Bulletin

Issue: August 2004

Scholarships

Scholarships recognise disability research

In a first for innovative disability research, La Trobe University postgraduate students have been awarded three out of five new State Government scholarships to increase Australian-based studies into disability issues.

The winning La Trobe students - Margaret Cooper, Patricia Frawley and Fiona Reidy - will each receive an annual grant of $20,000 for three years, under the inaugural Victorian Disability Plan PhD Scholarship Program.

Announcing the awards, Parliamentary Secretary for Community Services, Mr Telmo Languiller, said the research will provide a greater understanding of the challenges facing 800,000 Victorians with a disability. All students will work closely with the Department of Human Services and the community in developing their research.

Lecturer in the School of Social Work and Social Policy, Dr Christine Bigby, will supervise the projects. She said the scholarships acknowledged La Trobe's strength and breadth in disability research and will build on existing research around issues of aging with a lifelong disability and inclusion of people with disabilities.

Head of Social Work and Social Policy, Associate Professor in Health Sciences, Alison McClelland, said: 'A feature of the scholarships is their broad interdisciplinary nature. For example Ms Frawley's is being co-supervised by Pro-fessor of Politics, Dr Judith Brett, and Ms Reidy will be jointly supervised by Associate Professor Hal Swerission from the School of Public Health.'

Ms Cooper will explore the experience of ageing for people with long-term physical impairments, a poorly understood area. A wheel-chair user herself, she will research the disabling aspects of society that complicate the lives of people with long-term impairments as they get older.

Ms Frawley will study the structures and operations of organisations that seek to involve people with a disability in public policy making. She will evaluate the effectiveness of current processes and develop strategies to improve meaningful participation.

Ms Reidy aims to identify policy frameworks used by local government to build inclusive communities and will examine how these incorporate the needs of people with disabilities.

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