Congratulations to DMRC’s Dr Jessa Rogers, Dr Amber Marshall, Prof Michael Dezuanni and Dr Kim Osman who have been awarded a grant from the auDA Foundation 2021 Grant Program. The project will explore digital inclusion in low-income Indigenous families on Mornington Island and examine the unique digital challenges of families living remotely in the Torres and Cape.
The auDA has awarded grants of $40,000 to 15 organisations for education and research initiatives that enhance the utility of the internet for Australians across three key areas:
- Digital inclusion (with an emphasis on First Nations peoples)
- Cyber security for small business
- Internet access for young Australians.
The grant awarded to the DMRC researchers is titled “Connecting in Cape York: Understanding and addressing digital inclusion in low-income Indigenous families living on Mornington Island” and aligns with an ARC Linkage grant. A summary of the project is as follows:
“We know from the Australian Digital Inclusion Index that Indigenous Australians in remote communities are among the least digitally included in Australia. This project is needed to understand the impact of low level digital access and inclusion on Indigenous families, living remote, with low income. This project aims to increase understanding of the impact of digital inclusion challenges for low income Indigenous families living on Mornington Island, a remote Aboriginal community in the Cape York Peninsula. It will examine how low income Aboriginal families use and access the internet, and how this impacts access to government and social services, education (particularly relevant as there is no high school on the island), e-health and e-commerce. We will employ Indigenous methodologies including yarning, and co-design workshops to inform policies, practices and programs focused on how low income Indigenous families access and use digital technologies and the internet on Mornington Island.”
QUT researchers will work with Prof Hurriyet Babacan, a long-standing collaborator on digital inclusion research in Far North Queensland and Northern Australia. Formerly from The Cairns Institute at James Cook University, Prof Babacan has recently taken a new role at The University of Queensland
See the auDA announcement and full list of recipients here.