At the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS), many of our researchers reach out to non-academic organisations and conduct research relevant to their needs.
Industry focussed research
You will find a spectrum of examples below, each one demonstrating the value for users of our curiosity-driven inquiries. If you peruse our research centre and research group pages, you will find more information about our experts.
Increasing Digital Health Literacy in Refugee Communities
Funder / Partner
South Western Sydney Local Health District (SWSLHD)
Aims
To identify the level of digital health literacy in refugee communities in south western Sydney including information sources used and design a program to increase digital health literacy among refugee communities, based on previous findings that refugee communities were not accessing or trusting official government health information and susceptible to misinformation.
Methods
- Global literature review in relation to digital literacy and digital health literacy;
- Consultation with refugee community leaders and representatives to identify information sources most used in their communities, digital platforms most used and trusted, and co-design a program to increase digital health literacy tailored to their communities;
- Design a digital health literacy workshop series based on global literature findings and local consultation, and test it with a sample of refugee community members;
- Evaluate the digital health literacy program and fine tune to meet local needs.
Outcomes
- Gained deep insights into the information sources used by refugee communities in relation to health;
- The project lays the foundations for future digital health literacy development among refugee communities, translating academic research findings, the recommendations of government inquiries, and professional knowledge into community practice.
Political economy and institutional effectiveness of coral reef restoration in the Philippines
Project lead
Associate Professor Michael Fabinyi
Project funder
Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (funded 2021-2024)
Project partners
Marine Environment and Resources Foundation, Macquarie University, Southern Cross University
Project description
Efforts at coral restoration seek to add to existing conventional management strategies by pro-actively restoring damaged reefs, and potentially form part of a wider strategy to effectively manage these maritime ecosystems, including the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. Coral restoration raises a series of governance challenges.
A critical challenge that this project will address is how to institutionalise the benefits of coral restoration through improved coral reef governance. This project aims to improve the institutional effectiveness of coral reef restoration in the Philippines, by understanding political-economic influences at multiple scales and applying lessons learned through a network based approach. It works in four sites across the country to identify strategies to protect coral reefs in these sites, and to support national policy for coral restoration.
The Darlinghurst Public History Initiative
Project lead
Investigators
Associate Professor Anna Clark, Associate Professor Tamson Pietsch, Dr Alana Piper
Funder
The Paul Ramsay Foundation
Rationale
The Paul Ramsay Foundation and the Australian Centre for Public History (ACPH) at UTS have formed a partnership to deliver a series of projects on the public history of Darlinghurst, with funding from the Foundation, to engage the diverse voices of Darlinghurst and create platforms and forums to amplify their stories.
ACPH will lead a series of conversations with the aim of building connections, understanding the values and assets of the community, and discerning the community’s aspirations for an enhanced future. Collaboration is at the heart of this project, in which the Centre for Social Justice and Inclusion at UTS, as well as Jumbunna and researchers from Murawin Indigenous corporation and Macquarie University, will produce a series of community engagements.
Several public history outputs, including a collection of Darlinghurst oral histories, a historical walking tour and two digital exhibitions on the history of Darlinghurst, are also being produced with the assistance of the State Library of New South Wales and the City of Sydney Archives. UTS Impact Studios is also working with the Foundation to create a series of podcasts that examine how public discourse on disadvantage is framed and the implications for policy and service provision in a range of sectors.
Findings
Most of the project components of the Darlinghurst Public History Initiative are due for release over 2022-23, when further reflections and outcomes will be elaborated and shared. However, the initial positive reception of completed work point to the Initiative’s successful engagement and reception: Season 1 of the podcast, On Life’s Lottery, was released and ranked #1 in Apple Podcasts’ Government category in November 2021 and featured in Spotify’s ‘Podcast Picks of the Week’ playlist November 16-22.
In the meantime, this PRF-funded project confirms ACPH’s capacity to develop and manage public-facing history in collaboration with major external partners. It also points to a possible future model of research partnership for universities more broadly.
Supporting families with children who have complex feeding difficulties
Project lead
Partner
Sydney Children’s Hospital Foundation, St George Hospital, Western Sydney University
Aims
To work with healthcare providers and communities to better meet the needs of families of children who tube-feed, so that those children and all family members can thrive.
Methods
We consult widely with families, and work closely with clinicians to identify care improvement priorities, everyday knowledge gaps that create barriers for families, and to determine the most needed forms of community support. We have used a Delphi process to collaboratively define KPIs for gold-standard clinical work.
Outcomes
We have produced childfeeding.org, curating families’ experiences and expertise to plug holes in information that enables thriving in everyday life. We have identified features of brilliant multidisciplinary care practices, and launched new KPIs to establish NSW’s first ever state-wide baseline data collection in multidisciplinary paediatric feeding clinics.
We have met community needs through establishing a world-first tube-feeding picnic, and run a public education campaign that reached over 270,000 parents with destigmatising messages about tube-feeding. Our current focus in on developing a new tube-feeding training program so that families have greater choice over who feeds their child, and learn how to tube-feed when not at home – a key factor linked to overcoming social isolation.
Using holistic student data to improve learning outcomes in a secondary school
Project lead
Partner
Redlands School
Aims
To work with teachers and school leaders to make effective use of existing data around student academic achievement, approaches to learning, and pastoral issues.
Methods
We are using a Change Laboratory method. This grounds the development of new practices and structural changes in collaborative analysis of data, prototyping, stress-testing and refining new ideas. We meet regularly with teachers and school leaders in groups focused on priority areas for change in the school.
Outcomes
To date the groups have developed models to guide change in five key areas, and implementation has begun in each of them, with a number of significant changes already showing positive results.
Exploiting digital pedagogies to improve learning and well-being for all students in challenging times
UTS Ref: PRO20-11179 Cat3.1.1.1 Australian industry. $41.2K 2020 – current.
Ethics approval UTS HREC (ETH20-5354).
Project lead
Partner
NSW Association for Independent Schools (AISNSW).
Researchers
- Professor Matthew Kearney (FASS, UTS)
- Professor Paul Burke (Business, UTS)
- Professor Sandra Schuck (FASS Adjunct, UTS)
- Dr. Rachel Perry (AISNSW - Industry partner)
Aims
The pandemic necessitated the use of digital devices and associated teaching practices. Despite previous reservations, schools were seeking evidence-based guidelines for using these technologies to mediate pedagogy. We reacted astutely to these challenges to lead the design of an interdisciplinary project to investigate teachers’ effective and inclusive digital pedagogies during and after the period of remote learning in 2020 and 2021.
Methods
Phase One of the research examined the exemplary practices of four NSW schools with a reputation for successful remote teaching in this period. Case study methodology was employed. Data collection included interviews with school leaders and teachers from various disciplines, as well as focus groups with students. Artefacts, including student work samples and school policies, were also analysed.
In Phase Two, a large-scale online survey was developed and conducted to gauge the experiences of school teachers (n=297) during the remote teaching periods stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic. The survey aimed to understand teachers experiences and for teachers to report their perceptions of their own students’ experiences during this time. It focused on several areas, including the student learning experience, opportunities and the design of assessment and feedback, as well as the impact of remote teaching on the level of interaction and relationships between teachers and students and between teachers and their colleagues. Additionally, the survey investigated the perceived impact of remote teaching on students’ and teachers’ wellbeing.
Outcomes
The research uncovered effective digital practices and factors influencing their successful enactment during the emergency remote teaching period. It broadens understanding of effective digital ‘pandemic pedagogies’ that support students’ learning in a range of learning spaces, and caters for their varied needs and circumstances. Key recommendations illuminate ways forward to guide teachers’ practice.
Phase One findings revealed that teachers adopted an agile mindset that helped them to embrace new practices that often resulted in serendipitous outcomes informing post-lockdown approaches. A feature of these practices was significantly improved blended learning approaches, and the use of technology to enhance student agency, peer learning and well-being. Take-home learning packages containing self-paced learning resources promoted student choice, ownership and control. Schools adopted a variety of inclusive strategies to assist students who were disadvantaged due to limited access to technologies.
Phase Two findings suggest the remote teaching period had a considerable negative impact for teachers and their students across all elements of learning and education, as well as individual wellbeing. The second part of the survey findings, however, reports on more positive aspects that teachers were able to report upon from their experiences during this same time. This qualitative component offered insights into how teachers were able to adapt and innovate to address the challenges of the remote teaching periods of 2020 and 2021. Professional learning journeys were evident for teachers, which allowed them to provide appropriate and meaningful learning experiences for their students. Future research is urgently needed to gauge students’ perceptions of their experiences of these remote learning approaches and initiatives, both digital and non-digital.
Outputs
Findings are published in two industry reports and other academic outputs, as listed below.
Further papers from both phases of the study are under preparation.
Scholarly journal papers and book chapters
Kearney, M., Schuck, S., Burden, K. (2022). Digital Pedagogies for Future School Education: Promoting Inclusion. Irish Educational Studies, special issue on Digital Education Futures. 41(1) 117-133 http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03323315.2021.2024446.
Kearney, M., Burden, K., & Schuck, S. (2022). Teachers' digital pedagogies during the emergency remote school lockdowns in Australia. In E. Baumgartner, R. Kaplan-Rakowski, R. Ferdig, R. Hartshorne, & C. Mouza (eds.). A Retrospective of Teaching, Technology, and Teacher Education During the COVID-19 Pandemic (pp. 215-220). Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE). Retrieved from https://www.learntechlib.org/primary/p/221522/.
Industry reports
Kearney, M., Schuck, S., Fergusson, J. & Perry, R. (2021). Digital learning practices during remote learning and beyond: A case study of four schools. Sydney, Australia: Association of Independent Schools New South Wales. https://opus.lib.uts.edu.au/handle/10453/151071 (Also available on industry partner’s website via https://bit.ly/aisnswcases )
Kearney, M., Burke, P. & Schuck, S. (2022). Report on the 2021 NSWAIS teacher survey on remote teaching. Sydney, Australia: Association of Independent Schools New South Wales.
Conference papers
Kearney, M., Perry, R., & Roos, T. (2021, Nov). Digital learning practices: A case study exploration of five diverse schools during remote learning and beyond. Presentation at the Aust. Association for Research in Education (AARE) conference. 28 Nov-2 Dec., 2021 Online.
Kearney, M. & Perry, R. (2021, Oct.). Enhancing digital learning practices for remote learning and beyond – lessons from the field. AISNSW Educational
Research Symposium 2021 Oct 18-19.
Academic partnerships for professional learning to build teacher capacity and student engagement in K-12 schools
Project lead
Associate Professor Jane Hunter
Partner
Current (invited) contract research with the NSW Department of Education.
Description
Two schools, one primary and one secondary have developed co-teaching teams within their contexts to grow integrated learning and ‘passion projects’ in STEM, HASS and STEAM.
Collaborations with collegial UTS experts involving online ‘master classes’ from Science, Engineering and IT and the Institute for Sustainable Futures including ‘a whale scientist’ from Macquarie University have deepened the research outcomes and impact in these disadvantaged and non-urban communities.
Data collection comprising quantitative and qualitative methods with online support via zoom, co-design instruments and experimentation with transdisciplinary learning sequences.
Climate change impacts for workers
Project lead
Researchers
- Dr Elizabeth Humphrys, Climate, Society & Environment Research Centre (C-SERC)
- Professor James Goodman, Climate, Society & Environment Research Centre (C-SERC)
Industry partners
- City of Sydney Council
- Centre for Future Work, The Australia Institute
- United Workers Union
Description
Climate change and its impact on work and production is a profound challenge for government, industry and workers. There are health risks and costs for the worlds one billion workers, as high heat increases the rate of workplace injuries and in severe cases can lead to death. Projections place most of Australia in the moderate to high-risk category for occupational heat stress, and some parts are at extreme risk. Bushfire smoke and floods present further challenges for workers.
To help solve these problems we partnered with a major local council, a national think tank and a union, to find out what is happening in diverse jobs and industries. We interviewed and surveyed workers about their experiences across the nation, including the problems they faced regarding the impacts of climate change, how they took action to protect themselves, and where processes needing improving. We heard from workers in construction, cleaning, health and aged care, manufacturing, early childhood care, food bicycle delivery, agriculture, and more. Our reports and recommendations highlight the need for urgent national and industry specific planning, changes to industrial legislation, and new occupational health and safety protocols.
Related links
An incomplete history of Community Radio - 46 Boxes of Stuff
Project lead
Dr Liz Giuffre, School of Communications/Music and Sound Design
Description
Working in collaboration with one of the oldest community broadcasters in Australia, 2SER FM, this industry focused research project consolidated and mobilised the station's 40 years of paper, audio, visual and digital archives, while creating original research as well. Also drawing in the City of Sydney and Studios 301 as partners, the project mobilised listeners, alumni and community groups to bring them all together and re-energise the station. Although this one community outlet was the case study - these are stories that so many community media have that are yet to be told.
The project's outcomes included a free public exhibition; a 'pop up archiving' day inviting the public to contribute and learn basic preservation techniques; original interviews with station alumni including politicians, musicians and journalists; the digitisation and deposit of the station's magazine Listening Post to Trove (the National Archive's free legacy service); a podcast series and a book.
The collaboration continues as we work together towards the station's next milestones - its 45th and 50th anniversaries and the best ways to approach these and community media's role given the continued challenges in the sector.
If you feel a collaboration with your organisation is possible and useful, please contact our Research Engagement Manager Annamari Laaksonen, for more information.
