Nodal Governance and Human Security. Australia is in a region where a number of countries fail to provide their people with security in basic areas such as health and community security. Understanding the security problems of Australia's neighbours is vital, but not easy. This pathbreaking project will help Australians involved in working with these countries to gain an interrelated understanding of the problems facing our neighbours. The benefits that flow from this include an improved planning ....Nodal Governance and Human Security. Australia is in a region where a number of countries fail to provide their people with security in basic areas such as health and community security. Understanding the security problems of Australia's neighbours is vital, but not easy. This pathbreaking project will help Australians involved in working with these countries to gain an interrelated understanding of the problems facing our neighbours. The benefits that flow from this include an improved planning capacity for dealing with security issues in the region, better use of the resources that we provide, and strengthened relationships with our neighbours. We will do this while placing Australia at the head of an emerging, highly exciting field of study centred on human security.Read moreRead less
EEO in a Culture of Uncertainty. Australia appears to be losing its commitment to equal opportunity as work becomes increasingly insecure. Deference to employers, including transnational corporations, is already exercising a disproportionate effect on women, racial minorities and people with disabilities. The impact of the market, globalisation and free trade agreements is resulting in the increasing marginalisation of EEO and anti-discrimination measures. As a turning away from social justice i ....EEO in a Culture of Uncertainty. Australia appears to be losing its commitment to equal opportunity as work becomes increasingly insecure. Deference to employers, including transnational corporations, is already exercising a disproportionate effect on women, racial minorities and people with disabilities. The impact of the market, globalisation and free trade agreements is resulting in the increasing marginalisation of EEO and anti-discrimination measures. As a turning away from social justice in favour of the market and profit-making can only impoverish a democratic society, this timely study will examine the nature of the retreat in the hope that something might be done about it. Read moreRead less
Restorative Justice and the Life Course: Victims and Offenders in Longitudinal Perspective. Reduction of crime and its effects is a major priority for Australia. Restorative justice represents one of the most promising policy innovations currently available for prevention of repeat offending and for benefiting victims of crime. Apart from the justice dimension, it has much wider community application from school bullying to peace building after civil war. Our study will provide knowledge about i ....Restorative Justice and the Life Course: Victims and Offenders in Longitudinal Perspective. Reduction of crime and its effects is a major priority for Australia. Restorative justice represents one of the most promising policy innovations currently available for prevention of repeat offending and for benefiting victims of crime. Apart from the justice dimension, it has much wider community application from school bullying to peace building after civil war. Our study will provide knowledge about its actual economic and social benefits (or adverse effects) - nationally and at the community level. This knowledge is vital to answer the questions: "Is it effective? Should it play a major role in our society?" as well as identifying areas in which current use can be improved to the benefit of victims of crime and the broader community.Read moreRead less
Challenging the neoliberal critique of deficit spending and public debt. This project aims to analyse the rhetoric of balanced budgets by examining its intellectual and political history and revisiting counterarguments. Expected outcomes from the project will include insights into the development of rhetoric based on analysis of archival, textual and interview-based data . Findings from the project will be published in online fora with wide readership in national and international policy circle ....Challenging the neoliberal critique of deficit spending and public debt. This project aims to analyse the rhetoric of balanced budgets by examining its intellectual and political history and revisiting counterarguments. Expected outcomes from the project will include insights into the development of rhetoric based on analysis of archival, textual and interview-based data . Findings from the project will be published in online fora with wide readership in national and international policy circles. The project has the capacity to provide insights into and benefits for policy discourse on government deficit-spending and public debt.Read moreRead less
Job quality and the mental health and well-being of working parents and their children. Maximizing workforce participation is a national priority, essential to support an ageing population. Also critical is the full development of children's capabilities; part of a healthy start to life. Jobs, parents, children and family life lie at the centre of these priorities. Although employment supports families financially, this may come at a cost if aspects of the job affect parent well-being, or strain ....Job quality and the mental health and well-being of working parents and their children. Maximizing workforce participation is a national priority, essential to support an ageing population. Also critical is the full development of children's capabilities; part of a healthy start to life. Jobs, parents, children and family life lie at the centre of these priorities. Although employment supports families financially, this may come at a cost if aspects of the job affect parent well-being, or strains family relationships, which are critical to children's development and well-being. As well as informing industrial relations changes, this project will benefit the twin economic and social policy goals of workforce participation while at the same time supporting the health and well-being of parents and their children.Read moreRead less
Living with personal data: Australians' understandings and practices. This project aims to involve citizens and other stakeholders in generating new knowledge about Australians' practices and understandings related to their personal data and data futures. Personal digital data have possible benefits not just for the individuals from whom the data are generated, but also for society, government and the economy. Yet there are also potential harms, such as challenges to civil rights, life opportuni ....Living with personal data: Australians' understandings and practices. This project aims to involve citizens and other stakeholders in generating new knowledge about Australians' practices and understandings related to their personal data and data futures. Personal digital data have possible benefits not just for the individuals from whom the data are generated, but also for society, government and the economy. Yet there are also potential harms, such as challenges to civil rights, life opportunities and data privacy. The project intends to develop applied and theoretical insights into the nature of people’s understandings of and engagements with their data. Its findings are expected to contribute knowledge relevant to policy development and data privacy advocacy.Read moreRead less
Cross-cultural institution-building and development interventions: linking applied and critical approaches. This project will examine cross-cultural institutions created in the context of development, planning and management interventions. The proposed collaboration will support two APAI scholars to research the social and cultural processes whereby such institutions engage local communities in resource mapping, planning and decision-making. One scholar will work in East Timor, the other in the ....Cross-cultural institution-building and development interventions: linking applied and critical approaches. This project will examine cross-cultural institutions created in the context of development, planning and management interventions. The proposed collaboration will support two APAI scholars to research the social and cultural processes whereby such institutions engage local communities in resource mapping, planning and decision-making. One scholar will work in East Timor, the other in the Northern Territory. A key objective is to combine applied and critical approaches in expanding our understanding of the interactions that takes place between external agencies and local communities. The research will contribute to the improved design and implementation of initiatives for managing local resources.Read moreRead less
Negotiating the Life Course: Education, Work, Family and Lifestyle Behaviour in Australia. The Negotiating the Life Course Project is a leading Australian social science resource accessible to and widely used by university researchers and students, especially PhD students. Beyond its major academic contributions, its results have been extensively reported in the media and have greatly increased community understanding of Australian society. It has an important and on-going role in several areas ....Negotiating the Life Course: Education, Work, Family and Lifestyle Behaviour in Australia. The Negotiating the Life Course Project is a leading Australian social science resource accessible to and widely used by university researchers and students, especially PhD students. Beyond its major academic contributions, its results have been extensively reported in the media and have greatly increased community understanding of Australian society. It has an important and on-going role in several areas of policy formulation especially in the development of policies related to the balance of work and family. Its principals are leading social commentators in these policy areas because, in large part, they are able to draw upon this significant national resource. Read moreRead less
Negotiating the Lifecourse: Longitudinal research into work and family transitions and trajectories. The Negotiating the Life Course Project is a leading Australian social science resource widely used by university researchers and students, especially PhD students. The research on life course pathways will see Australian researchers contribute to major advances that are being made in this field, particularly in Europe. Beyond its major academic contributions, results have been extensively report ....Negotiating the Lifecourse: Longitudinal research into work and family transitions and trajectories. The Negotiating the Life Course Project is a leading Australian social science resource widely used by university researchers and students, especially PhD students. The research on life course pathways will see Australian researchers contribute to major advances that are being made in this field, particularly in Europe. Beyond its major academic contributions, results have been extensively reported in the media and have increased community understanding of Australian society. It has an important role in several areas of policy formulation especially in work/family, housing and education. Its principals are leading social commentators in these policy areas partly because they are able to draw upon this significant national resource. Read moreRead less
Stewarding thin markets: improving public sector market effectiveness. This project aims to develop methodologies to identify thin markets in the public service sector. Thin markets, where there are a low number of buyers or low number of sellers, are a major risk for governments utilising a personalised approach to service delivery. This project will develop new methodologies for identifying thin markets and determine ways emerging markets can be stewarded to better achieve their aims.