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About the Research Partnerships Program

The Research Partnerships Program supports high-quality research to help improve the lives of vulnerable people and communities in NSW. We work closely with universities, academics, non-government organisations and the private sector on external projects that support evidence-based policy and practice.

The Research Partnerships Program operates within Family and Community Services Insights Analysis and Research (FACSIAR). FACSIAR is a centre of excellence in human services insights, analysis and research within the Department of Communities and Justice.

The Research Partnerships Program supports research projects that:

Research areas the FACSIAR research partnerships team can collaborate on

  • Housing
  • Homelessness
  • Child protection
  • Out-of-home care
  • Disability (data available up to 2016/17)

To see what data in these research areas is already publicly available, please visit our DCJ statistics page.

For information on other research areas across the Department of Communities and Justice, please visit our Research Hub.

All external research involving Department of Community Service’s data, clients, staff or funded / contracted services should comply with the National Statement on Ethical Conduct in Human Research and, when relevant, Statutory Guidelines for Research – Section 27B, Information and Privacy Commission.

How we support our research partners

The research partnerships team can provide researchers with access to research and administrative data assets, encouraging new research and collaboration in the topic areas mentioned above.

Our flagship linked datasets:

  • The Human Services Dataset (HSDS) has unprecedented reach and provides a cross-agency view of how families have interacted with NSW government services over their lifetime. The dataset includes all individuals born from 1990 onwards who have received a service from at least one of the NSW services included in the dataset, as well as their parents, other family members, guardians or carers. The HSDS provides comprehensive coverage of service streams, outcomes and life events including child protection, parental risk factors, justice, police, customer service and revenue, housing, education, health, mental health, alcohol and other drugs, and Commonwealth services (MBS, PBS, Welfare).
  • The Pathways of Care Longitudinal Study (POCLS) data asset tracks a population cohort of 4,126 children and young people who entered out-of-home care for the first time between May 2010 and October 2011. The POCLS is the first study to link data on children’s child protection backgrounds, out-of-home care experiences, health, education and offending held by multiple government agencies, and match it to firsthand accounts from children, caregivers, caseworkers and teachers. The POCLS database allows researchers to track children’s experiences and outcomes from birth.

The administrative datasets that FACSIAR can assist with access to include:

  • Child protection and out-of-home care (KiDs and ChildStory databases)
  • Special Homelessness Services (CIMES database)
  • Housing (HOMES and CHIMES databases)
  • Disability Services Minimum Dataset (up to 2018/19).

We can also organise access to Department of Communities and Justice staff and clients to participate in research interviews, surveys, focus groups and workshops.

  • Please note: Most of the support we offer is in-kind. The research partnerships team currently does not administer any grant programs, however we may partner with researchers on their grant applications (for example, Australian Research Council Linkage Grants) if supported by our policy areas.
  • All research involving the support of FACSIAR requires the approval and endorsement of the relevant program and policy teams and data custodians as appropriate. For more information see apply for research partnership page.

Any questions? Contact us at ResearchPartnerships@dcj.nsw.gov.au

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Last updated: 09 Jan 2024