This symposium explores the development and benefits of an innovative model of partnership between a university and the community services arm of a national football club, The Western Bulldogs Community Foundation (WBCF). The WBCF and Victoria University collaboration involves a series of nested partnerships that provide a nexus between the University, Foundation and broader community. We view this partnership as a system of research translation.
The symposium will explore the mutual benefits and challenges of this partnership model and resultant research translation within the context of the three overarching streams delivered by the WBCF. These include Health and Wellbeing, Youth Leadership, and Diversity and Social Inclusion.

The Sons and Daughters of the West health promotion programs are offered within the Health and Wellbeing stream. These programs engage members of the community who otherwise may not have access to resources or may feel ill at ease in traditional health services. The partnership supports a PhD undertaking a longitudinal study of the health and social wellbeing outcomes of participants, with an emphasis on factors that facilitate the engagement of those typically considered “hard to reach”. Masters and Honours projects contribute to this research program. VU provisional psychologists deliver services including mental health group programs.

The Diversity and Social Inclusion programs assists migrants and diverse groups who may feel marginalised because of socio-political processes. The GOAL Program, a mentoring program for young African Australians, supports the community to improve engagement and outcomes for African Australian youth. The program is a prime example of the circular nature of our engagement. It was co-designed with community consultation and creates social capital in connecting young people with successful AFL players and mentors from the broader community. Several student placements supported delivery and evaluation of the pilot. Evaluation findings inform future delivery, which will be monitored through further collaboration.

The Western Bulldogs Leadership Project is a seven-month program providing opportunities in leadership, teamwork and communication for high school students. The youth learn about effective community engagement, and the program aims to empower the youth as active citizens within their neighbourhood or region. VU placement students are involved with supporting the program, in particular at two 3-day camps involving youth from all 14 sites across Victoria. The research team includes lecturers and honours and masters students who collect surveys and conduct interviews to assess the impact of the program, as well as how the program is related to resilience and youth development in general.

We contend that embedding research staff and students within the Foundation’s programs is key to capacity building. This model provides immediate translation of research findings to the benefit of the broader community. We outline these benefits in terms of research, teaching, and placement learning as well as the deeper understanding of program processes and outcomes. Research is enriched by the practice wisdom of the WBCF program providers whilst program evaluation is enhanced by the expertise of research staff.