Social Impact case studies

The partnership between Informed 365 and UTS Rapido sets a new standard in utilising user experience capability to identify and communicate risks and streamline annual modern slavery processes. This collaboration demonstrates how thoughtfully designed digital tools can make significant strides in both compliance and advocacy. compliance with the Modern Slavery Act, through a comprehensive UX research initiative.

Informed 365 identified a critical need to refine its Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) platform to better support clients gathering data on modern slavery risks, and reporting on strategies to help them mitigate risks.

The CHEX Community Gift Card initiative was originally developed as a physical gift card that could be exchanged for goods and services at participating businesses in the Ultimo area. "This digitisation project has fostered community engagement with an increase in local community members purchasing CHEX cards. The new digital currency enables rapid growth and scalability, with plans to triple the number of businesses in the program across the first six months," Oscar Sanchez, Harris Community Centre Coordinator.

My Blue Sky is run by Anti-Slavery Australia – a non-profit centre in the Faculty of Law at the University of Technology Sydney, led by Professor Jennifer Burn.

The team has over 20 years of experience providing free legal and migration support to people experiencing forced marriage and other forms of modern slavery in Australia. My Blue Sky is a service for individuals at risk of forced marriage in Australia. It provides free and confidential information, support and legal advice to young people, community members and frontline professionals who are looking for help, whether for themselves or for someone they know.

Aboriginal communities require healthcare providers to consider their cultural and societal needs around gender and ceremonial practices in order to provide appropriate and timely healthcare services.

UTS Rapido provided User Experience (UX) and software development expertise to Professor Christopher Lawrence, Monash University, to research and implement this first Indigenous medical support app for South West Aboriginal Medical Service (SWAMS).

 It provides improvement to health services with:

• culturally and gender safe spaces such as directing males healthcare services to male patients and female healthcare workers for female patients.
• addressing ceremonial practices as well as shame factors that often impinge on self-healthcare amongst Indigenous groups. More here.

#thismymob facilitates vital connections between communities and government/industry organisations, enabling access to essential social services information and entrepreneurship opportunities in remote areas. 

The one-of-a-kind digital platform means Indigenous communities can now engage in real-time social interaction while receiving timely information from government and corporate organisations. 

UTS Rapido helped craft community-specific newsfeeds and gender-specific spaces to foster cultural discussions and strengthen the bond between Indigenous land and peoples. More here.

StreetKind needed a comprehensive system to collect and analyse specific harm prevention data in order to demonstrate the effectiveness of their street safety initiative.

The StreetKind app replaces paper-based reporting and workflows with a digital, cloud-enhanced solution, creating significant efficiencies in the harm prevention space. The app allows central collection, easier searchability and reporting of specific harm prevention data sets. These data sets can be searched and reported on by date range, demographics, and/or specific elements of harm prevention. 

The dashboard provides an instant impact statement that informs and inspires the team and is available live to the public. Stakeholder reporting is now centralised and available in real-time. More here.

Despite progress in advancing gender equality, disparities and discrimination against women persist in various aspects of society.

The GLI includes a set of international women’s rights standards that countries are required to meet, concrete benchmarks for particular areas of law, and a way to compare legislative progress across countries and over periods of time. Dr. Vijeyarasa piloted the GLI in Sri Lanka, Indonesia, and the Philippines to analyse areas of law including gender-based violence, labour, reproductive health, taxation and family law. The GLI has been used as a research tool to assess the legislative footprint of women leaders, providing insights into the impact of their tenure on gender-responsive legislation.

The Gender Legislative Index is a unique collaboration between law and data science that is playing an important role in advancing and ensuring gender equality in legislation. More here.

Gender affirming voice (GAV) training is a lifelong practice for gender diverse population while generalisation of trained voice techniques from the clinic to everyday use is often difficult. This collaboration with the UTS School of Health utilised UX Research expertise to conduct a pilot study into the co-design of wearable technology for gender-diverse individuals undergoing gender-affirming voice training.

“I am very pleased to have received a grant for this exciting work looking at wearable technology use in gender affirming voice training, and I am looking forward to building a strong partnership with UTS Rapido," Dr Cath Gregory, Lecturer, UTS Speech Pathology​.

With a global shortage of orthotists, approximately 100 million children are in need of Ankle-Foot Orthoses (AFOs). The traditional process of creating plaster cast orthotics is slow, messy and traumatic.

Rapido Social Impact and AbilityMade helped revolutionise Ankle-Foot Orthoses (AFOs) production for children with disabilities.

This innovative approach prioritised user comfort and also eliminated the need for plaster. This new disruptive 3D printing method enhanced efficiency in creating customised AFOs.

This collaboration also demonstrates the transformative potential of technology in improving the lives of individuals with disabilities, enhancing mobility and overall well-being. More here.

The Aboriginal Legal Service is a pioneering, community-controlled organisation providing culturally appropriate legal assistance to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people across NSW and ACT.

“This project will improve the efficiency of the Custody Notification Service. The platform generates data to improve responses to the needs of Aboriginal people in the criminal justice system and enable longer-term planning for support and wraparound services,” Professor Thalia Anthony, UTS Faculty of Law.

“After decades of working alongside skilled therapists and technicians to try and identify a better, safer way to drive her wheelchair, Kyle was ready for change. We worked with Kyle and UTS Rapido to bring together the best from engineering and disability to create that positive change,” Samantha Frain, Executive Director, Northcott Innovation