1. Promoting Employability, Adaptability, and Resilience in Life (PEARL)

What factors sustain a person’s resilience in world of work defined by VUCA? Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, Ambiguity. ACCELL’s PEARL is focused on enhancing individuals’ employability and adaptive choices for their future career and work. PEARL’s R&D is notable at a national level for the creation of measurement resources. Thanks to PEARLS’s R&D, every adolescent and adult Australian has access to an index of their career interests. This tool is embedded in myfuture, Australia’s national career information system (www.myfuture.edu.au).  This R&D was commissioned by Education Services Australia (the company owned by Australian Ministers for Education, Employment, and Training).  Also, Graduate Careers Australia invested in ACCELL’s PEARL to commission R&D work to construct the Australian Graduate Employability Scale (AGRADES), which is an index of employability that can be used by students, university personnel (e.g., career practitioners, work-integrated learning specialists) and researchers to predict employability. PEARL’s R&D underpinned a submission to the Australian Senate enquiry into the future of work and workers [McIlveen, P. (2018). Defining employability for the new era of work: A submission to The Senate Select Committee on the Future of Work and Workers. Canberra, Australia: The Senate].  ACCELL’s PEARL helps people make choices now for future resilience.

2. Vital Infrastructure Work/ers in Regional Contexts (VIWRC)

ACCELL’s “Vital Infrastructure Work/ers in Rural Contexts” (VIWRC) is focused on the psychological and social qualities of occupations and workers vital to the socio-economic success of rural and regional communities. These vital occupations include teachers, nurses, veterinary practitioners, farmers, and mechanical trades. A major project within this stream is the Vocational Psychology of Agriculture—Farming Food & Fibre (VPA-FFF) which is focused on agriculture-related careers  and STEM professions (e.g., agricultural engineer) and STEM trades (e.g., diesel mechanic). Cotton Research & Development Corporation (CRDC) is a major investor in the research, providing for a PhD researcher and postdoctoral research fellow, for R&D to develop recruitment and retention resources for the cotton workforce. Regional acceptance and uptake of VIWRC R&D is evident in a new project in partnership among TSBE, FKG, Toowoomba Regional Council, and USQ’s IRR, with matched funding from the Australian Government’s Building Better Regions Fund. This R&D will develop resources for employers to enhance their strategies to attract and retain workers in the region. Listen to ACCELL’s Carolyn Alchin describe the Journey of Toast.  This little video highlights the vast array of work and occupations in agriculture that we may take for granted.

3. Narrative Career Identity: Theory and Method

The Narrative Career Identity stream involves investigations into the role of narrative and metaphor in the composition and formation of individual career identity. A major project in this stream is focused on narrative approaches to career counselling, assessment, and learning.

Your Research

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