Supporting students to undertake a PhD is an important part of the work that the Melbourne Social Equity Institute does to foster collaborative, interdisciplinary research at the University of Melbourne.
In addition to the Institute's Doctoral Academy and Interdisciplinary PhD Program in Migration, Statelessness and Refugee Studies, each year we give Australian Government Research Training Program Scholarships and other scholarships to students whose interest in social equity issues aligns closely to our research agenda.
Over the summer, we have been delighted to welcome three new PhD researchers to our cohort.
Meghan Lee
A community-based exploration of young migrant access to mental health services/support in Ballarat and Western Victoria
Supervisors: Associate Professor Cathy Vaughan (Melbourne School of Population and Global Health) and Dr Olivia Mitchell (Department of Rural Health)
Supported by the Ballarat EVOLVE Strategic Partnership
Prior to commencing your PhD, what were you doing?
I was finishing my Honours thesis in Anthropology, looking at Millennial student imaginings of the future. I spent lockdown with my housemate and our foster greyhounds. Since Melbourne opened up, I've been enjoying the freedom to visit family in Ballarat, go to the beach and take dance classes.
What drew you to start a PhD on this topic?
I've always been passionate about what it means to be a migrant (or to be seen as a migrant) in regional Australia, particularly my hometown Ballarat. The opportunity to conduct community-based research, working with the EVOLVE partnership around migrant settlement, integration and wellbeing, really appealed to me. I have chosen to focus on young migrant access to mental health services or support (I'm still deciding which) because I believe it is important to address the gap in literature concerning migrant mental health in the regional context.
What outcomes are you hoping to achieve?
I'm only a month into my PhD so I'm still trying to refine my precise research aims. I would like my research to provide a platform for the voices of the communities involved, and to provide some useful indications of potential directions for further research and action. Ideally, I would like it to assist in strengthening collaborative relationships and communication between migrant communities, healthcare providers, and the people working in between these spaces.
Mireille Kayeye
Empowerment of women seeking asylum: a voice for change
Supervisors: Dr Celia McMichael (School of Geography) and Associate Professor Bina Fernandez (School of Social and Political Sciences)
Supported by the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre
Prior to commencing your PhD, what were you doing?
I have a background in journalism producing programs and podcasts and using communication for social change. For the last two years, I have been working with the Corporate Diversity Partnerships at the Jesuit Social Services, implementing employment programs for people from migrant and refugee backgrounds
What drew you to start a PhD on this topic?
My own lived experience has led me to want to contribute in advocacy for and with women seeking asylum in Australia. There are many girls and women who are living in the community whose voices are silenced or not recognised. My conviction is that everyone's voice matters and every voice deserves to be heard to build an inclusive Australia,
What outcomes are you hoping to achieve?
My research aims to investigate how the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre and other agencies seek to empower women with lived experience of seeking asylum in Australia. I hope it will provide insights into what empowerment means to women seeking asylum and ways they can be empowered, actively engage with agencies and have a voice in the community.
Larissa Fogden
Children and young people living at the intersections of domestic and family violence, mental health, and alcohol and other drugs
Supervisors: Professor Cathy Humphreys (Department of Social Work) and Dr Margaret Kertesz (Department of Social Work)
Prior to commencing your PhD, what were you doing?
I've been working in the family violence sector (Melbourne family violence crisis/refuge accommodation and at the Melbourne Children's Court) with infant, child and young person victim/survivors and their families. I've also been part of the Domestic and Family Violence Research Team in the Department of Social Work at the University of Melbourne, working on projects related to parenting after violence and coordinating the 'Domestic and Family Violence' graduate subject. In the very distant past, I was a high school English and Drama teacher!
What drew you to start a PhD on this topic?
Working in this space and researching family violence-related parenting programs over the past few years, has made me think a lot about how to engage meaningfully with children, providing them with opportunities to share their perspective on their experiences of living with violence - their sense of risk and safety, how they view their relationships with themselves and others, their worries, fears, strengths and day-to-day feelings. I've noticed that workers can feel particularly uncomfortable talking to kids about their fathers (when their father has used violence), out of fear that asking about their dad may upset or 'retraumatise' the child. As a result, children are not given many opportunities to talk about their father outside of recounting the violence he has used and get the message that it's 'bad' to talk about Dad. We know that many children continue to see or be cared for by their dads (and other caregivers who use violence) and we need to build practitioner and researcher knowledge and confidence in how to safely engage in conversation with kids about these important relationships.
What outcomes are you hoping to achieve?
I hope to contribute to the evidence on how children experience the father-child relationship after violence, particularly when fathers are also living with mental illness and/or problematic substance use. I also hope to investigate how children's perspectives might be skilfully embedded into parenting programs for fathers who have used violence. Ideally, I hope to create, in consultation with child and young person victim/survivors, a practical and creative tool, that can be used by professionals to engage children in dialogue about their relationships with their fathers.