Breaking Down Barriers

For many of us, the places that we live and work in are becoming more diverse than ever before. Increased geographical mobility, greater recognition of the rights of minority groups and more people with disabilities living within mainstream communities mean that our societies are rapidly transforming.   

Research evidence suggests that diversity in leadership teams, workforces and society are highly valuable and can drive better performance and standards of living. Yet we know that there are still significant barriers to inclusion and achievement of equitable rights for women, indigenous people, people from ethnic minority groups, people with disabilities, older people and some religious groups.   

This theme focuses on the meaning of diversity and the many different ways this can be conceptualised.   

We are also interested in the different policies, services and mechanisms that have been used to drive equity and social inclusion. 

Competitive Advantage

Attention to equity, diversity and inclusion outcomes is crucial to successful business practice, public sector management and effective policy implementation. Researchers within this theme have a broad range of theoretical and practical expertise in addressing these issues, with particular speciality in gender and disability. They have undertaken research and consultancy work for state, territory and federal governments and non-government organisations. 

War-fighting and left-wing feminist agendas’: gender and change in the Australian Defence Force Critical Military Studies 

Donna Bridges, Anuradha Mundkur and James Connor 

Opportunities to enhance relational wellbeing through the National Disability Insurance Scheme: Implications from research on relationships and a content analysis of NDIS documentation - Australian Journal of Public Administration  

Ariella Meltzer and Laura Davy 

Personalisation and pandemic: an unforeseen collision course? – Disability & Society 

Helen Dickinson, Gemma Carey, Anne M. Kavanagh 

‘An awful state of affairs for you’: managing the needs of older prisoners – a case study from the Australian Capital Territory – Current Issues in Criminal Justice 

Isabella Jackson, Caroline Doyle and Lorana Bartels 

Implementation of continuous quality improvement in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander primary health care in Australia: A scoping systematic review – BMC Health Services Research 

Karen Gardner, Beverly Sibthorpe, Mier Chan, Ginny Sargent, Michelle Dowden and Daniel McAullay  

Digital mental health resources for CALD population: protocol for a scoping review – JMIR Research Protocols 

Buaphrao Raphiphatthana, Herdiyan Maulana, Timothy Howarth, Karen Gardner, Tricia Nagel 

Achieving behaviour change for detection of Lynch syndrome using the Theoretical Domains Framework Implementation (TDFI) approach: A study protocol – BMC Health Services Research  

Natalie Taylor, Janet C. Long, Deborah Debono, Rachel Williams, Elizabeth Salisbury, Sharron O’Neill, Elizabeth Eykman, Jeffrey Braithwaite and Melvin Chin 

The Review of the APS: Is gender really on anyone's agenda? –  Australian Journal of Public Administration 

Linda Colley and Sue Williamson 

Women, work and industrial relations in Australia in 2019 – Journal of Industrial Relations   

Meraiah Foley, Sue Williamson and Sarah Mosseri 

Gender, context and constraint: Framing family violence in Victoria – Women’s Studies International Forum 

Sophie Yates