Social Work and Human Services staff are committed to undertaking high quality research relevant to the needs of the diverse communities which social work and human services practitioners work with. The goal of our research is to improve the health and wellbeing of vulnerable groups through contributing to new knowledge which informs social policy and professional practice. This goal is reflected in the following research priorities of our staff and higher degree research students:
- Children and Young People: including issues of child safety; professional practice and citizenship.
- Social exclusion: including the needs of specific communities such as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander; migrant and refugee; lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender; rural and remote; as well as exclusionary practices related to public space.
- People with disabilities: including ageing of people with disabilities as well as their carers; social relationships and arts based practice.
- Workforce Issues in Human Services: including education, training, recruitment and retention of human service professionals; workforce trends and policies.
Approaches to Research
A broad spectrum of research approaches are utilized by Social Work and Human Services staff and research students including:
- Participatory action research
- Evaluation Research
- Qualitative Research
- Quantitative Research
- Discourse Analysis
- Postgraduate research programs