Executive

Professor Philippa Collin

Co-Director

Professor Amanda Third

Co-Director

Professor Philippa Collin is Principal Research Fellow at the Institute for Culture and Society at Western Sydney University and Co-Director of the Young and Resilient Research Centre. She researches the role of the digital in the social, cultural and political lives of young people, with a focus on the implications for health and wellbeing. Her work is also concerned with new forms of political participation, identity and governance as they relate to the dynamics of elitism and exclusion.

She has led more than 30 funded projects with community, government, and industry partners including the Multicultural Youth Action Network (NSW), Alannah and Madeline Foundation, Foundation for Young Australians, Google Australia/NZ, the Office for Youth, and a number of NSW and Federal Government Departments. In 2015, she was awarded the WSU Deputy Vice-Chancellors Award for Research Excellence through Partnership, recognition of her deep commitment to building effective collaborations for engaged research. She is also a member of the scientific and advisory boards of the Raising Children Network and The Smith Family Digital Futures...continue reading.

Professor Amanda Third is Professorial Research Fellow in Digital Social and Cultural Research in the Institute for Culture and Society and Co-Director of the Young and Resilient Research Centre at Western Sydney University; and Research Stream Co-Lead in the Centre for Resilient and Inclusive Societies (Deakin; Western Sydney University and Victoria University).

An international expert in user-centred, participatory research, her work investigates children's and young people’s technology practices, focusing on marginalised groups and rights-based approaches. She has led child-centred projects to understand children’s and young people’s experiences of the digital age in 68 countries, working with partners across corporate, government and not-for-profit sectors. She is committed to working with communities to generate research that can be activated for effective policy and practice. From 2011-2016, Professor Third led Research Program 2: 'Connected and Creative', of the Young and Well Cooperative Research Centre, a cross-sector research entity that united young people with researchers, practitioners, innovators and policy-makers from over 75 partner organisations across the not-for-profit, academic, government and corporate sectors to explore the role of technology in young people's lives, and how technology can be used to improve the mental health and wellbeing of young people aged 12 to 25...continue reading.