Topic: How to Build a Trust Lab for Partnership, Research, and Impact 

Speaker: Dr Michelle O’Toole 

Date: 12/03/2025 

Time: 12:00-1:00pm 

Location: Burwood (C2.05.01) or via Zoom 

ADI lunchtime seminars are relaxed, informal monthly discussions on current research projects and publications. Each session features a 20-30 minute talk followed by a Q&A.    

We invite contributions from any researcher, or team of researchers, associated with ADI, from proposed and in-progress projects through to completed research and publications. ECRs are especially welcome. 

In Australia and New Zealand, declining trust in governments and institutions has raised concerns about public confidence in policy decisions, posing challenges to effective governance on critical national and regional issues. This pressing problem calls for collaborative approaches to rebuild trust and foster stronger relationships between governments and communities. 

The current CRIS project, Capacity Building to Rebuild Trust in Civil Society, investigates these issues. Building on the recent report Do Governments Trust Communities?, a key aim of the project is the development of a “Trust Lab”. With a focus on delivering co-designed, evidence-based solutions, the Lab will tackle critical trust issues that demand collective action, including social cohesion, governance, public health measures, and restorative justice. In doing so, it will examine how strengthened relationships between government and community actors can enhance policymaking and delivery. The Trust Lab will support researchers working in collaboration with government agencies, industry partners, practitioners, and communities to develop practical solutions to these problems and support their implementation. By working with diverse stakeholders, the Trust Lab aims to ensure that its initiatives have meaningful and lasting impact. 

We invite colleagues to join in this participatory seminar to help shape the vision and priorities of a proposed Trust Lab at Deakin University. Your insights during this session will help refine and strengthen the Lab’s direction and effectiveness. 

• Contribute to shaping the vision and priorities of the proposed Trust Lab at Deakin University. 
• Engage in meaningful discussions and share your insights. 
• Network with fellow researchers and practitioners. 

Michelle O’Toole, BA (Hons), PhD 

Tangata Tiriti 

Michelle is an Associate Research Fellow at the Centre for Resilient and Inclusive Societies at the Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation. She has over 10 years’ experience in qualitative and applied research, spanning academic and health regulation sectors, including ethnographic fieldwork in diverse settings in Australia, Aotearoa New Zealand, and online. Her work focuses on community engagement, cross-cultural relationships, and the integration of co-design approaches in research. Michelle is particularly interested in how people from diverse backgrounds and different cultures build understanding and collaborate effectively.