Research with real-world impact
USQ’s mission is to lead in economic and social development through higher education and research excellence. USQ successfully blends access with excellence to provide positive graduate outcomes, while producing globally-recognised high impact research.
A growing number of USQ researchers work in the autism field, within four streams: social policy, service provision, education, and experience and advocacy. This focus reflects the overall research philosophy of authentic engagement with diverse communities and real-world impact. USQ is committed to collaboration with other research organisations and to consultation with autistic individuals, parents, carers, and practitioners.
Co-production in action
The A-Skills peer-support program is a bespoke co-produced student support program developed at USQ. Since 2014 it has been disseminated to all USQ students who identify as being on the autism spectrum. In 2017, researchers translated this into an online platform, developed through a participatory framework, with three autistic students forming a core part of the research team.
Engagement with co-production is also the focus of a new article that has been recently published. Co-authored by a neurodiverse authorship team, the article addresses issues of co-production and challenges to the academy. See Doing it differently: emancipatory autism studies within a neurodiverse academic space
For more information, please contact charlotte.brownlow@usq.edu.au.