Community Liaison and Education Unit (CLEU)
The Mission of the CLEU:
The Community Liaison and Education Unit ensures that the research
carried out at the Centre meets the needs of the communities it serves,
and that the research findings are disseminated in the most effective
way to those who can use them in formulating better care, education and
prevention programs and policies.
Aims
- To build links between research and practice to ensure that research
informs, and is informed by, policy and practice.
- To develop and maintain research relationships with organisations and
individuals.
- To disseminate research outcomes in ways that are accessible and
comprehensible to the community.
- To promote the work of the Centre in general.
Read more about are aims and philosophy
About the CLEU
The CLEU has always been an integral
and dynamic part ARCSHS. Staff levels in the unit vary
but currently 7 staff members bring their skills and community experience
to the CLEU. They ensure that the social research undertaken by ARCSHS
is informed by community needs and carried out in collaboration with agencies
and services that have a stake in the outcomes. This results in research
that is grounded in real issues and questions and is accessible to those
who will benefit most.
The staff at CLEU also work with communities and agencies to show how
the research is relevant to their lives and work. They ensure that the
outcomes of the research reach those responsible for public health practice
and policy development. Their work was recognised when ARCSHS won the
inaugural Victorian Public Health Award for research into practice initiatives
in 1997.
The Community Liaison model
CLEU's development of the Community Liaison model in research practice
is unique both in Australia and internationally. The Community Liaison
Officers are integral to the Centre's sound research processes and frequently
bring unique connections with communities who participate in the research,
such as Indigenous and Gay and Lesbian communities. This facilitates genuinely
collaborative work and co- construction of research projects.
Following the completion of research, strategies are developed to ensure
outcomes are fed back to participants and communities in ways which make
the research accessible and useful. Such strategies may involve, for example,
plain English reports and report summaries, websites, posters, workshops
and school-based program material.
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