Disability
A Hallmark Research Initiative
The Disability Hallmark Research Initiative was created because of an emerging desire for interdisciplinary disability research at the University of Melbourne. It was established in 2014 with funding from the Deputy Vice-Chancellor Research for three years. With a focus on rights protection through research and advocacy, it was hosted by the Melbourne Law School.
This Initiative promoted an active interdisciplinary disability research community which is now focused through the University's Melbourne Disability Institute under the leadership of Professor Bruce Bonyhady with Professor Anne Kavanagh as Academic Director.
Our approach
The aim of the Disability Hallmark Research Initiative was to help co-ordinate interdisciplinary projects with the involvement of community partners and those with lived experience of disability. In developing high-quality applied research, policy and education programs, the Initiative
- established ongoing networks bringing together researchers from universities across Australia and the world
- awarded seed funding across priority research areas, some in partnership with Melbourne Interdisciplinary Research Institutes
- hosted interns and volunteers who would complete projects in one of its research focus areas, and
- was involved with the Melbourne Social Equity Institute's Doctoral Academy program.
By helping to support research, policy and education using a rights-based approach and the social model, the Disability Hallmark Research Initiative achieved change in our city, state and beyond.
The Initiative built on its important work by increasing support for researchers who focused on changing the social, economic and physical environments that create disability. It helped coordinate interdisciplinary projects with the involvement of community partners and those with lived experience of disability.
Networks
The Disability Hallmark Research Initiative established two interdisciplinary networks which bring together researchers from universities across Australia and the world to foster communities of researchers concerned with disability rights issues. These networks support and encourage future collaboration and research on a wide variety of issues across multiple disciplines including Social Sciences, Law, Psychology and Health.
- Disability Access to Justice Consortium An interdisciplinary consortium of researchers, Disability Provider Organisations and community groups across Australia and New Zealand committed to extending the reach and impact of research on access to justice issues of people with disability.
- International Disability Human Rights Research Network A platform for disability researchers around the world to link with key human rights organisations and with the voice of people with disability and pursue research that relates to the exercise and realisation of the rights guaranteed in the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
Some Key Publications
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Reports
- Safety and Autonomy in the Australian Mental Health Services Sector, May 2016 Download PDF 1.43MB
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Submissions
- Submission to the United Nations CRPD - Outline of the Draft General Comment on Article 5, June 2017 Download PDF 187KB
- Submission to the Royal Commission into the Protection and Detention of Children in the Northern Territory, October 2016 Download PDF 206KB
- Submission to the Senate Community Affairs References Committee inquiry into Indefinite Detention of People of Cognitive and Psychiatric Impairment in Australia, March 2016 Download PDF 996KB
- Submission to the National Inquiry into Employment Discrimination Against Older Australians and Australians with Disability, December 2015 Download PDF 509KB
- Submission to the Committee on Bioethics of the Council of Europe regarding the additional protocol to the Convention of Human Rights and Biomedicine, November 2015 Download PDF 309KB
- Submission to the Senate Committee for Community Affairs on the Social Service Legislation Amendment Bill 2015, May 2015 Download PDF 241KB
- United Nations Submission to the Right to Education for People with Disabilities, March 2015 Download PDF 234KB