Families Under Pressure

Life Course Centre

Podcast by Life Course Centre

Episodes

  1. 11/01/2022

    The power of schools and families working together

    Schools alone cannot fully compensate for children’s disadvantaged circumstances, but they can make a big difference and are powerful influencers in improving life course outcomes. In this episode, Professor Matt Sanders discusses the importance of schools with fellow Life Course Centre Chief Investigator Professor Donna Cross from the Telethon Kids Institute and The University of Western Australia. Donna is Program Head, Development & Education at the Telethon Kids Institute in Perth, and an internationally renowned child development and health promotion expert. Donna is committed to bringing researchers, educators, policymakers, families and communities together to improve children’s and young people’s social and emotional development and wellbeing. She has led extensive research on the power of schools to disrupt disadvantage and improve life course outcomes, particularly for children from vulnerable families and communities. Matt and Donna explore how schools can address children’s developmental disadvantage and positively influence life course trajectories. They highlight the critical relationship between parents and teachers, the importance of family engagement in children’s learning, and opportunities to harness the evidence base and new technologies to enhance child development and wellbeing. *** More information: Professor Donna Cross https://www.telethonkids.org.au/contact-us/our-people/c/donna-cross/ Telethon Kids Institute https://www.telethonkids.org.au/ Life Course Centre https://www.lifecoursecentre.org.au/ Professor Matt Sanders https://researchers.uq.edu.au/researcher/174 Parenting & Family Research Alliance (PAFRA) https://www.pafra.org/

    34 min
  2. 10/12/2021

    How social science can address our biggest challenges

    Social science has a critical role to play in tackling the defining challenges of our times – from reconciliation, climate change and inequality to post-COVID recovery and the future of work. In this conversation, Professor Mark Western and Professor Matt Sanders examine ‘why the social matters’ and the priorities, challenges and opportunities for social science in Australia. Professor Mark Western is a sociologist and the Director of the Institute for Social Science Research at The University of Queensland. He works on applied projects across social policy, is a former Chief Investigator in the Life Course Centre, and a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia. Mark recently launched the 2021 State of the Social Sciences Report at the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia’s 50th Anniversary Symposium: The Social Future of Australia. This report highlights the depth and breadth of the social science ecosystem in in Australia, grand challenges for social science to address, and key priorities for the sector moving forward. Mark and Matt discuss this important report in more detail, highlighting the importance of social science collaboration in understanding and explaining some of the largest and most complex problems facing Australia, and the world, today – and, most importantly, its vital role in designing and developing solutions that can make a real difference to society and improving people’s lives. *** More information: Professor Mark Western http://researchers.uq.edu.au/researcher/909 Institute for Social Science Research https://issr.uq.edu.au Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia https://socialsciences.org.au State of the Social Sciences Report 2021 https://stateofthesocialsciences.org.au 50th Anniversary Symposium Recordings: The Social Future of Australia https://socialsciences.org.au/anniversary-symposium/ Professor Matt Sanders https://researchers.uq.edu.au/researcher/174 Life Course Centre https://www.lifecoursecentre.org.au

    30 min
  3. 07/11/2021

    Never let a crisis go to waste: COVID-19 silver linings

    Never Let a Crisis go to Waste: Opportunities to Reduce Social Disadvantage from COVID-19. This is a special episode, recorded as part of a panel discussion hosted by Life Course Centre research leaders. In the midst of a global crisis that has upended almost all aspects of how we live and work, a life course approach turns attention to the long-term impacts of COVID-19. Looking at the pandemic through a life course lens also provides a chance to reflect on opportunities from COVID-19 for examining long-standing, taken-for-granted rules and regulations about living and working. In the paper, ‘Never let a crisis go to waste: Opportunities to reduce social disadvantage from COVID-19’, Life Course Centre researchers offer ideas on potential opportunities for rethinking, redesigning and reworking social policies to address disadvantage. This provides an optimistic, forward-looking counterpoint to what has been a catastrophic global social, health and economic event. In this special webinar recording from Anti-Poverty Week, Life Course Centre Chief Investigators Professors Janeen Baxter, Stephen Zubrick, Deborah Cobb-Clark and Guyonne Kalb, discuss opportunities arising from COVID-19 to address long-standing inequalities in Australia in areas such as health, the tax and transfer system, labour markets and gender. There will be other pandemics and other global shocks. What we learn, and do, today will have significant bearing on future preparations and responses. This discussion explores some of the ways we might leverage the COVID-19 crisis to build back a better and fairer society for all. More information: Life Course Centre: https://www.lifecoursecentre.org.au/ Never Let a Crisis Go to Waste: Opportunities to Reduce Social Disadvantage from COVID-19 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1467-8462.12428 Anti-Poverty Week https://antipovertyweek.org.au/ Professor Janeen Baxter is the Director of the Life Course Centre, a position she had held since the Centre’s establishment in 2014. Based at the Institute for Social Science Research at The University of Queensland, she has research interests in disadvantage, gender inequality and family dynamics. https://researchers.uq.edu.au/researcher/910 Professor Stephen Zubrick is a former Life Course Centre Chief Investigator and Deputy Director 2014-2020 and now an Honorary Emeritus Research Fellow. An expert in child health, he is an Emeritus Professor at The University of Western Australia and an Emeritus Fellow at the Telethon Kids Institute. https://www.telethonkids.org.au/contact-us/our-people/z/stephen-zubrick/ Professor Deborah Cobb-Clark is the Deputy Director of the Life Course Centre and has been a Chief Investigator since the Centre’s establishment in 2014. Based at the School of Economics at the University of Sydney, her research focus covers disadvantage, welfare and economic/social policy. https://www.sydney.edu.au/arts/about/our-people/academic-staff/deborah-cobb-clark.html Professor Guyonne Kalb is a Life Course Centre Chief Investigator at the Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research at the University of Melbourne. Her research interests are in applied micro-economics and include labour supply issues, particularly female labour supply. https://findanexpert.unimelb.edu.au/profile/6582-guyonne-kalb

    28 min

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Podcast by Life Course Centre