Ageing, Disability and Home Care (ADHC), Department of Family and Community Services NSW (FACS) has announced today that the University of New South Wales is to be awarded a Chair in Intellectual Disability and Behaviour Support.
Approximately $1.7million will be awarded to UNSW over 3.5 years. The primary goal of the University Chair is to expand the body of knowledge and increase workforce capacity in the delivery of appropriate and effective services to people with an intellectual disability with complex and challenging behaviour. This exciting opportunity is a cross-faculty initiative, hosted across faculties (Medicine and Arts and Social Sciences), and supported by Law and Science (Psychology), in recognition of how critical collaboration is in achieving improved cross-sectoral outcomes for people with intellectual disability.
People with intellectual disability (ID) account for about 1.8% of population, and experience a range of complex health and mental health disorders. Many people with ID also have substantial unmet behaviour support needs, which impacts negatively on quality of life. Access to high quality behaviour support will therefore significantly improve quality of life for people with ID and complex behaviour support needs.
A core characteristic across faculties at UNSW is the strong drive and demonstrated commitment to improving the lives of people with ID. Strong academic leadership in ID behaviour support at UNSW will enable the further development of training and educational, workforce skills and translational research capacity.
UNSW offers a unified team of researchers, teachers and eminent leaders in their respective sub-disciplines within intellectual disability. The University has a reputation for outstanding contributions to Government, industry and non-government sectors, and demonstrates a rich engagement with intellectual disability (ID) teaching, research, policy and practice, and clinical work. This is evidenced in the work of the Chair in Intellectual Disability Mental Health, Associate Professor Julian Trollor and distinguished academics such as Professor Eileen Baldry and Dr Leanne Dowse (FASS) to name but a few.
Associate Professor Julian Trollor who is currently the Chair of Intellectual Disability and Mental Health at UNSW and one of the project leads in the development of UNSW’s proposal is excited for the new Chair at UNSW, saying that he “believes that there are great synergies to be shared between the two Chair positions at UNSW.” Associate Professor Kristy Muir, the second lead in the proposal team has said, “partnerships such as these are critical to achieving positive change in the communities in which we live.”
UNSW looks forward to this collaborative partnership with the NSW Department of Family & Community Services, Ageing, Disability and Home Care over the next 3.5 years.