Who funds the Regional Wellbeing Survey?

The Regional Wellbeing Survey is funded by a consortium of funding organisations, which changes year to year. Since 2013, the University of Canberra has funded key core costs of the survey. Each year, a number of organisations fund us to examine specific additional topics, or to increase the sample of specific groups or communities. Our current and past funders are listed below.

What do we receive funding for?

We receive funding from multiple organisations, to do a range of activities. The most common are:

• Funding to support collection of data in the Regional Wellbeing Survey
• Funding to support production of data tables and data products
• Funding for analysis of Regional Wellbeing Survey data to produce reports on specific topics
• Expert advice on measurement and analysis of wellbeing, resilience and liveability.

Ensuring data availability

The Regional Wellbeing Survey was founded on the principle of openness. When established, the following criteria were committed to by the research team:

• We will protect privacy and confidentiality of our survey participants
• Data sets will be made available for researchers across Australia to analyse, but only if privacy and confidentiality of survey participants is protected
• Data from all questions asked in the survey will be able to be published publicly
• Funding is accepted only if it does not place restrictions on long-term ability to publicly publish data
• Short-term restrictions on data availability are accepted in limited circumstances such as where a research group requests first rights to publish findings from data collection they have funded, but must not exceed two years
• We publicly acknowledge all funders, ensuring transparency in understanding where funds come from.

Funders – 2020

In 2020, the Regional Wellbeing Survey team have received funding from the following organisations (this list is being regularly updated as new funding is received; funders listed in alphabetical order):

• Australian Capital Territory Government – Chief Minister, Treasury and Economic Development Directorate
• Australian Competition and Consumer Commission
• Australian Government Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment
• Cotton Research and Development Corporation
• Fisheries Research and Development Corporation
• National Health and Medical Research Council – Medical Research Future Fund
• New South Wales Government Department of Primary Industries
• New South Wales Government Department of Planning, Industry & Environment
• Panel for the Independent Assessment of Social and Economic Conditions in the Murray-Darling Basin.
• Softwoods Working Group
• University of Canberra
• Victorian Government Department of Jobs, Precincts and Regions (collaborating with the National Centre for Farmer Health)

All funders (current and past)

Our past funders are listed below (where we have received funding from government departments or organisations that have changed names since first providing funding, the current name is provided rather than all historical names):

• Australian Capital Territory Government
• Australian Competition and Consumer Commission
• Australian Government Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment
• Australian National University
• Clarence City Council
• Cotton Research and Development Corporation
• Dairy Australia
• Fisheries Research and Development Corporation
• Forest and Wood Products Australia
• Meat and Livestock Australia
• Monash University
• Murray Darling Basin Authority
• Murray Darling Basin Futures Collaborative Research Network
• Murray Local Land Services
• National Health and Medical Research Council – Medical Research Future Fund
• New South Wales Government Department of Planning, Industry & Environment
• New South Wales Government Department of Primary Industries
• Noosa Shire Council
• NRM Regions Australia
• Panel for the Independent Assessment of Social and Economic Conditions in the Murray-Darling Basin
• Riverina Local Land Services
• Softwoods Working Group
• Tasmanian Department of Infrastructure, Energy and Resources
• Victorian Government Department of Jobs, Precincts and Regions (collaborating with the National Centre for Farmer Health)

Supporting organisations

In addition to our direct funders, a large number of organisations across Australia support the Regional Wellbeing Survey, helping us out by increasing awareness of the survey and sharing our findings. We thank all our supporting organisations, as well as our funders.