Family Violence Triage in Family Courts: Safety, Efficacy and Benefit PhD Research Scholarship
Background
Scholarship code: SRS23-04
This prestigious scholarship has been made available with funding awarded to La Trobe university by the Australian Research Council (ARC) as part of the following Linkage Project: LP210100181 (Project Title: Family Violence Triage in Family Courts: Safety, Efficacy and Benefit). The Linkage Project (2022-2025) involves an established and formalised partnership between La Trobe University (LTU), Relationships Australia South Australia (RASA), and the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia (FCFCoA; ‘the Court’).
The ARC Linkage Program promotes national and international research partnerships between researchers and business, industry, community organisations and other publicly funded research agencies. By supporting the development of partnerships, the ARC encourages the transfer of skills, knowledge, and ideas as a basis for securing commercial and other benefits of research.
This Linkage Project harnesses a unique and time-sensitive opportunity to learn from Australian families involved in the Lighthouse Project, an innovative triage approach being taken by the Courts to screen litigants for family violence risk, with a primary focus on improving outcomes for families involved in the family law system. The Lighthouse Project is being piloted in the Adelaide, Brisbane and Parramatta FCFCoA registries (2021-current) and is soon due to be scaled up to a national degree (2023-ongoing).
Utilising the Courts’ Lighthouse Project pilot program, the Linkage Project aims to examine risk pathways, burdens and costs of post-separation domestic and family violence (DFV), and the efficacy and cost-benefits of early DFV triage. This project intends to produce new knowledge about family and systemic drivers of safety, to advance evidence on the efficacy of DFV triage and to translate findings into new resources for preventing DFV harms. This world-first longitudinal study aims to inform global family law policy and practice, with inter-generational benefit for vulnerable Australian families and societies.
Key Research Questions of the ARC Linkage Project:
- Over the course of a year after Court entry, what are the pathways of domestic and family violence for Australian families and what are their attendant burdens and costs?
- How effective is early triage for safety enhancement and cost-benefit?
- What are the key components of increased safety, for parents and children, across the course of a year after Court entry?
- What is the best possible online psychoeducation prevention resource we can co-design with parents and Court practitioners?
Topic, design, methods and expectations of this PhD program:
La Trobe University will appoint two PhD candidates to examine separate research questions as part of this ARC Linkage Project. The current advertisement is for a PhD program that is translational in focus and applies to Research Question 4 above: What is the best possible online psychoeducation prevention resource we can co-design with parents and Court practitioners?
The PhD candidate will refine specific research questions and the corresponding suite of analyses to address this research question. The candidate will be expected to design and conduct an appropriate literature or systematic review to commence the program of research.
Supervisors Professor Jennifer McIntosh and Dr Anna Booth will provide methodology expertise to co-lead analyses, translation and assist in writing up results for this program of research.
The PhD candidate will refine specific research questions and the corresponding suite of analyses to address this aim. The candidate will be expected to design and conduct an appropriate literature or systematic review to commence the program of research. The student will contribute to the design of research questions and analysis of data using Delphi methodology. The student will work on the pilot of the online resource in the three Triage sites and will examine change for parents and court staff. The student will interpret and disseminate findings together with the research team.
The PhD candidate will be mentored in early career research at The Bouverie Centre, La Trobe University and will be supported in learning both theoretical approaches to domestic and family violence and respective research methods.
Benefits of the scholarship include:
- a La Trobe Research Scholarship for three and a half years, with a value of $33,500 per annum, to support your living costs (2023 rate)
- a fee-relief scholarship for up to four years
- Relocation allowance and publication/thesis allowance
- opportunities to work with La Trobe’s outstanding researchers and have access to our suite of professional development programs.
Are you eligible to apply?
To be eligible to apply for this scholarship, applicants must:
To be eligible to apply for this scholarship, applicants must:
- meet the entrance requirements for the proposed course
- not be receiving another scholarship greater than 75 per cent of the stipend rate for the same purpose.
- be an Australian and New Zealand citizen or Australian permanent resident
In selecting successful applicants, we prioritise applications from candidates who:
- will be enrolled full-time and undertaking their research at a La Trobe University campus
- have completed a Masters by Research or other significant body of research, such as an honours research thesis or lead authorship of a peer-reviewed publication, assessed at a La Trobe Masters by research standard of 75 or above
How to apply
If you wish to apply for this scholarship, follow Step 3 and 4 on our research application page – please ensure you submit a full application for scholarship and candidature. Select the 'Graduate Research - Specialist Research Scholarship' scholarship option when prompted in the application portal, and use the scholarship code SRS23-04.Please note:
As part of your application, you are not required to identify a potential supervisor – Professor Jennifer McIntosh and Dr Anna Booth are the designated supervisors for this project.
A research proposal is not required for this application, as the general rationale, aims and methodology of this project have been established as part of the approved ARC Linkage Project (as described above). In lieu of a research proposal, applicants are required to submit 2 (two) sample pieces of writing that provide an indication of the applicant’s research expertise or potential relevant to the current project.
Shortlisted applicants will be required to attend an interview.
Shortlisted applicants will be required to have a current police check and Working With Children Check prior to commencing the position (to be paid for by the applicant).
Selection process:
The University will carefully review your application and consider you for this scholarship.
If you are shortlisted for the scholarship and candidature, you will be invited to an interview with representatives of La Trobe, Relationships Australia South Australia, and The Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia.
The final decision will be made based on your application and interview. The successful candidate will be made an offer for candidature and scholarship.
You will be advised of an outcome in late 2023.
Who to contact for further information
If you require further information about the scholarship, please contact:, Dr Anna Booth a.booth@latrobe.edu.au