Move TogetherThe Research Partnership
The University of Wollongong (UOW) and Assistive Technology Suppliers Australia (ATSA) will collaborate on research into “integrated futures for motorised mobility devices” after their research proposal was awarded a three-year grant from the Australian Research Council (ARC) in the latest round of Linkage Projects funding announced on Friday 5 July 2019.
The University of Wollongong
University of Wollongong, Australian Centre for Culture, Environment, Society and Space, Faculty of Social Science, School of Geography and Sustainable Communities
The School of Geography and Sustainable Communities is part of the Faculty of Social Sciences and has an international reputation for undertaking world-class research. Geographical research at UOW is theoretically informed and empirically rigorous. The research conducted in the School aims to support public policy design and better decision making through a range of knowledge exchange and community engagement activities. Geographers help shape the future by understanding, explaining and predicting both human and physical environments. Human Geographers find solutions to issues around climate change, economic development, environmental management, population and cultural change, and urban, rural and regional planning.
We are known for our in-depth, ethnographic fieldwork that often involves the development of novel and exploratory methods for interpretations of what people say, do and experience. The research conducted in the School of Geography and Sustainable Communities, via AUSCCER, focusses on changes needed to offer alternative and innovative solutions to social and environmental problems, notably with a focus on social justice, climate change and sustainability. These changes involve building inter-disciplinary collaborative research teams that offer alternative approaches to governance and policy alongside changes in behaviour and technology.
Assistive Technology Suppliers Australia
Assistive Technology Suppliers Australia (ATSA) is the leading industry body representing the views and aspirations of assistive technology suppliers across Australia to achieve excellence, quality, value and positive outcomes for suppliers, AT consumers, stakeholders and the broader community.
We advocate to advance the public interest in the provision of AT that contributes to the Australian society through the promotion of research, education, best practise in supply and community accessible events.
ATSA works to ensure the market for assistive technologies is competitive, efficient, viable and appropriately regulated.
About Us
This research project brings together two research centres at the University of Wollongong; The Australian Centre for Culture, Environment, Society and Space (ACCESS) and the Australian Centre for Health Engagement, Evidence and Values (ACHEEV).
The Australian Centre for Health Engagement, Evidence and Values aims to be an international leader in deliberative democratic research in health. They conduct rigorous, independent, interdisciplinary research and actively engage with health systems, services and the public to promote understanding, acceptance and use of deliberative and other values-based methods.
Thus the experienced and dedicated team at ACCESS is strengthened by the knowledge and skills of colleagues within the public health domain. This inter-disciplinary collaboration is an acknowledgement that the issues that arise around the use of MMDs is not just one of transport or infrastructure but is also connected to ideas of health and ageing well.
ACCESS research integrates analysis of environment, culture, society and space to:
- identify and analyse the place-based, multi-dimensional challenges and opportunities that emerge as environments, cities, economies and communities are differentially transformed across space and place;
- explore how decision-making and action to address these challenges and opportunities can be imagined and enacted at multiple scales and across institutions and communities.
ACHEEV research is served by a specialist team with a set of skills unique in the health policy and practice landscape in Australia. We offer a combination of values‐oriented social research, deliberation and public engagement. These approaches can:
- generate new understanding of uncertainties, contests and conflicts in health;
- facilitate meaningful engagement with important health issues by a diverse set of stakeholders;
- produce action‐guiding recommendations for decision‐makers and practitioners.