At a time where rapid technological advances are reshaping the human experience, we’re helping create a new generation of leaders and innovators. Our research is helping enrich modes of cultural expression, improve educational practices, remove social barriers and safeguard human rights.
Our research findings are informing businesses and governments, particularly in the areas of housing, economic growth and tourism.
The Centre of Excellence for Quality Work in a Digital Age
The Curtin-led Quality Work in a Digital Age network has secured major funding to establish an Australian Research Council (ARC) Centre of Excellence dedicated to empowering workers in the digital age.
Our strengths
Future of work
The nature of work is changing rapidly. Beyond technological innovation, other changes such as an extended work life and a greater focus on work-life balance and “meaningful work” are disrupting all industry sectors.
Our Future of Work Institute is building a more positive future of work through leading-edge research and industry partnerships. Initiatives such as Thrive at Work are helping to optimise the distribution of tasks across an organisation and reduce work stressors, while increasing productivity and job satisfaction.
In 2025, Curtin secured major funding from the Australian Research Council to create and lead its inaugural Centre of Excellence, driving pioneering research over the next seven years to develop quality work in an increasingly digital future.
The ARC Centre of Excellence for Quality Work in a Digital Age will bring together leading researchers from institutions across Australia and the globe, alongside industry and government partners to explore how new technologies can be integrated responsibly to create and sustain productive, inclusive and healthy work.
Education
Our approach to teaching is future focused as we help turn today’s students into the leaders of tomorrow.
In our School of Education, we’re improving the experiences of early childhood, primary, high school and tertiary education learners. We’re researching how to best address linguistic racism to improve international students’ mental health, nurture scientific literacy and creativity among students, and use innovative digital technologies and analytics data to optimise learning and support teachers who are instructing online.
Through our Australian Centre for Student Equity and Success (ACSES), we’re working to improve higher education outcomes for marginalised and disadvantaged people. We’ve made recommendations to help increase retention of regional, remote, mature-age and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students.
Culture, technology and inclusivity
Curtin’s Centre for Culture and Technology (CCAT) is located at the intersections of disciplinary and creative boundaries.
They’re investigating how identity, meanings, relationships and values are shaped by new media and communication technologies. There are six programs: Digital Intimacies; Innovation in Knowledge Communication; Indigenous Culture and Digital Technologies; Digital Inclusion and Media Access; Posthumanism-Animality-Technology; and The Digital Child.
In the Digital Inclusion and Media Access program, researchers are helping transform the discourse around disability, to one whereby impairment is still located in the body, but disability is created by society. Digital technologies should then overcome the means to overcome such disability.
CCAT’s advocacy led to the adoption of audio description by the Australian public broadcasters in 2020.
Gender equality
Curtin is a member of the Athena SWAN program, which aims to advance gender equity in academia. Stemming from this program, we’ve established the Gender Research Network, which raises awareness of gender research conducted across the University.
One of our primary focus areas is to improve gender equality in the workplace. Our research at the Bankwest Curtin Economic Centre, in partnership with the Workplace Gender Equality Agency, is seeking to reduce the gender pay gap and promote more women to senior management positions.
We are also improving key economic and social outcomes for women, such as gender equality in the later stages of life, through our work in the Women in Social Economic Research Cluster.
At Curtin Singapore, researchers are investigating the relationship between gender diversity and company performance, and factors influencing board gender diversity in Singapore – including those that enable and those that block women’s access to board roles. A key aim is to provide recommendations that promote board gender diversity in Singapore.
Economic policy
The Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre (BCEC) is delivering high-quality, accessible research on the challenges facing equitable economic growth. We’ve published comprehensive reports on promoting the job aspirations and financial outcomes of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, enhancing housing security for older renters and providing insights into the changing WA economy. BCEC’s partners are nationally renowned and include the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute.
The John Curtin Institute of Public Policy is our peak body of public policy research, education and discussion. The institute has researched many areas including the impact of socio-economic policy on labour markets and skills shortages. It has also led government initiatives including the statewide Public Policy in the Digital Age research program to ensure WA is equipped to participate in the future workforce.
Data science, machine learning and AI
Our research helps to makes sense of the dazzling amount of information at our fingertips, analyse the effect of this advancement on social structures and movements, and unlock technological possibilities for commercial and educational purposes.
Research in this area is cross-disciplinary and includes experts from Curtin’s Future of Work Institute, Curtin Centre for Computation, Centre for Culture and Technology, Hub for Immersive Visualisation and eResearch (HIVE), and Consumer Research Lab. The Pawsey Supercomputing Centre, in which we’re a joint partner, is also integral to the rapid progress of many Curtin-led projects.
Virtual recreations
Our expertise in virtual reality, augmented reality and large-scale displays can help create immersive experiences and interpret data more effectively.
The Curtin Hub for Immersive Visualisation and eResearch (the HIVE) offers four large-scale visualisations systems to present and interpret data, and travel to virtual environments. One such system is The Dome: a four-metre diameter domed screen that can create 360o ultra-realistic panoramas and virtual worlds.
The HIVE has been central to the creation of virtual heritage experiences including 3D reconstructions of the HMAS Sydney (II) and HSK Kormoran. Our researchers also work closely with the Curtin Institute for Data Science to perform computational modelling and interpret data more effectively.
Tourism
Since its inauguration in 2010, Curtin’s Tourism Research Cluster – a vibrant cross-faculty research group of internationally-recognised academics – has been at the centre of our tourism research. It connects industry, government and academia, and offers a gateway for students to develop research skills in the area.
Through its diverse network of tourism academics from backgrounds such as marketing, geography, management, cultural anthropology, public policy, spatial sciences, and statistics as well as its international Adjunct Professors, its researchers investigate topical tourism issues with wide-ranging expertise.
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Where we work
School of Education
The School of Education addresses critical issues to enhance practice for learners, educators, leaders, and policymakers worldwide.
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The Future of Work Institute
Curtin’s Future of Work Institute is dedicated to supporting people and organisations to thrive in the digital age.
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Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre
The Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre is an independent economic and social research organisation.
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