The auDA Foundation has today announced the 15 recipients of its $600,000 2022 Grant Round. Recipients will receive $40,000 each for an education, research or community project that will enhance the utility of the internet for the benefit of Australians.
The 2022 Grant Round sought to support digital inclusion and innovation across five key cohorts:
- Australians living with disability
- First Nations peoples
- Older Australians
- Rural, regional and remote communities
- Small businesses.
auDA Chair, Alan Cameron AO, said, “On behalf of the auDA Foundation, I congratulate the 2022 grant recipients. The Foundation received more than 150 high-quality applications. We are delighted to support the 15 projects selected by the Grant Assessment Committee, considering that each will make a significant and lasting contribution to Australia’s digital society.”
auDA CEO, Rosemary Sinclair AM, said, “auDA and the auDA Foundation have a shared focus to support digital innovation and unlock value for Australians through the internet. Accordingly, auDA is pleased to continue its work with the Foundation. I congratulate each of the recipients for their applications and dedication to improving online outcomes for Australians. We will watch their projects come to life with great enthusiasm.”
The auDA Foundation 2022 grant recipients are:
- Aboriginal Health and Medical Research Council of New South Wales
- Accessible Beaches Australia
- Cool Australia
- Good Things Foundation Australia
- Justice Connect
- Life Without Barriers
- Missing School Inc
- Monash University
- National Justice Project
- Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre
- South Australian Council of Social Service
- The Northcott Society
- The Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital
- The University of Queensland
- Victoria University.
Since 2006, the auDA Foundation has distributed grant contributions in excess of $4 million, supporting over 150 projects that seek to enhance the utility of the internet for the benefit of Australians. Applications for the auDA Foundation 2023 Grant Round will open in the second half of 2023.
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Notes:
auDA Foundation 2022 grant recipients and a brief outline of their projects are set out below.
Recipient | Project name | Project outline | Beneficiary groups and locations |
|---|---|---|---|
Aboriginal Health and Medical Research Council of New South Wales | Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Dashboard - Research Project | Research that will contribute to the development of a dashboard to present real-time de-identified health data for Aboriginal patients. The data analysis tool will assist Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisations in the delivery of health care to Aboriginal communities. | First Nations peoples New South Wales |
Accessible Beaches Australia | Making access to beaches and information possible | This project will develop an online booking system, training and information to enable older people and people with a disability to book equipment that will make access to Australia’s beaches possible, fostering independence and wellbeing. | Australians living with disability and older Australians National |
Cool Australia
| First Nations and Rural, regional and remote digital technology heroes: bridging the digital divide for primary school students | Development of online education resources to inspire greater interest in digital technology and internet competence among rural, regional and remote and First Nations primary school students. The resources will enhance student engagement with digital technology through curriculum-linked activities to incrementally improve their digital literacy. | First Nations peoples, rural, regional and remote Australia National |
Good Things Foundation Australia
| Measuring the economic impact of digital exclusion for vulnerable communities | Undertake a cost benefit analysis to understand the economic benefits of full digital inclusion in Australia. The report produced will support advocacy for government policy development and provide evidence for investment needed to bridge the digital divide. | Australians living with disability, First Nations peoples, older Australians, Rural, regional and remote communities, small businesses National |
Justice Connect
| Connecting older Australians with legal help online: improving the performance of assistive Artificial Intelligence (AI) that diagnoses legal problems in the everyday language of older Australians | An existing AI model identifies legal problems in language samples but does not perform as well for minority groups including older Australians. This project will improve the model’s performance for older Australians through targeted data collection, model training, integration and user testing. | Older Australians National |
Life Without Barriers
| Using digital innovation to enhance sexual safety for marginalised children and young people in rural and remote Australia | Deliver video content related to respectful relationships, consent, sexual abuse and sexual assault, with input from youth focussed professionals. The videos aim to prevent child sexual abuse and will be delivered via the MPower App and website led by One Vision Productions. | Rural, regional and remote Australia National |
Missing School Inc | Seen & Heard: Connecting Sick Kids to Their School Communities | Expand ‘Sick Kids Seen & Heard’, which supports primary and high school students across Australia who face chronic school absence due to serious illness. The project will produce a digital resource directory, run a helpdesk for families and schools, develop digital training and communities and activate school telepresence technology for continuous connections. | Australians living with disability National |
Monash University | CYBERABILITY: Creating a world first measure of cyber scam risk for people with brain injury | People with acquired brain injury (ABI) are particularly vulnerable to scams. Monash University has worked with people with ABI to co-design a world-first measure of cyberscam risk, “The CyberABIlity Scale”. This project will involve large-scale testing and validation of the Scale and providing it freely online. | Australians living with disability Victoria |
National Justice Project | Tech4Justice | Tech4Justice is an AI powered platform that streamlines pathways for lodging a complaint to transform how key community groups use the internet to obtain justice. The project will build a prototype to help users triage disability and racial discrimination issues and support them to navigate the complex complaints arena. | Australians living with disability, First Nations peoples, older Australians, Rural, regional and remote communities National |
Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre
| Digital Transformation of Peter Mac's Fit4Surgery Prehabilitation Program for all patients having Major Cancer Surgery | This project will assess the scope and capability of a web-based platform to deliver an interactive program to patients prior to major cancer surgery. | Rural, regional and remote Australia Victoria, New South Wales, South Australia, Western Australia, Tasmania |
South Australian Council of Social Service | Libraries and Community Centres: The online lifeline for regional South Australia | A pilot project to compile the work libraries and community centres do to address the barriers people living in regional South Australia face when using the internet. A report will outline recommendations to support further advocacy and improvements in community internet access. | Rural, regional and remote Australia South Australia |
The Northcott Society | Safety Net | A film project to support young people with intellectual disability (ID) to understand how to safely use the internet with a focus on consent. A short film, lesson plan and resource pack will be created to support young people with ID to make informed choices online. | Australians living with disability New South Wales |
The Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital | Monitoring Glaucoma at Home to Preserve Sight | A home monitoring trial of 500 patients with mild to moderate glaucoma to develop a program of long-term telehealth home monitoring to help preserve vision for glaucoma patients. | Australians living with disability, First Nations peoples, older Australians, Rural, regional and remote communities Victoria |
The University of Queensland | First Nations Youth Digital Story-Telling Project | Support Gurindji people to renew their language and culture across generations through digital storytelling. Ensure the longevity of First Nations linguistic and cultural practices by supporting First Nations youth to re-engage with their traditional knowledge. | First Nations peoples Northern Territory |
Victoria University | How are Australian Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) achieving the United Nations Sustainable Developmental Goals (SDGs) through internet technologies and ICT | A pilot project to investigate the adoption of SDGs by SMEs in Melbourne and identify what internet technologies SMEs use to align SDGs to their business strategy for sustainable responsible practices. | Small businesses Victoria |