Academics from the Social Policy Research Centre have been successful in securing an ARC Linkage Grant to begin in 2018 out of the Learned Academies Special Projects grant scheme. The grant is worth $170,000 in research funding for UNSW and their research partners.

The use of big data for social policy: benefits and risks

Peter SaundersSheila Shaver, Janet Chan, David Abramson, Janeen Baxter, Ross Homel, Mark Western

This project aims to investigate the benefits and risks of using ‘big data’ and analytics for social policy. Drawing on documentary sources and interviews with experts and stakeholders, the project will use five case studies to examine the capability, underlying assumptions and possible impacts of such techniques. The project will bring together a multi-disciplinary team of social and data scientists to identify the infrastructural, technical, and social, ethical and legal issues that need to be addressed. The project will define key issues for future research, promote collaboration between the social sciences and big data disciplines, while creating opportunities for building capability for researchers in the social sciences.