Researchers from University of Melbourne's Faculty of Education awarded over $1.1M in ARC Linkage Grants

University of Melbourne’s Faculty of Education archives a boost of over $1.1 million to advance its innovative and impactful research.

Announced yesterday, the ARC Linkage success awarded funding for two projects that connect with partner organisations including the Victorian Department of Education, CSIRO, Murdoch Children's Research Institute, TLC Early Learning and Aged Care Mordialloc, Echoes Montessori Preschool, and ECH Retirement Living Inc.

Student Well-being and Learning was awarded $758,393, Growing Up, Ageing Well was awarded $394,252.

Professor Marek Tesar, Dean, Faculty of Education acknowledges that research with impact matters deeply to the Faculty, and it is encouraging to see this work recognised and supported at this scale.

"These important projects reflect the strength of collaborative, interdisciplinary and socially engaged research across the Faculty: from student wellbeing and learning, through to intergenerational care, ageing, and community connection," said Professor Marek Tesar.

"They also demonstrate the importance of strong partnerships with schools, government, health, early childhood, and community organisations in addressing some of the most pressing challenges facing society today."

The Student Well-being and Learning project led by Professor Kate Reynolds, Dr Georgia Dawson and Professor Jon Quach, aims to transform educational well-being and student engagement research by shifting from small-scale studies to comprehensive, sector-wide longitudinal analyses.

The research will utilise new analytic techniques, including machine learning and person-centered methods.

In the Faculty, the research will create a cutting-edge large-scale student longitudinal wellbeing databank and datalab to identify when specific predictors matter most and when throughout a student's schooling years.

It includes a dedicated translation phase for schools to implement highly impactful strategies at critical developmental stages, ensuring more equitable and productive outcomes for Australian students.

The Growing Up, Ageing Well project led by Professor Tricia Eadie and Dr Sarah Young tackles Australia's care sector challenges by co-locating aged care and early childhood services to foster deep community connections and evidence-based social benefits.

The Australian care sector is under acute stress from an aging population, developmentally vulnerable children, and workforce shortages. This project addresses these problems by designing and evaluating an innovative model of co-located intergenerational care.

The project explores the physical design features that encourage safe and organic intergenerational engagements. It identifies best-practice activities that provide meaningful, cohesive educational and social experiences, as well as develops methods to measure how shared-site care positively impacts older adults, children, families, and the care workforce.

“These are timely and exciting projects, and we look forward to supporting their impact in schools and the community,” said Professor Kate Reynolds, Associate Dean Research, Faculty of Education, University of Melbourne.