Community Research Fellowship
From 2008 to 2018, Community Research Fellowships through UTS Shopfront supported UTS researchers to develop high-quality community-engaged research. Fellowships were funded a range of time-based needs - such as securing a teaching or marking buy out, technical support, or short-term salary or research assistance – to support scholarly publication, public engagement of research activity, or the development of funded research projects.
2018 Community Research Fellows
In 2018 the following UTS researchers were successful in their fellowship application:
Fostering community partnerships to advocate for the reform of offensive language crimes
Elyse Methven, David Carter, Faculty of Law
A joint project with Aboriginal Legal Services and Community Legal Centres NSW that will drive community and policy reform on offensive language crimes. Law reform bodies have called for reform of offensive language crimes, particularly for their disproportionate impact on Indigenous Australians and vulnerable groups.
Key words: engagement; advocacy; law reform; swearing; criminal law
‘Unviable languages’? Bilingual schooling and self-determination in remote Aboriginal communities
Amy Thomas, School of Education, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences
The Fellowship provided support for Amy’s research into the historical significance of bilingual education in remote Aboriginal communities in the Northern Territory, and in particular its connection to aspirations for community control and self-determination. With the Fellowship’s assistance, Amy was able to engage in fieldwork to interview educators at the Yuendumu Community Education Centre (CEC) in the Tanami desert.
Key words: Indigenous languages, community control, bilingual education, place-based research
Uniting the community through laneway greening
Peter Irga, Faculty of Engineering and IT
This project aims to facilitate the uptake of vertical greening systems within local urban environments at a community level. A framework will be provided, that provides guidance on planning, designing and managing a green wall within community space. The work will focus on systems that are sustainable, environmentally friendly, easily implemented, affordable and easily produced by local residents and community groups.
The Urban Refuge Pilot Project: Engaging a constructive community to establish new long-term accommodation options
Samantha Donnelly, Faculty of Design, Architecture and Building
This project will expand a relationship between Women and Children's Shelter clients and providers with construction experts and building fabricators through facilitating focused conversations and a collaborative forum. This meeting of users and professionals will prepare the ground for a socially responsive engagement between those who provide refuge housing and emergency accommodation and those who support and maintain it. Data gathered will lead to the future design of sustainable, adaptable, user-centred spaces and a much-needed new typology of refuge architecture is possible.
Keywords: refuge housing, long-term accommodation, user-centred spaces, collaborative forum, community response
Activating Parramatta Female Factory Precinct (PFFP) as a Site of Conscience: The Possibilities for Mental Health Law and Policy
Linda Steele, Faculty of Law
This project supports the ongoing activation of PFFP as a Site of Conscience in the specific contexts of legal pedagogy and mental health law and policy. Undergraduate UTS LLB and JD students will work with UTS Law academics and PFFP Memory Project members to identify the implications of the site's histories of institutionalisation for contemporary mental health law and policy, and the role of place-conscious pedagogy in law curriculum.
Keywords: mental health law, site of conscience, place-conscious pedagogy, institutionalisation