Lessons Learned from Disability Collaborative Research with Community Members and Organisations at UTS

The UTS Disability Research Network invites you to learn more about how you can utilise disability collaborative and inclusive research practices.

The value of ‘inclusive’ or collaborative research with people with disability is widely recognised. Such research reflects the mantra ‘Nothing About Us, Without Us’ and the focus on equality and self-determination in the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, as well as calls from communities for epistemic parity in the production of knowledge.

Recent Australian inclusive research undertaken by UTS academics has highlighted the importance of Universities developing academic capacity in this area and supporting research that is inclusive of people with disability.

The aim of this event is to raise awareness about collaborative research and broaden thinking on inclusive research practices.

In conversation with community collaborators, three UTS academics who are members of the UTS Disability Research Network, will share their experiences and insights of leading collaborative research projects. The panel is an opportunity to discuss good practices in research at all stages of a project, talk through common barriers and build upon these collaborative practices in your own research.

Presenters and community partners will introduce their research projects and highlight inclusive research aspects.

The panellists will then be asked questions covering such topics as:

• Levels of research participation
• Rationale for collaborative research
• Substantive and continuous planning, design, conduct and dissemination 
• Mindsets for collaborative research
• Organisation readiness
• Budgeting and recognition
• Partnerships with community and community organisations
• Knowledge translation

Attendees will have a chance to ask questions in light of their own research projects.

About the presenters:

Jack Kelly UTS Honorary Fellow and CID Project Worker 

Jack Kelly has worked in the disability research and advocacy sector since 2016, having worked with the Centre for Disability Studies (CDS) inclusive research network as a Research and Administration assistant. Jack currently holds positions at the Council for Intellectual Disability (CID) as a project worker and at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) as an Honorary Research Fellow. Jack is passionate about advocating for the rights of people with intellectual disability, with a strong focus on good health care due to his own experience within the health care system.

Associate Professor Phillippa Carnemolla 

Phillippa Carnemolla is Associate Professor at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) in the Faculty of Design, Architecture and Building. She is interested in inclusive design and inclusive research and how to do it well. At UTS, she works on projects that identify and remove barriers to inclusion in our workplaces, organisations, homes and cities. Phillippa is also an Industrial Designer. Phillippa is on the leadership team of the UTS Disability Research Network.

Jack Kelly and Phillippa Carnemolla have worked together on a range of projects, including developing resources to support and build the capacity of local government to be more inclusive of people with intellectual disability. Phillippa, Jack and Linda Steele have also collaborated on research exploring with people with intellectual disability what the public should remember and learn about historic institutions.

Brett Bellingham

Brett Bellingham is a Lived Experience researcher and educator within the Faculty of Health, UTS. Brett uses his lived expertise, which includes knowledge of the mental health consumer movement and mad studies scholarship, to co-lead collaborative research and co-design curricula in the field of ‘mental health’. 

Associate Professor Jo River 

Jo River is Associate Professor of Mental Health Drug and Alcohol in the Faculty of Health, UTS and Northern Sydney LHD. They have expertise in co-design and co-production research and partners with people with lived and living experience to ensure research is grounded in community priorities and relevant and resonant to those most impacted by research-informed policy and services. Jo is a member of the UTS Disability Research Network.

Jo River and Brett Bellingham have partnered on a program of research, ‘Raising the Bar’, that builds the capacity of researchers to engage collaborative projects across health, academic and community sectors. In 2021, the Raising the Bar team was awarded the Distilling Research Impact Award for demonstrable social impact.

Associate Professor Linda Steele 

Linda Steele is Associate Professor at University of Technology Sydney (UTS) Faculty of Law. She is a co-convenor of the UTS Feminist Legal Research Group and a member of the leadership team of the UTS Disability Research Network and leader of the Social Justice, Equity, and Diversity Theme. Linda is currently leading a program of research 'Truth Justice Repair' through which she is exploring how we reckon with and repair the harms associated with violence, institutionalisation and segregation of people with disability. Linda collaborates with people with disability and a range of Disabled People’s and Representative Organisations including Council for Intellectual Disability and Women with Disabilities Australia.

Kate Swaffer 

Kate Swaffer is a PhD Candidate at the University of South Australia, with a Master of Science in Dementia, a Bachelor of Psychology, Bachelor of Arts, GradDip in grief counselling, and a retired nurse. She has been a global campaigner for the human rights of older people and people with dementia for 15 years, and for dementia as a disability including at the UN and WHO. Her awards include the UniSA Alumni Award in 2021 and the SA Australian Of The Year in 2017. Kate is also co-founder of Dementia Alliance International, a registered charity for people with dementia globally. 

Linda and Kate have collaborated on two empirical research projects on human rights for people living with dementia in residential aged care, funded by the Dementia Australia Research Foundation.

THIS IS A HYBRID EVENT - Please register to attend in person OR Register and attend online via the Zoom link