Research_

Communities and change

Conducting community-centred research for social change
Developing the theory and practice of collaborative research with communities, including community-led approaches, participatory research and action research methods.

Centring communities in the development of the knowledge, policies, programs and services that are important to them involves reorienting how knowledge building occurs.  

Our research involves working with communities. Researchers with extensive experience are working collectively and creatively with communities for social, educational, environmental and cultural change. Collaborative research processes have been developed in projects on violence against women, disaster affected communities and low-income communities. Participatory research practices are also being utilised with groups and communities who have been stigmatised, criminalised, displaced or denied sovereignty in mental health, criminal justice, education, child protection, housing and other social systems. 

Knowledge developed collaboratively with community groups potentially contributes to more inclusive policy and practice. Our aim is to explore the limits and affordances of community-centred methods. 

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