Applied research for real-world care
Research at the Home and Community Care Centre of Excellence will focus on practical challenges affecting the way care is delivered in people's homes and communities.
Working across education, industry, technology and community, the Centre will explore how emerging technologies, new models of care and changing workforce practices can be applied in real-world settings. This approach will help connect research with the experiences of care workers, organisations, consumers and carers.
The focus is not simply on generating new knowledge. It is on understanding what works in practice and how evidence can be translated into better workforce learning, capability and care.
A living laboratory for research and innovation
The Smart Home Living Lab will provide a realistic home environment where researchers, care providers, technology specialists, educators and learners can explore how different elements of home-based care work together.
Research can consider the interaction between technology, the person receiving care, workforce capability, service delivery and the home environment rather than examining each area in isolation.
The Virtual Smart Home will extend this approach into a digital environment, creating further opportunities for simulation, learning and collaboration beyond the physical Centre.
Exploring technology-enabled care
Home and community care is being reshaped by developments in digital health, remote monitoring, assistive technology, smart home systems, automation and technology-supported care.
The Centre will provide opportunities to explore these technologies in the context in which they may actually be used. This can help researchers and industry better understand usability, workforce requirements, implementation challenges and the impact new technologies may have on care.
Technology will not be considered in isolation. Research will also examine the skills, confidence and ways of working needed to support its responsible adoption while keeping people and human relationships at the heart of care.
Turning evidence into workforce capability
One of the Centre's most important research roles will be helping close the gap between innovation and workforce practice.
Research findings and insights from testing can inform curriculum, training, professional development and new approaches to workforce learning. This creates a pathway for useful evidence to move beyond research projects and contribute to the skills workers need in changing care environments.
It also creates opportunities for workforce experience to inform research, helping ensure future projects respond to real challenges faced by care organisations, workers, consumers and carers.
Collaborate on research
The Centre welcomes opportunities to work with research organisations, universities, care providers, technology organisations, industry partners and other organisations exploring the future of home and community care.
Collaboration may involve applied research, technology evaluation, workforce capability, models of care, simulation and other challenges where research can contribute to practical sector outcomes.
By connecting research with education and industry practice, the Centre aims to help promising ideas and evidence move towards practical solutions that can be understood, tested and shared more broadly across the care sector.