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.

• Community Fellows Program

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

Graduate Student Programs

• 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.

• 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

  This program program brings together doctoral candidates from across the University of Melbourne to focus on issues related to migration, forced migration and statelessness.

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

  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

• 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 Blue Nile African Australian Business Masterclass Program

  A masterclass program designed for African Australian entrepreneurs.

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

• 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 support needs of 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?

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

  A project with the Wadawurrung community

• 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.

• The WEAVERs Project

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

• 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.

• 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.

• Towards an optimal employment strategy for people seeking asylum and refugees in Victoria

  Providing recommendations for a specialised, comprehensive state-wide employment program for people seeking asylum and refugees in Victoria.

Stories and Profiles from 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.

• 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.

• 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.

• Just Justice Through Supporting Fitness to Plead

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

• 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.

• 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.

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

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

• 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

• 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.

• Can the NDIS Deliver?

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

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

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.