Connecting social policy and urban planning for a low carbon future. Australia has one of the most carbon intensive economies in the developed world. This project aims to identify policy synergies between environmental, economic and social policies that can move Australia toward a low carbon economy and model of sustainable prosperity. The project plans to place questions about poverty, transport and urban planning at the heart of examining how developed nations can move past a high carbon model ....Connecting social policy and urban planning for a low carbon future. Australia has one of the most carbon intensive economies in the developed world. This project aims to identify policy synergies between environmental, economic and social policies that can move Australia toward a low carbon economy and model of sustainable prosperity. The project plans to place questions about poverty, transport and urban planning at the heart of examining how developed nations can move past a high carbon model of economic growth and city planning. It aims to use innovative research methods, such as cross-national comparisons, political discourse analysis, planning case studies and deliberative public forums to engage the community, scientists and policy makers in re-imagining Australia's future.Read moreRead less
The institutional structure of e-government: a cross-policy, cross-country comparison. Governments have expended vast resources on building websites, yet how government is structured on the internet is unknown. This project will map Australia's online government for the first time and assess to how websites are supporting improved government service. The study will support government innovation in web design and service delivery.
Meeting 2020 Targets: Effective Transitions for Renewable Energy & Beyond. This research offers significant benefits in developing new transition approaches to address key socio-political challenges of climate change adaptation. It will provide fundamental knowledge on how Australian governments, businesses and civil society groups can improve windfarm planning procedures that meaningfully engage affected communities across Australia. It addresses 2 national research priorities in developing app ....Meeting 2020 Targets: Effective Transitions for Renewable Energy & Beyond. This research offers significant benefits in developing new transition approaches to address key socio-political challenges of climate change adaptation. It will provide fundamental knowledge on how Australian governments, businesses and civil society groups can improve windfarm planning procedures that meaningfully engage affected communities across Australia. It addresses 2 national research priorities in developing appropriate and adaptive responses for better utilising renewable energy, and supportive structures and processes for a culture of innovation. The project will also contribute useful resources for researchers/practitioners seeking community input from geographically dispersed populations, and a new e-democracy technique. Read moreRead less
Learned Academies Special Projects - Grant ID: LA170100011
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$170,000.00
Summary
The use of big data for social policy: benefits and risks. This project aims to investigate the benefits and risks of using ‘big data’ and analytics for social policy. Drawing on documentary sources and interviews with experts and stakeholders, the project will use five case studies to examine the capability, underlying assumptions and possible impacts of such techniques. The project will bring together a multi-disciplinary team of social and data scientists to identify the infrastructural, tech ....The use of big data for social policy: benefits and risks. This project aims to investigate the benefits and risks of using ‘big data’ and analytics for social policy. Drawing on documentary sources and interviews with experts and stakeholders, the project will use five case studies to examine the capability, underlying assumptions and possible impacts of such techniques. The project will bring together a multi-disciplinary team of social and data scientists to identify the infrastructural, technical, and social, ethical and legal issues that need to be addressed. The project will define key issues for future research, promote collaboration between the social sciences and big data disciplines, while creating opportunities for building capability for researchers in the social sciences. Read moreRead less
Government web portals as government actors. This project aims to examine the architectures, rationales, effectiveness and power effects of government web portals, which are conceptualised as spaces of administrative, policy and power contestation. They are the formal public face of online government, but their effectiveness and contribution to government is largely unknown. The project uses digital research methods (hyperlink network analysis and web experiments) to comparatively assess 10 hi-t ....Government web portals as government actors. This project aims to examine the architectures, rationales, effectiveness and power effects of government web portals, which are conceptualised as spaces of administrative, policy and power contestation. They are the formal public face of online government, but their effectiveness and contribution to government is largely unknown. The project uses digital research methods (hyperlink network analysis and web experiments) to comparatively assess 10 hi-tech countries. It expects to contribute to understanding the structure and governance of the state in the 21st century, and provide foundational knowledge to underpin the next generation of government online service strategy.Read moreRead less
Redistribution and Risk in Contracting Out Government Services. Governments across Australia spend billions of dollars per year on contracting out of their services, yet there is very knowledge of the costs and benefits of contracting out. The existing research on contracting out tends to focus narrowly on issues such as cost. This research will examine a much broader range of consequences associated with contracting out including changes in the distribution of resources, changes in political ....Redistribution and Risk in Contracting Out Government Services. Governments across Australia spend billions of dollars per year on contracting out of their services, yet there is very knowledge of the costs and benefits of contracting out. The existing research on contracting out tends to focus narrowly on issues such as cost. This research will examine a much broader range of consequences associated with contracting out including changes in the distribution of resources, changes in political power between groups and changes in the nature of service delivery. The research will have three outcomes: testing of a systematic framework for evaluating contracting out, new knowledge on the impacts of contracting out across a wider range of outcomes, and an analysis of the distributive relationships associated with contracting out.Read moreRead less
Engaged Government: A study of government-community engagement for regional outcomes. The devolution of government business to regional government/community partnerships, coupled with the call for greater policy coherence, is challenging all levels of government and communities to collaborate in new ways to deliver regional outcomes. There is little empirical research to guide public managers in determining best value arrangements and strategic investments for building a region's 'collaborative ....Engaged Government: A study of government-community engagement for regional outcomes. The devolution of government business to regional government/community partnerships, coupled with the call for greater policy coherence, is challenging all levels of government and communities to collaborate in new ways to deliver regional outcomes. There is little empirical research to guide public managers in determining best value arrangements and strategic investments for building a region's 'collaborative advantage'. This project will examine the conditions (strategic, structural and procedural) under which multi-sectoral collaboration can deliver policy coherence and positive regional outcomes and identify the costs, benefits, trade-offs and capacities associated with effective multi-sectoral collaboration.
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Decision making in international organisations: who and what shapes decisions? This project explores the working of seven international organisations (IOs) to ask who or what shapes what IOs do. Using public policy concepts to analyse the contributions of state representatives, chief executives and staff within IOs, this project seeks to provide more realistic appreciation of what IOs can achieve.
The utilisation of social science research in policy development and program review. This project will enhance the use of evidence in social policy and improve the relevance of applied social research. It will produce new insights into factors affecting the success of evidence-based decision-making by examining social research utilisation within various agencies at federal and state levels. National and community benefits centre on how to improve the policy uptake of social research. This will c ....The utilisation of social science research in policy development and program review. This project will enhance the use of evidence in social policy and improve the relevance of applied social research. It will produce new insights into factors affecting the success of evidence-based decision-making by examining social research utilisation within various agencies at federal and state levels. National and community benefits centre on how to improve the policy uptake of social research. This will contribute to the development of improved support systems to enhance the consideration of evidence-based policy. Outcomes will be applicable to governments, policy-makers and academics in Australia and abroad. Ways to improve research partnerships between academic social scientists and public sector agencies will be identified. Read moreRead less
International Civil Servants and the World Bank: their Role and Impact. The World Bank is the principal international organisation responsible for alleviating poverty and advocating good governance.Understanding the World Bank and its impact in the South Asian and East Asia regions should enable an improved capability for Australia to appreciate the attempts to alleviate the poverty in the region that is so much a source of instability there. We further need to understand the potential of int ....International Civil Servants and the World Bank: their Role and Impact. The World Bank is the principal international organisation responsible for alleviating poverty and advocating good governance.Understanding the World Bank and its impact in the South Asian and East Asia regions should enable an improved capability for Australia to appreciate the attempts to alleviate the poverty in the region that is so much a source of instability there. We further need to understand the potential of internatonal civil servants to contribute to international cooperation and the process of globalization. Read moreRead less