Trials for Equity Workshop | South Australian Universities

The Australian Centre for Student Equity and Success (ACSES) is delivering a Trials for Equity workshop in Adelaide on Thursday 15 May.

In this workshop, Dr Patricia Vermillion Peirce will facilitate a discussion with equity practitioners, learning about the equity practices currently underway across South Australian universities, and identifying those programs that may be of greatest value to trial for the benefit of our equity cohorts.

To explore the potential opportunity to undertake an ethical trial, ACSES will also workshop some challenging concepts relevant to trials. This will include:

• making clear what questions trials can (and cannot) answer, so practitioners can determine the relevance and need for a trial;
• discussing randomisation and some common beliefs about withholding support, enabling practitioners to consider if/how randomisation can be done ethically;
• discussing the participant numbers needed for different types of trials, so practitioners can determine if a trial is feasible; and
• providing examples of trials of equity programs, demonstrating how trials can be conducted ethically in the Australian equity sector.

If there is an initiative identified for a potential trial by the end of the workshop, the ACSES team can help you draft an Expression of Interest for the Equity Frontiers program fund to help you undertake the trial (if successful).

The workshop will also be an opportunity to engage with the wider Trials and Evaluation team at ACSES, share current experiences and find out how the team might be able to help you, and connect with practitioners from other SA universities.