Team: Dist. Professor Lisa Given, Joann Cattlin.
Funded by: Social Change Enabling Impact Platform, RMIT University
The goal of the project is to understand how universities enable organisational cultural change in response to imperatives for research innovation and societal impact and identify the indicators of successful and healthy research ecosystems. The project involves a scoping review of scholarly and grey literature and interviews with RMIT staff to inform development of a framework for university organisational cultural change and research innovation.
Team: Dist. Professor Lisa Given, Joann Cattlin (RMIT) , A/Professor Rolf Hvidtfeldt, Professor Marianne Lykke (Aalborg University).
Funded by: Social Change Enabling Impact Platform and the Social Equity Reserach Centre, RMIT University and Aalborg University (Denmark).
This project explores researchers’ approaches to identifying and evidencing engagement activities which contribute to societal impact of research. It involves collaboration between researchers at RMIT University and Aalborg University (Denmark) to replicate and adapt an empirically tested taxonomy of research engagement.
Team: Dr Alexa Ridgway, Joann Cattlin, Dr Elham Naghizadem, Dr Yimin Chen.
Funded by: Centre for Human-AI Information Environments, RMIT.
This project explores researchers’ approaches to identifying and evidencing engagement activities which contribute to societal impact of research. It involves collaboration between researchers at RMIT University and Aalborg University (Denmark) to replicate and adapt an empirically tested taxonomy of research engagement.
PhD Project, School of Global, Urban and Social Studies, Social Change Enabling Impact Platform, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia.
Supervisors: Professor Lisa M. Given & Professor Anita Kocsis
This study examined the information behaviours of academics and professional staff associated with societal impact of research and the university information environments that foster productive impact cultures. She found significant disconnects that undermine and disincentivise impact work. This research informs better understanding, support and systems development to enable impactful research.
Publications from this study:
Cattlin, J. (2026). Enabling Societal Impact of Research: Exploring Information Behaviours of Academic and Professional Staff in University Information Environments. (Doctoral Dissertation, RMIT University). https://doi.org/10.25439/rmt.33250236
Cattlin, J. & Given, L.M. (2025). Reciprocity in information exchange: How social exchange enriches collaborative research partnerships. Information Research an international electronic journal. Proceedings of Conceptions of Library and Information Science, Glasgow, Scotland. https://doi.org/10.47989/ir30CoLIS52279
Cattlin, J., & Given, L. M. (2024). Information relations for social change: exploring the information behaviour of academics undertaking impact work . Information Research an International Electronic Journal, 29(2), 230–245. https://doi.org/10.47989/ir292824 (Awarded Best Paper)
Cattlin, J. (2024). Enabling societal impact of research: exploring information behaviors of academics and professional staff. [Award presentation]. Association for Information Science & Technology Annual Meeting, Calgary, Canada. (Short paper)
Cattlin, J. & Given, L.M. (2024). Re-Centering Academics’ Needs in Societal Impact Work: Exploring the Influence of Professional Staff Information Behaviors on University Practices [Conference poster]. Association for Information Science & Technology Annual Meeting, Calgary, Canada. (Paper)
Team: Dist. Professor Lisa Given, Dr Sarah Polkinghorne, Prof. David Carlin, Joann Cattlin.
Funding: ARC Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment and Facilities (LIEF) grant
The Australian Cultural Data Engine was a multidisciplinary project that sought to harness leading cultural databases to analyse cultural production, artistic networks, and the socio-economic implications of arts and cultural data. It was funded through Australian Research Council Linkage Infrastructure, Engineering and Facilities Program Grant LE210100021 administered by the University of Melbourne with University of Queensland, University of New South Wales, Swinburne University of Technology, Curtin University, RMIT University, University of Newcastle, Flinders University, and King’s College London.
Given, L. M., Polkinghorne, S., & Cattlin, J. (2024). Structural elements and spheres of expertise: Creating a healthy ecosystem for cultural data initiatives. Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology 75(10): 1070-1086. http://doi.org/10.1002/asi.24849
Given, L.M., Polkinghorne, S., Cattlin, J. and Carlin, D. (2024), Describing the Ephemeral: Facilitating Rich Search Experiences with Performing Arts Video Collections. Putting People First: Responsibility, Reciprocity, and Care in Information Research and Practice: The 87th Annual Meeting of the Association for Information Science and Technology (ASIS&T), 25-29 October 2024 (Calgary, Canada). https://doi.org/10.1002/pra2.1049
1. Given, Lisa M, David Carlin, Sarah Polkinghorne, and Joann Cattlin. 2023. “Action, prop, equipment, gear? Circus data and challenges for coding and description.” The Australian Cultural Data Engine Symposium. Melbourne, Australia, August.
2. Given, Lisa M, Sarah Polkinghorne, and Joann Cattlin. 2023. “Structural elements and spheres of expertise: Creating a healthy cultural data ecosystem.” The Australian Cultural Data Engine Symposium. Melbourne, Australia, August.
3. Given, Lisa M., and Joann Cattlin. 2023. “The cultural data collection landscape: An interactive discussion.” Research Seminar – Embedding the Human in Cultural Data: A Research Software Engineering Knowledge Exchange. King’s College London, UK, January.
Team: Dr Siew Fang Law, Joann Cattlin, Prof. William Locke.
In preparing for post-COVID-19 environment, this study sets out to explore the key barriers and challenges facing university staff and external stakeholders in sustaining engagement, and proposes ways to improve university external engagement. A total of 25 in-depth interviews were conducted during the pandemic disruptions with university staff across disciplines, levels and portfolios at the University of Melbourne, aiming to explore the different meanings, purposes, barriers and future outlooks on the ways in which universities engage with our society.
Law, S. F., Cattlin, J., & Locke, W. (2021). Understanding University Engagement: The impact of COVID-19 on collaborations and partnerships.https://minerva-access.unimelb.edu.au/items/dbd21fb8-96be-501f-9aec-d6c907d929f3