Policymakers in and outside the education sector have recently raised awareness about increasing mental health issues.
Last week, Federal Education Minister Dan Tehan announced that the Australian Research Council Discovery Indigenous scheme would provide $4.7m to fund seven research projects led by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander researchers who focus on the mental health issues of Indigenous Australians.
The researchers, who had their proposals approved, will also help support and train the next generation of Indigenous researchers.
"Our Government was the first to recognise the importance of mental health, and we have made mental health one of the four key pillars of the health system," Minister Tehan said.
"The results of the mental health research projects will help inform the Government’s ongoing efforts to address mental health challenges faced by Indigenous Australians.”
Receiving the most funding at $699,000, the Central Queensland University (CQU) will be designing, implementing and evaluating new approaches to the services delivered by three regionally diverse Indigenous Primary Healthcare Services. CQU secured around $2.2m for all its research proposals.
Their research focused on Indigenous Australians’ mental health particularly looks into the kind of service Indigenous youths aged 10-24 receive.
Macquarie University is set to receive $540,786 to explore and record Indigenous people’s experiences of cyberbullying.
In October, a report by the Office of the eSafety Commissioner in October said Indigenous women are most vulnerable when it comes to tech violence given the lack of support they receive, as a well as low digital literacy.
As a response, eSafety came up with resources to help Elders mediate in cases of tech abuse in their community.
Professor Bronwyn Carlson from the University’s Department of Indigenous Studies, will be leading the study which will explore how Indigenous Australians experience, understand and respond to cyberbullying.
“This project will focus on cyberbullying, broadly defined, and two other closely related forms of online violence experienced by Indigenous social media users: racism and lateral violence, which is violence directed against one’s peers rather than adversaries,” Professor Carlson said.
“Each of these forms of online violence has been identified as a significant public health concern for Indigenous peoples”.
An earlier study by the University noted that most Indigenous people have either seen or experienced racism and violence on social media, leading to some having their online Indigenous identity become a source of anxiety.
The University of Newcastle is also set to receive $488,698 for its research which will be looking into a new approach to improve the state of mental health of university students who come from lower-SES backgrounds.
A report by Deloitte Access Economics released earlier last week found that poorer Australians – as well as those who are Indigenous and in remote and regional areas – are academically behind their richer peers in school.