Seminar 29 October

Embedding evidence in policy making: Reflections and learnings from the ANU-ACT Government research collaboration

ANU and the ACT Government have a strategic research partnership focused on the ACT Wellbeing Framework, which seeks to tackle "wicked" problems related to health, education, and disadvantage using linked population dataset and support evidence-based policy to improve wellbeing in our local community. This presentation will provide an overview of findings to date, drawing from six national data assets, including the Life Course Dataset Initiative - a pilot program which links cross-jurisdictional data (e.g., data from Aust Tax Office, MBS, Census, Australian Early Development Census) of over 4 million Australian children born in 2006/07 and their families. The ANU team will reflect on the progress of the research program and opportunities for the next phase of the partnership

Speaker Bios

• Tegan Cruwys is a Professor, Clinical Psychologist, and NHMRC Leadership Fellow in the School of Medicine and Psychology. Her research is focused on how social relationships affect health. This includes advancing theoretical understanding of the social determinants of health, and with translational impact to improve outcomes for marginalised communities. She leads the Health and Identity Lab and is the Project Lead of the ACT Wellbeing Framework Partnership.
• Paul Campbell is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the School of Medicine and Psychology, working on the ACT Wellbeing Framework Partnership. His research is focused on mental health, disadvantage, and children’s wellbeing outcomes. He previously worked for the Australian Bureau of Statistics and has expertise in longitudinal analyses and working with large scale administrative datasets to generate unique population-level insights.
• Emma Knight is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the School of Medicine and Psychology, working on the ACT Wellbeing Framework Partnership. Her research uses computational modelling techniques to explore topics such as youth mental health, school environments and educational outcomes, and children’s disadvantage. Her work is focussed on uncovering processes to inform future intervention and policy-design.