Social justice is central to driving transformational policy change that benefits people and planet, and is an essential component for ensuring inclusive and equitable outcomes on key eco-social and economic issues. With a focus on equity and human rights, research in this programme finds solutions to problems of disempowerment, social marginalisation and exclusion by investigating the complex social processes, laws, institutions and practices that can improve policy-making practices and outcomes in the future - especially for disadvantaged or marginalised groups. This involves centering peoples’ lived experiences of inequality while also learning from their vast knowledge of resilience, resistance and social action. Empowerment is pursued through partnerships that promote individual and collective agency and through innovative research methods that emphasise the co-construction of knowledge with the ‘targets’ of social and economic policies.
We are interested in working with you. To commission research or find out more about this theme, please contact our Justice, Rights and Empowerment Theme Lead, Dr Kiah Smith, at k.smith2@uq.edu.au.
Dr Kiah Smith (Theme Lead)
Research Fellow, Centre for Policy Futures, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
Professor Greg Marston
Director, Centre for Policy Futures, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
Dr Caitlin Curtis
Research Fellow, Centre for Policy Futures, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
Dr Rose Stambe
Research Fellow, Centre for Policy Futures, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
Dr Christine (Tin) Ablaza
Research Fellow, Centre for Policy Futures, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
Dr Arianna Gatta
Research Fellow, Centre for Policy Futures, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences and School of Economics, BEL Faculty
Associate Professor Marnee Shay
Principal Research Fellow (School of Education) and Research Associate, Centre for Policy Futures, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
Dr Claire Brolan
Research Fellow (School of Public Health) and Research Associate, Centre for Policy Futures, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
Current Projects in the Justice, Rights and Empowerment programme include:
- The Forgotten Children, Ten Years On (ARC Linkage Project)
- St Vincent de Paul evidence research partnership (2023-2026)
- Photovoice and Service User Driven Transformations (Anglicare Southern Queensland)
- Activating employment futures through work integration social enterprise (ARC Linkage Project administered through The University of Melbourne)
- A Just Climate Transition: Developing a social justice framework for a just climate transition in rural Victoria (ARC Linkage Project administered by the University of New South Wales)
Past Projects in the Justice, Rights and Empowerment programme include:
- Advancing equitable and non-discriminatory access to health services for First Nations peoples: A multidisciplinary Queensland Human Rights Act case study
- Conditional Welfare: A Comparative case study of Income Management Policies
- Seamless Journeys to Work for Young Adults with Disabilities (ARC LInkage Project)
- An evaluation of the Keeping Families Together (KFT) project that provides supportive housing for families experiencing vulnerabilities.
- A ten year empirical review of tenancies at Common Ground Queensland.
- Reconceptualising Indigenous education through a discourse of excellence
- Investigating the role and performance of civil society organisations in achieving the SDGs in Germany and Australia
- Investigating how community food networks address inequalities in food access by advancing understandings of food justice and governance