2026 Social Impact Grant recipients

Thriving Communities grants

Community in Motion: Building Capacity for Physical Activity Promotion in Mental Health

Project lead: Gemechu Wirtu, Research Officer, Faculty of Health

Community partner: Flourish Australia

The purpose of this project is to co-design, implement and evaluate online training modules to equip community mental health staff with the knowledge, confidence, and skills to promote physical activity among people living with complex mental health challenges. By building workforce capacity, it aims to address existing health inequities by increasing access to physical activity supports, thus improving physical and mental health outcomes for people living with complex mental health challenges

Youth Action Meetings (YAMS): Understanding the impact of ‘community policing’ on First Nations communities in New South Wales

Project lead: Tatiana Corrales, Senior Research Fellow, Jumbunna Institute for Indigenous Education and Research

Community partner: Aboriginal Legal Service (NSW/ACT)

This project will explore how the NSW Government’s Youth Action Meetings (YAMS) are operating in urban and rural areas with a focus on the relationship between the YAMS teams and First Nations communities. The project will examine the perspectives of legal professionals and community members on how ‘community policing’ through the YAMS is impacting their communities, challenges they have experienced with the YAMS model and their perspectives on how community policing can be improved to better meet the needs of First Nations communities.

Co-designed neuro-affirming eating disorders care training program

Project lead: Colleen Alford, HDR Student, Faculty of Health

Community partner: Sydney Children's Hospitals Network, Eating Disorders Service

This project focuses on reducing damaging stigma and improving health care for autistic people by co-designing training for health professionals in neuro-affirming eating disorders treatment and evaluating this training utilising mixed methodology.  

Walking Together Through Our Eyes: An Immersive Journey into Aboriginal AOD Healing

Project lead: Danielle Manton, Director of Indigenous Health Education, Faculty of Health

Community partner: The Glen Group

"Walking Together Through Our Eyes" is an immersive virtual experience that allows students and industry partners to engage with The Glen, an Aboriginal community-controlled  Alcohol and Other Drugs (AOD) service, through 360-degree storytelling in the UTS Data Arena. The project promotes cultural safety in healthcare education by centring Indigenous perspectives, amplifying community-led healing, and showcasing solutions that benefit all peoples.

Facilitating Dialogue on Coastal Protection in Aotearoa: Tahamata Farm Wetland Regeneration Workshop

Project lead: Thomas Woodhead, Lecturer, Faculty of Design and Society

Community partners: Te Iwi o Ngati Tūkorehe Trust, CFRT, Landcare

Facilitating Dialogue on Coastal Protection in Aotearoa: Tahamata Farm Regeneration Design Workshop researchers to travel to the Ngāti Tūkorehe marae in Aotearoa (New Zealand), to collaborate on the iwi-led Te Hākari Dune Wetland Restoration project. Participants will engage in five key practical wetland restoration activities across Te Hākari and the lower Ōhau River, working to mitigate the spread of invasive weeds and expand the riparian coastal wetland ecosystem.

Tranby Aboriginal Co-operative Research Library and Archive: Knowledge in Community Hands through Self-Determined Stewardship

Project lead: Dr Kirsten Thorpe, Associate Professor, Jumbunna Institute for Indigenous Education and Research

Community partner: Tranby Aboriginal Co-operative Limited (Tranby)

The Indigenous Archives and Data Stewardship Hub at Jumbunna Research will work with Tranby Aboriginal Co-operative (Tranby) to re-establish a self-determined First Nations Research Library and Archive for community use at their Glebe campus on Gadigal Country. The project will position community members as the decision-makers in shaping and governing the collection.

Building Pathways for Women in Surfing Leadership: Evaluating the RISE Program

Project lead: Dr Ece Kaya, Senior Lecturer, UTS Business School  

Community partner: Surfing Australia

The Pathways for Women project proposes to evaluate Surfing Australia's RISE Program (Respect, Inclusion, Support, Equity) to measure its effectiveness in increasing women's participation in leadership roles and breaking down barriers in the surfing industry. Through comprehensive surveys, qualitative interviews, and video case studies, the project aims to provide evidence-based insights to inform policy, attract future funding, and strengthen pathways for women in surfing.

StreetKind Safe Base Application

Project lead: Tim Porritt, Software Engineer, Faculty of Engineering and IT  

Community partner: StreetKind

This project will develop an AI-enabled mobile application for StreetKind’s Team Leaders and volunteers to manage operations at their Safe Bases, improving their ability to assist those who need help getting home safely on their night out.

Safe & Inclusive UTS grants

Forging the Path: Leveraging digital technologies and pedagogies to support and enhance UTS Pathways student success in Law

Project lead: Dr Lisa Billington, Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Law

Internal partners: Elizabeth Smith, Zoe Vassallo

This aims to design, develop, and implement a Digital Law Skills Hub: a new, innovative, Canvas-based learning environment that provides broad, scalable access to the discipline-specific skills-development resources so vital to UTS Pathways Law students’ success; skills such as legal writing, understanding case law, legal citation, and other discipline-specific skills.  

Recognise, Report, Respond: Building a Safer and More Inclusive UTS through an Anti-Racism Toolkit

Project lead: Amara Atif, Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Engineering and IT

Internal partners: Camille Dickson-Deane, Cecilia Anthony, Maree Graham, Melinda Lewis, Shaun Bell, Elaine Laforteza

The Recognise, Report, Respond Toolkit Project proposes to develop a suite of practical resources to help UTS students and staff recognise, report, and respond to racism. The aim of the project is to create a toolkit that translates key aspects of the Cultural Diversity and Anti-Racism (CDAR) Action Plan into clear, accessible, and actionable guidance.

Advancing career equity at UTS: Elevating voices of first generation CARM women staff

Project lead: Leila Khanjaninejad, Lecturer, Transdisciplinary School

Internal partners: Celina McEwen, Celina McEwen, Christina Ho, Najmeh Hassanli, Kumi de Silva

This project foregrounds the voices and lived experiences of Culturally and Racially Marginalised (CARM) women who are first-generation migrants working at UTS. It aims to identify the structural barriers and enablers that shape their career progression and develop evidence-based, practical recommendations to inform and strengthen institutional equity, inclusion and anti-racism practices at UTS.

Empowering Financial Literacy: An Interactive Scenario-Based Learning Module for Equity Students at UTS  

Project lead: Amir Armanious, Lecturer, UTS Business School

Internal partners: Phoebe Bailey, Dave Michayluk

This project will develop and implement an engaging, scenario-based digital learning module to improve financial literacy among equity student groups who demonstrated significantly lower financial competency based on our 2024 financial literacy survey of 1,300+ UTS students. The module will provide culturally relevant, accessible financial education through interactive real-world scenarios tailored to each equity group's specific challenges and contexts.

Inclusive Teaching Video Series

Project lead: Greg Joachim, Lecturer, UTS Business School

Internal partners: Lewis Whales, Bhuva Narayan, Najmeh Hassanli

The broad purpose of the video series is to create and help maintain a 'safe and inclusive' UTS campus by sharing techniques for creating and maintaining inclusive learning environments; the objectives of each single video are to be short (no longer than 5-6 minutes), evidence-backed, and highly practical (i.e., to contain advice that can be immediately implemented in classroom settings.