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Melbourne Social Equity Institute

Supporting interdisciplinary research for fairer societies

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The Melbourne Social Equity Institute brings together researchers to address disadvantage across social life, including health, education, housing, culture, work and transport.

  • Applications Open
    Refugee and Forced Migration Studies PhD Program

  • Community Fellows Program
  • Domestic Violence and the Impact on Children
    MAEVe Seminar Series
  • Thanks a Bundle: Improving Support and Access to Online Telecommunications Products for Consumers with Cognitive Disabilities
    Report Launched
  • Psychiatry, Psychology and Law: Collaboration and Challenges Across the Global South
    Conference, November 2019
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Published: 20 Dec 2018

Thanks a Bundle Report Launched

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

PhD Scholarship Opportunity – In Partnership with the Victorian Foundation for Survivors of Torture

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 Research Report by Community Fellow Denise Cauchi is Now Available

Long-distance Peacebuilding: The Experiences of the South Sudanese and Sri Lankan Diasporas in Australia was officially launched on Tuesday night.

Black and white headshot of Rosemary Kayess

Published: 19 Nov 2018

Disability Access to Justice Research Consortium Scoping Paper Launched

The Disability Access to Justice Research Consortium Scoping Paper was launched by Rosemary Kayess on Friday 16 November.

Photograph: Two people dancing while holding large pieces of white and green fabric

Published: 24 Oct 2018

Community Fellows Profile: Self-assessment in Creative Therapy Programs by Participants with Intellectual Disability

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

Alternatives to Coercion in Mental Health Settings Literature Review Launched

Secluding, physically restraining or overmedicating people experiencing mental health crises still happens, but countries around the world are trialling successful alternatives.

A photo of a sign against a brick wall says 'Emergency'

Published: 03 Oct 2018

PhD Scholarship Opportunity: Peer Support Workers in Emergency Departments

A new scholarship is being offered to explore the role of peer support workers in emergency departments

Published: 10 Sep 2018

Video: Human-Centred Design for Legal Help

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.

Hands of a person typing on a laptop

Published: 07 Sep 2018

New Research Projects

Nine new projects have been supported as part of the Melbourne Social Equity Institute's 2018 seed funding round.

Published: 22 Aug 2018

Associate Professor Sara Wills Appointed Deputy Director

We are delighted to announce that Associate Professor Sara Wills has been appointed as the new Deputy Director of the Melbourne Social Equity Institute.

Professor Bernadette McSherry with her dog, Toby (a Border Collie)

Published: 28 Jun 2018

Professor Bernadette McSherry appointed as a VLRC Commissioner

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

Doctoral Academy 2018 – Applications Now Open

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

PhD Scholarship Opportunity – In Partnership with the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre

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

PhD Scholarship Opportunity – Sexual and Gender-based Violence Against Refugees

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

Community Fellows Program – Applications Now Open

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

Seed Funding 2018 – Applications Now Open

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

2017 Annual Report Now Available

The Melbourne Social Equity Institute's 2017 Annual Report is now available, featuring research and engagement highlights.

Published: 22 Mar 2018

Policy Briefing Paper – Facilitating Better Employment Opportunities for Refugee-background Migrants and People Seeking Asylum in Australia

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

EOIs Invited – Deputy Director, Melbourne Social Equity Institute

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.

Photo of Theresia Degener standing in front of red doors

Published: 20 Nov 2017

Masterclass with Theresia Degener, Chair of the United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

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 Final Report Launched

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 Seeding Funding 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.

Group photo of Emily Dash, Carly Findlay and Alastair McEwin and Julie McCrossin at the launch event.

Published: 30 Aug 2017

What Makes Us Healthy? A Disability Perspective

The Centre of Research Excellence in Disability and Health was launched at the University of Melbourne in June.

Published: 10 Aug 2017

Elder Abuse Scoping Study Published

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

PhD Scholarship Opportunity in Disability and Policy

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

NDIS Research Presented to Victorian MPs

Last month the Choice, Control and the NDIS research team presented their findings to Victorian MPs at Parliament House.

Published: 30 May 2017

Supporting People with Decision-Making Impairments to be Full Economic Actors

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

Choice, Control and the NDIS Report Launched

A Melbourne Social Equity Insititute 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

New PhD Program Launching in Semester 2, 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.

A photograph of deputy director Julie McLeod

Published: 20 Mar 2017

Professor Julie McLeod appointed Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research Capability)

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

Consumer Transactions Pilot Study Published

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

Persons with disabilities: Cure or accommodate?

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

I knew it was wrong but I couldn't stop it": Young people identify three opportunities for preventing sexually abusive behaviour

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

2016 Lecture Series for Asylum Seekers announced

The Lecture Series for Asylum Seekers returns for its third year September 2016.

Published: 25 Aug 2016

Professor Bernadette McSherry wins top Australasian award

Professor Bernadette McSherry won an Exceptional Contribution TheMHS Award in the 2016 TheMHS Awards program for service in mental health.

Published: 15 Aug 2016

Lecture Series for Asylum Seekers evaluation report released

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

Safety and Autonomy in the Mental Health Services Sector report now available

It is anticipated that this report will support mental health service reform that aspires to achieve a culture of safety, autonomy and recovery.

A picture of Philip Alston, wearing a black suit, standing at lectern next to a Melbourne Law School banner

Published: 11 Jul 2016

UN poverty expert: inequality must become a political issue

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

Job: lecture series co-ordinator

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

2016 MAEVe seed-funded projects announced

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

2014-15 Disability Research Initiative Annual Report now available

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

2015 Annual Report now available

The Melbourne Social Equity Institute's 2015 Annual Report is now available, featuring research and engagement highlights.

Published: 09 Mar 2016

Religious Prejudice, Not Racism, Main Driver Of Intolerance Towards Asylum Seekers

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.

Upcoming Events

  • Monday 25 February 2019 1pm - 2pm
    Domestic Violence and the Impact on Children: Refuge Work in Germany
    Event
  • 5 November 20198 November 2019
    Psychiatry, Psychology and Law: Collaboration and Challenges Across the Global South
    Event

Past Events

  • Thursday 21 February 2019 2pm - 5pm
    Workshop: Responsibility for Refugee and Migrant Integration
    Event
  • Thursday 14 February 2019 1:30pm - 5:30pm
    Community Engaged Research Symposium
    Event
  • Tuesday 12 February 2019 4pm - 5pm
    Assessing Disability in Europe
    Event
  • Tuesday 18 December 2018 12:30pm - 2pm
    The Power and Limitations of Health as a Human Right
    Event
  • Thursday 15 November 2018 9am - 5pm
    Researchers for Asylum Seekers Interdisciplinary Conference
    Event
  • Wednesday 31 October 2018 12pm - 1pm
    Solving Wicked Problems
    Event
  • Monday 24 September 2018 12pm - 1pm
    Using Data to End Violence Against Women
    Event
  • Monday 27 August 2018 12pm - 1pm
    Children's Experience of Trauma and Violence
    Event
  • Thursday 23 August 2018 5:30pm - 6:45pm
    Policing and Mental Health: Fixing Symptoms and Ignoring Problems
    Event
  • Tuesday 21 August 2018 6pm - 7:30pm
    Human-centred Design for Legal Help
    Event
  • Monday 25 June 2018 12pm - 1pm
    Is Screening in Antenatal Care Effective?
    Event
  • Wednesday 30 May 2018 10:30am - 12pm
    Seed Funding Workshop
    Event
  • Friday 25 May 2018 12pm - 1pm
    Domestic Violence and Housing
    Event
  • Friday 4 May 2018 9:30am - 2:30pm
    Youth for Human Rights Summit
    Event
  • Monday 23 April 2018 12pm - 1pm
    Reproductive Coercion and Intimate Partner Sexual Abuse
    Event
  • Friday 6 April 2018 3:30pm - 5pm
    Community Engaged Research Community of Practice: Indigenous Research
    Event
  • Monday 26 March 2018 12pm - 1pm
    Working With Fathers Who Use Violence
    Event
  • 13 February 201814 February 2018
    Refugee Alternatives Conference
    Event
  • Monday 12 February 2018 6pm - 7:45pm
    The Staging Post Screening
    Event
  • Monday 12 February 2018 2pm - 5pm
    Who Has the Right to Research? Research with, for and by People with Lived Experiences of Seeking Asylum
    Event
  • Thursday 11 January 2018 6pm - 7pm
    Establishing Equality and Non-Discrimination: The United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities' New Model of Inclusive Equality
    Event
  • Tuesday 12 December 2017 11am - 3pm
    Maximising the Social Benefits of Public Housing Renewal
    Event
  • Thursday 30 November 2017 5:30pm - 7pm
    Creativity, Mental Health and Co-designed Research: Panel Discussion and Book Launch
    Event
  • Wednesday 29 November 2017 3pm - 5:30pm
    Community Engaged Research Community of Practice: Children
    Event
  • Tuesday 28 November 2017 1pm - 2pm
    Violence Against Women in Indian Print Media
    Event
  • Friday 17 November 2017 2:30pm - 5pm
    Community Engaged Research Community of Practice: Ageing
    Event
  • Thursday 16 November 2017 9am - 5pm
    Researchers for Asylum Seekers Postgraduate Conference
    Event
  • Tuesday 14 November 2017 1pm - 2pm
    Applying for a Family Violence Intervention Order: Applicant Experiences of Online and Court FVIO Application Pathways
    Event
  • Tuesday 31 October 2017 1pm - 2pm
    Closing the Chapter on Child Detention: Developments in Normative and Legal Frameworks
    Event
  • Thursday 26 October 2017 5:30pm - 7pm
    Neurohype: Do All the Answers to Improving Mental Health Lie Within the Brain?
    Event
  • Tuesday 24 October 2017 3pm - 5:30pm
    Community Engaged Research Community of Practice
    Event
  • Tuesday 24 October 2017 1pm - 2pm
    Researching the Indonesian so called ‘Comfort Women’ during the Japanese Occupation of the Netherlands East Indies: Between the Archives and Testimonial Accounts
    Event
  • Monday 23 October 2017 5:30pm - 7:30pm
    Human Rights and Equal Opportunities
    Event
  • Tuesday 17 October 2017 1pm - 2pm
    Rising Seas: Climate Change, Displacement and Resettlement
    Event
  • Monday 16 October 2017 5:30pm - 7:30pm
    Australian Systems
    Event
  • Tuesday 10 October 2017 1pm - 2pm
    "Ethical fashion" and Women’s Empowerment in Bangladesh
    Event
  • Monday 9 October 2017 5:30pm - 7:30pm
    Languages in Australia
    Event
  • Tuesday 3 October 2017 1pm - 2pm
    From Human Trafficking To “Smuggled” Refugees: A Case from North Korea
    Event
  • Monday 2 October 2017 5:30pm - 7:30pm
    Contemporary Australian Culture
    Event
  • Thursday 28 September 2017 11am - 1pm
    MAEVe Postgraduate Networking Event
    Event
  • Monday 25 September 2017 5:30pm - 7:30pm
    Migration and Diversity
    Event
  • Tuesday 19 September 2017 1pm - 2pm
    Securing Muslim Women’s Safety: Organising Against Domestic Violence in the ‘Age of Terror’
    Event
  • Monday 18 September 2017 5:30pm - 7:30pm
    Indigenous Australia, Past and Present
    Event
  • 14 September 201715 September 2017
    Global perspectives on research co-production with communities: ontologies, epistemologies and methodologies
    Event
  • Tuesday 12 September 2017 1pm - 2pm
    Songs of Celebration and Suffering: Music and Refugees in Australia
    Event
  • Thursday 7 September 2017 5:30pm - 6:30pm
    Unfitness to Plead Project Final Report Launch
    Event
  • Tuesday 5 September 2017 1pm - 2pm
    New Psychological Perspectives on Objectification and Violence Against Women
    Event
  • Friday 1 September 2017 1pm - 2pm
    The Scientist, the Advocates and the Change We Can All Feel
    Event
  • Tuesday 29 August 2017 1pm - 2pm
    “Boat People” and Borders: Changing Political Debate on Asylum Seekers
    Event
  • Thursday 24 August 2017 5:45pm - 7pm
    Refugees in Syria, Syrian Refugees: Then and Now
    Event
  • Tuesday 22 August 2017 1pm - 2pm
    Sexual Violence and the Culture of Impunity
    Event
  • Tuesday 15 August 2017 1pm - 2pm
    Nowhere People Have a Right to Somewhere: Statelessness and the Law
    Event
  • Tuesday 8 August 2017 1pm - 2pm
    Children's Voices in Family Violence Practice and Research
    Event
  • Tuesday 1 August 2017 1pm - 2pm
    Behind ‘Behind the Wire’: Sharing New Perspectives on Mandatory Detention
    Event
  • Thursday 27 July 2017 2:30pm - 4:30pm
    Community Engaged Research Community of Practice
    Event
  • Tuesday 25 July 2017 1pm - 2pm
    Violence and Disability: Contemplating the Intersections
    Event
  • Wednesday 5 July 2017 6pm - 7pm
    Health Rights and Older People: Is a Convention for the Human Rights of Older People the Answer?
    Event
  • Tuesday 27 June 2017 5:30pm - 7:30pm
    What Makes Us Healthy? A Disability Perspective
    Event
  • Monday 29 May 2017 9:30am - 1pm
    Investing in Australia’s Future: The Promise and Pitfalls of the ‘Investment’ Approach to Welfare
    Event
  • Wednesday 24 May 2017 12pm - 1pm
    MAEVe Seminar Series
    Event
  • Wednesday 24 May 2017 11am - 12pm
    Choice, Control and the NDIS Report Launch
    Event
  • Wednesday 3 May 2017 6:15pm - 9pm
    Sramik Awaaz: Workers Voices Documentary Screening
    Event
  • Tuesday 2 May 2017 1pm - 2pm
    Refugees and Forced Migration Seminar Series
    Event
  • Tuesday 4 April 2017 6pm - 7:30pm
    Sex, Sexuality and the Rights of People with Disability
    Event
  • Wednesday 15 March 2017 1pm - 2pm
    Gender Equity Network Meeting
    A cup of black coffee, a pen and an iPhone all sitting on a green placemat
    Event
  • Wednesday 8 March 2017 4pm - 5:30pm
    The rights of people with disability detained for compulsory treatment: Social and legal perspectives from the UK and Australia
    Event
  • Tuesday 28 February 2017 11:30am - 1pm
    Choice, Control & the NDIS: Geelong Community Forum
    A wooden boardwalk stretches out across a beach toward the sunset. The sky is orange and pink.
    Event

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. Research is currently focused on the following key themes:

  • Community Engaged Research

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

  • Refugees and Forced Migration

    Resettlement of refugees and people seeking asylum is essential to ensuring a humane and equitable future.

  • Strengthening Institutions

    Ensuring institutions are effective, accountable, and responsive to the diverse populations they serve.

  • Universal Access and Design

    Access for all, regardless of age, ability or status.

  • 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.

Explore Research Projects

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.

  • Lectures for People Seeking Asylum

  • Community of Practice

  • Podcast Series: All Being Equal

Current Research Projects

  • Community Fellows Program

    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.

  • 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

  • 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?

  • Developing a model for peer support in emergency departments

    Improving supports for people experiencing mental distress in emergency departments

  • The living archive of Aboriginal art

    Developing a team of Indigenous researchers in the production of a digital art archive

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

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

  • Post-release family and community support for African-Australians in Victoria

    Investigating the post-release supports for African-Australians who have been imprisoned in Victoria

  • 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?

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

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

  • Co-designing technology to support Indigenous people experiencing family violence

    How can we use technology to support help-seeking among Wadawurrung people experiencing violence?

  • Narrating neighbourhood

    How do communities of difference narrate their neighbourhood? Can storytelling be a tool for building social capital and cohesion?

  • Model laws to regulate the use of restraint on persons with disabilities

    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.

  • Who cares?

    Examining the invisibility of migrant women in care and domestic work in Australia.

  • The WEAVERs Project

    Exploring the feasibility and impact of a lived experience panel in the area of violence against women and their children.

  • Count me in

    Promoting wellbeing and inclusion through sports participation for migrant and refugee-background young people.

  • Refugee-background children in Australia

    Understanding of the complex processes required for social inclusion for refugee-background children in Australia.

  • 19 stories of social inclusion

    Lessons from the lives of everyday Australians on belonging, disability and community contribution.

  • 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.

  • Sexual harassment and everyday sexism

    Definitions, regulations, strategies and support for young people and children.

  • Using theatre to raise awareness of HIV and PrEP

    This project seeks to build a set of cultural and ethical protocols around making performance work on HIV.

  • Listening for (a) change

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

  • Violence prevention and respectful relationships

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

  • Supporting refugee-background students

    Supporting outreach, recruitment and retention of students from refugee backgrounds at the University of Melbourne.

  • Title transfers and housing quality

    Examining the effect of title transfers on housing quality and tenant outcomes for Aboriginal Victorians.

  • Contested waterfronts

    Informality, floods and capital in Indonesian cities

  • A novel cure

    A pilot study examining the health and well-being outcomes of creative practices in ageing.

Completed Projects

  • 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?

  • 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.

  • Understanding elder abuse

    Definitions, evidence and interventions.

  • 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.

  • Routes to the past

    Exploring the identity and well-being of care leavers through genealogical lifestory work.

  • 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?

  • Enabling socially-inclusive and ethical visual methodologies

  • The f word: crossdisciplinary feminist art in Australia

  • Imagining Muslim women: examining the effects of images in women’s human rights campaigns

  • Reconceptualising and supporting disaster recovery as growth: informed by people affected by the Black Saturday bushfires

  • Impact and sustainability of creative social enterprises

  • Disability and poverty in Cambodia

  • Empathy and portrayals of mental illness in Australian visual culture

  • Topographical community accessibility modelling for people with mobility impairments

  • Intimate partner violence and women's economic security across the lifecourse

  • Future Melbourne Network

  • Overcoming barriers to affordable housing

  • Place, health and liveability

  • Transforming housing: affordable housing for all

  • Getting in touch: language and digital inclusion in Australian Indigenous communities

  • Reviewing opportunities to engage with Indigenous Australian students

  • Strengthening the Victorian Aboriginal community's response to methamphetamine use

  • National seclusion and restraint project

  • How are low protection workers regulated?

  • Poverty, family chronic-stress and children's development

  • Citizens at work: an investigation of the work of giving and getting welfare

  • Building the evidence: responding to the needs of recently arrived refugee and asylum seeker populations

  • Enabling pluralism: eliminating educational inequity in languages provision in Victorian schools

  • Revisiting disadvantage: supporting new strength-based approaches to belonging and social inclusion for young people in education

  • Creating a digital platform for capturing children’s and adolescent’s views of contemporary Australian childhood from the ground up

  • The bounce project: peer support training for young people leaving Out of Home Care, to improve social inclusion, mental health and wellbeing

  • The citizens' agenda: exploring ways of improving political news coverage and increasing political engagement

  • Assessing and building social investment opportunities that preserve Indigenous cultures

  • Understanding female genital cutting in inner Melbourne

  • Sharing place, learning together

  • Understanding place-based racism and fostering local interculturalism


To request any of these reports in an accessible format please email us.

Thanks A Bundle
Alternatives to Coercion
Employment Policy Briefing Paper
Annual Report 2017
Options for Supported Decision Making
Unfitness to Plead
Understanding Elder Abuse
Choice Control and the NDIS
Consumer Transactions Pilot Study
Annual Report 2016
Sharing Place, Learning Together
Islamisation and Other Anxieties
Annual Report 2015
Place Matters
The Shifting Terrain of Citizenship
Researching for Social Change
Art Based Social Enterprises
Annual Report 2014
Annual Report 2013

The Melbourne Social Equity Institute offers a number of opportunities for students, including scholarship opportunities, networking events and a doctoral academy to support research.

PhD Students

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. Recipients of an Australian Government Research Training Program Scholarship are given automatic entry into our doctoral academy once they have completed confirmation.

Visit our News page for current opportunities

Current Students

Interdisciplinary PhD Program in Refugee and Forced Migration Studies

The Melbourne Social Equity Institute launched a new interdisciplinary PhD program in the second half of 2017. The program brings together doctoral candidates from across the University of Melbourne to focus on issues related to refugees and forced migration.

Read More

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. The academy aims to support students through peer-learning opportunities and mentoring from experienced academics.

Membership of the academy will expose doctoral students to different disciplinary perspectives and research methodologies that will enhance their own research. Applications for the 2018 Doctoral Academy are open until Monday 2 July.

Read More

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.

Directorate

The Melbourne Social Equity Institute operates on a 'virtual institute' model, meaning that it has a small directorate who are responsible for allocating funding, coordinating communities of like-minded researchers and engaging with external partners, policy-makers and the public.

Read More

Research Staff

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

Read More

Governance

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

Read More

Contact

Email
social-equity@unimelb.edu.au
Twitter
@MSEI_Unimelb
Address
Melbourne Social Equity Institute
201 Grattan Street
Carlton VIC 3053

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