engaging men to speak out on migration, gender roles, post-settlement adjustments and family violence.
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Can the NDIS Deliver?
As the signature National Disability Insurance Scheme rolls out nationally, a research project questions its ability to address systemic inequality.
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Coercion in Mental Health Care: Finding a New Way
Secluding, physically restraining or overmedicating people experiencing mental health crises still happens, but countries around the world are trialling successful alternatives.
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Religion, Not Race, Driving Fear of Asylum Seekers: Survey
Anti-Muslim sentiment is even more important than racial prejudice when it comes to perpetuating negative attitudes about asylum seekers, new research has found.
Melbourne Social Equity Institute is committed to achieving fairer societies through research that makes a difference.
We conduct and facilitate interdisciplinary research that addresses the causes and consequences of social inequities and advances knowledge about effective ways to respond.
We are leaders in community-engaged and coproductive research for social change. Our work contributes to changing public policy and perceptions, as well as improving social and organisational practices. Our approach creates opportunities for researchers, community organisations and people with lived expertise to develop their skills in working together.
Featured content
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Directorate
The Institute's directorate is responsible for allocating funding, coordinating communities of like-minded researchers and engaging with external partners, policy makers and the public.
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Researchers
Research priority leads steer the research direction, commission projects and champion outputs.
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Governance
The Melbourne Social Equity Institute is guided by its reference and advisory groups.
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Annual Reports
Research and engagement highlights from 2013 – 2022.