"The Social Cohesion and Multicultural Research Institute represents an important opportunity for Victoria, and Australia, to advance evidence-based research and policy in response to the challenges and opportunities of our increasingly diverse population", said Professor Fethi Mansouri, the director of the Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation.
Professor Mansouri has been appointed by the Minister for Multicultural Affairs to the Interim Advisory Board of Victorian Government's the new Social Cohesion and Multicultural Research Institute. The Institute is an initiative of the social cohesion and community resilience ministerial taskforce and forms part of the Victorian Government's $25 million plan to promote multiculturalism.
The Interim Advisory Board, comprised of leading researchers in the field, has been established to guide the development of a research program to help address the current issues facing Victoria. This includes those related to multiculturalism, diversity, intercultural relations, youth affairs, and the challenge of better understanding the process by which some individuals engage in violent extremism. The Government's Institute will act as a network of academics, researchers and evaluators from a range of universities and other organisations.
"In this way it will open new opportunities for researchers and organisations engaged in the field to share ideas and collaborate", said Professor Mansouri. "In itself my advisory role facilitates an opportunity to share the insights of the Alfred Deakin Institute's research in this area; to provide the new Institute with evidence-based findings and evaluations to shape their agenda and inform the Victorian government's policy agenda".
Contact: Rebecca Buys
Phone: 61 3 9244 6658