The Centre for Livelihoods and Wellbeing helps create evidence-based policy and practice with the power fundamentally to improve people’s quality of life in an objective, meaningful and measureable way.
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About us
Over the past decade we have seen a growing global focus on ‘wellbeing’. But what is wellbeing? As a concept it is difficult to pin down because it is dependent on context, culture and place.
Wellbeing is connected to the physical environment in which we live, the social and political systems impacting us, our workplaces, homes and communities and our personal physical and mental health.
Wellbeing can be studied from a macro perspective – by focussing on the wellbeing of populations in the country at large all the way down to wellbeing within communities and at the micro level of individual people and their families.
The Centre for Livelihoods and Wellbeing brings together economists, organisational and management theorists, finance and marketing experts, psychologists, policy analysts, technologists and law and health specialists to work in partnership with government, community and industry to understand wellbeing.
Our approach is ‘bottom up’ – starting with individuals and communities. We exist in a diverse culture, so we try to ensure that our research is inclusive and reflective of cultural values by bringing in researchers from affected communities and groups because their lived experiences provide invaluable insights for us in shaping and informing our projects.
Our goal is to help create evidence-based policy and practice with the power fundamentally to improve people's quality of life in an objective, meaningful and measurable way.
Some of the core questions we are addressing include:
- How can we ensure that every sector in society is empowered to build sustainable and satisfying livelihoods – whether via conventional work or other options for earning a living?
- How can wellbeing be defined and understood in a way which is useful and meaningful for everyone?
- How does wellbeing change over the lifespan?
- How can livelihoods and wellbeing be maintained and improved?
- What is the interaction/intersection between livelihoods and wellbeing?
- How does government policy affect livelihoods and wellbeing at all scales – from micro to a macro scale?
At an international scale our research will support vulnerable and disadvantaged groups not only in Australia and other OECD nations but also in low-income countries, especially those in South East Asia, the Middle East and Africa.