Rights / Research
DEMOCRACY AND HUMAN RIGHTS Connecting research and advocacy
Peace cannot exist without justice, justice cannot exist without fairness, fairness cannot exist without development, development cannot exist without democracy, democracy cannot exist without respect for the identity and worth of cultures and peoples.
About the project
Academics, advocates and community members interested in democracy and human rights probably agree that it is good to look at evidence when developing theories and change strategies. Anyone interested in these issues might look for answers to questions about the current views and values of their communities, as well as the level of commitment to action and support for policy change.
OUTSIDE THE BOX / Earth Arts Rights is partnering with the Social Change Lab at the University of Queensland to publish key findings of its annual survey of Queenslanders’ attitudes, behaviour and support for policy change around questions of democracy, human rights, peace and a sustainable environment. Our involvement is being spearheaded by OUTSIDE THE BOX / Earth Arts Rights’ co-director Dr Robin Banks.
The Social Change Lab is a diverse group of social psychology researchers who share an intense curiosity about social life and want to make the world a more peaceful, inclusive, generous, and sustainable place. The lab is led by Professor Winnifred Louis. The annual survey has been made possible through a bequest made by Mary Lee to the Lab in 2021.
The Social Change Lab and OUTSIDE THE BOX / Earth Arts Rights invite interested individuals, advocates, scholars and policy makers to download a digital copy of each report free of charge. These reports aim to: increase community awareness of ways that social scientists approach these topics and invite discussion and feedback; provide new information about the baseline and changing levels of endorsement of various attitudes and actions around these topics and key variables; and encourage broader community conversations about the data, new projects and new interventions, including future use of the existing data.
We believe the themes of democracy and human rights in a peaceful and sustainable world are inter-related and we won’t get any of these without the others. Starting from its place within the academic context, many of the Social Change Lab’s initiatives focus on bringing together scholars and community members, activists/advocacy groups, and the different disciplines that approach the key topics of democracy, peace, human rights and the environment.
Making connections
As well as publishing this annual report of the data from the survey, each year the Social Change Lab plans and runs hybrid events on peace (January or February), human rights and democracy (May or June) and on a sustainable environment (November). The purpose of these three events is to bring together scholars in these fields with community activists and advocates to build their connections and develop joint projects.
Please contact Professor Winnifred Louis at Social Change Lab if you are interested in getting involved in one or more of the events or ongoing collaborations, if you want to have access to the data for your own research purposes, if you have ideas about new research questions or have ideas about how we could get support to achieve a national survey.
Be aware
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