Understanding vicarious trauma in Australian foster care. This project aims to investigate experiences of vicarious trauma in Australian foster care. This project expects to generate new knowledge about antecedents and mitigators of vicarious trauma, and will do so by using interdisciplinary approaches to understand the specific contexts in which vicarious trauma may occur. Expected outcomes of this project includes the generation of national data about vicarious trauma in foster care through th ....Understanding vicarious trauma in Australian foster care. This project aims to investigate experiences of vicarious trauma in Australian foster care. This project expects to generate new knowledge about antecedents and mitigators of vicarious trauma, and will do so by using interdisciplinary approaches to understand the specific contexts in which vicarious trauma may occur. Expected outcomes of this project includes the generation of national data about vicarious trauma in foster care through the development of a new measure of vicarious trauma. This should provide significant benefits, such as providing a clear means to assessing vicarious trauma, and through the development of a mobile app that will enable foster families in Australia to monitor and report experiences of vicarious trauma.Read moreRead less
The meaning of work, well-being and the changing terms, times and spaces of service sector jobs. This research investigates how work and its terms, timing, technologies and location are changing, and how these affect well-being. It will analyse the meaning that service sector workers draw from work, and how workers at the top (like professionals and consultants) compare with those at the lower end (like carers and cleaners).
Work, life and sustainable living: how work, household and community life interact to affect environmental behaviours and outcomes. The project addresses the research priority of an environmentally sustainable Australia. It examines how the circumstances and interaction of work, home and community affect capacities to reduce negative environmental impacts especially workplace and household transport, waste, energy and water use practices. The project brings the changing configuration of work to ....Work, life and sustainable living: how work, household and community life interact to affect environmental behaviours and outcomes. The project addresses the research priority of an environmentally sustainable Australia. It examines how the circumstances and interaction of work, home and community affect capacities to reduce negative environmental impacts especially workplace and household transport, waste, energy and water use practices. The project brings the changing configuration of work to the fore, addressing a gap in current research. It examines the implications for environmental change of the temporal and spatial organisation of 'work-life', including analysis of socio-economic and gender differences, informing practice and theory about how workers, workplaces and households can change for the better, in the interests of a sustainable, socially inclusive society.Read moreRead less
Investigating Conversational AI: Development, Usage and Governance. The project aims to provide new and powerful understandings of the consequences of chatbot technologies in terms of economy, society and governance. In doing so it will enable an integrated approach to understanding the ecosystem of developers, users and regulators of conversational AI in the retail and services sector. Expected outcomes and benefits include breakthrough theory, publications, and significant contributions to aca ....Investigating Conversational AI: Development, Usage and Governance. The project aims to provide new and powerful understandings of the consequences of chatbot technologies in terms of economy, society and governance. In doing so it will enable an integrated approach to understanding the ecosystem of developers, users and regulators of conversational AI in the retail and services sector. Expected outcomes and benefits include breakthrough theory, publications, and significant contributions to academic research and policy discussions across science, government, and industry. This should also place Australia at the forefront of the international scientific community and policy regulation in a fast-emerging area of technological development.
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Residents’ voices: advantage, disadvantage, community and place. Community renewal and redevelopment of concentrated public housing areas represents a significant public investment aimed at improving the life chances of residents, yet the way in which place factors influence social outcomes is not well understood. This research will enhance the potential for successful outcomes by creating opportunities for residents to develop and express their own knowledge and understanding of the links betwe ....Residents’ voices: advantage, disadvantage, community and place. Community renewal and redevelopment of concentrated public housing areas represents a significant public investment aimed at improving the life chances of residents, yet the way in which place factors influence social outcomes is not well understood. This research will enhance the potential for successful outcomes by creating opportunities for residents to develop and express their own knowledge and understanding of the links between place and disadvantage, in an international context. The emergence of a theorised, contextualised and well articulated set of explanations about poverty and place from the tenant perspective will also improve public understanding and reduce the social division and stigma currently associated with public housing.Read moreRead less
Playing for Life: the everyday music practices of marginalised youth as strategic pathways to agency, employment and socio-economic inclusion. Popular music is widely recognised as affectively and culturally central to marginalised youth, often providing strategic pathways to employment and socio-economic inclusion. This project is the first comparative international project to explore how marginalised youth engage with popular music in post-industrial societies, and how they develop their music ....Playing for Life: the everyday music practices of marginalised youth as strategic pathways to agency, employment and socio-economic inclusion. Popular music is widely recognised as affectively and culturally central to marginalised youth, often providing strategic pathways to employment and socio-economic inclusion. This project is the first comparative international project to explore how marginalised youth engage with popular music in post-industrial societies, and how they develop their music and technological skills by using local cultural resources that exist outside of formal schooling. Located in community-based organisations, the study will identify processes of learning and agency from the perspectives of young people themselves. The findings will enrich current social theory on youth, policy and program development of youth services.
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Indigenous nationhood in the absence of recognition: Self-governance insights and strategies from three Aboriginal communities. Based on evidence that effective governance is a necessary precursor to Indigenous communities’ economic, social and cultural outcomes, this project aims to strengthen Australian Indigenous communities by learning and sharing lessons about sustainable and effective Indigenous governance. In collaboration with three Aboriginal communities in Victoria, South Australia and ....Indigenous nationhood in the absence of recognition: Self-governance insights and strategies from three Aboriginal communities. Based on evidence that effective governance is a necessary precursor to Indigenous communities’ economic, social and cultural outcomes, this project aims to strengthen Australian Indigenous communities by learning and sharing lessons about sustainable and effective Indigenous governance. In collaboration with three Aboriginal communities in Victoria, South Australia and New South Wales that are differentially engaged in Indigenous governance processes, the project aims to identify innovation in community governance, test the usefulness of Australian governance assessment tools, and foster an Indigenous Australian and global network to share successful strategies. In doing so, the project contributes to an emerging theory of Indigenous nation building.Read moreRead less
Institutional Configurations, Religioisty and Public Influence of Religious Institutions Muslim Societies: A Comparative Study. Religious fundamentalism is a growing and important part of social change in Muslim countries. Using current religious, political, and social conditions as contrasting environments the proposed research will investigate the competing theories of Islamic fundamentalism, sociological correlates of Muslim religiosity and public influence of religious institutions in contra ....Institutional Configurations, Religioisty and Public Influence of Religious Institutions Muslim Societies: A Comparative Study. Religious fundamentalism is a growing and important part of social change in Muslim countries. Using current religious, political, and social conditions as contrasting environments the proposed research will investigate the competing theories of Islamic fundamentalism, sociological correlates of Muslim religiosity and public influence of religious institutions in contrasting institutional configurations by focusing on the Islamic Republic of Iran, Turkey and Nigeria. This will be achieved through a study of random/purposive samples of respondents in the three countries using survey methodology. The objective is to develop a theoretically and empirically grounded model of social, political and religious trajectories of Muslim societies.Read moreRead less
Investigating international work-related travel, global airports and transnational networks: innovation, shape and boundaries of mobile lifestyles. The research investigates the development of global business networks associated with international work-related travel and global airports. The project outcomes will potentially impact upon social policy in transport, education and lifestyle change by providing new knowledge about business innovation in the global electronic economy.
Industry 4.0 ecosystems: a comparative analysis of work-life transformation. This project aims to investigate the development of workplace culture in advanced manufacturing. An interdisciplinary team will generate new understandings of how digital technology transforms social relations in the advanced manufacturing workplace, the impacts of digital mobility, and potential work-life consequences. Expected outcomes include an integrated understanding of new mobile employment permutations, knowle ....Industry 4.0 ecosystems: a comparative analysis of work-life transformation. This project aims to investigate the development of workplace culture in advanced manufacturing. An interdisciplinary team will generate new understandings of how digital technology transforms social relations in the advanced manufacturing workplace, the impacts of digital mobility, and potential work-life consequences. Expected outcomes include an integrated understanding of new mobile employment permutations, knowledge about how to adapt to global workplace change and otherwise cope with dynamic digital skills retraining, and the development of world-class research capacity in Australia.Read moreRead less