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.

About the Program

Through the Community Fellows Program, we aim to support research that will lead to positive outcomes such as improved service delivery, the development of new services, improved ability to advocate effectively or the improved capacity to undertake future research projects.

Community Fellows are able to spend time at the University of Melbourne to develop research skills. Projects should be relevant to the work of community-based organisations and aim to promote social equity. Projects could involve conducting a scoping report, literature review, data analysis or a small research project.

The initiative is targeted at small to medium-sized community-based organisations (up to 200 employees) that currently have very limited capacity to conduct research. Projects should be small, tightly focused and address an issue of relevance to the organisation. Key objectives for the Community Fellows Program are to meet community-based needs for research and to foster community–academic collaborations.

The Community Fellows Program gives our small organisation an opportunity to do much-needed original research in our specialised field that would not have been otherwise possible. It gives me the space, time and resources to stop, think and investigate. Invaluable!

Fellowship Structure

Each Community Fellow is assigned an Academic Mentor with relevant expertise. The Melbourne Social Equity Institute and the Academic Mentor will work with the Fellow to design a feasible project and the supervisor will meet with the fellow regularly over the course of the project. Additional support will also be provided by the Melbourne Social Equity Institute to assist the Community Fellows while they conduct and write up their research.

During their placement, Community Fellows will have opportunities to participate in a range of academic and professional development activities. Community Fellows will also be provided with desk space at the University, a computer to work on, a temporary email address and access to library and internet facilities.

Grants of $5000 each are made available to the community-based organisations to compensate them for the time that Community Fellows spend working at the University. A Collaboration Agreement will be created specifying project details, levels of financial support and expected outcomes.