Dr Yi Yang receives ARC DECRA award

Congratulations to Dr Yi Yang for receiving a Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (DECRA) from the Australian Research Council (ARC)!

The ARC's DECRA projects foster collaboration with national and international collaborators to address critical knowledge gaps and deliver solutions that address economic, environmental, social, and cultural challenges to improve quality of life and driving sustainable progress for all Australians.

University of Melbourne Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) Professor Mark Cassidy said the awards enable early-career researchers to work on innovative projects for real-world impact.

Yi’s research will aim to address the pressing gender inequalities faced by women with psychosocial disability. Despite a higher prevalence of the disability in women, they are more likely to be rejected by the National Disability Insurance Scheme than men and receive little support elsewhere.

Yi’s project expects to fill critical knowledge gaps on women’s inadequate access to support and the impact on their life outcomes. Expected outcomes include new evidence on how policy change can enable greater gender equality for this group. This should provide significant benefits by informing the reform of Australia’s support ecosystem for psychosocial disability, improving life outcomes, reducing social costs, and promoting fair social policies.