Events
UTS Disability Research Network Showcase 2025
18 Mar 2025, 9.00am - 3.00 pm AEST
Please join us for the UTS Disability Research Network Showcase, where we will highlight key events and projects funded recently by the UTS Disability Access and Inclusion Fund. This event will feature recent innovative research and collaborative initiatives, focused on improving accessibility and inclusion for people with disability. Presentations will be given by those who received funding from the fund, providing an opportunity to hear firsthand about the progress and impact of their projects. Don’t miss this opportunity to celebrate the progress made in collaboration and explore the ongoing impact of these important initiatives!
Location: RES Hub Building 1, Level 5, Room 007 or Online (Please register via Humanitix)
Designing Inclusive and Safe Communities: A Local Government Perspective
28 NOV 2024, 3.45PM - 6.00 pm AEST
The UTS Centre for Local Government (CLG) and the UTS Disability Research Network would like to invite you to an interactive panel session on Designing Inclusive and Safe Communities: A Local Government Perspective.
Join our expert panellists Glenn Redmayne (Access and Inclusion Planning Leader, Inner West Council), Naomi Deck (Committee Member of the Disability Inclusion Committee, North Sydney Council) and Megan Taylor (Research Associate, UTS Faculty of Design, Architecture and Building) along with CLG Director Prof Carol Mills, CLG Adjunct A/Prof Vanessa Chan and DRN Co-Chair Prof Simon Darcy.
Accessibility planning is emerging as a powerful framework to address inequalities in accessing essential services. In the lead up to the International Day of People with Disability, this panel event will explore the critical issues of accessibility and safety and provide insights and strategies for integrating these considerations into local government planning, drawing from the latest research and practical experiences.
This event is an opportunity for practitioners, policymakers, businesses and advocates to come together with others committed to making our communities safer and more accessible.
Disability Leadership Institute Oration
26 NOV 2024, 1.30PM - 4.30pm AEST *ONLINE
The UTS Disability Research Network is proud to announce that our member, Dr Scott Avery, has been selected as the 2024 Orator for the Disability Leadership Oration.
The Disability Leadership Oration is held each year to lead the discussion on disability leadership and set the national agenda. A thought provoking 45-minute talk that puts disability leadership into the centre of things and sparks conversation. Centered on IDay in December (International Day of People with Disabilities), the Oration is a destination annual event for the calendars of the broader disability community, business and government leaders, and anyone interested in thought leadership and equality.
Generative AI and Disability: Opportunities and Issues
1 OCT 2024, 10.30 am AEST *online
The UTS Disability Research Network invites you to a panel discussion on: “Generative AI and Disability: Opportunities and Issues”.
Discover the transformative potential, emerging risks and opportunities of Generative AI the realm of disability. This session will touch on some of the opportunities the emerging technology presents, while also addressing the risks and ethical considerations involved.
During this session, facilitated by Professor Simon Darcy (UTS Business School), you will hear from:
- Dr Julia Dray (Senior Research Fellow, Communication Disability Research Team, UTS),
- Fiona Given (Research Associate, Communication Disability Research Team, UTS, person with lived experience of communication disability)
- Professor Adam Berry (Deputy Director, Human Technology Institute, UTS)
They will speak about the use of large language models and the intersection of Generative AI and Assistive Communication Technologies.
The panel will discuss questions posed to them from Simon and from the audience.
Key topics covered:
- Opportunities: Explore how Generative AI may transform assistive technologies (using Assistive Communication Technology as an example) and how large language models can transform knowledge discovery (focusing on unlocking the Disability Royal Commission reports).
- Risks: Understand the potential pitfalls, including biases in AI models and the implications of those biases.
Ethical Considerations: Engage in a thoughtful discussion on the ethical landscape, ensuring that advancements in AI benefit everyone equitably.
Lessons Learned from Disability Collaborative Research with Community Members and Organisations at UTS
Mon 7 Aug 2023, 10.30 am AEST
The UTS Disability Research Network invites you to learn more about how you can utilise disability collaborative and inclusive research practices.
The value of ‘inclusive’ or collaborative research with people with disability is widely recognised. Such research reflects the mantra ‘Nothing About Us, Without Us’ and the focus on equality and self-determination in the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, as well as calls from communities for epistemic parity in the production of knowledge.
Recent Australian inclusive research undertaken by UTS academics has highlighted the importance of Universities developing academic capacity in this area and supporting research that is inclusive of people with disability.
The aim of this event is to raise awareness about collaborative research and broaden thinking on inclusive research practices.
In conversation with community collaborators, three UTS academics who are members of the UTS Disability Research Network, will share their experiences and insights of leading collaborative research projects. The panel is an opportunity to discuss good practices in research at all stages of a project, talk through common barriers and build upon these collaborative practices in your own research.
Presenters and community partners will introduce their research projects and highlight inclusive research aspects.
The panellists will then be asked questions covering such topics as:
Levels of research participation
Rationale for collaborative research
Substantive and continuous planning, design, conduct and dissemination
Mindsets for collaborative research
Organisation readiness
Budgeting and recognition
Partnerships with community and community organisations
Knowledge translation
Attendees will have a chance to ask questions in light of their own research projects.
About the presenters
Jack Kelly
Jack Kelly has worked in the disability research and advocacy sector since 2016, having worked with the Centre for Disability Studies (CDS) inclusive research network as a Research and Administration assistant. Jack currently holds positions at the Council for Intellectual Disability (CID) as a project worker and at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) as an Honorary Research Fellow. Jack is passionate about advocating for the rights of people with intellectual disability, with a strong focus on good health care due to his own experience within the health care system.
Associate Professor Phillippa Carnemolla
Phillippa Carnemolla is Associate Professor at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) in the Faculty of Design, Architecture and Building. She is interested in inclusive design and inclusive research and how to do it well. At UTS, she works on projects that identify and remove barriers to inclusion in our workplaces, organisations, homes and cities. Phillippa is also an Industrial Designer. Phillippa is on the leadership team of the UTS Disability Research Network.
Jack Kelly and Phillippa Carnemolla have worked together on a range of projects, including developing resources to support and build the capacity of local government to be more inclusive of people with intellectual disability. Phillippa, Jack and Linda Steele have also collaborated on research exploring with people with intellectual disability what the public should remember and learn about historic institutions.
Brett Bellingham
Brett Bellingham is a Lived Experience researcher and educator within the Faculty of Health, UTS. Brett uses his lived expertise, which includes knowledge of the mental health consumer movement and mad studies scholarship, to co-lead collaborative research and co-design curricula in the field of ‘mental health’.
Associate Professor Jo River
Jo River is Associate Professor of Mental Health Drug and Alcohol in the Faculty of Health, UTS and Northern Sydney LHD. They have expertise in co-design and co-production research and partners with people with lived and living experience to ensure research is grounded in community priorities and relevant and resonant to those most impacted by research-informed policy and services. Jo is a member of the UTS Disability Research Network.
Jo River and Brett Bellingham have partnered on a program of research, ‘Raising the Bar’, that builds the capacity of researchers to engage collaborative projects across health, academic and community sectors. In 2021, the Raising the Bar team was awarded the Distilling Research Impact Award for demonstrable social impact.
Associate Professor Linda Steele
Linda Steele is Associate Professor at University of Technology Sydney (UTS) Faculty of Law. She is a co-convenor of the UTS Feminist Legal Research Group and a member of the leadership team of the UTS Disability Research Network and leader of the Social Justice, Equity, and Diversity Theme. Linda is currently leading a program of research 'Truth Justice Repair' through which she is exploring how we reckon with and repair the harms associated with violence, institutionalisation and segregation of people with disability. Linda collaborates with people with disability and a range of Disabled People’s and Representative Organisations including Council for Intellectual Disability and Women with Disabilities Australia.
Kate Swaffer
Kate Swaffer is a PhD Candidate at the University of South Australia, with a Master of Science in Dementia, a Bachelor of Psychology, Bachelor of Arts, GradDip in grief counselling, and a retired nurse. She has been a global campaigner for the human rights of older people and people with dementia for 15 years, and for dementia as a disability including at the UN and WHO. Her awards include the UniSA Alumni Award in 2021 and the SA Australian Of The Year in 2017. Kate is also co-founder of Dementia Alliance International, a registered charity for people with dementia globally.
Linda and Kate have collaborated on two empirical research projects on human rights for people living with dementia in residential aged care, funded by the Dementia Australia Research Foundation.
Past UTS Disability Research Network Events
Law Hack 2021: Disability Justice
The National Justice Project, expert community partners and participants will come together for a unique event called, LAW HACK 2021: Disability Justice. At Law Hack some of the country’s leading lawyers, academics and advocates will join forces with people living with disability to develop game changing legal solutions and to work towards a more just, fair and equitable society.
Keynote speaker Justen Thomas - who has an intellectual disability and is an advocate for people with disability - and those who encounter the Justice system are fighting for equality and a fairer system.
Across two energetic days on Thursday 14 October (16:30-18:00 AEST) and Friday 22 October 2021 (10:00-17:30 AEST), 50 selected participants will convene in online workshops and plenary sessions to solve problems, to share ideas and to inspire their peers and communities to act.
Led by an extraordinary group of mentors including - Catia Malaquias, an award-winning inclusion and human rights advocate and lawyer; Fiona Given, a member of the Equal Opportunity and Guardianship Divisions of the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal; Matthew Hall, the CEO for Arts Access Australia; and others. The hackers will tackle issues such as housing, education, violence, healthcare, and policing and incarceration.
The event will culminate in a fast-paced pitch session open to the public with an esteemed panel of Judges including - Graeme Innes AM, former Disability Discrimination Commissioner (2005–2014), Margherita Coppolino, President of the National Ethnic Disability Alliance, Natalie Wade Vice President of Australian Lawyers for Human Rights, Rob Silberstein Founding Principal of Silberstein & Associates and National Justice Project Advisory Board member, and Dr Scott Avery Research Partner, First Peoples Disability Network Australia.
The public can register to attend the pitch session on Friday 22 October at 4pm for free here: https://lawhack.theair.works/
Simpler. Faster. Fairer? Improving the NDIS - August 2021
The federal government is looking to change NDIS eligibility and planning policies to make the process 'simpler, faster, and fairer.'
But rather than make the system fairer, it made it harder for people with disability to convey their needs, denied supports, and deepened inequalities across wealth and culture.
In this session, El Gibbs, Professor Simon Darcy, Dr George Taleporos, Fiona Given and Dr Linda Steele discuss what needs to happen for Australia’s NDIS systems and policies to promote a fair, inclusive, and thriving society.
'I want to stress that to make it simpler and fairer, we need to go back to basics and think 'what knowledge do people have about their needs?' Well, they're the experts. We know our needs better than anyone else. So what I want to put to the NDIS is an idea that sounds a bit radical, and that's the idea of self-assessment.' – George Taleporos
Re-watch, share, or catch up with the discussion
Entrepreneurs with Disability: Policy and Organisational Level Initiatives - August 2021
In 2020 the Australian Research Council Linkage project - Disability Entrepreneurship in Australia - delivered a groundbreaking report on lived experience of self-employment, micro-enterprise and entrepreneurship of people with disabilities in Australia.
This panel included members of the research team -Dina Petrakis, Paul Musso, Professor Simon Darcy, Professor Jock Collins and Dr Megan Stronach - discussing the organisational, community and macro policy environments of the entrepreneurial ecosystem as well as the support provided for people with disability in this environment.
This discussion is particularly timely given the current review of the Commonwealth Department of Social Services’ disability employment programs and the NDIS participant employment strategy where self-employment, micro-enterprise and entrepreneurship can play an important role.
Engage with more about this important research here - videos, webinar recordings, media, publications and reports.
Diverting Justice: How the law is failing people with disability - December 2020
Legal safeguards in place to keep people with disability – an overrepresented group in the criminal justice system – out of prison, are cementing injustice into the justice process.
Court diversions move people with disability from criminal justice systems and into mental health and disability services.
It sounds humane, but in effect has placed people who haven’t been sentenced, and sometimes not even tried and convicted of the criminal charges, into other forms of incarceration and harm.
In her new book, Disability, Criminal Justice, and Law, Dr Linda Steele, Senior Lecturer at UTS Faculty of Law, argues that diverting people with disability from criminal justice systems undermines rather than achieves social justice.
Re-watch, share, or catch up with the discussion
News
Engaging universities in accessibility solutions
Universities, through groups like UTS’s LX.Lab, have been overhauling resources to support academics to deliver engaging and accessible online learning, while cross-sector collaborations have emerged to support people with disability with COVID-19 emergency planning.
At UTS such opportunities to support people with disability are the focus of new Disability Research Innovation Collaboration Funding which has been offered through a joint initiative of the Centre for Social Justice and Inclusion, Research Office and the Design Innovation Research Centre.
Three projects have been awarded grants to support innovative, multi-disciplinary research that works to enhance partnerships between UTS scholars, people with disability, community and government. These successful projects offer enormous potential for enhancing inclusion for people with disability.