The Youth Vulnerabilities Research Group brings together academics, HDR students, and collaborators from across and beyond UQ to explore the diverse factors that shape young people’s wellbeing, engagement, and opportunities. Our interdisciplinary research examines areas including mental health, gender, socioeconomic inequality, school engagement, digital cultures, and family and community contexts, with a focus on improving outcomes for young people and their families.
We seek to understand the factors that place young people at risk of poorer wellbeing, engagement, and educational outcomes, and the conditions that can help them thrive. Our interdisciplinary research examines how mental health, gender, socioeconomic inequality, school engagement and attendance, digital cultures, and family and community contexts shape young people’s experiences and opportunities. Working with young people, families, schools, communities, and other partners, we aim to generate research that responds to contemporary challenges facing children and adolescents. By connecting research with practice, we seek to strengthen prevention and early intervention, inform educational policy and practice, and support more equitable outcomes for young people.
Staff
School of Education, UQ
School of Education, UQ
School of Education, UQ
School of Education, UQ
School of Education, UQ
School of Education, UQ
HDR Students
Tarissa Hidajat
(Prof Annemaree Carroll, Dr Debby Lunch & A/Prof Elizaeth Edwards)
Lisa Holohan
(A/Prof Garth Stahl & Dr Damon Thomas)
Aprezo Maba
(A/Prof Elizabeth Edwards & A/Prof Asad Khan)
Thuy Anh Nguyen
(A/Prof Elizabeth Edwards, Dr Shiralee Poed & Dr April Hoang)
Anjana Rajagopal
(A/Prof Elizabeth Edwards, A/Prof Asad Khan & Prof Alina Morawska)
Ting Zhou
(A/Prof Elizabeth Edwards & Dr Damon Thomas)
Collaborators
School of Education, Queensland University of Technology
College of Human Sciences and Culture, Flinders University
College of Medicine and Public Health, Flinders University
School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, UQ
School of Nursing, Midwifery and Social Work, UQ
School of Psychology, UQ
School of Education, Queensland University of Technology
School of Psychology, UQ
College of Medicine and Public Health, Flinders University
Institute of Learning Sciences & Teacher Education, Australian Catholic University
College of Medicine and Public Health, Flinders University
School of Social Science, UQ
School of Social Science, UQ
Including the voice of boys and young men in their well-being education (2025-2028)
Despite significant concerns about the mental health and well-being of boys and young men, we know very little about how to make health-related education more effective for them. We know existing programs often fail to resonate with boys and young men yet they are rarely given a voice in their mental health and well-being education in schools. This research is student voice-driven and aims to include a diverse cohort of boys and young men (e.g. age, sexuality, ethnicity, disability, location) at the secondary level to understand what can be done to enhance their well-being education. The aim of the project is to begin to build a collection of open-access resources to improve the effectiveness of mental health education for boys.
Investigating how boys and young men experience their digital lives (2025-2028)
Recently, there have been significant concerns regarding what boys and young men are exposed to online and how it may influence their social and emotional development. The rise of the digital has led to new concerns regarding cyberbullying, body image dysmorphia, self-harm, depression, extremism, social anxiety and suicide. There is a need to learn more about what boys and young men are consuming online and how they interpret it. The proposed research aims to discover new knowledge regarding masculinities/boyhood in an era of technology-mediated societal transformations with a diverse cohort of boys and young men. This proposed research is both timely and of national benefit as it will enhance how we safeguard boys and young men.
Towards a School-Community Based Approach to Addressing Student Absenteeism (2022-2026)
This project aims to develop an integrated school-community approach to assist education systems to effectively address student absenteeism in marginalised communities. Excessive absenteeism is linked to low academic achievement and school dropout, which limits young people’s life opportunities and perpetuates social disadvantage. This project will use interdisciplinary methods to bring the experiences of schools and communities, existing research evidence, and academics together to enable schools to work in new ways to improve attendance. Expected outcomes will be enhanced capacity of schools to address absenteeism with the benefit of assisting the government to alleviate the societal and economic costs of this enduring problem.
Inhibitory control training for anxiety and math achievement in primary-school children (2023-2025)
This project investigates whether inhibitory control training can reduce anxiety and improve mathematics achievement in primary-school children. Using a school-based cognitive training program, the research examines whether strengthening children’s ability to control attention and resist distraction can improve emotional wellbeing, cognitive functioning, and academic outcomes.
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