Supporting interdisciplinary research for fairer societies
The Melbourne Social Equity Institute brings together researchers to address disadvantage across social life, including health, education, housing, culture, work and transport.
Published: 31 Mar 2020
Today we share the first in a series of blog posts that will enable some of the researchers whose work we support to consider their research in the light of responses to COVID-19.
Published: 25 Mar 2020
An interdisciplinary research team has developed a culturally responsive Ubuntu framework for supporting African Australians released from prison.
Published: 15 Jan 2020
Applications are now open for the Blue Nile Program, a masterclass program designed for African Australian entrepreneurs.
Published: 10 Dec 2019
In March 2020, the Melbourne Social Equity Institute is partnering with the African Studies Group to present a three-day conference – Borders, Identities and Belonging: Perspectives from African Migrants in the Diaspora.
Published: 29 Nov 2019
The Melbourne Social Equity Institute recently sponsored a conference plenary session titled Research Co-Produced with Consumers and Peers to Combat Stigma in Health Service Provision.
Published: 26 Nov 2019
A new online family violence resource co-designed with the First Nations peoples of Wadawurrung Country has been launched in Geelong. The project was funded by a Melbourne Social Equity Institute Seed Funding Grant.
Published: 06 Nov 2019
For each Doctoral Academy, the Melbourne Social Equity Institute selects a cohort of PhD students from across the University of Melbourne to share their research, knowledge and ideas on social equity issues.
Published: 08 Oct 2019
The Melbourne Social Equity Institute has welcomed Dr John Chesterman and Dr Ashleigh Haw as Honorary Fellows.
Published: 01 Oct 2019
Dr Piers Gooding, a Research Fellow at the Melbourne Social Equity Institute and Melbourne Law School, has been named as a new Mozilla Fellow. Dr Gooding is one of 29 researchers, technologists, activists, lawyers and scientists tasked with supporting a healthier internet, with a focus on more trustworthy Artificial Intelligence.
Published: 11 Sep 2019
The Melbourne Social Equity Institute is offering two bursaries to interstate PhD students to allow them to attend and present at the Gender and Sexuality at Work conference.
Published: 26 Aug 2019
A new scholarship is being offered to investigate empowerment approaches for people seeking asylum and refugees. What are the impacts, outcomes and challenges for empowering people seeking asylum?
Published: 19 Jul 2019
On Tuesday 19 November, the Melbourne Social Equity Institute will co-host a one-day conference focused on migration, refugees and statelessness.
Published: 08 Jul 2019
Each year the Melbourne Social Equity Institute gives Australian Government Research Training Program Scholarships and other scholarships to students whose interest in social equity issues aligns closely to our research agenda. In 2019, we are delighted to welcome Stephanie Weir from Scope to our PhD program through a unique scholarship and research collaboration, made possible by the partnership between Scope and the University of Melbourne.
Published: 12 Jun 2019
In the final quarter of 2019, the Melbourne Social Equity Institute is undergoing a major review. Your contribution to this review is invited via a brief survey.
Published: 09 Apr 2019
University of Melbourne researchers, supported by the Melbourne Social Equity Institute, have developed guidance for retailers to improve their approach and make their processes and communications more helpful and accessible to consumers with cognitive disabilities who may have difficulties with learning, concentrating on, processing, remembering, or communicating information, and/or with decision-making.
Published: 22 Mar 2019
A new resource to support trauma informed practice in education has just been published by Rebecca Harris, a Melbourne Social Equity Institute Community Fellow from Carlton Primary School.
Published: 15 Mar 2019
The SEREDA Project (SExual and gender-based violence against Refugees: Experiences from Displacement to Arrival), is a major research initiative currently being undertaken in the United Kingdom, Australia, Sweden and Turkey by a multi-country research team.
Published: 20 Dec 2018
A new report provides guidance for phone and internet companies to improve support and access to online telecommunications products for consumers with cognitive disabilities
Published: 11 Dec 2018
A new scholarship is being offered to investigate educational engagement and outcomes for refugee background students in Victoria. How does/can classroom and broader school practice support recovery from trauma, social inclusion and educational outcomes more broadly?
Published: 03 Dec 2018
Long-distance Peacebuilding: The Experiences of the South Sudanese and Sri Lankan Diasporas in Australia was officially launched on Tuesday night.
Published: 19 Nov 2018
The Disability Access to Justice Research Consortium Scoping Paper was launched by Rosemary Kayess on Friday 16 November.
Published: 24 Oct 2018
Through the Community Fellows Program, Tessa Hens, a dance movement therapist at Bayley House, is trialling new ways for people with an intellectual disability to reflect on, assess, and communicate their own sense of enjoyment and progress during creative arts therapies such as Dance Movement Therapy.
Published: 07 Oct 2018
Secluding, physically restraining or overmedicating people experiencing mental health crises still happens, but countries around the world are trialling successful alternatives.
Published: 03 Oct 2018
A new scholarship is being offered to explore the role of peer support workers in emergency departments
Published: 10 Sep 2018
In this talk, Dr Margaret Hagan (Legal Design Lab, Stanford Law School) presents the work that her team has been doing over the past three years in partnership with state civil courts and legal aid group, in taking a design-driven approach to create innovations in how the legal system operates and how it can better serve the public.
Published: 07 Sep 2018
Nine new projects have been supported as part of the Melbourne Social Equity Institute's 2018 seed funding round.
Published: 22 Aug 2018
We are delighted to announce that Associate Professor Sara Wills has been appointed as the new Deputy Director of the Melbourne Social Equity Institute.
Published: 28 Jun 2018
The Melbourne Social Equity Institute's Foundation Director, Professor Bernadette McSherry, has been named as a new Commissioner at the Victorian Law Reform Commission.
Published: 06 Jun 2018
Each year the Melbourne Social Equity Institute selects a cohort of PhD students from across the University of Melbourne to share their research, knowledge and ideas on social equity issues.
Published: 22 May 2018
A new scholarship is being offered to examine the impact of values-based conversations in positively changing attitudes towards people seeking asylum.
Published: 16 May 2018
A new scholarship is being offered to support work on a major new research initiative, the SEREDA project (SExual and gender-based violence against Refugees: Experiences from Displacement to Arrival).
Published: 03 May 2018
The Melbourne Social Equity Institute’s Community Fellows Program aims to meet the research needs of community organisations to conduct small research-related projects in collaboration with university-based researchers.
Published: 03 May 2018
Applications are now open for the Melbourne Social Equity Institute's 2018 Seed Funding Scheme. Applicants can apply for a minimum of $20,000 and a maximum of $50,000. Up to eight projects will be funded.
Published: 27 Apr 2018
The Melbourne Social Equity Institute's 2017 Annual Report is now available, featuring research and engagement highlights.
Published: 22 Mar 2018
In 2017 Dr Nadera Hayat Burhani and Dr Jawid Sayed were employed as Community Researchers at the Social Equity Institute at the University of Melbourne. The resulting Policy Briefing Paper aims to make specific, implementable policy recommendations to reduce barriers and facilitate improved employment opportunities for refugee-background migrants and people seeking asylum living in Australia.
Published: 14 Mar 2018
The Melbourne Social Equity Institute invites academic staff at Level D or E at the University of Melbourne to register their interest for the role of Deputy Director.
Published: 20 Nov 2017
Graduate and Research Higher Degree students are invited to express their interest in participating in a Masterclass with Professor Theresia Degener in January 2018.
Published: 07 Sep 2017
Unfitness to plead laws in Australia have been widely recognised as requiring reform and modernisation. The Unfitness to Plead Project sought to develop practical and legal options to address the problem of people with cognitive disabilities being found unfit to plead and subject to indefinite detention.
Published: 31 Aug 2017
MAEVe (the Melbourne Research Alliance to End Violence against women and their children) is seeking applications from the University's research community for innovative interdisciplinary research projects in the area of violence against women and family violence.
Published: 30 Aug 2017
The Centre of Research Excellence in Disability and Health was launched at the University of Melbourne in June.
Published: 10 Aug 2017
Despite a growing recognition of elder abuse and the impact that it has on the lives of older people, we lack both a good understanding of the issues involved and the evidence base surrounding this.
Published: 25 Jul 2017
The Melbourne Social Equity Institute and the Melbourne School of Population and Global Health at the University of Melbourne invites applications for a PhD scholar to work as part the Centre of Research Excellence in Disability and Health (CRE-DH).
Published: 07 Jul 2017
Last month the Choice, Control and the NDIS research team presented their findings to Victorian MPs at Parliament House.
Published: 30 May 2017
Getting a new mobile phone plan, entering a contract for home and contents insurance, or signing up for a credit card are part of everyday life for most Australians. However, people who experience barriers to decision-making may find it difficult to engage in these consumer transactions.
Published: 24 May 2017
A Melbourne Social Equity Institute research team recently embarked on a project to explore the degree to which the NDIS is achieving its aims and objectives from the perspective of people with disability using these services.
Published: 28 Apr 2017
The Melbourne Social Equity Institute is launching a new interdisciplinary PhD program in semester two, 2017. The program will bring together doctoral candidates from across the University of Melbourne to focus on issues related to refugees and forced migration.
Published: 20 Mar 2017
It is with a mixture of pride and sadness that we share the news that the Melbourne Social Equity Institute's Deputy Director, Professor Julie McLeod, will be leaving her role with us to take up an appointment as Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research Capability) for the University of Melbourne.
Published: 27 Feb 2017
A report examining consumer transactions equitable support models for individuals with decision-making impairments has been published by the Melbourne Social Equity Institute.
Published: 30 Nov 2016
From a medical perspective, disability may be viewed as the result of a physical condition intrinsic to the individual which may reduce that person's quality of life and cause disadvantages. A major purpose of medical research can thus be viewed as aiming to discover ways of limiting and, if possible, 'curing' disabilities to alleviate disadvantage.
Published: 24 Nov 2016
Young people who had sexually abused other children said that helping them to manage pornography and improving their sexuality education could have helped prevent their abusive behaviour.
Published: 26 Aug 2016
The Lecture Series for Asylum Seekers returns for its third year September 2016.
Published: 25 Aug 2016
Professor Bernadette McSherry won an Exceptional Contribution TheMHS Award in the 2016 TheMHS Awards program for service in mental health.
Published: 15 Aug 2016
Asylum seekers invited to a lecture series at the University of Melbourne found it to be an “overwhelmingly positive” experience, according to a new evaluation.
Published: 11 Jul 2016
It is anticipated that this report will support mental health service reform that aspires to achieve a culture of safety, autonomy and recovery.
Published: 11 Jul 2016
Poverty is largely ignored as a human rights violation, according to the UN Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights, Professor Philip Alston.
Published: 29 Jun 2016
The Lecture Series for Asylum Seekers is an initiative of the Melbourne Social Equity Institute and Researchers for Asylum Seekers. The aim of the lecture series is to welcome and introduce refugees and asylum seekers to the campus, staff and students of the University of Melbourne.
Published: 22 Jun 2016
The Melbourne Research Alliance to End Violence Against Women and their Children (MAEVe) today announce the first round of projects to receive seed-funding.
Published: 18 May 2016
The Disability Research Initiative's 2014-15 annual report is now available, featuring highlights from the first 15 months of the DRI's operation.
Published: 30 Apr 2016
The Melbourne Social Equity Institute's 2015 Annual Report is now available, featuring research and engagement highlights.
Published: 09 Mar 2016
Negative attitudes among Australian voters towards asylum seekers are driven by religious bigotry more than by racism or economic anxieties, according to a new University of Melbourne report released today.
Community decision-making about the purpose, design, conduct and use of research.
Examining the impact of a connected, digitally-focused society.
Promoting mental health and wellbeing across the community.
Exploring the multiple dimensions of migration and its implications for social and community cohesion.
Melbourne Research Alliance to End Violence Against Women and their Children (MAEVe) brings together researchers from across the University.
Supporting research collaborations between community organisations and university-based researchers.
Each year the Melbourne Social Equity Institute gives Australian Government Research Training Program Scholarships and other scholarships to students whose interest in social equity issues aligns closely to our research agenda.
For each Doctoral Academy, the 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.
This program program brings together doctoral candidates from across the University of Melbourne to focus on issues related to migration, forced migration and statelessness.
Alongside its program of regular public lectures and workshops, the Melbourne Social Equity Institute seeks innovative ways of engaging with researchers and the public.
Understanding Australia was an annual lecture series presented by the Melbourne Social Equity Institute. It aimed to give recent arrivals in Australia a better understanding of Australian history and contemporary society.
In 2017 the Melbourne Social Equity Institute invited researchers from across the University of Melbourne, as well as from other institutions and the wider community, to join a Community of Practice focused on Community Engaged Research.
All Being Equal is an eight-episode podcast series exploring social equity issues with University of Melbourne researchers, visiting academics and community partners.
Working with consumers and industry to develop practices and processes to improve access for consumers with disabilities.
Sexual and gender-based violence against refugees: experiences from displacement to arrival
A masterclass program designed for African Australian entrepreneurs.
Improving supports for people experiencing mental distress in emergency departments
Developing a digital living archive where Indigenous artists can connect their work in ways reflecting Indigenous worldviews.
Perceptions of 'dangerousness' and issues of equity in mental health settings.
Investigating the post-release support needs of African-Australians who have been imprisoned in Victoria
How can drumming and hip-hop be used to support young people in out of home care?
How should we change the mental health system to safely include consumer workers?
A project with the Wadawurrung community
How do communities of difference narrate their neighbourhood? Can storytelling be a tool for building social capital and cohesion?
Addressing the current lack of a common legal framework for regulating the use of restraint on persons with disabilities in mental health, disability and aged care sectors.
The WEAVERs are a panel of survivors of violence against women.
This project examines the role of ethical fashion enterprises in Bangladesh in the primary prevention of violence against women.
Identifying strategies for preventing family violence through dialogical research with women with refugee backgrounds.
Violence prevention approaches within social policy across the life course, starting in early childhood.
Supporting outreach, recruitment and retention of students from refugee backgrounds at the University of Melbourne.
Providing recommendations for a specialised, comprehensive state-wide employment program for people seeking asylum and refugees in Victoria.
To what extent is the National Disability Insurance Scheme achieving its aims and objectives from the perspective of people with disability? Disability
Practical options to address the problem of people with cognitive impairments being found “unfit to plead” and subjected to indefinite detention in Australia.
Promoting wellbeing and inclusion through sports participation for migrant and refugee-background young people.
Definitions, evidence and interventions.
Options for supported decision-making to enhance the recovery of people with severe mental health problems.
Examining the invisibility of migrant women in care and domestic work in Australia.
Lessons from the lives of everyday Australians on belonging, disability and community contribution.
Exploring the identity and well-being of care leavers through genealogical lifestory work.
What is the basis for the attitudes Australian voters hold towards asylum seekers and what role does the media play?
Understanding of the complex processes required for social inclusion for refugee-background children in Australia.
Examining the effect of title transfers on housing quality and tenant outcomes for Aboriginal Victorians.
A pilot study examining the health and well-being outcomes of creative practices in ageing.
To request any of these reports in an accessible format please email us.
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
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.
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.
Accessing justice on an equal basis is a major issue for many people with disabilities.
As house prices increase in cities like Melbourne, it’s women most at risk of family violence who face potential homelessness.
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.
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.
Achieving lasting peace takes more than just the absence of war, says Denise Cauchi, and diaspora communities can make significant contributions toward it.
Young people who have experienced family violence have a lot to tell us, says Dr Katie Lamb, but too often there’s nobody listening.
Improving access and support for everyone requires change across the community.
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.
A blog post by Professor Bernadette McSherry, Foundation Director of the Melbourne Social Equity Institute
“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.”
Co-designing informed choice under the National Disability Insurance Scheme
As the signature National Disability Insurance Scheme rolls out nationally, a research project questions its ability to address systemic inequality.
Secluding, physically restraining or overmedicating people experiencing mental health crises still happens, but countries around the world are trialling successful alternatives.
Anti-Muslim sentiment is even more important than racial prejudice when it comes to perpetuating negative attitudes about asylum seekers, new research has found.
At the Melbourne Social Equity Institute, we acknowledge an imperfect world. We realise that societies are sometimes beset by divisions of culture, economic status or creed. Chances of birth such as class, ethnicity, ability, caste or gender often lead to marginalisation and disempowerment.
We strive to identify the origins of disadvantage and develop effective solutions through high-end research and active community engagement. Our vision is to influence government policy, public opinion and social practices through the highest quality scholarship in order to create fairer societies.
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.
Research program leaders steer the research direction, commission projects and champion outputs.
The Melbourne Social Equity Institute is guided by its reference group and advisory board.
