Bridging university, local community and social impact partners to promote transformational change towards a more socially just society.
The Centre for Social Justice & Inclusion connects UTS to community, directly addresses societal challenges that matter to, and impact, people.
We focus on working with place-based local groups and support services. Partners are invited to bring real-world problems to the university to be considered, tested, and innovated.
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Our practice is strengths-based, focusing foremost on community assets. In doing so we seek to support strong and resilient communities with the tools and capabilities to enhance their impact.
Collaborating with us typically involves:
- Deep listening using appreciative methods which are sensitive and inclusive of diverse cultural and social assets and needs
- Convening diverse stakeholders, establishing shared visions, and developing shared understandings
- Analysis of systemic and complex issues
- Responding and incubating: Investing in collaborative, co-designed, and co-produced responses to longstanding social changes
- Building capacity by supporting community expertise, building skills to amplify impact within individuals and organisations
- Demonstrating social impact
- Communicating and sharing knowledge and outcomes
Transformative change takes time. Our work operates outside of the university semester timetable, with time allowed to explore programs and develop the trusted relationships necessary to implement our model of engagement.
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We contribute to engaged learning and scholarship at UTS by developing and piloting projects in collaboration with community.
We support curriculum, research, and practice at UTS by connecting the university community to lived experience assets, and we benefit community organisations through building partnerships and collaborations connecting these groups to various areas and specialisations within the university.
Our work also brings engaged learning experiences to our students, through the UTS Shopfront Community Program, internships, and developing extracurricular programs.
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Our Place, Our Voice: Social housing tenant leadership
Everyone has a right to have a say in decision regarding their housing.
This research project is working with social and community housing tenants, and housing providers, to understand how we can better enable people to be involved in decision making about their homes.
We are using Appreciative Inquiry and evidence-based community development practices to build a model for better tenant participation, which can lead to more secure tenancies, improved health outcomes, and cost savings for housing providers.
This project is community led and will build outputs that are based on tenant’s needs and key priorities.
Community-led Sustainable Cities
How can a community bring together diverse voices to create a shared story of sustainable change?
This research project demonstrated how community-university partnerships can be a force for real-world impact. Using art and narrative-based methods, we explored the lived experiences of community members from Glebe, Haymarket, Pyrmont and Ultimo – drawing together diverse perspectives to create a unifying narrative that represented our shared vision for a sustainable future.
Partnering with Dr Pat Grant from the UTS Faculty of Design and Society, this project captured our community vision in a series of graphic products that are rich, detailed, and highly engaging.
The project also put our community knowledge into action by supporting 3 community-led initiatives to drive the sustainability transition. With financial and logistical support from the UTS Social Impact Lab, community leaders were able to take action in areas that mattered most to them:
- The revitalisation of a social housing rooftop community garden to build connection and reduce isolation.
- A series of clothes swaps and a repair cafe, bringing diverse communities together to highlight the impacts of fast fashion.
- A community climate action forum that showcased local change makers and inspired participants to take action in their own neighbourhoods.
Read the Community-led Sustainable Cities report
Explore Making change together: a community toolkit for local sustainability
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100 Voices: Engaging community through deep listening
UTS seeks to create positive change by working for and with members of our local community, recognising them as the experts in what our shared neighbourhood needs to thrive.
Where We Belong: Creating inclusive and accessible communities
What makes a community feel like home? Is it the spaces where we gather, the connections we form, or the sense of safety and belonging?
This research explored how communities across Glebe, Haymarket, Pyrmont, and Ultimo can become more inclusive and accessible, ensuring that everyone – regardless of background or circumstance – feels valued and connected. By amplifying community voices and prioritising lived experiences, the project sheds light on practical solutions that can shape stronger, more vibrant neighbourhoods.
Read the Where We Belong report
Read the Evidence to Action Note
Climate Impact Lab
The Climate Impact Lab brings UTS researchers and academics together with community, industry and environmental entrepreneurs to find innovative solutions to climate challenges. The pilot project is focused on social housing in Glebe where we are co-designing approaches with residents to decarbonise housing stock including rooftop solar and energy efficiency retrofits, and empowering community to make informed sustainable choices. We are currently connecting with subjects including those within the Bachelor of Creative Intelligence and Innovation, Design Honours and the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences to work on equity issues in relation to sustainability and social housing. This initiative builds on UTS’s existing work over several years with the local Glebe community, exploring opportunities to generate local social value. This project is a partnership with the Institute for Sustainable Futures.
Darlinghurst project
Listening to Darlinghurst is a public history project delivered in partnership with the Australian Centre for Public History about the lived experiences of Darlinghurst. The project is focused on deep listening in order to amplify the often-unheard community voices, particularly in the face of gentrification, such as people from low socioeconomic backgrounds and those experiencing housing insecurity. Community engagements involve conducting interviews with Darlinghurst and Woolloomooloo community members and service providers. The project is funded by the Paul Ramsay Foundation.
Digital Mentoring Program
The Digital Mentoring Program was a response to the first COVID wave in 2020 to support two traditionally disadvantaged groups in our community: our international students and senior citizens living in our local precinct of Glebe. UTS employed international students who were under financial stress and without government support to teach over 55s in Glebe digital skills so they were able to access services which were moving online. The need for this was identified in earlier consultations with the over-55 Glebe community. In November 2020, we were awarded a City of Sydney grant to scale up the program in 2021 in Glebe as well as Pyrmont, Ultimo (bilingual sessions in Mandarin and Cantonese) and Camperdown.
Yarning in Glebe
Yarning in Glebe is a place-based engagement project facilitated by a grant from the National Indigenous Australians Agency. Glebe First Nations community members have been engaged by the us in partnership with Glebe Youth Service to run conversations with their community to understand what supports they need and how UTS can use its resources to unlock that support, particularly following the impacts of COVID and sorry business within the community.
Ageing in Glebe
Ageing in Glebe is a longstanding project to understand vulnerable community members in Glebe over-55, including those in social housing, and what we can do to support their ageing in place. It began with interviews of community members and co-design sessions to identify community needs. The understanding we gained from these sessions allowed us to act quickly when COVID hit in order to support seniors with digital mentoring as we knew many did not have the digital skills, did not have family support, and experienced multiple health challenges. The initial research has been shared with the community and we will continue to do further engagement sessions in our ongoing relationship with the community.
Pyrmont-Ultimo Network
Pyrmont-Ultimo Network is a capacity building project for the Pyrmont-Ultimo community whereby we facilitate and support services the community needs, including organising evaluation workshops and linking them to the UTS Shopfront program for support.
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We provides overall research, program creation and support to a range of social impact initiatives.
If you are a community partner, UTS academic or student and would like to connect with us, please contact equity@uts.edu.au.
We support First Nations sovereignty and recognises and value community experts within our work as equitable contributors to societal change.