Research Programs

The Melbourne Social Equity Institute supports interdisciplinary research on social equity issues across the full spectrum of social life including health, law, education, housing, culture, work and transport. We are currently focused on the following research programs.

• Community Engaged Research

  Community decision-making about the purpose, design, conduct and use of research.

• Digital Access and Equity

  Examining the impact of a connected, digitally-focused society.

• Mental Health and Society

  Promoting mental health and wellbeing across the community.

• Migration and Social Cohesion

  Exploring the multiple dimensions of migration and its implications for social and community cohesion.

• Violence Against Women and their Children

  Melbourne Research Alliance to End Violence Against Women and their Children (MAEVe) brings together researchers from across the University.

• African Research and Engagement in Australia Initiative

  A community-driven approach to supporting the health, cultural, social, economic and political wellbeing of African Australian communities

Graduate Student Programs

The Melbourne Social Equity Institute supports graduate research through scholarships and interdisciplinary training programs.

• PhD Candidates

  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.

• Doctoral Academy

  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.

• Interdisciplinary PhD Program in Migration, Statelessness and Refugee Studies

  An interdisciplinary program addressing the contemporary issues of asylum-seeking, enforced migration and statelessness across the areas of law, health, culture, education, creative arts, history, social policy, housing, social sustainability, community wellbeing and mental health.

Engagement Programs

Alongside its program of regular public lectures and workshops, the Melbourne Social Equity Institute seeks innovative ways of engaging with researchers and the public.

• Community Fellows Program

  Supporting research collaborations between community organisations and university-based researchers.

• 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.

• Community Engagement Grants

  Community Engagement Grants are aimed at University of Melbourne researchers with an idea to test, explore and develop in partnership with members of disadvantaged or marginalised communities.

• 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.

• Lectures for People Seeking Asylum

  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.

• Community of Practice

  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.

• 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.

Current Research Projects

• Preventing violence against young women exposed to the criminal justice system

  Developing recommendations for violence prevention programs for justice-involved young women

• 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

• 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

• Understanding digital inequality in Victoria

  Combining a state-wide inequality analysis with an in-depth examination of lived experiences of digital inequality to assist community advocates and policymakers in their work towards greater digital equality

• Invisible mothers: young Pasifika women, health inequalities and negotiating wellbeing

  Exploring the priorities and practices that constitute motherhood for young Pasifika mothers in Melbourne

• 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

• 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

• Support for consumer transactions

  Working with consumers and industry to develop practices and processes to improve access for consumers with disabilities.

• The SEREDA Project

  Sexual and gender-based violence against refugees: experiences from displacement to arrival

• The living archive of Aboriginal art

  Developing a digital living archive where Indigenous artists can connect their work in ways reflecting Indigenous worldviews.

• Developing a model for peer support in emergency departments

  Improving supports for people experiencing mental distress in emergency departments

• Talking hunger: understanding food insecurity on campus

  Understanding and addressing food insecurity at the University of Melbourne

• The Burndawan Project: Co-designing technology to support Indigenous people experiencing family violence

  A project with the Wadawurrung community

• Co-producing safe, inclusive work places for mental health consumer workers

  How should we change the mental health system to safely include consumer workers?

• Sense of belonging for African students at the University of Melbourne

  Understanding and improving the student experience.

• 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

• Regulating the use of restraint in health care and disability settings

  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.

• 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?

• The WEAVERs Project

  The WEAVERs are a panel of survivors of violence against women.

• Violence prevention and respectful relationships

  Violence prevention approaches within social policy across the life course, starting in early childhood.

• Listening for (a) change

  Identifying strategies for preventing family violence through dialogical research with women with refugee backgrounds.

• Improving management practices to integrate refugees and people seeking asylum

  Developing effective management practices to integrate refugees and people seeking asylum into Australian workplaces.

• Is zero-tolerance to violence a zero-sum game?

  Perceptions of 'dangerousness' and issues of equity in mental health settings.

Stories and Profiles from the Melbourne Social Equity Institute

• 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.

• 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.

• 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

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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

• COVID-19 Blog Series

  Researchers whose work we support consider their work in the light of responses to COVID-19.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

• Just Justice Through Supporting Fitness to Plead

  Accessing justice on an equal basis is a major issue for many people with disabilities.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

• How Can Retailers Improve Access and Outcomes for Consumers with Cognitive Disabilities?

  Improving access and support for everyone requires change across the community.

• 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.

• 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.

• What Is Social Equity?

  A blog post by Professor Bernadette McSherry, Foundation Director of the Melbourne Social Equity Institute

• 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.”

• Diversity in Decision-Making

  Co-designing informed choice under the National Disability Insurance Scheme

• 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.

• Can the NDIS Deliver?

  As the signature National Disability Insurance Scheme rolls out nationally, a research project questions its ability to address systemic inequality.

• 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.

• 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.

Staff

• 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.

• Research staff

  Research program leaders steer the research direction, commission projects and champion outputs.

• Governance

  The Melbourne Social Equity Institute is guided by its reference group and advisory board.