About the Building Connections project
In the next decade, Australia will build hundreds of new schools, yet schools are some of our most under-utilised assets: during and outside school hours, school facilities can accommodate community services and activities, but this is not common. The Building Connections: Schools as Community Hubs project was funded from 2019-2022 by the Australian Research Council Linkage Program and several Partner Organisations (see below), to inform better design and sharing of school infrastructure that improves education and strengthens communities.
- Download our How to Hub Australia advice sheets
- Read our book about Schools as Community Hubs
- Study our report on the Connecting Schools + Communities Survey
- Discover our other outputs
- Learn more about our research activities
Partner organisations
Research team
Our cross-disciplinary research team was drawn from architecture, education and urban planning. Members were based at The University of Melbourne, unless indicated otherwise.
- Associate Professor Benjamin Cleveland, Lead Chief Investigator
- Professor Janet Clinton, Chief Investigator
- Associate Professor Ian McShane, Chief Investigator (RMIT University)
- Associate Professor Clare Newton, Chief Investigator (retired)
- Dr Ruth Aston, Research Fellow
- Dr Philippa Chandler, Research Fellow
- Natalie Miles, PhD Candidate
- Hayley Paproth, PhD Candidate
- Robert Polglase, PhD Candidate (RMIT University)
- Carolina Rivera Yevenes, PhD Candidate
- Dr Sianan Healy, Project Manager (2019)
- Sarah Backhouse, Project Manager (2019-2022)
- Phuong Nguyen, Research Communications Coordinator (2019-2021)
- Rebecca Colless, Research Communications Coordinator (2021-2022)
Partner Investigators / representatives
- Simon LeNepveu, Partner, Clarke Hopkins Clarke Architects
- Paul Meldrum, Head of Learning Innovations, Catholic Education Office, Diocese of Parramatta
- Laurence Robinson, Director, Brand Architects