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The Faculty of Arts is committed to engagement with academic, industry and government partners to deepen our research and address local, national and global challenges.
We also work collaboratively with our partners to ensure that our courses are relevant to the needs of industry and society.
Our latest research partnership success stories
Working with Facebook to counter cyberbullying
Understanding how Indigenous people engage with social media, and how digital technology impacts health and wellbeing, forms the focus of multiple projects in the Department of Indigenous Studies. Department members have strong research collaborations with the local Dharug community, Indigenous LGBTQI+SB advocacy group Black Rainbow, and the Aboriginal Health and Medical Research Council of NSW to name a few.
Outcome: resources to counter cyberbullying and harmful speech
The Department’s research into cyberbullying and harmful speech — particularly against Indigenous women and LGBTQ+ people — has resulted in practical resources that support off- and online social and emotional wellbeing.
Facebook has funded research into online hate speech and regularly consults the Department on training and policy.
The Department has also recently partnered with ReachOut to develop one of the first online mental health resources produced specifically for Indigenous youth.
Partnering with Education Authority to improve day care
Professor Linda Harrison from the Macquarie School of Education led a team on the Quality Improvement Research Project (2018–2020) to investigate the contributors and underlying processes that led to, and supported, quality improvement of children’s programs in long day care services throughout Australia.
Outcome: practical ideas to help improve early childhood education
The research was conducted for, and in partnership with the Australian Children’s Education and Care Quality Authority (ACECQA), the national agency that works with all governments to provide guidance, resources and services to significantly improve the early childhood education sector for the benefit of young children and families.
The research report was published online, alongside an information sheet based on the findings of the study, which included practical ideas to support continuous quality improvement. Read the report on the ACECQA website.
Advising government on right-wing extremism
In 2019, Lise Waldek and Julian Droogan — researchers from the Department of Security Studies and Criminology — along with Dr Brian Ballsun-Stanton collected and analysed millions of posts across six social media platforms to gain an understanding of the nature, scale and threat posed by the online spread of right-wing extremism in NSW. Commissioned by the State Government after the 2019 Christchurch attack by a far-right Islamophobe and terrorist from NSW, this empirical research presented policy-oriented recommendations on how government can address the problem of far-right violent extremism.
Outcome: informing government decisions on right-wing extremism
This research identified a ‘creeping threat’ that online right-wing extremist narratives pose to Australian social cohesion. By providing evidence on the impact of the convergence of technological change and extremist subcultures on Australian social and political norms to State and Federal Government committees, the researchers directly supported government decision-making.
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