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Shaping policy through lived experience: ARACY calls for sector input on young people’s wellbeing
Fiona Alston
Jan 14, 2026
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The Australian Research Alliance for Children and Youth (ARACY) has launched a sector-wide Expression of Interest (EOI) call to support the second series of its Young and Wise Roundtables, designed to elevate the voices and lived experiences of priority youth cohorts across Australia.
These Roundtables play a vital role in informing policy development for the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing, and ARACY is now inviting educators, researchers, service leaders, and advocates to contribute to shaping the next phase of this work.This is an opportunity for professionals working in:
- Early childhood and school-age education
- Youth wellbeing, inclusion and health
- Community, disability, and multicultural services
- Regional and remote service delivery
- Policy, research and government
to help refine the consultation questions and themes that will guide the Roundtables in 2026.
Priority youth cohorts include those who identify as:
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander
- Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD)
- From a rural, regional, or remote area
- LGBTIQA+
- Living with Autism
ARACY’s approach is grounded in The Nest, a national wellbeing framework with six domains:
- Healthy
- Valued, Loved and Safe
- Material Basics
- Participating
- Positive Sense of Identity and Culture
- Learning
Sector contributors can nominate which of these domains, and which system levels (individual, family, community, systems), their expertise aligns with.
The lived experience of young people, particularly those from marginalised or underrepresented backgrounds, is essential to crafting responsive, effective policy.
Questions posed by previous contributors include:
- “How does under-employment in migrant families affect young people’s identity and aspirations?”
- “What does ‘trust’ look like in communities where systems have failed before?”
- “Are punitive education systems contributing to disengagement and harmful behaviour in rural youth?”
By helping shape the consultation questions and research foundations, sector professionals have a direct line to influencing evidence-based recommendations delivered to government.
Submit your Expression of Interest via ARACY’s online form to:
- Influence the research design and sector priorities
- Receive the final report and associated policy briefings
- Explore future strategic partnership opportunities
Visit: ARACY Young and Wise Sector Input
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