The Centre for Policy Futures specialises in research that is designed for meaningful societal impact by centring individual and community voices in public discourse, deliberation and policy formation on key social issues.
With a focus on equity and justice our research seeks to empower communities through partnerships that promote individual and collective agency and centre lived experience and voice. A key aspect of this approach is the co-construction of knowledge with the ‘targets’ of social and economic policies – to gain a richer understanding of the problem and to produce research and policy analysis that is solutions orientated.
Our current projects aim to address social, cultural and economic inequalities and injustices, especially those resulting from climate change, the COVID-19 pandemic, changes to work and labour and the rise of new and emerging technologies. Examples include:
- 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)
- 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
- How equitable and non-discriminatory access to health services can be advanced for First Nations peoples via a case study of the Queensland Human Rights Act
- 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
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 Marnee Shay
Senior Research Fellow, Centre for Policy Futures, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
Dr Claire Brolan
Research Fellow, Centre for Policy Futures, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences