Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal sex-offenders in Australia: Assessing risk for practice and policy. A key priority of Australian governments is to improve community safety through reducing the risk of sex offenders re-offending after release from prison. This project will assess the validity of tools used to predict the risk of sexual offender recidivism and identify alternate risk assessment tools for Indigenous and non-Indigenous sex offenders.
Criminalisation of poverty and homelessness in Australia: A national study. The project aims to assess the policing and enforcement of public order crimes and related offences (e.g. obstruct/disobey police, breach of bail, and minor property offences) on individuals experiencing poverty and homelessness. The project endeavours to collect and analyse qualitative data from across Australia on the lived experience of people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness, regarding the impact of crimin ....Criminalisation of poverty and homelessness in Australia: A national study. The project aims to assess the policing and enforcement of public order crimes and related offences (e.g. obstruct/disobey police, breach of bail, and minor property offences) on individuals experiencing poverty and homelessness. The project endeavours to collect and analyse qualitative data from across Australia on the lived experience of people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness, regarding the impact of criminal laws and police powers concerned with presence in, and movement around public places. It will particularly focus on the impact on women, children and Indigenous peoples. The outcomes will seek to reduce the criminalisation of homeless people, by identifying law and policy reform options, and comparing their cost with that of 'business as usual'.Read moreRead less
Access to justice in interpreted proceedings: the role of Judicial Officers. This project aims to examine the ways judicial officers can improve courtroom communication and prevent miscommunication and error, particularly in criminal cases where speakers of the 'new and emerging' and Aboriginal languages are involved, and where interpreters receive limited or no specialised training. Using an innovative interdisciplinary approach, the project aims to generate new knowledge in examining the varia ....Access to justice in interpreted proceedings: the role of Judicial Officers. This project aims to examine the ways judicial officers can improve courtroom communication and prevent miscommunication and error, particularly in criminal cases where speakers of the 'new and emerging' and Aboriginal languages are involved, and where interpreters receive limited or no specialised training. Using an innovative interdisciplinary approach, the project aims to generate new knowledge in examining the variations in judicial officers communications practice when working with interpreters, and their impact on the effective transmission of information in the courtroom. Expected outcomes of this project will include improved outcomes of interpreted communication and a better access to justice for non-English speaking participants.Read moreRead less
Australian human rights complaints: Litigation, mediation or conciliation. This project will assess the effectiveness of the mechanisms used to resolve human rights complaints in Australia – conciliation, mediation and litigation. It will be the first project to evaluate the effectiveness of these mechanisms in a human rights context. Working with industry partners from the legal sector and four human rights commissions, this project will generate new knowledge on human rights complaints and on ....Australian human rights complaints: Litigation, mediation or conciliation. This project will assess the effectiveness of the mechanisms used to resolve human rights complaints in Australia – conciliation, mediation and litigation. It will be the first project to evaluate the effectiveness of these mechanisms in a human rights context. Working with industry partners from the legal sector and four human rights commissions, this project will generate new knowledge on human rights complaints and on the views of key stakeholders about the effectiveness of the mechanisms used to resolve human rights complaints. This new information will inform legal and policy reform throughout Australia. The expected outcomes include developing a robust evidence-based model for human rights dispute resolution in the Australian context.Read moreRead less
Evaluating redress mechanisms governing the human rights practices of transnational business: lessons for institutional design and operation. Australian and United Kingdom researchers will collaborate with leading development and human rights organisations to design regulatory systems that promote sustained business compliance with human rights norms, and enable workers and communities to defend their human rights when these are infringed by businesses from Australia and other OECD countries.
Participation in the administration of justice: deaf citizens as jurors. This project will pioneer international research on legal signed language interpreting and jury service; the results are likely to innovate law reform. The expected outcome will be to overturn previously held common law that deaf people cannot serve as jurors due to having an interpreter as the 13th person in the jury room as well as confidentiality issues.
Exceptional teachers for disadvantaged schools: A longitudinal study of graduates at work in low socio-economic status schools. Recruiting and retaining quality teachers for disadvantaged schools is a persistent problem of international significance. Building on a successful partnership with Queensland Department of Education, Training and Employment, this project aims to investigate how graduates from a unique teacher education program - designed to prepare quality teachers for schools situated ....Exceptional teachers for disadvantaged schools: A longitudinal study of graduates at work in low socio-economic status schools. Recruiting and retaining quality teachers for disadvantaged schools is a persistent problem of international significance. Building on a successful partnership with Queensland Department of Education, Training and Employment, this project aims to investigate how graduates from a unique teacher education program - designed to prepare quality teachers for schools situated in low socio-economic communities - perceive, recognise and enact ‘quality’ in their practice. The project merges theory on disadvantage with school-based practice and evidence of impact to develop theorisations of how early career teachers understand and enact quality teaching. The findings have implications for policy and practice in teacher education and capacity building.Read moreRead less
Building a bridge into preschool in remote Northern Territory communities. The focus of this project is the engagement of remote Indigenous children and families in a culturally appropriate, evidence-based early childhood education and care program that provides an opportunity to close the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous school achievement.
Improving outcomes through accessible assessment and inclusive practices. Complex assessment tasks and pedagogies present barriers to the learning and achievement of students with disability, including those with language and/or attentional difficulties. This research will test: 1) whether accessible assessment task design leads to improved student outcomes; 2) whether enhancing teachers’ inclusive practice improves student access to formative assessment pedagogies, enabling more accurate studen ....Improving outcomes through accessible assessment and inclusive practices. Complex assessment tasks and pedagogies present barriers to the learning and achievement of students with disability, including those with language and/or attentional difficulties. This research will test: 1) whether accessible assessment task design leads to improved student outcomes; 2) whether enhancing teachers’ inclusive practice improves student access to formative assessment pedagogies, enabling more accurate student understanding of assessment aims and requirements; and 3) how improvements in task design and teacher practice can be sustained and upscaled across secondary school departments. Expected outcomes of international significance are more inclusive learning and assessment practices with the potential to benefit all students.Read moreRead less
Addressing the food and health needs of ageing Baby boomers. This project will facilitate the future provision of food and health promotion services for the "baby boomers" (aged 55 to 70 years). Three consecutive surveys will be administered to a random sample of 1500 middle -aged people which will examine their food consumption and health habits; the psycho social determinants of these behaviours, and, their retirement preparedness. The creation of the project data base will facilitate the moni ....Addressing the food and health needs of ageing Baby boomers. This project will facilitate the future provision of food and health promotion services for the "baby boomers" (aged 55 to 70 years). Three consecutive surveys will be administered to a random sample of 1500 middle -aged people which will examine their food consumption and health habits; the psycho social determinants of these behaviours, and, their retirement preparedness. The creation of the project data base will facilitate the monitoring of future changes and trends in this representative sample of late middle aged people.Read moreRead less