The Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute’s mission is to reduce death and disability from cardiovascular disease, diabetes and other related health disorders. The Institute’s vision is to personalise medicine in order to predict an individual’s health risks, intervene and prevent the onset of disease and its complications years before they strike.

Improving Access to Digital Resources for Diabetes | $50,000

Baker Institute will create a library of educational videos to help people living with diabetes manage the disease independently, reducing the burden on health systems. Delivered via an app, this project will be particularly beneficial for people lacking direct access to healthcare services and will be available to people in Victoria, across Australia and potentially internationally. Feedback gathered during a pilot project will help inform the app’s design and prepare for its widespread rollout.

Fight Parkinson’s (formerly known as Parkinson’s Victoria) is a leading source of specialised health information, advice and services. Through research, education and support, the organisation strives to improve the lives of people living with Parkinson’s and Atypical Parkinson’s.

The Community Hub by Fight Parkinson’s | $50,000

Compounded by COVID-19 uncertainty, access to reliable health education is critical in the Parkinson’s community. An Australian-first Parkinson’s initiative, The Community Hub is an interactive online platform with an educational course for individuals recently diagnosed with Parkinson’s, as well as their carers. Following 16 expert-led modules, individuals will develop self-management strategies for this complex and evolving condition. The platform will be accessible at any time, on any device and from any location, free of charge.

La Trobe University was established in 1967 to broaden participation in higher education in Melbourne’s north and, later, in regional Victoria. The university supports access, diversity and inclusivity while undertaking world-class research that aims to make a difference to some of the world’s most pressing problems, including climate change, securing food, water and the environment, building healthy communities, and creating a more just and sustainable future.

Development of the e-Virtual Space Laboratory | $50,000

At its heart, science education involves knowledge transfer, communication, engagement and commitment. The development and expansion of high-speed internet access in Australia has created a range of opportunities to involve Australians in national projects. This project will develop the ‘e-Virtual space laboratory’ as a way to bring greater knowledge and practical understanding of space research into high school settings, with a focus on rural communities.

Aphasia Therapy Online – Vietnamese, Mandarin, Greek | $49,753

Aphasia is a communication disability occurring in one-third of stroke survivors. Therapy requires customised tasks for speaking, comprehension, reading and writing. This project will adapt the free aphasia therapy site into three languages: Mandarin, Vietnamese and Greek. Adapting the site will enable free access to aphasia therapy for more people across Australia and internationally, reducing structural and personal burden.

The Royal Melbourne Hospital (RMH), Victoria’s largest acute tertiary hospital, provides cancer treatment programs, translational research, surgical and medical expertise, and key support services including clinical care and emergency medicine. RMH is one of Victoria’s largest providers of cancer care and treatment, caring for more than 37,000 patients each year.

The Penile Health App: Using Artificial Intelligence to Triage Penile Lesions | $50,000

Penile cancer is a sinister disease with significant morbidity. Early recognition and treatment are paramount to penile preservation and long-term survival, yet many men present with advanced disease due to lack of awareness and social stigma. This project aims to release a free smartphone app using digital photography to reduce healthcare barriers for men with penile lesions. The app will help educate men, encourage seeking treatment and aid primary care clinicians with referral triaging.

The Sunrise Catalogue: Descriptions of Technology-Supported Learning | $50,000

Established in 1854, Museums Victoria (MV) is the largest public museums organisation in Australia. The organisation cares for Melbourne Museum, Scienceworks, Immigration Museum and The Royal Exhibition Building, which together present unique experiences for over two million visitors each year.

The use of technology to enhance learning outcomes has proliferated in recent decades. Starting in the 1980s, Museums Victoria’s Sunrise School investigated how learners approached and responded to new technologies. This project will see MV acquire the Sunrise Collection, which contains material that reflects over 40 years of technology-supported learning, in order to catalogue and describe this history. Through analysing the collection, MV researchers and curators will not only identify significant items but also reveal descriptive criteria that can be used to classify different types of learning. These descriptive categories can then be used to link to more relevant resources. The results will be submitted for international standardisation and published for use by students and teachers alike.

Consistently ranked amongst the world’s top 100 universities, Monash University is committed to the highest quality of teaching, learning, research, and diversity of professional and community activities. The University’s new strategic plan, Impact 2030, aims to support its response to major global challenges – climate change, preserving geopolitical security and fostering thriving communities.

A “UNIQUE” Approach to Autism | $49,187

UNIQUE is a digitised interactive visual communication prototype, designed to communicate an autistic child’s individual strengths, abilities and needs in a simple and accessible format. The tool addresses some unmet challenges by improving communication efficiency, equipping healthcare staff with individualised information about their patient along with tips and strategies to help provide best care, and facilitating efficient access to specific, tailored resources and support for the child.

The Travelling AirSticks Laboratory: Bringing Accessible Music Making Workshops with New Technologies to Children | $49,999

This project will run a series of music-making workshops that inform the design of new electronic instruments for kids with and without disability. The workshops will take up to 25 kids between the ages of six to 13 on a magical audio-visual story of musical instruments. Using a custom electronic instrument that converts movement into sound, each group of kids will develop a collaborative performance while learning about music, dance, lights and new technologies such as 3D printing, sensors and coding.

Generation of Fingerspelling in Australian Sign Language | $49,719

This project will create the first Auslan fingerspelling generator, which will enable learners to view fingerspelled words signed naturally by an avatar. Users will type a word in English into the generator and then see the fingerspelled translation. The fingerspelled content will be interactive, allowing users to rotate the view in 3D space and observe the fingerspelling from different angles.

‘Jem’ the Body Image Education Chatbot | $50,000

This project will build on the piloted education-focused body image chatbot – a simple computer program that used conversational artificial intelligence (AI) to have human-like conversations. The pilot program helped over 20,000 young people in less than 12 months. The next phase of the project will co-design and develop a more advanced AI chatbot named ‘Jem’, based on feedback from young Victorians.

Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre (PMCC) is a world-leading cancer research, education and treatment centre and Australia’s only public health service solely dedicated to caring for people affected by cancer.

Cancer School Phase 2 | $50,000

PMCC’s Cancer School project builds on the knowledge that adult learners seek meaningful learning experiences that are timely and applicable to their individual situations. Phase 1 of the project produced four videos covering key topics of information that were identified by consumers as most important to know at the point of diagnosis. Phase 2 will produce three proposed online modules, providing short lessons that are treatment, symptom and tumour-specific. Having the ability to attend Cancer School in their own time empowers patients and carers to actively engage in the learning process.

RMIT is a global university of technology, design and enterprise in which teaching, research and engagement are central to achieving a positive impact. The University enjoys an international reputation for excellence in professional and vocational education, applied and innovative research, and engagement with the needs of industry and the community.

A Digital Role-play Game to Support Young Construction Workers’ Communication for Safety and Mental Health | $50,000

Construction apprentices experience disproportionately high rates of workplace injury and mental ill-health. Poor workplace communication practices contribute to these problems. In this project, a participatory design approach will be used to develop a video-based interactive role-play game, through which apprentices and supervisors can learn and practise effective interpersonal communication skills. These skills ensure apprentices’ work-based learning environments are respectful, inclusive and safe.

The Skyline Education Foundation provides financial, educational and emotional support for VCE students from areas experiencing high socio-economic and educational disadvantage, as determined by the Index of Community Socio Educational Advantage. They are currently working in partnership with 30 schools in Melbourne, Geelong and North East regions of Victoria.

HATCH ACCESS: Academic Support for VCE Students | $49,575

To address the current Victorian teacher shortage crisis and its impact on staff and students, Skyline Education Foundation aim to provide a solution both in and beyond the classroom. This project will create online modular courses for three VCE subjects, on a platform that staff can use as a support tool in the classroom and students can access after class.

Reading Out of Poverty promotes literacy skills in early childhood and provides literacy resources and support services to families with young children, aged 0 to 5 years, from low socio-economic backgrounds, including migrants, refugees and Indigenous Australians.

A Clearer View of Reading | $50,000

This project will implement newly developed innovative eye-tracking technology to assess reading levels in approximately 2,000 students located in five highly disadvantaged primary schools in the regions of Geelong, Bendigo and Dandenong. This education technology is real-time, objective and proven to be 97% accurate in the early identification of reading difficulties.

WhyHive is a social enterprise that exists to make data analytics accessible for people creating change. Operating as a consultancy since 2018, WhyHive offers strategic data insights to corporates, startups and not-for-profits. Its business model cross-subsidises profits from corporate projects to fund projects for impact-driven organisations.

Helping Impact Organisations Learn About Their Data Through the Development of an Intuitive Data Exploration Tool | $50,000

Data insights are critical to measure impact and make strategic decisions, but upskilling in data is daunting for many not-for-profit workers. This project will build a software tool that makes analytics more accessible for impact organisations. The tool will be powerful and easy to use, reducing upskilling barriers so that any not-for-profit worker can learn about their data.