Community Fellows Program Wins University of Melbourne Excellence Award

Melbourne Social Equity Institute's Community Fellows Program has been awarded the 2022 University of Melbourne Excellence Award for Excellence in Public Benefit. This award recognises exemplar programs, events and publications that contribute to public debate on the issues affecting society.

All of Melbourne Social Equity Institute's work is underpinned by a commitment to community-engaged and coproductive research. The key feature of this approach is a high level of community decision-making about the purpose, design, conduct and use of research, which is exemplified by the Community Fellows Program.

Established in 2016, the Community Fellows Program brings members of community organisations into the University to undertake a research project of importance to their organisation. The program is targeted at small to medium-sized organisations that currently have very limited capacity to conduct research. Fellows are supported to achieve positive social outcomes, such as improved service design, successful policy advocacy and increased capacity to undertake future research.

The Community Fellows Program encourages research that is responsive to emerging social, policy and practice issues. Charlene Edwards (Executive Officer, Melbourne Social Equity Institute) explained that the program was developed to open up and share the resources and expertise of the University: “community organisations possess deep practice knowledge and are often best placed to undertake the research most needed by their organisations and communities. However, many lack the capacity and resources to test, codify and share this knowledge. The Community Fellows Program is a capacity-strengthening initiative that aims to benefit the Fellows, their organisations and the broader community.”

Professor Jo Barraket, Melbourne Social Equity Institute's Director since January 2022, noted the Community Fellows Program “is one of the hallmarks of MSEI’s work, modelling what’s possible when the leadership of communities and the community sector and the research capabilities of the University come together to respond to social equity issues.”

Melbourne Social Equity Institute would like to acknowledge the significant contribution of the Academic Mentors who are involved in the program,  without whom the program would not exist,  as well as to recognise Professor Deborah Warr who worked with Charlene Edwards to co-create the program.

Applications for the Community Fellows Program's fifth cohort, to commence in February 2023, recently closed and the new Fellows will be announced later this year.

For updates about the Community Fellows Program, and all of Melbourne Social Equity Institute's programs, events and activities, please subscribe to our email list and connect with us via Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.