Elements of Successful Evidence Centres: Foundations for a Disability Employment Centre of Excellence

In May 2024, the Australian federal government announced a budget commitment of $23.3 million over four years to establish a Disability Employment Centre of Excellence from 2024-25.Prior to this, and in response to public consultation regarding the purpose and organisational model of a proposed Disability Employment Centre of Excellence in Australia, a private philanthropic foundation commissioned a team of researchers from CSI Swinburne to answer the question:What are the key elements of successful evidence centre models (both national and international) or other practice-focused centres?From the research, five core and overlapping elements of centre design are evident. It provides the evidence base that can inform future decision-making about the model best suited to the proposed aspirations of the Disability Employment Centre of Excellence in the Australian context.A summary report accompanies this final report.</p

Design and Development of a Metamaterial-Based Protective Headband for Mitigating Sports Injuries

This thesis focuses on creating a new lightweight headband to help reduce head injuries in sports. The headband uses specially designed foldable structures and advanced materials to absorb impact effectively while remaining comfortable and easy to wear. Tests and computer simulations show that this design can significantly lower the force on the head during impacts, improving safety for athletes. This work supports the development of better protective gear that athletes are more likely to use, contributing to safer sports environments.</p

Impact of Organizational Culture on Bullying Behavior in Public Sector Organizations

Organizational culture can significantly influence the prevalence of bullying in workplaces. However, there is a dearth of empirical research that thoroughly investigates the various aspects of organizational culture directly linked to bullying behaviors in public sector organizations. To address this gap, a research study was conducted, interviewing senior-level managers across the Victorian Public Sector (VPS), Australia, aiming to identify the cultural elements contributing to bullying behaviors in their workplaces. Utilizing Schein’s organizational culture framework, this study reveals that hierarchical power distance, bureaucratic control, bullying as a political tactic, inaction against bullying incidents, and leaders’ prerogative are the primary cultural features that foster a negative environment and escalate bullying levels. It is imperative for organizations to recognize and rectify these cultural issues to prevent bullying behaviors and foster a safe and respectful workplace culture.</p

Employing 100. Evaluation, Final Report

Employing 100 is an initiative of the Australian Disability Network (AusDN) that aimed to successfully place 100 talented and suitably skilled jobseekers with disability into roles within four major employers. The Employing 100 project used an employer-led model to build organisational capability focused on building an inclusive workforce before linking organisations with selected talent providers who matched and supported applicants with disability through the recruitment processes. At the end of the two-year project, the Employing 100 project had exceeded its original goals, with 240 people with disability employed across the four organisations. Most importantly, the average retention rate for these employees across the partner organisations was 83 per cent.</p

Strategies to increase women’s representation on community sporting club committees: FOR STATE SPORTING ASSOCIATIONS

State sporting associations can support their community clubs to improve women’s representation on club committees.communicate the importance of women’s representation to community sporting clubsprovide resources to support women's representation on club committeesincrease capability and networks for women leadershighlight the importance of intersectionality</p

Evaluation of the Ganbina Jobs4U2 Program 2020-2022

This research project was commissioned by Ganbina to evaluate the ‘Jobs4U2’ program in the Shepparton region for the three year period 2020 to 2022. The evaluation explores the outcomes for participants (with a significant focus on those aged 13 to 25 years), and the factors that contribute to or hinder those outcomes from a range of perspectives.</p

Plant Disease Identification using Deep Learning Approach

This study explores the performance of SOTA models for plant disease identification, extending beyond accuracy to include in-depth explainability through visualization. Additionally, three novel models (PlantAIM, FF-ViT, and CL-ViT) are proposed to address existing challenges in the field. For the research community, this study provides a comprehensive performance benchmark and introduces new methodologies to tackle current limitations. For the broader society, the findings enhance public trust in automated plant disease identification models and contribute to more robust models adaptable to various tasks and environments.</p

Is there a space for “A” and “R” in early childhood STEM education?

This chapter is an attempt to deal with the problem as to date there is no research about how Internet of Toys (IoToys), particularly robotic technologies, facilitate children's STEM-based play. The main research question explored in this chapter is in what ways educators introduce robotic technologies for children's STEM-based play and emergent learning in early childhood education (ECE) contexts. In this Australian qualitative study, three educators intentionally integrated IoToys such as robotic toys in children's play experiences to develop children's STEM literacy skills. We were particularly interested in children's emergent learning during play as evidenced through children's drawings of story maps, constructed artefacts and how they enact their imagination to become creative. Findings from the educators' reflective journal documentation, video observations of children's play with the robots in ECE settings and artefact analysis revealed 1) how child-centred creative inquiry was fluid in following from the child's direct experiences and interactions with the robotic toys and 2) extending their free-flow play in learning STEM-based concepts (e.g. science and mathematics), thus shaping children's STEM literacy. Children's learning was flourishing to the degree that the child becomes curious and activates their real-world thinking and creative inquiry skills, including learning of scientific and mathematical language. The use of robots, physical programming and coding encouraged children's development of computational thinking and spatial reasoning. The chapter provides practical examples of how robotic integration might be conceptualised as an approach to introduce STREAM (Science, Technology, Robotics, Engineering, AI and Mathematics)-based play and spark children's STREAM learning in interdisciplinary ways within ECE contexts.</p

Using Participatory Action Research to Build, Implement and Evaluate a Clinical Decision Support System for Suicide Risk in a General Medical Practice

Suicide risk screening was trialed at an Australian university health clinic using an algorithm tool based upon demographic and mental health risk factors. The screening tool, implemented only for new patients attending for their first appointment with a general practitioner, was successful in identifying young adults with recent thoughts of suicide as well as those who may be at risk of suicide in the future or are reluctant to disclose suicidal thoughts. more work is needed to automate and integrate the tool into primary care practices if it is to be more widely adopted.</p

Advanced Battery Fault Diagnosis for Electric Vehicles

Lithium-ion batteries have emerged as one of the most promising energy storage systems in electric vehicles due to their high energy density and long lifespan. However, abusive operations and harsh environments pose risks such as overheating and short circuits, threatening battery safety. This study improves battery fault diagnosis by developing advanced algorithms that detect and assess faults in real time, ensuring reliable operation and extending battery life. By enhancing detection accuracy and reducing computational demands, the research supports safer, more efficient EV batteries and the transition to sustainable transportation.</p