Over the past few months, NCOSS, ACWA, AbSec, academics and the Department of Communities and Justice have been jointly exploring the potential benefits of establishing a Human Services Research Council to provide a platform for the Government, NGO sector and academic institutions to regularly come together with the aims of:
- identifying those areas that should be targeted for research (along with determining the types of research methodology which should be utilised);
- considering opportunities for research collaboration;
- highlighting significant research which has been completed, underway, or is planned to commence; and
- identifying related ‘research to practice’ and ‘communities of practice’ opportunities, in order to build the overall skills and knowledge of service providers.
As a starting point, ACWA is asking our member organisations to complete this short survey, to help us identify research that has been undertaken in the past three years, which focuses on children, young people and their families, and in particular research on those considered at-risk of factors, such as child protection, out-of-home care and/or juvenile justice involvement, or facing other challenges arising from disability, trauma, and mental health issues
We are interested in a broad range of research types: qualitative or quantitative, big or small, undertaken alone or in partnership with others.
We are seeking this information from relevant agencies so that, in terms of the four aims above, it can be analysed and the findings presented at a forum in the near future, which will bring together relevant government departments, NGO agencies and academic representatives to consider the potential benefits of creating the Council, and to refine its purpose, scope and operating model.
This survey is open until Friday, November 1. If you are aware of relevant research that you think should be included, please make a contribution via the following link: www.surveymonkey.com/r/ngoresearchAugust2019