We congratulate CYGC Members on their Australian Research Council grant success. These projects are set to commence in 2016.

Discovery Early Career Research Awards (DECRA)

Dr Dan Woodman

This project aims to investigate the impact of the growth of insecure and non-standard employment on the transition to adulthood. It is recognised that precarious employment among young people can influence career outcomes, but very little is known about its impact beyond work. In Australia and other developed countries, many young people are making housing transitions, building relationships and forming attitudes towards work–life–family questions while negotiating complex and insecure employment. This project has the potential to provide new knowledge of the resources that government, educators, and youth service providers should make available to help young people achieve their goals, hence supporting economic participation, social inclusion and quality of life.

Dr David Farrugia

This project aims to investigate how workforce skills and capacities become a part of a young people’s world view in zones of high unemployment. Youth outside Australia’s metropolitan centres are experiencing dramatically increased unemployment rates caused by industrial restructuring. Focusing on regional and outer-urban youth, this project seeks to explore how young people are responding to these conditions, examining the role of employment in youth identities and analysing how young people actively integrate the skills and capacities for labour into their identities and overall approach to life. The project intends to provide an evidence base for the design of welfare interventions and social policies that help marginalised young people to build fulfilling employment futures.

Discovery Project Award

Professor Johanna Wyn and Dr Daniel Woodman along with Associate Professor Helen Cahill and Professor Andy Furlong.

The project plans to analyse young adults’ transitions from education to work from ages 27 to 31 (2016–20). This period is crucial for economic and social integration, however unemployment and insecure work are increasing, creating challenges. The longitudinal design includes a cross-generational analysis with a cohort of young Australians who were 27 in 2001 and 31 in 2005, to analyse changes in economic and social integration since the global financial crisis. It plans to extend current policy frameworks of youth transitions to explore the relationship between education, work and wellbeing, and contribute new knowledge about changing forms of vulnerability and the factors that support integration and resilience for young adults. Expected project outcomes are an evidence base about the resources that enable young adults to maximise their social and economic participation in society.