Emma Antonetti

Whittlesea Community Connections

Volunteering and new arrivals: a social cohesion opportunity

This project aims to understand the individual client journey from arrival in Australia to being active citizens in their community with a focus on how volunteering impacts on this process. Working in partnership with people with migrant and refugee backgrounds recently arrived in Australia, it explores how volunteering along with different factors, approaches and inputs, inter-relate to help people overcome barriers to effective community participation. This understanding will enable us to maximse outcomes and opportunities for people with migrant and refugee backgrounds to settle well and contribute to a more cohesive community.

Academic Mentor

Dr Karen Block
Melbourne School of Population and Global Health

Loretta Asquini

North Melbourne Language and Learning

Digital inclusion of CALD communities

As a result of COVID-related restrictions in 2020, North Melbourne Language and Learning’s (NMLL) capacity to engage with the community in adult learning and community development (CD) programs was severely hampered by participants and the community’s lack of access to data, devices and reduced and varied digital capabilities.

This research project focuses on engaging participants of NMLL English and pre-accredited classes and community development programs, who in the main experienced intensified digital exclusion during the peak of the pandemic.  Many of NMLL program participants also live in the North Melbourne and Flemington Public Housing estates who experienced some of the toughest lockdown measures during the height of the pandemic in Victoria and who experience a range of social and economic vulnerabilities before, during and after these measures were put into place.  The research aims to investigate and analyse the impact that the pandemic has had on their ability to participate in adult learning and community activities because of digital exclusion.

This research will link to a broader research project  Understanding Digital Inequality led by Dr Nicky Dulfer and supported by the Carlton Local Agencies Network (CLAN).

Academic Mentors

Dr Nicky Dulfer
Melbourne Graduate School of Education
Dr Catherine Smith
Melbourne Graduate School of Education

Morgan Cataldo

Berry Street

Lived experience reflective practice tool

The focus of this project is the co-development of an online learning analytic tool in the form of a quiz, to support the community sector promote practice reflection with young Lived Experience Consultants and Peer Workers. The online tool aims to strengthen and enhance self-reflection and planning capability, and target methods through which young people are able to monitor their lived experience skill development through tailored feedback.

Academic Mentor

Dr Eduardo Araujo Oliveira
School of Computing and Information Systems

Maya Ghassali

Road to Refuge

Refugee representation in the Australian media

This research aims to fill a gap of knowledge in understanding why there is a very limited representation of people with the lived experience of being a refugee in the Australian media and to understand the steps needed to increase the representation of people with lived experience. It also aims to understand the current state of refugee representation in the Australian media and advocate for the necessary steps to be taken to increase refugee representation. The project plans to produce a media brief for institutions across Australia on how to increase refugee representation in the media and to develop and deliver workshops for journalists on how to increase refugee voices in their journalism.

Academic Mentor

Dr Denis Muller
School of Culture and Communication

Bronte Gosper

First Nations Media Australia

Above and Beyond Broadcasting: A Study of First Nations Media and the COVID-19 Pandemic

Bronte Gosper, a proud Wiradjuri woman from Orange, NSW, focused her research on the impact of First Nations, community-controlled media organisations in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. Her work supported the need for culturally relevant messaging and discussed the role of First Nations journalists and media organisations as primary conduits of trusted information within First Nations communities. Drawing on three case study examples, Bronte supported semi-formal interviews, contributed desk research and editorial work to the Above & Beyond Broadcasting: A Study of First Nations Media and the COVID-19 Pandemic report due to be published in November 2021.

Academic Mentors

Dr Sharon Huebner
Melbourne School of Population and Global Health
Dr Lyndon Ormond-Parker
Melbourne School Population and Global Health

This project is supported by the Indigenous Knowledge Institute.

James Houghton

Ethnic Communities' Council of Victoria

Access to COVID-19 information and its influence on access to related services and supports for people with disabilities from migrant and refugee backgrounds

The project aims to understand how Victorians with disabilities from migrant and refugee backgrounds have obtained information about COVID-19 over the course of the pandemic. Applying an intersectional lens, the research will identify how these experiences influenced access to pandemic-related services and supports, and opportunities to make informed choices related to health, participation and connectedness during the pandemic. The key objectives of this research are to understand the perspectives of Victorians with disabilities from migrant and refugee backgrounds with regards to barriers and facilitators to accessing COVID-19 related information during the ongoing pandemic, and how access to this information influenced access to COVID-19 related services and supports.

Academic Mentors

Dr Mediya Rangi
Melbourne School of Population and Global Health
Dr Alexandra Devine
Melbourne School of Population and Global Health

This project is supported by the Melbourne Disability Institute

Nyandit Lizzie Jok

Road to Refuge

Refugee representation in the Australian media

This research aims to fill a gap of knowledge in understanding why there is a very limited representation of people with the lived experience of being a refugee in the Australian media and to understand the steps needed to increase the representation of people with lived experience. It also aims to understand the current state of refugee representation in the Australian media and advocate for the necessary steps to be taken to increase refugee representation. The project plans to produce a media brief for institutions across Australia on how to increase refugee representation in the media and to develop and deliver workshops for journalists on how to increase refugee voices in their journalism.

Academic Mentor

Dr Denis Muller
School of Culture and Communication

Karen Jones

Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung Cultural Heritage Aboriginal Corporation

Jacksons Creek (Sunbury) Cultural Values Study

The Water Unit of the Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung Cultural Heritage Aboriginal Corporation was developed as an organisational response to its collaboration with the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP). The Unit is dedicated to ensuring meaningful participation of Woiwurrung people in achieving water justice. The mechanisms for this have included legislation, advocacy,  contributing to water policy and influencing decision making as it pertains to Country.  Documentation of the Woiwurrung historic and contemporary land use and occupancy of Jacksons Creek will provide the basis for the management and protection of Woiwurrung values in the Victorian Government's Suburban Parks Program. Determining the cultural values will also enable the Corporation to produce recommendations in future waterways management decisions embedding Traditional Owners and their values and culture in waterway planning and management.

Academic Mentors

Dr Julia Hurst
School of Historical and Philosophical Studies
Dr Erin O'Donnell
Melbourne Law School

This project is supported by the Indigenous Knowledge Institute and Melbourne Law School.

Annelise Lecordier

It’s Not A Compliment

Capturing the voices of marginalised communities facing street harassment

Considerable gaps currently exist within street harassment literature on the experiences of individuals from marginalised communities. With most of the research up until this point largely focusing on the experience of cis-het white women, little is known about how people from particularly vulnerable groups experience harassment within public spaces in their day-to-day life. This project seeks to address this gap by applying an intersectional lens to the issue, conducting focus group discussions with individuals from communities known to be targets of harassment despite often being left out of public discourse on this issue. Through these, the project hopes to gain a more in-depth understanding of how particular aspects of an individual’s identity might influence their experiences of street harassment and what kind of responses marginalised communities would like to see developed to address this issue.

Academic Mentor

Dr Megan Sharp
Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences

This project is supported by the African Research and Engagement in Australia Initiative (AREiA)

Brenna McIntyre

Kevin Heinze Grow

Access to COVID-19 information and its influence on access to related services and supports for people with disabilities from migrant and refugee backgrounds

Kevin Heinz Grow is a not-for-profit organisation that aims to support health and wellbeing through connection to nature and the community. It provides services and support to a range of people including those with disabilities and people experiencing mental ill health. In Australia, there is a continued reliance on traditional, verbal-based therapy as a source of support for people experiencing mental illness. This form of therapy may not be appropriate for everyone, including people diagnosed with a speech disability, as well as others unable to communicate through verbal means. This project explores the use of alternative forms of therapy that use the body and movement as a way of improving psychological wellbeing. This project seeks to address a gap in understanding about the mental health needs of people with speech disabilities who are frequently underrepresented or absent from research. It is hoped that evidence from this project will inform both future studies and practical support programs at Kevin Heinz Grow and elsewhere to provide more appropriate and effective mental health interventions for this population.

Academic Mentor

Dr Jennifer Davidson
School of Social Work

This project is supported by the Melbourne Disability Institute

Yohanna Mequwanint

Ethiopian Community Association in Victoria

Exploring the experiences of racism and discrimination for African Australian students in Victorian schools

This project is examining racialised experiences confronting young African Australians in Victorian schools. The objective is to review the historical and contemporary contexts of racism and discrimination in Australia as a settler and immigrant country; explore the experiences, challenges, and effects of racism and discrimination confronting African Australian students in Victorian schools; and develop culturally responsive anti-racism policy and practice recommendations to empower and support African Australian students confronting racism and discrimination. The anti-racism policy and practice recommendations will be presented to the Ethiopian Community Association in Victoria for use in educating and empowering young African Australians in the community.

Academic Mentor

Dr Gerald Onsando
School of Social And Political Sciences

This project is supported by the African Research and Engagement in Australia Initiative (AREiA)

Vivian Ying Hang Tong

Afri-Aus Care

Application of the positive change model with African Australians in facilitating posttraumatic growth

Afri-Aus Care (AAC) is a not-for-profit organisation that aims to empower African Australian youth, their families and those from other CALD backgrounds by providing culturally appropriate health and wellbeing support services. This research project is focused on the application of the Positive Change Model in AAC. Since it was founded in 2015, AAC has used the concept of Ubuntu and the Positive Change Model to support community members who suffer from unresolved trauma. Through this project, the Positive Change Model will be described, theorised and explained for the first time through the study of data collected from practitioners and service recipients of AAC. By establishing a concrete theoretical framework of the Positive Change Model, this project aims to enhance the quality of service delivery at AAC. A resource kit on the Positive Change Model with practice guidelines for broader community use will also be developed. Dr Sharon Huebner and Dr Lyndon Ormond-Parker

Academic Mentors

Professor Karen Farquharson
School of Social and Political Sciences 
Dr Diana Johns
School of Social and Political Sciences

This project is supported by the African Research and Engagement in Australia Initiative (AREiA)

James Houghton

Ethnic Communities' Council of Victoria

Access to COVID-19 information and its influence on access to related services and supports for people with disabilities from migrant and refugee backgrounds

The project aims to understand how Victorians with disabilities from migrant and refugee backgrounds have obtained information about COVID-19 over the course of the pandemic. Applying an intersectional lens, the research will identify how these experiences influenced access to pandemic-related services and supports, and opportunities to make informed choices related to health, participation and connectedness during the pandemic. The key objectives of this research are to understand the perspectives of Victorians with disabilities from migrant and refugee backgrounds with regards to barriers and facilitators to accessing COVID-19 related information during the ongoing pandemic, and how access to this information influenced access to COVID-19 related services and supports.

Academic Mentors

Dr Mediya Rangi
Melbourne School of Population and Global Health
Dr Alexandra Devine
Melbourne School of Population and Global Health

This project is supported by the Melbourne Disability Institute