Research activities at the Centre
Hidden Men: Mandatory Detention at the Curtin Immigration Detention Centre (Caroline Fleay)
Since its reopening in June 2010, little attention has been given to the mandatory detention of asylum seekers in the Curtin Immigration Detention Centre in northwest Australia. Research being undertaken by Caroline Fleay seeks to provide such a focus on detention in Curtin, and elevate the voices of the detained asylum seekers in the academic literature and other public domains.
British Academy International Visiting Fellow (Karen Soldatic)
Karen Soldatic has been awarded a prestigious British Academy International Visiting Fellowship to work with Professor Carol Thomas and Dr Chris Grover, Lancaster University to explore the impact of the Cameron Government's welfare reform on people with disabilities. Karen will undertake extensive field work with Disabled People's Organisations, delivering a number of public forums and developing a set of civil society working papers for local disability advocacy groups. Upon her return to Australia further comparative research will occur.
Third World Quarterly : Disability in the Global South (Karen Soldatic)
Karen Soldatic in partnership with Helen Meekosha, UNSW, have recently had published an extensive set of research papers within the leading international Southern journal, Third World Quarterly. The papers provide a rich overview of human rights development processes that are emerging in the Global South with the recent development and ratification of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. This is the first set of international papers to be developed exploring critical debates within the development field and the implications for socio-political understandings of disability.
Visiting Fellow at Oxford University's Centre for Refugee Studies (Linda Briskman)
During her six month sabbatical, Linda was a Visiting Fellow at Oxford University's Centre for Refugee Studies and also presented papers on her research at international conferences in Barcelona, Tehran and Budapest. Her sabbatical focused on asylum seeker research, particularly international policies on immigration detention. In October, Linda delivered the prestigious Annual Richardson Institute Peace Lecture at Lancaster University.
Disability in Rural Australia: ARC Discovery Grant 2011 - 2013 (Karen Soldatic)
Karen Soldatic in partnership with Barbara Pini (Curtin), Helen Meekosha (UNSW) and Carol Thomas (Lancaster, UK). In rural Australia 21.2 per cent of the population has a disability while in remote areas the number is 22.1 per cent yet rural disabled people are rarely heard in policy debates. This study, mapping the experiences of disabled people in non-metropolitan Australia is consequently of critical importance to government and disability advocacy groups.
Disability in the Global South: Beyond Northern Epistemologies (Karen Soldatic)
A compilation of research and practice papers focusing on disability in the developing world to be published in Third World Quarterly (2011). TWQ is the leading journal of policy and scholarship in the field of international studies, setting the agenda on developments discourses of the global debate.
Women with disabilities and Welfare Reform (Karen Soldatic)
Research exploring the impact of welfare reform in Australia on Australian women with disabilities.
Military Bases, Community Development and Human Rights (Miyume Tanji)
Military activities and operations often deprive the safety and dignity of local residents affected by them. Miyume Tanji contributes to the study of human rights issues related to US military bases in Okinawa, Guam and Australia. As a scholar and advocate she has written about military and gendered violence, as well as the dugong conservation movement as non-violent civil disobedience to the US military re-alignment.
Caring for asylum seekers in Australia: Bioethics and Human Rights
ARC Discovery Grant 2007-2009 (Linda Briskman)
A research project conducted by Dr Deborah Zion (Monash University), Professor Linda Briskman (Centre for Human Rights Education, Curtin University) and Associate Professor Bebe Loff (Monash University) exploring the ethical issues of providing health care to asylum seekers in immigration detention in Australia, with a focus on the practice implications of detention, medical ethics and human rights.
The impact of excision legislation on the human rights of Christmas Islanders and immigration detainees (Linda Briskman and Lucy Fiske)
This research is supported by a Curtin Internal Research Grant and is part of ongoing research by the Centre on Christmas Island.
Christmas Island and the welcoming of strangers (Linda Briskman)
Funded by the Centre for Advanced Studies in Australia, Asia and the Pacific (CASAAP)
Completed research (2009) with Michelle Dimasi resluting in two publications.
The containment of human rights in Australia (Caroline Fleay)
A research project conducted by Dr Caroline Fleay (Centre for Human Rights Education) into Australian human rights policies under the Howard government (1996-2007) with a focus on refugee and asylum seeker policies, Australia-China human rights relations, and government responses to domestic and international human rights critics.
Australian responses to asylum seekers – The significance of the government backbenchers’ dissent
Research by Dr Caroline Fleay (Centre for Human Rights Education) that explores the role and significance of the government backbenchers’ dissent to asylum seeker and refugee policies in 2005 and 2006.
Insider resistance: The role of human rights in refugees’ political actions (Lucy Fiske)
A research project conducted by Lucy Fiske (Centre for Human Rights Education) exploring refugees’ resistance and protest to immigration detention. This research seeks to identify the political consciousness informing refugees’ actions.
