Stories and Media
Videos
Learn more about some of our Community Fellows and the impact of their research.
Geoffrey Lim, Cypher Culture
Through the Community Fellows Program, Geoffrey Lim is exploring how to better support Melbourne’s street dance communities.
Emma Antonetti, Whittlesea Community Connections
Emma Antonetii's fellowship project examined volunteering and its impacts on the settlement experiences of people from migration and refugee backgrounds.
Freya Dinshaw, Human Rights Law Centre
Freya Dinshaw explains how the Community Fellows Program supported her research on modern-day slavery in Australia.
Bosede Adetifa, Yoruba Heritage and Cultural Association of Victoria
Through the Community Fellows Program, Bosede Adetifa is using storytelling to bring together elders and young people within Victoria’s Yoruba community.
Celebrating the 2023/24 Community Fellows
In July 2024 friends, colleagues and University of Melbourne staff gathered to celebrate the achievements of the fifth cohort of Community Fellows. We asked them to reflect on their experience of being a part of the program.
Profiles and Interviews
Read about the impact of the Community Fellows and their projects.
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Supporting Community-based Doula Programs
Giorgia Hall-Cook noticed a gap in data gathering soon after starting her role as Operations and Programs Officer at Birth for Humankind.
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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.
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Accessibility and Inclusion for Multicultural Australian Communities in the Financial Service Sector
Rachna Madaan Bowman's greatest concern is that most interactions with newly arrived individuals and communities do not inform them adequately about how Australian financial systems work and their consumer rights.
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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.
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Connecting African Youths and Elders: Positive Change through Storytelling
Bosede Adetifa is working to bring together elders and young people within Victoria’s Yoruba community.
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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.”
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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.
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Trauma Informed Practice in Education
A 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.
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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.
Reports
Research and advocacy reports prepared by Community Fellows.
Media and Events
Articles and presentations by and about the Community Fellows.
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Bendigo Street and Occupation as Protest
The Bendigo Street occupation shows that housing activists and local governments can better work together to pursue housing justice
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Eradicating Modern Slavery in Australia
Alongside its review of the ‘Modern Slavery Act’, the Government must also address the risks of forced labour that are inherent in our visa system.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Welcoming Diverse Consumer and Survivor Views and Voices into Mental Health
Indigo Daya's fellowship focused on consumer and survivor views and voices in mental health research.
Chapters and Journal Articles
Articles and academic publications by participants and mentors in the Community Fellows Program
David Nunan, Hayley Black, and Julie Choi. “Evaluating the Quality of Innovation in TESOL Teacher Education”. In Quality in TESOL and Teacher Education, edited by Juan de Dios Martínez Agudo, 1st ed., 242-251. Routledge, 2019. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429198243
Indigo Daya, Bridget Hamilton, and Cath Roper. “Authentic Engagement: A Conceptual Model for Welcoming Diverse and Challenging Consumer and Survivor Views in Mental Health Research, Policy, and Practice.” International Journal of Mental Health Nursing 29, no. 2 (2020): 299–311. https://doi.org/10.1111/inm.12653
Yvette Slaughter, Julie Choi, David Nunan, Hayley Black, Rebecca Grimaud, and Hân Trinh. “The Affordances and Limitations of Collaborative Research in the TESOL Classroom.” TESOL in Context 29, no. 1 (2020): 35–61. https://doi.org/10.21153/tesol2020vol29no2art1433
Emma Wagg, Jane Hocking, and Jane Tomnay. “What Do Young Women Living in Regional and Rural Victoria Say about Chlamydia Testing? A Qualitative Study.” Sexual Health 17 (2020): 160–66. https://doi.org/10.1071/sh19182
Atem Atem, Jennifer Balint, Denise Cauchi, and Shyama Fuad. “Diaspora Peacebuilding Through Inter-Ethnic Harmony: The South Sudanese and Sri Lankan Diasporas in Australia.” In Understanding Diaspora Development: Lessons from Australia and the Pacific, edited by Melissa Phillips and Louise Olliff, 1st ed., 137–59. Springer, 2022. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-97866-2
Tessa Hens, and Kim Frances Dunphy. “Developing Participants’ Capacity for Reflection and Self-Assessment in a Dance Movement Therapy Program for People with Intellectual Disability.” Disability and Society 37, no. 2 (2022): 271–95. https://doi.org/10.1080/09687599.2020.1808445
Katrina McFerran, Alex Crooke, Zoe Kalenderidis, Helen Stokes, and Kate Teggelove. “What Young People Think About Music, Rhythm and Trauma: An Action Research Study.” Frontiers in Psychology 13 (2022). https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.905418.
David Nunan, Hayley Black, and Julie Choi. “Call to Action... Research.” Fine Print 45, no. 2 (2022): 21–25.
Mike Collins, “Moving Beyond Politce Advocacy: Housing Activism in Australia.” HousingWORKS, 19, No. 2 (2024).
Book – Safe to Learn: Embedding Trauma-informed Student Wellbeing Practices
Safe to Learn by 2016 Community Fellow Rebecca Harris was recently published by Amba Press. We are delighted that Rebecca credits the Community Fellows Program as being an important stepping stone to this new publication.
The program provides access for community workers to an elite educational facility, and in doing so, allows us to move from being the researched, to being the researchers. I am so grateful that participating in the Community Fellowship program has supported me to develop the writer and academic in me.