The ARC Centre of Excellence for Children and Families over the Life Course (Life Course Centre or LCC) is investigating the critical factors underlying disadvantage to provide life-changing solutions for policy and service delivery.
We aim to identify the drivers of disadvantage, characterised by the spread of social and economic poverty within families and across generations, and to develop innovative solutions to reduce disadvantage.
The Life Course Centre is a national centre funded by the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence Scheme. Hosted through the University of Queensland, the University of Western Australia is one of the collaborating Universities that comprise the centre. Staff at The Kids Research Institute Australia and UWA participate in a range of funded projects with the Life Course Centre.
The Kids staff:
Cate Taylor, Daniel Christensen, Emma Adams, Francis Mitrou, Gursimran Dhamrait, Ha Nguyen, Kirsten Hancock, Leah Cave, Leanne Scott, Sarah Johnson, Stephen Zubrick
The Kids LCC Projects
Understanding the reasons behind student absences
A student’s learning potential is limited if they do not attend school regularly.
Time investment and child development
This project aims to explore how Australian children spend their time over an extended and important period of their lives (from birth to 16/17 years old) and how such time allocation contributes to their development outcomes.
The Effects of Interpregnancy Intervals, Family Size & Sociodemographic Factors on Child Development Outcomes at Age 5
This project will investigate the effects of the time interval between pregnancies (interpregnancy interval), family size and other sociodemographic factors on child development outcomes at age five.
The effectiveness of a Consumer Centred Tobacco Management (CCTM) approach in enabling mental health consumers to reduce or quit smoking
The aim of this pilot study is to test if the CCTM approach is more effective than business as usual methods at supporting mental health consumers to reduce their tobacco dependence or quit smoking altogether.
Student achievement against national minimum standards for reading and numeracy in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9
This project will examine how the categorisation of NAPLAN scores into bands affects the learning progress of low-achieving students.
Pathways between racial discrimination and the health and wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people
This PhD project aims to examine the associations and causal pathways between racial discrimination and the health and wellbeing of Aboriginal children and young people aged 0-17 years.
NEET in Australia: Characteristics of Social Security Payment Recipients who are Not in Employment, Education or Training (NEET)
Australian adults who are Not in Employment, Education or Training (NEET) represent a significant proportion of income support recipients, yet little is known about them.
Multigenerational disadvantage in Australia
This study aims to examine the experience of multiple disadvantages in two generations of Australian families, and how these experiences relate to the trajectories of children, the third generation.
LCC Flagship in Educational Equity. Using integrated administrative data to improve educational equity over the life course. UWA component - Evaluation of the Adult Migrant English Program
This project seeks to better understand the broader impacts of the AMEP on migrant outcomes.
Data for policy
The ultimate goal of this project is to enable policy-makers and researchers to work together to influence positive changes in the life trajectories of disadvantaged Australians via research driven policy initiatives.
August 2020
Bilingualism, Parental English Skills and Child and Adolescent Development
This project will provide important policy directions for design of language educational programs in Australian schools, developing a multi-cultural society, multi-lingual workforce, sourcing of immigrants from different language backgrounds and English abilities in order to obtain the best developmental outcomes
A data infrastructure for improving Aboriginal life pathways: the influence of health, education, child protection and justice systems over time and across generations
Incarceration represents a source of ongoing socioeconomic and health inequity between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal populations, limiting life changes and opportunities.