What if your right to a secure home was protected by law? Why is Australia one of the only liberal democracies without housing rights protection? Could a Human Rights Act help fix Australia’s housing crisis?

Everyone should have a safe, secure and healthy place to call home, regardless of your postcode or bank balance. But this is not the reality for far too many people in the community.

A 2025 report on the right to housing commissioned by the Human Rights Law Centre and authored by Professor Jessie Hohmann from the UTS Faculty of Law, helps shifts the focus of discussion to people.

This is a talk that was originally published on the Impact Talks podcast feed, featuring Cassandra Goldie (CEO of Australian Council of Social Service and Adjunct Professor with UNSW Sydney), Professor Jessie Hohmann (Associate Professor at the UTS Faculty of Law), Tania Thompson (founder of Golden Oldies), and Caitlin Reiger (CEO of the Human Rights Law Centre).

This event in February 2025 was hosted by the UTS Faculty of Law, Centre for Social Justice & Inclusion and the Human Rights Law Centre.

VOICES

Cassandra Goldie is the CEO of the Australia Council of Service and the Adjunct Professor of the University of New South Wales.

Professor Jessie Hohmann is an Associate Professor at the UTS Faculty of Law. She is known for her expertise on the right to housing and the relationship between international law and Indigenous Peoples.

Tania Thompson is the founder of Golden Oldies and the recipient of the NSW Local Woman Of The Year for Balmain in 2026.

Caitlin Reiger is CEO of the Human Rights Law Centre and a human rights lawyer.

CREDITS

This talk was recorded on Gadigal Land in Eora, Sydney. The series was produced by Lachlan A’Court of UTS Impact Studios. It is presented by Amy Persson.

CHANGE THE STORY

Change the Story looks at what happens next: how people, communities, and movements are challenging and rewriting the narrative.

You’ll hear podcast series on a single theme, such as challenging Australia’s monolingual mindset with new connections to Country; strengths-based approaches in community with asset mapping; and the story of Shopfront, a UTS design project that partners with community organisations to solve real-world problems.

And you’ll hear talks, panels, and conversations that capture live debate and urgent thinking on social justice, social change, and community-driven solutions.

After 30 years of community engagement, a new question emerges - where to from here?

Shopfront has survived changes in leadership, funding pressures, shifting university priorities and enormous changes in the communities it serves. So what has allowed it to endure, and what will it take for programs like Shopfront to continue into the future?

In this episode, we explore how community engagement can become more than a collection of projects and partnerships. We reflect on what happens when engagement is embedded into the fabric of a university, how institutions can support and reward this work, and why creating opportunities for students to connect with communities remains as important as ever.

Along the way, hear about hopes for the future of higher education, the challenges universities will need to navigate, and the role they can play in helping build stronger, more connected and more resilient communities.

This episode asks a simple but important question - if community engagement matters, how do we make sure it lasts?

Voices

Professor Andrew Parfitt - Vice-Chancellor and President, UTS

Pauline O’Loughlin – Founding program manager, UTS Shopfront

Amy Persson - Pro Vice Chancellor of Social Justice and Inclusion, UTS

Professor Verity Firth - Vice Chancellor of Societal Impact, Equity, and Engagement, UNSW

Marisol Morales - Vice President, Outreach, Engagement and Regional Development,Northern Illinois University

Dr Caspar de Bok - head of Educational Policy & Quality and International Affairs, Utrecht University

Eva Cox AO - Sociologist, author and social commentator

Scott Burns - Former Shopfront student and UTS Alumni

Hosted by Dr Mehal Krayem

Credits

Produced by Ali Aitken

Research and interviews by Dr Margaret Malone and Dr Cale Bain

Change the Story is an Impact Studios podcast.

What happens when learning leaves the classroom and enters the real world?

Recorded at Shopfront's 30th anniversary celebration, the final episode in this special series brings together founders, academics, community partners and former students to reflect on what happens when universities and communities work together.

Through a live panel discussion, they explore the value of community-engaged learning from different perspectives. Community partners talk about the practical challenges facing the sector and the opportunities created through university partnerships. Academics reflect on the moment students encounter social issues not as theories, but as lived realities. Former students share how working with community organisations changed the way they think about their work, their responsibilities and the impact they hope to have.

Part conversation, part reflection, this episode offers a glimpse into the relationships, experiences and moments of learning that have shaped Shopfront over the past 30 years, and continue to shape the people involved long after the projects themselves have ended.

Voices

Professor Paul Ashton – Co-Founder and former alternate director, UTS Shopfront

Pauline O’Loughlin - Founding program manager, UTS Shopfront

Christina Ho - Associate Professor in Social and Political Sciences at UTS

Tracey-Lee Aristides - General Manager, Kings Cross Community Centre

Melissa Lee - MACVAD

Hosted by Dr Mehal Krayem

Credits

Produced by Ali Aitken

Research and interviews by Dr Margaret Malone and Dr Cale Bain

Change the Story is an Impact Studios podcast.

Universities are often described as places of teaching and research. But what responsibility do they have to the communities around them?

In this episode, we move beyond individual projects and explore a bigger question: what can 30 years of community engagement teach us about the relationship between universities and the communities they serve?

Drawing on perspectives from Australia, the United States, Germany and the Netherlands, we explore ideas of public purpose, co-creation, mutual learning, trust and the growing global movement for community engagement in higher education.

Hear how universities can move beyond seeing themselves as the sole holders of expertise, and instead recognise the value of lived experience, local knowledge and community wisdom.

Voices

Professor Andrew Parfitt - Vice-Chancellor and President, UTS

Amy Persson - Pro Vice Chancellor of Social Justice and Inclusion, UTS

Phil Nyden - Professor Emeritus in Sociology, Loyola University Chicago

Dr Caspar de Bok - head of Educational Policy & Quality and International Affairs, Utrecht University

Professor Verity Firth - Vice Chancellor of Societal Impact, Equity, and Engagement, UNSW

Norbert Steinhaus - Science Shop founder

Marisol Morales - Vice President, Outreach, Engagement and Regional Development, Northern Illinois University

Credits

Produced by Ali Aitken

Research and interviews by Dr Margaret Malone and Dr Cale Bain

Change the Story is an Impact Studios podcast.

How did a small university program become a bridge between students, academics and communities for more than 30 years?

In this first episode, we explore the origins of UTS Shopfront and the ideas that shaped it from the beginning. Through stories from founders, community partners and former students, we hear how collaboration, trust and a commitment to social justice helped create a program with lasting impact.

From preserving overlooked histories to supporting emerging organisations, we learn that the most enduring outcomes are often not the projects themselves, but the relationships built along the way.

Voices

Professor Paul Ashton - Co-Founder and former alternate director, UTS Shopfront

Pauline O’Loughlin - Founding program manager, UTS Shopfront

Bonney Djuric - Historian and Activist

Maia Ihemeje - Founder, Yung Prodigy

Professor Alison Page - Former Shopfront student

Scott Burns - Former Shopfront student and UTS Alumni

Hosted by Dr Mehal Krayem

Credits

Produced by Ali Aitken

Researchers - Dr Margaret Malone and Dr Cale Bain

Change the Story is an Impact Studios podcast.

What if some of a community's greatest strengths can't be captured in a survey, a spreadsheet - or even a map?

If Episode 3 encouraged us to see the wider system, this episode invites us to look more deeply into lived experience.

Host Dr. Katie Blair is joined by Dr. Barbara Doran, an arts-based researcher and educator, to explore body mapping - a creative participatory method that helps people express experiences, knowledge and strengths that are often difficult to put into words.

Barbara reflects on the limitations of traditional community engagement approaches, arguing that even strengths-based methods like asset mapping can overlook the emotional, embodied and deeply personal experiences that shape people's lives. Through stories from her own practice - including projects with young people, parents and carers, and women who have experienced trauma - she demonstrates how body mapping creates opportunities for people to share richer, more nuanced stories about themselves and their communities.

The conversation explores how body mapping works in practice, from creating safe and supportive spaces through to using creative prompts and storytelling to uncover insights that conventional consultation methods rarely reveal. Barbara also shares practical guidance for introducing body mapping into your own work.

More than an arts-based activity, body mapping is a different way of listening. It reminds us that knowledge doesn't only live in words - it also lives in memory, emotion, sensation and lived experience. When we create space for people to express these experiences in their own way, we don't just gather better information - we create the conditions for connection, understanding and transformation.

Voices

Katie Blair, PhD is Manager, Research and Evaluation at the Centre for Social Justice and Inclusion at the University of Technology Sydney. Her work focuses on community-engaged research, participatory evaluation and strengthening community voice to support meaningful social change.

Barbara Doran, PhD is an arts-based researcher and educator at the University of Technology Sydney's Transdisciplinary School. Her work explores how creative and embodied methods can deepen participation, surface lived experience and support more inclusive approaches to research, education and community engagement.

Credits

Written by Mitra Gusheh, Tshinta Morris, Anusha Muller and Katie Blair. Recorded and edited by Jane Curtis and Lachlan A'Court. Executive producer: Sarah Gilbert. Mapping What Matters is made by UTS Impact Studios, in collaboration with the UTS Centre for Social Justice and Inclusion and Glebe Youth Service. This project was also supported by the Paul Ramsey Foundation.Mapping What Matters is made by UTS Impact Studios, in collaboration with the UTS Centre for Social Justice and Inclusion and Glebe Youth Service. This project was also supported by the Paul Ramsey Foundation.

Resources

• Mapping What Mapping: Body mapping summary sheet
• Boydell, K.M (Eds). (2020). Applying body mapping in research: an arts-based method. Routledge.

What happens when we stop planning for communities and start listening to them instead?

Bringing together the themes explored throughout the series, host Dr. Katie Blair is joined by community builder and youth advocate Giane Cole to explore the Harwood Approach - a philosophy of community engagement built on one simple idea: before we plan, we need to listen.

Drawing on decades of experience working alongside young people and communities, Giane reflects on how genuine community conversations can shift perceptions, build trust and create lasting change. Through stories from her own practice, she describes how creating space for people to share their aspirations led to youth-led action, transformed public spaces and changed the way communities viewed young people - not as problems to solve, but as leaders and active contributors.

Giane explores what it really means to turn outward: placing community aspirations ahead of organisational priorities, valuing lived experience alongside professional expertise, and recognising that people, relationships and stories are some of a community's greatest assets. Giane also shares a practical five-step guide for facilitating meaningful community conversations and translating what people care about into collective action.

As the series draws to a close, this episode reminds us that every engagement method carries a mindset. When we begin by listening deeply, sharing power and trusting communities to shape their own future, we don't just change the questions we ask - we change the possibilities that emerge.

Whether you're working in community development, education, government or social impact, this final episode offers practical inspiration for creating more authentic, community-led change.

Voices

Katie Blair, PhD is Manager, Research and Evaluation at the Centre for Social Justice and Inclusion at the University of Technology Sydney. Her work focuses on community-engaged research, participatory evaluation and strengthening community voice to support meaningful social change.

Giane Cole is a community builder, youth advocate and community development practitioner with extensive experience supporting young people and communities to lead positive change. Her work focuses on youth participation, community engagement and creating the conditions for communities to identify their own strengths, build relationships and shape their own futures through meaningful participation.

Credits

Written by Mitra Gusheh, Tshinta Morris, Anusha Muller and Katie Blair. Recorded and edited by Jane Curtis and Lachlan A'Court. Executive producer, Impact Studios: Sarah Gilbert. Mapping What Matters is made by UTS Impact Studios, in collaboration with the UTS Centre for Social Justice and Inclusion and Glebe Youth Service. This project was also supported by the Paul Ramsey Foundation.

Resources

• Mapping What Matters - The Harwood Approach Summary Sheet
• Harwood Institute for Public Knowledge
• Harwood Institute - Being Turned Outward

What if the very first question we ask determines everything that follows?

In this episode of Mapping What Matters, host Dr. Katie Blair is joined by social impact practitioner and systems thinker Mitra Gusheh to explore Appreciative Inquiry - a strengths-based approach that begins not with problems, but with possibility.

Mitra reflects on how asset mapping has evolved from a radical, community-led practice into something that is often reduced to lists, inventories and data collection. Through stories from her own work, she asks whether we’ve become so focused on identifying assets that we’ve forgotten why we are looking for them in the first place.

Drawing on the origins of appreciative inquiry, Mitra explains how beginning with stories of success rather than stories of need can fundamentally change the way people experience participation. Through examples including the 100 Voices project and community conversations with older residents, she demonstrates how asking different questions uncovers relationships, strengths and possibilities that conventional engagement approaches often overlook.

More than a facilitation technique, Appreciative Inquiry is a different way of seeing communities. It reminds us that people are experts in their own lives, that every community holds stories worth learning from, and that meaningful change begins the moment we ask a better question.

Whether your facilitating workshops, designing programs, or working alongside communities, this episode offers practical ways to shift conversations from problems to possibility.

Voices

Katie Blair, PhD is Manager, Research and Evaluation at the Centre for Social Justice and Inclusion at the University of Technology Sydney. Her work focuses on community-engaged research, participatory evaluation and strengthening community voice to support meaningful social change.

Mitra Gusheh is a social impact practitioner and leader whose work focuses on advancing social justice, human rights and community-led change. She has extensive experience designing and facilitating community engagement processes that centre lived experience, strengthen relationships and support communities to imagine and create positive futures through strengths-based approaches such as Appreciative Inquiry.

Credits

Written by Mitra Gusheh, Tshinta Morris, Anusha Muller and Katie Blair. Recorded and edited by Jane Curtis and Lachlan A'Court. Executive producer: Sarah Gilbert. Mapping What Matters is made by UTS Impact Studios, in collaboration with the UTS Centre for Social Justice and Inclusion and Glebe Youth Service. This project was also supported by the Paul Ramsey Foundation.

Mapping What Matters is made by UTS Impact Studios, in collaboration with the UTS Centre for Social Justice and Inclusion and Glebe Youth Service. This project was also supported by the Paul Ramsey Foundation.

Resources

• Mapping What Matters - Appreciative Inquiry Summary Sheet
• Cooperriider, D.L., Whitney, D. & Stavros, J.M. (2006). The Appreciative Inquiry Handbook: For Leaders of Change (2nd ed). Crown Custom Publishing Inc.
• 100 Voices: engaging community through deep listening
• The Centre for Appreciative Inquiry

How can we move beyond mapping what exists to designing the futures our communities need?

Having explored strengths-based thinking in the previous episodes, host Dr. Katie Blair is joined by Professor Martin Tomitsch to ask a different question: what happens when we zoom out and understand the systems that shape communities?

Martin introduces listeners to life-centred design, an approach that expands our focus beyond individual people to include relationships, ecosystems, institutions and future generations. While identifying community strengths remains important, he argues that real change requires us to understand the wider systems in which those strengths exist.

Drawing on examples ranging from IKEA's iconic Poäng chair to climate adaptation and disaster recovery, Martin introduces three practical steps - systems mapping, the middle-out approach, and backcasting - that help practitioners understand complexity, build coalitions and create shared visions for the future.

Rather than treating communities as isolated places with fixed boundaries, this episode invites us to see them as interconnected systems. By combining strengths-based thinking with systems design and future-focused planning, Martin demonstrates how we can move beyond identifying assets to creating the conditions for lasting change.

Whether you're working in community development, local government, design or policy, this episode provides practical tools for navigating complexity and planning collaboratively for the future.

Voices

Katie Blair, PhD is Manager, Research and Evaluation at the Centre for Social Justice and Inclusion at the University of Technology Sydney. Her work focuses on community-engaged research, participatory evaluation and strengthening community voice to support meaningful social change.

Professor Martin Tomitsch is Head of the Transdisciplinary School at the University of Technology Sydney. His research focuses on life-centred design, systems thinking and transdisciplinary approaches to addressing complex societal challenges. Martin works with governments, industry and communities to design more sustainable, inclusive and future-focused systems and services.

Credits

Written by Mitra Gusheh, Tshinta Morris, Anusha Muller and Katie Blair. Recorded and edited by Jane Curtis and Lachlan A'Court. Executive producer: Sarah Gilbert. Mapping What Matters is made by UTS Impact Studios, in collaboration with the UTS Centre for Social Justice and Inclusion and Glebe Youth Service. This project was also supported by the Paul Ramsey Foundation.Mapping What Matters is made by UTS Impact Studios, in collaboration with the UTS Centre for Social Justice and Inclusion and Glebe Youth Service. This project was also supported by the Paul Ramsey Foundation.

Resources

• Mapping What Matters - Life-Centred Design Summary Sheet
• Tomitsch, M. (2025). More-than-human cities: how to bring life- centred design principles to urban spaces. In E. Rosenzweig, &; A. Davis (eds), Usability for the World: Building BetterCities and Communities (pp. 97-124). Spinger.
• Tomitsch, M. et al. (2024). ‘Reflections on the usefulness and limitations of tools for life-centred design’, Design Research Society.
• Tomitsch, M. & Baty, S. (2023). Designing Tomorrow: Strategic Design Tactics to Change Your Practice. BIS Publishers.

What is asset mapping and why is it time to rethink it?

In the opening episode, host Dr. Katie Blair is joined by Professor Amanda Howard to explore the origins of asset mapping and the ideas that shaped the Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD) movement.

Amanda traces the history of ABCD back to the pioneering work of John McKnight and John Kretzmann, who challenged the dominant deficit-based approach to community development by arguing that every community already possesses the knowledge, relationships, skills and resources needed to create change. Amanda explores how this simple shift - from asking "What's wrong?" to "What's strong?" - fundamentally changed the way many practitioners think about community development.

The conversation also examines how asset mapping has evolved over the past three decades. While the approach has become widely used across community development, health, planning and research, its original intent has often been diluted. Rather than empowering communities to identify and mobilise their own strengths, asset mapping can become a technical exercise focused on collecting data instead of building relationships, participation and community-led action.

This episode sets the foundation for the series by asking an important question: How can we return to the original intent of asset mapping while reimagining it for today's communities?

Whether you're working in community development, research, local government, health, education or social impact, this episode offers a fresh perspective on what it means to begin with strengths - and why that shift still matters.

Voices

Katie Blair, PhD is Manager, Research and Evaluation at the Centre for Social Justice and Inclusion at the University of Technology Sydney. Her work focuses on community-engaged research, participatory evaluation and strengthening community voice to support meaningful social change.

Professor Amanda Howard is Professor of Social Work at the University of Sydney. Amanda's research focuses on community development, community-led change and participatory practice. She has extensive experience working alongside communities to understand how local knowledge, relationships and collective strengths can be mobilised to create lasting social change.

Credits

Written by Mitra Gusheh, Tshinta Morris, Anusha Muller and Katie Blair. Recorded and edited by Jane Curtis and Lachlan A'Court. Executive producer: Sarah Gilbert. Mapping What Matters is made by UTS Impact Studios, in collaboration with the UTS Centre for Social Justice and Inclusion and Glebe Youth Service. This project was also supported by the Paul Ramsey Foundation.Mapping What Matters is made by UTS Impact Studios, in collaboration with the UTS Centre for Social Justice and Inclusion and Glebe Youth Service. This project was also supported by the Paul Ramsey Foundation

In this final episode, we explore what it means to be colonisers on colonised lands.

If we’re migrants from a colonising country like Japan, are our perspectives and connections to First Nations peoples different? We hear from two Japanese Australians, whose ancestors were involved in the Pacific War.

How does carrying this personal history shape their sense of belonging? What can we all do to foster a more responsible or ethical sense of belonging?

Guests

Tofa Amanda Moors-Mailei is a Sāmoan educator, strategist and nationally recognised equity leader in Australian higher education. Her work includes shaping the UTS Humanitarian Scholarship Program, leading the design of the UTS Indigenous Outreach Strategy, advancing Pacific student success initiatives, and co-designing UTS’s first Women in IT Leadership Mentoring Program. Amanda is the Founder of the Australian Pasifika Educators Network, a founding member of the UTS Multicultural Women’s Network, and Executive Lead, Pacific for Equity Practitioners in Higher Education Australasia.

Fainu'ulelei Unasa Moors is Amanda’s father

Mayu Kanamori is an independent artist working in Australia and Japan. She works across mediums including photography and performances to tell stories of Japanese experiences in Australia. She is a founding member of Nikkei Australia.

Mariko Smith (Yuin/Japanese) is Senior Specialist (Research & Publications) at the Australian Museum. Born in Sydney and growing up on the NSW Central Coast, her work explores Australian national history, historiographical practice, and the integration of Indigenous knowledge systems into museum and academic frameworks.

Benjamin Oh is a Malaysia-born, multilingual leader in human rights and community development. He works across faiths, cultures and communities to advance dignity, equality, justice and inclusion, bridging faith, multicultural engagement, while fostering dialogue, understanding, and belonging for diverse communities in Australia and internationally. Benjamin leads several LGBTIQA+, faith and multicultural organisations.

Acknowledgement of Country in Lisan ud-Dawat by Hasan Godhrawal

Acknowledgement of Country in Tamil by Antonette Aileen Shibani

Koto music ‘Chinkon’ composed by Mark Isaacs; performed by Satsuki Odamura

Album: Pearl of May

Label: Tall Poppies Records

Tibetan Bells performed by Satsuki Odamura

Mayu Kanamori’s Art Projects

Heart of the Journey–Multimedia documentary about Lucy Dann’s journey to find her Japanese father

In Repose–Multi-arts project of dance, music, sound and ceremony visiting Japanese gravesites and cemeteries in Australia

When You Call My Name–Multi-arts project honouring the lives of 208 people who died while incarcerated as ‘Japanese enemy aliens’ during World War II

Credits

This series was produced on the Lands of the Gadigal People, the Cammeraygal People, the Darug People, and the Guringai People.

Host: Elaine Laforteza

Producer: Masako Fukui

With the support of Jane Curtis, Sarah Gilbert of UTS Impact Studios

Tile artwork by Alexandra Morris

This podcast was created by the UTS Multicultural Women’s Network and is part of the broader UTS Acknowledgment of Country in Our Languages project.