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Melbourne Social Equity Institute

Melbourne Social Equity Institute

Achieving fairer societies through research that makes a difference

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Melbourne Social Equity Institute conducts and facilitates interdisciplinary research that addresses the causes and consequences of social inequities and advances knowledge about effective ways to respond.

  • Seminar & Launch
    Technology-facilitated Abuse in Relationships
  • Supporting Research Collaborations
    Community Fellows Program
  • Community Engagement Grants
    Developing interdisciplinary and community-engaged networks
  • PhD Program in Migration, Statelessness and Refugee Studies
    Addressing the contemporary issues of asylum-seeking, enforced migration and statelessness
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    Upcoming Events

    • Monday 27 March 2023 1pm - 2pm
      Technology-facilitated Abuse in Relationships
      Event

    Past Events

    • Friday 2 December 2022 9:30am - 4pm
      Gender Equity Symposium 2022 (Internal Event)
      Event
    • Friday 18 November 2022 9:15am - 5:30pm
      Migration, Refugees and Statelessness Interdisciplinary Conference
      Event
    • 29 September 20221 October 2022
      Reimagining Migration in(out) of Africa in the Post-Pandemic World: Taking Stock and Building Resilience
      Event
    • Thursday 15 September 2022 1pm - 2pm
      Community Fellows Program Information Session
      Event
    • Wednesday 24 August 2022 4pm - 5:30pm
      Designing and Implementing Social Procurement Policy: Preliminary Insights from a Comparative Study (Video Available)
      Event
    • Tuesday 28 June 2022 1pm - 2:30pm
      Seed Funding Workshop 2022 (online)
      Event
    • Thursday 23 June 2022 10:30am - 12pm
      Seed Funding Workshop 2022 (in-person)
      Event
    • Tuesday 7 June 2022 4:30pm - 6pm
      Melbourne Social Equity Institute's 10-Year Anniversary Celebration
      Event
    • Tuesday 31 May 2022 6pm - 8:30pm
      ‘Manta Ray’: Unsilencing the Rohingya Crisis (Migration and Social Justice Film Series)
      Event
    • Tuesday 17 May 2022 6pm - 8:30pm
      ‘Lingua Franca’: LGBTQ+ Migration and Precarious Life (Migration and Social Justice Film Series)
      Close up photo of woman's face. She appears to be lying on a bed looking up at the ceiling.
      Event
    • Tuesday 26 April 2022 6pm - 8:30pm
      ‘Island of Hungry Ghosts’: Australian Asylum Seeker Policy in Focus (Migration and Social Justice Film Series)
      Event
    • Wednesday 13 April 2022 6pm - 7:30pm
      SEREDA International Report Launch
      Event
    • Tuesday 12 April 2022 6pm - 8:30pm
      ‘Flee’: Migration, Memory and Resilience (Migration and Social Justice Film Series)
      Event
    • Thursday 10 March 2022 1pm - 1:45pm
      Responding to Contemporary Social Equity Issues: What Role for Social Innovation? (Video Available)
      Event
    • Tuesday 15 February 2022 9am - 6pm
      Gender and Sexuality at Work Conference
      Event
    • Thursday 21 October 2021 1pm - 1:45pm
      A New Approach to Trauma-Informed Schools: Increasing Student Engagement, Achievement and Wellbeing
      Event
    • Wednesday 13 October 2021 2pm - 3pm
      Community Engagement Workshop (Internal Only)
      A group of people sitting around a wooden table contributing to writing a report
      Event
    • Thursday 7 October 2021 1pm - 1:45pm
      Perpetual Strangerhood: Experiences of Highly Skilled African-Australian Professionals in the Workplace (Video Available)
      Event
    • Monday 27 September 2021 4:30pm - 6pm
      The Politics of Solidarity and Anti-Racism in Settler Colonial Contexts (Video Available)
      Event
    • Thursday 16 September 2021 1pm - 2pm
      Mental Health Law: Abolish or Reform? (Video Available)
      Book cover for Mental Health Law by Kay Wilson
      Event
    • Thursday 9 September 2021 1pm - 1:45pm
      The Role of Multicultural and Settlement Services in Supporting Women Experiencing Violence (Video Available)
      Event
    • Thursday 26 August 2021 5pm - 6pm
      Technology Facilitated Abuse and the Need for Digital Ethics (Video Available)
      Event
    • Thursday 26 August 2021 1pm - 1:45pm
      Citizenship Constellations in Syria (Video Available)
      Event
    • 19 July 202123 July 2021
      Solidarity in Diversity: Highlighting Marginal Voices in Academia, Practice and Society (Videos Available)
      Event
    • Friday 2 July 2021 2pm - 4pm
      From Nigeria to Australia: Celebrating Yoruba Heritage
      Event
    • Thursday 3 June 2021 1pm - 1:45pm
      Using School-based Social and Emotional Learning Programs to Advance Wellbeing Post Emergency (Video Available)
      Event
    • Thursday 27 May 2021 1pm - 1:45pm
      Seeking Refuge in Fortress Europe: Zoe Holman in Conversation with Michelle Foster (Video Available)
      Event
    • Thursday 6 May 2021 1pm - 1:45pm
      Involving Young People as Partners in Mental Health Research (Video Available)
      Event
    • Thursday 15 April 2021 5pm - 6pm
      Statelessness in Southeast Asia (Video Available)
      Event
    • Thursday 1 April 2021 1pm - 1:45pm
      Welcoming Diverse Consumer and Survivor Views and Voices into Mental Health (Video Available)
      Event
    • Thursday 18 March 2021 1pm - 1:45pm
      Narratives of Displacement (Video Available)
      Event
    • Thursday 4 March 2021 1pm - 1:45pm
      O Brave New Brain? Regulating "Neurointerventions" (Video Available)
      Event
    • Tuesday 1 December 2020 1pm - 1:45pm
      “Your robot therapist will see you now”: Social Equity and the Rise of Digital Mental Healthcare (Video Available)
      Event
    • Friday 30 October 2020 4pm - 5pm
      Togetherness is Strength: Conversations with People from Refugee Backgrounds about Resettling in Regional Australia
      Event
    • Wednesday 28 October 2020 1pm - 3pm
      Writing and Publishing for ECR and HDR Researchers (Video Available)
      Event
    • Friday 16 October 2020 1pm - 2pm
      Understanding Immigrants’ Diverse Employment Trajectories: The Role of Immigration Policy and Gender
      Event
    • Monday 28 September 2020 1pm - 2pm
      Men Speak out on Migration and Gender Roles (Video Available)
      Event
    • Friday 18 September 2020 1pm - 2pm
      Accountability for the Rohingya: The Relevance and Implications of International Law (Video Available)
      Event
    • Friday 4 September 2020 10:30am - 11:15am
      Community Engagement Grants Information Session (Video Available)
      A group of people sitting around a wooden table contributing to writing a report
      Event
    • Thursday 3 September 2020 1pm - 2pm
      Community Fellows Program Information Session (Video Available)
      Event
    • Tuesday 18 August 2020 1pm - 2pm
      Seed Funding Workshop 2020
      Event
    • Friday 26 June 2020 1pm - 2pm
      Field Notes from the Rohingya Emergency Response
      Event
    • Friday 27 March 2020 4pm - 5:30pm
      CANCELLED – Togetherness is Strength: Conversations with People from Refugee Backgrounds about Resettling in Regional Australia
      Event
    • Monday 23 March 2020 1pm - 2pm
      CANCELLED – Developing a Framework for Engaging Victims/Survivors of Family Violence to Influence Policy and Service Planning
      Event
    • Friday 20 March 2020 2:30pm - 4:30pm
      CANCELLED – Community Engagement in Digital Equity Research
      Event
    • 12 March 202014 March 2020
      Borders, Identities and Belonging in a Cosmopolitan Society: Perspectives from African Migrants in the Diaspora
      Event
    • Thursday 12 March 2020 4:30pm - 6pm
      Planetary Human Entanglements and the Crisis of Living Together
      Event
    • Thursday 12 March 2020 1pm - 2pm
      ‘Nothing About Us Without Us’: The Rise of Refugee Self-representation in Global Dialogue on Forced Displacement
      Event
    • Friday 28 February 2020 4pm - 5pm
      Human Geopolitics: States, Emigrants and the Rise of Diaspora Institutions
      Event
    • Friday 21 February 2020 12:30pm - 1:30pm
      Brazilian Research Endeavours in Gender, Violence and Health: Multi-sectoral Approaches
      Event
    • Tuesday 18 February 2020 8am - 6pm
      Gender and Sexuality at Work
      Event
    • Thursday 13 February 2020 1pm - 2pm
      Deciding Who Is a "Foreigner": The Situation in the Indian State of Assam from a Legal Perspective
      Event
    • Wednesday 22 January 2020 4pm - 5pm
      Are These Family Laws Good for Women? An Economist’s Perspective
      Event
    • Wednesday 27 November 2019 12pm - 1pm
      The Intersection of Sex and Sexual Safety in Mental Health
      Event
    • Tuesday 19 November 2019 9:15am - 5pm
      Migration, Refugees and Statelessness Interdisciplinary Conference
      Event
    • 5 November 20198 November 2019
      Psychiatry, Psychology and Law: Collaboration and Challenges Across the Global South
      Event
    • Friday 8 November 2019 1pm - 3pm
      Consumer Data Tracking: Social Equity Implications
      Event
    • Wednesday 6 November 2019 3:30pm - 5pm
      Is There Such a Thing as Substance-Related Intimate Partner Abuse Perpetration?
      Event
    • Monday 28 October 2019 5:30pm - 6:30pm
      Spirit: Film Screening and Discussion
      Event
    • Monday 21 October 2019 1pm - 2pm
      “Why Does She Stay?” Domestic Violence, Implicit Bias and the Legal System
      Event
    • Thursday 17 October 2019 1pm - 2pm
      The Global Compacts: A Missed Opportunity or a Promising Tool?
      Event
    • Wednesday 16 October 2019 1pm - 2pm
      Equal Justice for People with Disabilities? An Analysis of Complaints to New Zealand’s Human Rights Review Tribunal
      Event
    • Monday 30 September 2019 1pm - 2pm
      Early Engagement with Men who use Domestic Abuse and Violence: The Better Man Online Project
      Event
    • Thursday 12 September 2019 1pm - 2pm
      Banishment and the Pre-History of Legitimate Expulsion Power
      Event
    • Thursday 22 August 2019 1pm - 2pm
      Institutional Disrespect: The Structural Marginalisation of Refugee Migrants in Australia
      Event
    • Tuesday 20 August 2019 1pm - 2pm
      An Introduction to Domestic Homicide Reviews in England and Wales: Challenges and Opportunities
      Event
    • Thursday 1 August 2019 1pm - 2pm
      From Muddy Boots to Business Class: To the Emergency Frontlines and Back
      Event
    • Thursday 6 June 2019 1pm - 2pm
      Regressive, Arbitrary Identity Documentation Policies and Practices in Myanmar
      Event
    • Monday 27 May 2019 1pm - 2pm
      What does it mean to work with domestic violence when there are animals involved?
      Event
    • Thursday 2 May 2019 1pm - 2pm
      Resettlement of Refugee Immigrants in Australia: Agency and Affordances
      Event
    • Thursday 4 April 2019 1pm - 2pm
      Minority Statelessness and Racialised Citizenship: Romani Minorities and the Uneven Access to Citizenship
      Event
    • Monday 25 March 2019 1pm - 2pm
      Respectful Relationships in the Pre-school Years
      Event

    Current Research Priority Areas

    Melbourne Social Equity Institute responds to many social equity issues through its interdisciplinary research training and partnerships. Reflecting current social equity challenges and complementary research across the University of Melbourne, our research priorities are:

    • Community-engaged and Coproductive Research (overarching approach)

      People walking in a graffiti lined laneway in Melbourne

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

      Melbourne Social Equity Institute is a leader in community-engaged and coproductive research. These ways of working inform all our research priorities. We also advance the use of community-engaged and coproductive methodologies through knowledge sharing and researcher training and development.

      The core feature of community-engaged and coproductive research is a high level of community decision‑making and partner involvement in the purpose, design, conduct and use of research. These approaches move beyond seeing members of communities as research ‘subjects’ to recognising people affected by social inequities as active agents in designing research for change. They also recognise the value of engaging across sectors to access diverse knowledge and research settings, and support the strong take‑up of new research evidence.

      Oversight of community-engaged and coproductive research is led by Associate Professor Bridget Hamilton.

    • Digital Access and Equity (enabling theme )

      Lights and signs in an underground carpark

      Examining and improving the impact of a connected, digitally-focused society

      Digital technologies have the potential for overcoming social, economic and geographic barriers and improving outcomes in health, access to justice and social services, and economic and civic participation. However, they also risk increased discrimination, differentiation and exclusion. Importantly, issues of digital equity are not just about access to technology, but also about language, content, comprehension and safety.

      Recognising we live in an increasingly digital world, Digital Access and Equity is an enabling theme of research that intersects with all Melbourne Social Equity Institute research priorities. This theme supports research examining the impact of a connected, digitally-focused society on social equity. It evaluates the presumptions about knowledge, language, accessibility and consent that inform the design and implementation of new technologies. It works to develop innovative and inclusive ways to make a technologically-integrated society a fairer and more equitable one.

      This research priority is led by Professor Shanton Chang and Professor Jeannie Paterson.

      View the Ethical and Equitable Digital Design Matrix for Community Engaged Research, developed through the work of this enabling theme.

    • Gender Equity

      Woman walking across a street crossing

      Working to ensure the collective and individual benefits of equitable access to opportunities, resources and freedoms regardless of gender

      Evidence shows improved gender equity reduces violence, fosters economic prosperity and institutional integrity, and advances social and economic innovation.  The unequal status of women and girls has long been recognised as both a central cause and consequence of social inequity, with more recent movements highlighting the negative effects of gender norms on transgender and non-binary people. Climate change and the COVID pandemic are amplifying existing inequities and generate new imperatives for gender‑equitable participation.

      This research priority engages with gender inequities at all levels of societal systems and with effective approaches to reducing these inequities.

      This research priority is co-led by Professor Kylie Smith and Dr Victor Sojo Monzon.

      This priority area builds upon the work of the Melbourne research Alliance to End Violence against women and their children (MAEVe) which is auspiced by the Melbourne Social Equity Institute.

    • Health Equity

      Group of young people with rainbow flags at a pride parade

      Improving equity of health and wellbeing across the community

      Health equity and wellbeing are shaped by social conditions, with social inequities typically associated with poorer physical and mental health. This research priority supports research related to inequities in health and wellbeing among people and communities.

      It engages in the joint production and testing of strategies to redress these inequities and in initiatives that promote wellbeing. Work within this research priority uses research methods that give a central place to the voices and knowledge of people who have lived expertise of diverse health inequities.

      This research priority is led by Professor Cathy Vaughan and Dr Nicholas Hill.

    • Inclusive and Distributive Economies

      Keys of antique cash register

      Exploring economic participation and organisational approaches that advance just and sustainable societies

      Economic participation and the fair distribution of material resources are central features of social equity and drivers of community wellbeing, cohesion and prosperity. Entrenched wealth inequality, industry restructuring and the rise of precarious work inform and reflect contemporary patterns of social inequity.

      At the same time, new and renewed approaches to community ownership, social enterprise and peer-led program design seek to counter inequities in the interests of people and planet. This research priority includes a focus on inclusive employment and whether and how purpose-led business models and people‑centred policy design advance more just and sustainable societies.

      This research priority is led by Professor Jo Barraket.

    • Migration and Mobility

      Stencil art with the word Welcome

      Exploring the multiple dimensions of migration and mobility, and their implications for equitable participation of people and communities

      The Australian population is increasingly culturally diverse, with more than a quarter of all Australians born overseas and almost half having at least one parent who was born overseas. Migrants, particularly those from backgrounds where English is not the first language, can face social exclusion and marginalisation. Regional conflicts and pandemic responses are also affecting the mobility of people both within and across countries.

      This research priority focuses on the multiple dimensions of migration and mobility and their implications for equitable participation of people and communities. Together with the associated PhD Program in Migration, Statelessness and Refugee Studies, it aims to build a stronger evidence base for tackling associated inequalities and strengthen local and international opportunities for collaboration and impact.

      This research priority is led by Professor Karen Farquharson and Associate Professor Karen Block.

    Current Research Projects

    • African Australians’ experiences of domestic violence and health service utilisation

      Exploring African Australians' experiences of domestic and family violence

    • Water rights for First Nations

      Exploring cultural economic futures through agent based modelling

    • Breaking down the barriers

      Co-producing inclusive mental healthcare with young people on the margins

    • SheShaka: addressing gendered and cultural barriers to participation in surfing

      Responding to evidence of gendered and cultural barriers to participation in surfing for young women and girls from diverse backgrounds in coastal Victoria

    • The use and impacts of direct-to-consumer genetic testing and data platforms for family tracing after adoption or out of home care

      A Victorian pilot study

    • Making policy reform work

      A comparative analysis of social procurement

    • Developing a gender-wise partnership framework

      Improve investment in gender equality by increasing the understanding and application of a gender lens to philanthropic partnerships.

    • The Community Tax Project

      Building capacity within and between the academic and community/welfare sectors

    • Community visioning Inner North Report

      'Who we want to be'

    • Measuring impacts and aggregating insights about the Victorian social enterprise sector: a data and evaluation platform

      Providing social enterprises with a longitudinal measurement tool

    • Preventing violence against young women exposed to the criminal justice system

      Developing recommendations for violence prevention programs for justice-involved young women

    • Why do they do that? An investigation into the perpetrator perspective of technology facilitated abuse

      Understanding the motivations and tactics of perpetrators engaging in technology facilitated abuse

    • Learning from QTPOC Voices: supporting positive experiences of mental healthcare

      Creating evidence with, and for, young people who have intersectional experiences of sexuality, gender, and cultural diversity

    • Understanding digital inequality

      An analysis of unequal connectivity in Carlton Housing Estate, Melbourne, Victoria

    • Invisible mothers: young Pasifika women, health inequalities and negotiating wellbeing

      Exploring the priorities and practices that constitute motherhood for young Pasifika mothers in Melbourne

    • Getting back on Country: traditional owner-led repatriation, digitisation and exhibition design of Olkola cultural archives

      Combining participatory design, mixed reality technologies, archaeological science and digital cultural heritage to deliver innovative solutions for the repatriation of Olkola heritage

    • Talking hunger: understanding food insecurity on campus

      Understanding and addressing food insecurity at the University of Melbourne

    • Sense of belonging for African students at the University of Melbourne

      Understanding and improving the student experience.

    • The SEREDA Project

      Sexual and gender-based violence against refugees: experiences from displacement to arrival

    • The living archive of Aboriginal art

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

    • Understanding the role of mental health in online gambling choices

      Identifying targets for law reform to reduce harm from gambling through an economic experiment that explores how mental health relates to problem gambling

    Completed Projects

    • The WEAVERs Project

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

    • Support for consumer transactions

      Working with consumers and industry to develop practices and processes to improve access for consumers with disabilities.

    • Developing a model for peer support in emergency departments

      Improving supports for people experiencing mental distress in emergency departments

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

      A project with the Wadawurrung community

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

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

    • Reintegration and resettlement: 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

    • Restrictive Practices

      Research to inform and guide the reduction and elimination of the use of restrictive practices in the mental health, disability and aged care sectors.

    • 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?

    • Violence prevention and respectful relationships

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

    • 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?

    • 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.

    • Count me in

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

    • 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.

    • 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.

    • Who cares?

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

    • 19 stories of social inclusion

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

    • 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?

    • Refugee-background children in Australia

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

    • Listening for (a) change

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

    • Improving management practices to integrate refugees and people seeking asylum

      Developing effective management practices to integrate refugees and people seeking asylum into Australian workplaces.

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

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

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

    • 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

    • National seclusion and restraint project

    • 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

    • How are low protection workers regulated?

    • 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

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

    • Title transfers and housing quality

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

    • 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

    • Contested waterfronts: informality, floods and capital in Indonesian cities

      .

    • A novel cure

    Current Activities and Programs

    • Community Fellows Program

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

    • PhD Candidates

      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.

    • Community Engagement Grants

      Supporting University of Melbourne researchers to develop interdisciplinary and community-engaged networks.

    • Melbourne Research Alliance to End Violence against women and their children (MAEVe)

      MAEVe brings together researchers from across the University.

    • Funding Opportunities

      The Institute has created a suite of funding opportunities to enable and support collaborative, interdisciplinary social equity research.

    • 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

      Addressing the contemporary issues of asylum-seeking, migration and statelessness across the areas of law, health, culture, education, creative arts, history, social policy, housing, social sustainability, community wellbeing and mental health.

    • Ethical and Equitable Digital Design Matrix for Community Engaged Research

      A matrix to support the ethical and equitable design elements of digital technologies used in community-engaged research.

    • The Blue Nile Program

      The Blue Nile African Australian Business Masterclass Program is a heavily subsidised program designed for African Australian entrepreneurs and leaders of not-for-profit organisations.

    • The Australian Research on Refugee Integration Database (ARRID)

      ARRID was developed by the Melbourne Social Equity Institute in partnership with the Refugee Education Special Interest Group.

    Legacy Activities

    • Disability Research Initiative

      Melbourne Social Equity Institute played a key role in facilitating disability research at the University of Melbourne.

    • 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.

    • Lecture Series for Refugees and People Seeking Asylum

      Understanding Australia, the Melbourne Social Equity Institute's annual lecture series for refugees and people seeking asylum, returned for its fourth year in September 2017.

    Research Reports


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

    Labour in Limbo
    Understanding Digital Inequality
    Invisible Mothers
    Leading the Change
    Peer Support in Emergency
    Reintegration and Resettlement
    Student Precinct Report
    Improving Access and Support
    Thanks A Bundle
    Alternatives to Coercion
    Employment Policy
    Supported Decision Making
    Unfitness to Plead
    Elder Abuse Study
    Choice Control and the NDIS
    Consumer Transaction
    Sharing Place
    Islamisation & Other Anxieties
    Place Matters
    Shifting Terrain of Citizenship
    Researching for Social Change
    Art Based Social Enterprises

    Annual Reports

    Stories and Profiles from the Melbourne Social Equity Institute

    • Data Protection is a Mental Health Issue for Young People

      Australia’s leading use of digital technologies in youth mental health services could help inform Australia’s Privacy Act review, with lessons for mental health services along the way.

    • COVID-19’s Negative Impact on Refugees’ Employment Prospects

      While lockdown measures remain our best strategy to manage the COVID-19 spread as vaccination rates increase, the resulting psychological distress and economic damage cannot be ignored. For refugees and people seeking asylum, the impact is disproportionately felt, and the challenges profound.

    • Protecting Older Australian Women from Homelessness

      Older women are the fastest growing group of people experiencing homelessness in Australia, and crucial to change is providing greater access to social and affordable housing

    • Food for Thought

      University students going hungry in Australia was a persistent problem before COVID-19, now it’s time we use the crisis to come up with sustainable solutions for our campuses.

    • How Could Mental Health Peer Support Workers Improve Emergency Departments?

      New research suggests that people in mental distress seeking help at an Emergency Department would benefit from peer-support workers who understand their experience.

    • 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.

    • A Community Acting Against Family Violence

      One Aboriginal community has co-designed an online family violence resource for their own people, prioritising the voices of Australia’s First Nations populations in positive change

    • COVID-19 Blog Series

      Researchers whose work we support consider their work in the light of responses to COVID-19.

    • 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.

    • 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.

    • 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.

    • Just Justice Through Supporting Fitness to Plead

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

    • No Safe Place to Stay

      As house prices increase in cities like Melbourne, it’s women most at risk of family violence who face potential homelessness.

    • 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.

    • 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.

    • 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.

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

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

    • 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.

    • 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.

    • 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

    • 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.

    • Can the NDIS Deliver?

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

    • 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.

    • 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.

    Melbourne Social Equity Institute is committed to achieving fairer societies through research that makes a difference.

    We conduct and facilitate interdisciplinary research that addresses the causes and consequences of social inequities and  advances knowledge about effective ways to respond.

    We are leaders in community-engaged and co-productive research for social change. Our work contributes to changing public policy and perceptions, as well as improving social and organisational practices. Our approach creates opportunities for researchers, community organisations and people with lived expertise to develop their skills in working together.

    View our Strategic Purpose Statement

    • 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.

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    • Researchers

      Research priority leads steer the research direction, commission projects and champion outputs.

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    • Governance

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

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    • Annual Reports

      Research and engagement highlights from 2013 – 2021.

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    Contact

    Email
    social-equity@unimelb.edu.au
    Postal address
    Melbourne Social Equity Institute, The University of Melbourne, Victoria 3010, Australia
    Location
    Level 7, 185 Pelham Street, Carlton

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