This project is a collaboration between researchers from four universities and colleagues from nine partner organisations. We also will establish two reference groups for key stakeholders and build links with other organisations with shared interests.
Professor Kitty te Riele
Kitty leads the research portfolio in the Peter Underwood Centre at the University of Tasmania. She is an expert on ways to support school engagement and success for students from disadvantaged and marginalised backgrounds.
Dr Michael Guerzoni
Mike is a Lecturer in Criminology in the School of Social Sciences at the University of Tasmania. His research areas include organisational culture and the safeguarding of children in organisational settings, and the education of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children.
Professor Anna Sullivan
Anna is Co-Director of the Centre for Research in Educational and Social Inclusion, and Professorial Lead (Research Performance and Evaluation) in UniSA Education Futures at the University of South Australia. Anna conducts research that contributes to a greater understanding of educational issues related to exclusion and inclusion, particularly related to school discipline, early career teachers and educational policy.
Professor Sharon Bessell
Sharon is the Director of the Children’s Policy Centre at the Crawford School of Public Policy, the Australian National University. Her research focuses on issues of social policy, social justice and the human rights of children. She has more than twenty-five years of experience in undertaking research with children on sensitive issues, including experiences of violence and exploitation, out-of-home care, and poverty.
Professor Daryl Higgins
Daryl is the Director of the Institute of Child Protection Studies at the Australian Catholic University. For 30 years, he has been researching child abuse and neglect prevention and responses, out-of-home care, and child-safe organisations.
Associate Professor Tom Brunzell
Tom is an internationally recognised leader in trauma-informed education and wellbeing sciences at the University of Melbourne, Faculty of Education. He examines the impacts of trauma-informed pedagogies through the interdisciplinary integration of the sciences of learning, engagement, and wellbeing, with a particular emphasis on trauma-informed school and education leadership to support both student and staff outcomes.
Dr Emily Rudling
Emily is a Research Fellow in the Peter Underwood Centre at the University of Tasmania with a research interest of equity in education.
Dr Cadhla O'Sullivan
Cadhla is a research fellow at the Children’s Policy Centre, at the Crawford School of Public Policy, the Australian National University. Her research focuses on participatory research methods and methodology with children particularly on issues related to social justice, social policy and children’s human rights.
Shelley Stokes
Life Without Barriers
Life Without Barriers is a social purpose organisation supporting Children, young people, and families in the Out of out-of-home care sector, and the disability and aged care sectors nationally. Dale Murray is the Executive Director Education - Learning Without Barriers in Life Without Barriers, and is a partner investigator on the project. Dale has expertise in fit-for-purpose educational provision for disenfranchised young people.
Berry Street
Berry Street is one of Australia’s largest independent family service organisations and has been operating since 1877. It provides programs to more than 35,000 children, young people and families each year. Berry Street’s innovative approach to education serves as the foundation for its own multi-campus school and has positively impacted teacher practice in mainstream and specialist schools across Australia and beyond. Jack Greig is Senior Advisor - Leadership and Research at Berry Street Education Model and an EdD candidate in the Faculty of Education, University of Melbourne. His research is in the field of trauma-informed educational leadership, with a focus on school systems and culture.
TAS Commissioner for Children and Young People
The Acting Tasmanian Commissioner for Children and Young People is Isabelle Crompton whose job is to advocate for Tasmanian children and young people to promote their ongoing wellbeing and prosperity. This includes working with children and young people, and across organisations and systems promoting good practice in policy and legislation.
MacKillop Family Services
MacKillop Family Services is a community service organisation working for the rights of all children, to ensure they are safe and able to flourish. MacKillop Family Services provides support to children, young people and families in New South Wales, Western Australia, ACT and Victoria. MacKillop Family Services offers inclusive services and programs to achieve positive outcomes for individuals and communities with a focus on education, empowerment, and child safety.
Key Assets
Dedicated to serving children, families, and communities, Key Assets is an Australian nationwide not-for-profit, non-government services agency with strong international links. Key Assets offer supports that work towards positive and lasting outcomes by positively impacting the lives of children and young people and families and carers through the provision of evidence informed services.
Allambi Care
Allambi Care is a not-for-profit organisation based in Victoria and New South Wales and serve individuals, families, communities, and government agencies with the goal of promoting belonging, hope, and positivity to people in need. Allambi Care is guided by a Needs-Based Restorative Framework to empower people and communities to reach their full potential.
Anglicare NSW South, NSW West & ACT
This project is in partnership with Anglicare ACT and Anglicare Southern NSW, Anglicare is a faith based not-for-profit with the mission to alleviate poverty and suffering in rural and regional communities. Anglicare provide range of community and therapeutic care services across NSW and the ACT supporting children, young people, and families, to realising a safe and thriving future.
Stronger Smarter Institute
The Stronger Smarter Institute (SSI) is a national not-for-profit organisation with the purpose to create life-changing educational outcomes for First Nations children. SSI works with educators to improve the educational outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and beyond them, all Australian school children.
Anglicare Victoria
Anglicare Victoria works with children, young people and families. We prevent harm and empower people to overcome challenges and achieve their full potential. We are Victoria’s largest provider of Out of Home Care and Family Services and offer a range of specialist education programs including the award-winning TEACHaR (Transforming Educational Achievement of Children at Risk) program for children in Out-of-Home Care and the Navigator program supporting school re-engagement in multiple locations across Victoria.
Two groups are especially important for this project: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities and students in care. Therefore we are establishing a reference group for each of these two groups.
Our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Reference Group is chaired by Dr Michael Guerzoni. He is a researcher on the project from the University of Tasmania, with expertise in the safeguarding of children in organisational settings, and the education of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children. Mike is a descendent of the Trawulwuy people of Tasmania’s northeast and post-war Italian migrants. Members of the group are representatives from several partner organisations: Stronger Smarter Institute, Life Without Barriers, Berry Street, Key Assets Australia, and Allambi Care.
This reference group helps the research team to put in place processes that make the research safe and inclusive for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, organisations, and participants. The group will guide the research team to draw on relevant Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander knowledges especially for analysis and dissemination. We will also work together to develop processes for creating publications that are useful for diverse Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.
We are working with Partner Organisations to establish a Young People Reference Group. The research team will collaborate with this group to sense-check interim findings and to develop publications about our research findings that are useful for children and young people in care.
This project has been partially funded by the Australian Government through the Australian Research Council Linkage Scheme (LP2201001130). It will run from late 2023-2026.