Research
projects
The Hawke Research Institute's collaborative and innovative research covers a wide range of topics. Here are some highlights of current research. To find out more, please see the research concentration web pages.
Taste and place: the transglobal production and consumption of food and drink
Prof Elspeth Probyn
ARC Discovery project 2009–2012
In recent times what and where we eat and how and where it is produced
have become hot topics. From the global obesity epidemic, to worries about
the use of land to grow bio-fuel, food has never been so bewildering. As
production and supply chains separate where food is produced from where it
is consumed, the analysis of globalisation, gender, class, ethnicity, place
and taste are becoming vital.
Negotiating a space in the nation: the case of Ngarrindjeri
Assoc Prof Robert Hattam, Assoc Prof Peter Bishop and Prof Pal Ahluwalia
ARC Discovery project 2010–2012
One of the hopeful sites in post-apology Indigenous affairs in Australia
is found in Indigenous community responses to contemporary governmentality.
This project aims to research the case of the Ngarrindjeri nation and its
negotiations across a complex agenda including caring for country, community
leadership and governance, economic development, media representations, and
inter(national) coalition building. The project is interested in
understanding the negotiation, translation and transmission of cultural
difference and aims to grasp the full range of Indigenous ways to be
contemporary, and that includes especially engagements with capitalism,
bureaucracy and media culture.
Indigenous knowledge: water sustainability and wild fire mitigation
Dr Irene Watson (with Mr Lewis W O'Brien, A/Prof John W Boland, Dr Suzi J Hutchings)
ARC Discovery Indigenous Researchers Development project 2011–2012
Sustainable management of the environment in Australia is currently informed by science. This project will create a space for cross-cultural translation between Indigenous knowledge on environmental management practices and mainstream science practices.
A study of flexibilities that enable workforce participation and skill development and use, and their implications for work–life outcomes in Australia
Centre for Work + Life (more CWL
projects)
Prof Barbara Pocock
ARC Linkage project 2011–2015
Partner organisations: Department of Education, Employment and
Workplace Relations, NSW Department of Services, Technology and
Administration and SafeWork SA
This project will examine how improved flexibility can
assist the reconciliation of work and caring responsibilities, higher levels
of employment participation and increasing skill development and utilisation
across the Australian workforce, underpinning a more productive economy and
improved well-being for Australian workers and their families.
The meaning of work, well-being and the changing terms, times and spaces of service sector jobs
Centre for Work + Life
Prof Barbara Pocock
ARC Discovery project 2011–2012
This research investigates how work and its terms, timing, technologies and
location are changing, and how these affect well-being. It will analyse the
meaning that service sector workers draw from work, and how workers at the top
(like professionals and consultants) compare with those at the lower end (like
carers and cleaners).
Work, life and sustainable living: how work, household and community life interact to affect environmental behaviours and outcomes
Centre for Work + Life
Prof Barbara Pocock and Dr Natalie Skinner
ARC Linkage project 2010–2013
Partner organisations: Community and Public Sector Union,
Land Management Corporation, State Public Services Federation, Zero Waste SA
The fight against climate change is being conducted on many fronts by
governments around the world, but the amount we work and the amount we spend
is not one of those. Many Australians work long hours, take few holidays and
spend lots of money. This project will consider the potential to reduce our
impact on the environment simply by rebalancing our work and family lives.
Working four-day weeks and taking six weeks leave each year not only means
more time for our lives, but less money spent on stuff.
Work–life balance, well-being and health: theory, practice and policy
Centre for Work + Life
Prof Barbara Pocock
ARC Linkage project 2010–2013
Partner organisations: State Health Advisory Committee on Work Life:
Creating Family Friendly Workplaces, and SafeWork SA.
This project addresses well-being and work–life issues within the WA health sector and the larger Australian workforce. Its two major components are a national work–life survey, the Australian Work and Life Index (AWALI) and an in-depth study of work–life challenges, policies and practices in the WA public sector health workforce. AWALI is a national survey of work–life outcomes amongst working Australians, repeated annually through this project in March/April from 2007 to 2010. AWALI examines the range of workplace, employment and personal/family factors that impact on the work–life relationship, and outcomes of work–life conflict for health and well-being.
People, pumps and pipes: a social study of change in the collaborative supply of irrigation services
Research Centre for Gender Studies (more
RCGS projects)
Dr Lia Bryant
ARC Linkage project 2010–2012
Partner organisations: Primary Industries and Resources SA, Renmark
Irrigation Trust, Social Inclusion Unit (SA).
As a result of climate change, water legislation and agricultural
adjustment, the Renmark Irrigation Trust (RIT), Australia's oldest trust, is
facing unprecedented change. Water management for RIT has moved from a
collective enterprise to devolution of licences to individuals. This
movement may divide existing social networks. Using participatory research,
community and individual perceptions and responses to change will be traced
over 3 years. Social dynamics within RIT's multicultural community will be
examined as well as community identity, noting the significance of the trust
and water as fundamental to working and living for irrigators. Results will
inform policies to enable better integration of social dynamics with water
trading.
Epistemologies of workplace change: transforming gender relations in engineering
Research Centre for Gender Studies
Suzanne Franzway, Julie Mills, Rhonda Sharp and Judy Gill
ARC Discovery Grant 2009–2011
Rapid economic and social changes have restructured workplaces and the
workforce participation of men and women. Engineering exemplifies the
benefits of globalisation through the expansion of markets and increased
demands for highly paid, skilled workers. Paradoxically, women remain
marginal to this workforce, despite many campaigns to improve equity and
diversity. We propose a fundamental rethinking of the epistemological
underpinnings of prior approaches by using an innovative taxonomy to
investigate the production of ignorance of sexual politics of workplace
change. This missing dimension of knowledge is critical to the development
of successful gender equity campaigns and policies.
Missing workers: retaining mature age women workers to ensure future labour security
Rhonda Sharp, Siobhan Austen, Rachel Ong, Therese Jefferson, Gill Lewin
ARC Discovery project 2011–2013. Administered by Curtin University of Technology
This project will generate new data and analyses of the factors affecting
the retention of mature age women in paid work. It will produce an evidence
base on mature age women's employment for the development of policy
frameworks aimed at strengthening labour security in the aged care and other
sectors.
Renewing the teaching profession in regional areas through community partnerships
Prof Marie Brennan, Prof Alan Reid, Dr Faye McCallum and Assoc Prof Michele Simons
ARC Linkage project 2010–2013
Partner organisations: Catholic Education Office Port Pirie, City
of Mt Gambier, Eyre and Western Regional Office, Limestone Coast District
Education, Limestone Coast Regional Development Board, SA Department of
Education and Children's Services, Tenison Woods College
Schools are at the heart of community, social and economic regeneration in regional areas but teacher shortages and high turnover put quality of learning at risk. Improving teacher quality, attracting new teachers and retaining more experienced teachers will expand learning opportunities for young people in rural and remote areas, and make the region attractive to other workers recruited to bring their families to the area – for mining, industry, service or professional employment. This partnership study will enable policy makers, employers, country community groups and teacher education faculties to be more strategic in working together in providing necessary teaching staff, with potential implications for other professional groups.
Mandated literacy assessment and the reorganisation of teachers' work
Prof Barbara Comber and Assoc Prof Phil Cormack (with A/Prof B Doecke, Dr A Kostogriz, Dr RJ Kerin, Dr DE Smith, Dr AI Griffith)
ARC Discovery grant 2009–2011
The study will inform practitioners, teacher educators and educational policy
makers about the ways that teachers'
work is being changed by the introduction of mandated standardised assessment
and reporting processes. The
research will provide insights into the ways in which teachers need to adapt
standardised processes and policies to
account for the varied student and community populations they serve. This is
significant for educational policy as
recent international studies of students' literacy performance suggest Australia
is lagging in terms of equity for low
SES students.
Addressing the teacher exodus: enhancing early career teacher resilience and retention in changing times
Prof Bruce Johnson, Assoc Prof Rosie Le Cornu and Dr Judy Peters (with Dr Anna Sullivan)
ARC Linkage Grant 2008–2012
Partner organisations: Department of Education and Training, Australian
Education Union SA, State School Teachers Union of Western Australia,
Association of Independent Schools of South Australia, Association of
Independent Schools of Western Australia, Catholic Education Office of
Western Australia.
The first few years of teaching are difficult for many teachers. Yet
research into the problems of beginning teachers is nearly exhausted. Few
new ideas about how to address these problems are emerging. There is a need
for a new generation of collaborative research that investigates how
beginning teachers develop resilience and sustain their commitment to
teaching. Therefore, this project aims to find out how early career teachers
deal with threats to their well-being. It will identify what internal
strengths and external strategies promote teacher resilience. It will
provide the evidence base for interventions that will increase teacher
commitment and reduce teacher attrition.
Punish them or engage them? Identifying and addressing productive and unproductive student behaviours in SA schools
Prof Bruce Johnson (with Dr Anna Sullivan, Prof Laurence Owens and Prof Robert Conway)
ARC Linkage grant 2011–2013
Partner organisations: Association of Independent Schools SA, Association of
Principals of Catholic Secondary Schools, Department of Education and Children's
Services (SA), SA Catholic Primary Principals Associations, SA Commission for
Catholic Schools, SA Primary Principals Association, SA Secondary Principals
Association.
This project will provide a contemporary understanding of productive and
unproductive student behaviour, which is a key educational concern in Australia.
Evidence will be obtained to inform educational decisions to engage and promote
positive student behaviour and improve academic achievement.
Improving water market outcomes through a better understanding of market behaviour
Prof Martin Shanahan (with Dr SA Wheeler, A/Prof H Bjornlund, et al)
ARC Linkage grant 2009–2012
Partner organisations: Murray Darling Basin Commission,
University of Lethbridge, Goulburn-Murray Water, NSW Department of Water and
Energy, Department of Sustainability and Environment.
The issue of water resources and their sustainable use is probably the
most important issue facing the rural sector. The water reform process and
its aim to secure water for the environment will cause economic and social
pain and result in structural change within the irrigation sector. Properly
functioning water markets will play an instrumental role in facilitating
this process by providing water for the environment and allowing water to
move between competing resources. This study will enable policy makers and
water managers to optimise the positive outcome of water markets and
increase the likely success of programs to purchase environmental water.