Social and Behavioural
Explore Social and Behavioural
Karen Hindhede – Adriana Saavedra | How Social Justice, Climate Change and Diversity are Portrayed in Children’s Books
In today’s world, social justice, environmental justice, climate change, and diversity are increasingly important topics. These big, complex subjects can be difficult for children to understand. However, children’s literature is often at the forefront of tackling such topics. Picturebooks are a way to consider current issues, foster awareness and empathy, and help children to imagine new and better ways of being in the world. They are often meant to be read by or with the help of an adult, presenting an opportunity for intergenerational learning, discussion, and enjoyment. In a recent study, Karen Hindhede and Adriana Saavedra at Central Arizona College set out to understand how ideas about social justice, climate change and diversity are portrayed in children’s literature.
Professor Carmel Foley | Beyond the Classroom: How University Clubs Cultivate Successful Graduates
In today’s competitive job market, universities face the challenge of ensuring that their graduates are not only knowledgeable but also possess a range of attributes that make them employable. Traditional academic programs often focus on curriculum and formal learning environments, but recent research highlights the significant role of extracurricular activities in student development. Professor Carmel Foley at the University of Technology Sydney and her colleagues have delved into this underexplored area, examining how participation in university-based sport and social clubs contributes to the development of essential graduate attributes.
Dr. David Stoesz | Jane Crow and the Abolition of Family Policing
The American child welfare system has a long history of injustice. Until recently, this was mainly experienced by low-income Black families, who are routinely surveilled by caseworkers. This brings the threat of investigation, arrest, and having their children taken away, placed in foster care, and frequently adopted. This is often referred to as Jane Crow. Some researchers have likened the child welfare system to professional kidnapping and have highlighted the prevalence of children aging-out of foster care only to become homeless.
Christian Fazekas – Franziska Matzer | New Ways to Understand and Measure Patient Care and Wellbeing
In an era of increasing healthcare challenges, we need new ways to provide, understand and enhance patient care. It is vital to understand how physicians can maintain high-quality patient care even in times of crisis, like during the COVID-19 pandemic. It is also vital to measure patients’ satisfaction with their own subjective health before and after medical treatment to enhance patient care and wellbeing. New research from Christian Fazekas, Franziska Matzer and their colleagues at the Medical University of Graz, in cooperation with the Austrian Medical Chamber, contributes to this important area.
Empowering Communities to be Sustainable Custodians of African Water Resources
The UN sustainable development goals serve as a blueprint for a sustainable future. These goals include The Africa Water Vision for 2025 by the African Union, which entails re-thinking the governance of water resources in African countries. However, strategies to meet such goals are not consistently implemented. The ‘Unlocking Resilient Benefits from African Water Resources’ – or RESBEN – project, funded by the UKRI, is a large-scale project that engages communities in research, towards re-thinking how water resources are managed in African countries. The project includes all the partners of the African Research University Alliance Water Centre of Excellence, and two UK universities: Lancaster University and the University of Sheffield.
Professor Danica Fink-Hafner | What Influence do Political Parties Have on Anti-democratic Trends?
The relationship between political parties and democracy is complex. Liberal thought at first didn’t even include political parties in the theory of democracy. In practice, however, factions and then parties gradually emerged. Since World War II, parties have often been seen as essential to representative democracy. Nevertheless, their role has evolved over time. During the last decade, undemocratic trends have been flourishing worldwide, raising questions about how political parties may have contributed. Some factors have been studied, but the research hasn’t been substantial or systematic.
Prof. Thea Brown | Unveiling Factors Linked to the Murder of Children by Their Parents
Filicide, where a parent or guardian kills a child, is a heinous crime. Thea Brown, Danielle Tyson and Paula Fernandez Arias from the Monash Deakin Filicide Research Hub have been studying filicide for years, to uncover common factors for future prevention initiatives.
Dr. Precious Skinner-Osei – Peter Claudius Osei | Beyond Bars: Guiding Re-entry Programs to Implement C.A.R.E.
The U.S. detains approximately 2 million individuals in prisons and jails, with 10.6 million annual bookings, mostly for short-term or pre-trial detentions. As a result, over 90% of these individuals will eventually be released, underscoring the importance of re-entry programs. Upon release, many encounter the same challenges that contributed to their incarceration, making reintegration a complex process. These challenges include navigating the labor market, preventing re-offending through counseling and education, and rebuilding family and community ties. Re-entry programs aim to address these challenges by providing services, including family reunification, employment aid, mental health support, housing, and education.
Dr Bronwyn Maree Wilson | Revealing Differences in Communication Needs within Neurodiverse Relationships
Everyone deserves to have satisfying relationships, romantic or otherwise. Communication skills are hugely important in fostering affection and connection within such relationships. However, some couples and families may have more trouble communicating than others. For ‘neurodiverse’ relationships consisting of neurotypical and autistic people, communication can be particularly difficult. Autism involves differences in social interaction and communication. However, the extent to which these differences affect adults in neurodiverse relationships is largely unknown, as the majority of autism research focuses on children. To address this, Dr Bronwyn Maree Wilson of Edith Cowan University and colleagues have conducted a study into the communication issues experienced by neurodiverse couples and families.
Dr Laurie Durel – Laure Gosselin | How Conversations Shape the Effectiveness of New Climate Policies
Climate change has become a topic of public discussion, no longer confined to scientists and politicians. Various stakeholders, including environmental NGOs and industry representatives, hold different perspectives on how to address climate change. This web of actors and ideas in a given political debate, combined with their interactions, is called a discursive field. Discursive fields influence our thinking and determine whether certain ideas gain political traction. They can enable or constrain the ability of political institutions to adopt new policies. As agreeing on efficient climate change policies becomes increasingly urgent, it is vital that we consider how discursive fields impact climate change policy.
Professor Kenneth Scheve – Professor David Stasavage | Why US Tax Policy Hasn’t Responded to Rising Inequality
Whether policymaking can develop solutions for the inevitable problems that capitalism creates has long been a concern of political economists. One of these issues is rising inequality across the USA and other countries. Inequality is a significant risk for political stability, so it is vital to understand how democratic societies respond to it. Progressive taxation policies, which tax the rich at higher rates, can help to equalize incomes and wealth. Despite this, over the last four decades while inequality has increased, successive US governments have introduced falling tax rates for top earners. Why is this?
Professor Louise Steel | Viewing Egyptian Influences in Late Bronze Age Cyprus Through a Postcolonial Lens
The role of Egyptian or Egyptian-inspired artefacts found in the East Mediterranean has long been considered by archaeologists. Some have highlighted how these objects may have conferred elite authority on their owners. More recently, analysis has been grounded in postcolonial thought, which emphasises the agency of the native population involved in the exchange of artefacts. In a recent paper, Professor Louise Steel explores the Egyptian influence in the Late Bronze Age town of Enkomi in Cyprus.
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