Volunteering Australia established a new National Volunteering Research Network in 2021. The network aims to facilitate the sharing of information and knowledge between researchers and members of the wider volunteering ecosystem. The National Volunteering Research Network should lead to greater collaboration and policy engagement to advance volunteering in the Australian community.
Dr Megan Paull and Dr Rachel Winterton are the current Co-chairs of the network.
If you are undertaking research relevant to volunteering in an academic setting or elsewhere, and would like to join the network, please get in touch at research@volunteeringaustralia.org.
Members of the National Volunteering Research Network
Meredith Blais, Volunteering WA, WA
What are your main research interests relevant to volunteering?
General evidence base (WA data)
What are your current research projects on volunteering?
- WA’s State of Volunteering Report 2023
- Supporting three funded projects as part of our VWA Research Grant program and another funded project into Volunteering in Residential Dementia settings.
Dr Vivien Forner, Institute of Management Psychology, University of Sydney and University of Wollongong, NSW
Academic research profile | ORCID
What are your main research interests relevant to volunteering?
Volunteer retention and turnover, volunteer motivation and volunteer leadership
What are your current research projects on volunteering?
Research partnerships with Australia’s largest volunteer-involving organisations to understanding and improve the quality of the volunteering experience.
- What are the most important drivers of volunteer retention?
- Testing the impact of evidence-based leadership development programs for volunteers.
- What prevents women putting their hand up for volunteer leadership roles?
Links to volunteering papers or reports:
- Predictors of turnover amongst volunteers: A systematic review and meta-analysis
- Reducing turnover in volunteer organisations: A leadership intervention based on self-determination theory
- Without leadership there is no volunteering: The importance of strategic investment in leadership development in Australia
Craig Furneaux, Australian Centre for Philanthropy and Nonprofit Studies, Queensland University of Technology, QLD
Academic research profile | ORCID
What are your main research interests relevant to volunteering?
Nonprofit management, capability, innovation accountability
What are your main research interests relevant to volunteering?
Nonprofit management, capability, innovation accountability
What are your current research projects on volunteering?
Valuing volunteering, Religious basis of giving (including volunteering)
Marylene Gagne, Future of Work Institute, Curtin University, WA
Academic research profile | ORCID
What are your main research interests relevant to volunteering?
Volunteer motivation
What are your current research projects on volunteering?
None at the moment, but we have a lot of data we have to transform into publications.
Links to volunteering papers or reports:
- Setting expectations during volunteer recruitment and the first day experience: a preregistered experimental test of the met expectations hypothesis
- Enabling Sustainable Emergency Volunteering
- State Emergency Service volunteer views on expectations, experiences, and motivations
Gillian Garner, Policy and advocacy, Volunteering Victoria, VIC
What are your main research interests relevant to volunteering?
I work across all areas
Robyn Gulliver, The Commons Social Change Library/UQ, QLD
Academic research profile | ORCID
What are your main research interests relevant to volunteering?
Social change, collective action, activism, climate campaigns
What are your current research projects on volunteering?
- Project 1: The Movement Monitor https://movementmonitor.org – This project is the first-of-its-kind interactive database and map that will measure the impact of the Australian climate movement, including volunteer numbers, activities and experiences.
- Project 2: Volunteer experiences in different organising models used by progressive environmental and social activism organisations across Australia and NZ.
- Project 3: Evaluation of volunteer experiences within the organising structure used by an community organising campaign targeting the fossil fuel industry in Australia
Links to volunteering papers or reports:
- An Investigation of Factors Influencing Environmental Volunteering Leadership and Participation Behaviors
- Resources that help sustain environmental volunteer activist leaders
Kirsten Holmes, School of Management and Marketing, Curtin University, WA
Academic research profile | ORCID
What are your main research interests relevant to volunteering?
Student volunteering, non-volunteers, tourism volunteering, rural volunteering
What are your current research projects on volunteering?
- University student volunteering during COVID and resilience
- Developing a rural roadmap for volunteering in Australia
Links to volunteering papers or reports:
- Growing the Volunteer Pool: Identifying Non-Volunteers Most Likely to Volunteer
- The Routledge Handbook of Volunteering in Events, Sport and Tourism
- University Students’ Volunteering During the COVID-19 Pandemic
Pam Kappelides, La Trobe University, VIC
Academic research profile | ORCID
What are your main research interests relevant to volunteering?
Sport volunteering, diversity and inclusion, volunteer management
What are your current research projects on volunteering?
- Hoye, R, Kappelides P, Grant, M & Baxter, H. Enhancing participation pathways for female sport officials Office for Women in Sport and Recreation Change Our Game Research Grants Program 2022-2023
- Hoye, R & Kappelides, P Enhancing participation pathways for female sport coaches Office for Women in Sport and Recreation- 2020-21 Change Our Game Research Grants Program
Links to volunteering papers or reports:
- Female volunteer community sport officials: a scoping review and research agenda
- The psychological contract and volunteering: A systematic review
- Anything Else We Should Know About You to Be a Mega-Sport Event Volunteer? From Gender and Person???Job Fit Perspectives
Kohyar Kiazad, Management, Monash University, VIC
What are your main research interests relevant to volunteering?
Volunteer turnover and retention; Volunteer management; Volunteer management careers and career development
What are your current research projects on volunteering?
Still in very early stages of development; seeking research and/or industry partnerships and collaborations.
Eunjung Kim, School of Business and Law, Edith Cowan University, WA
Academic research profile | ORCID
What are your main research interests relevant to volunteering?
Event volunteer management
What are your current research projects on volunteering?
- University student volunteering research;
- Corporate volunteering research;
- Mega sport event volunteering research
Links to volunteering papers or reports:
- Heterogeneity of sport event volunteer motivations: A segmentation approach
- A Systematic Quantitative Review Of Volunteer Management in Events
- Volunteer selection at a major sport event: A strategic Human Resource Management approach
Toby Newstead, College of Business and Economics (Management Discipline), University of Tasmania, TAS
Academic research profile | ORCID
What are your main research interests relevant to volunteering?
I am interested in leadership in the volunteer context. I also see huge potential in taking a business lens to the issue of corporate volunteering…
What are your current research projects on volunteering?
I currently supervise 3 x PhD candidates focused on leadership in the volunteering context:
- Leading emergency service volunteer;
- Dustaining volunteer board member engagement;
- Developing leaders of volunteers. I am also engaged in a research project looking at increasing women’s participation in leadership in one of Australia’s biggest volunteer-based organisations.
Links to volunteering papers or reports:
- Leading Volunteer Motivation: How Leader Behaviour can Trigger and Fulfil Volunteers’ Motivations
- Without leadership there is no volunteering: The importance of strategic investment in leadership development in Australia
- Emergency volunteering: Leading engagement and retention
Josephine Pryce, College of Business, Law and Goverance, James Cook University, QLD
Academic research profile | ORCID
What are your main research interests relevant to volunteering?
The nature of work, meaningful work, occupation, volunteering, and mental health & well-being of workers (paid and volunteers)
What are your current research projects on volunteering?
- Mental health & well-being of workers (paid and volunteers)
- Meaningful work and/or occupation for people with ongoing mental illnesses
- The role of gardens in communities and society and in relation to people’s well-being
Links to volunteering papers or reports:
Arthur Stukas, Department of Psychology, Counselling & Therapy, La Trobe University, VIC
Academic research profile | Academic research profile | ORCID
What are your main research interests relevant to volunteering?
Motivation to volunteer, recruitment, retention, wellbeing
What are your current research projects on volunteering?
- Fulfilment of Motivations in Volunteer Work and Wellbeing
- Perceptions of Volunteers with Differing Motivations.
Links to volunteering papers or reports:
- Understanding and encouraging volunteerism and community involvement
- Motivations to Volunteer and Their Associations With Volunteers’ Well-Being
- Volunteerism and Community Involvement: Antecedents, Experiences, and Consequences for the Person and the Situation
Samantha Werner, Partnerships and Research, Australian Volunteers International, VIC
What are your main research interests relevant to volunteering?
Corporate Volunteering, Reciprocity Volunteering, Community Development through Skilled Volunteering, Theory of Change
What are your current research projects on volunteering?
Our current project looks at the difference in attitude and approach between Australian corporate volunteering approaches compared to Northern hemisphere counterparts and opportunities for leadership development in leadership skills and diversity and inclusion.
Colleen Williams, National School of Volunteer Management, NSW
What are your main research interests relevant to volunteering?
Getting the latest research to inform development and training of the CHC44015 Certificate IV in Coordination of Volunteer Programs and share current trends and research with students and others alike
Dr Rachel Winterton, John Richards Centre for Rural Ageing Research, La Trobe University, VIC
Academic research profile | ORCID
What are your main research interests relevant to volunteering?
Rural volunteering, role of volunteers in supporting older people’s health and wellbeing, older people’s engagement in volunteering; health volunteer management
What are your current research projects on volunteering?
- The role of volunteering in supporting rural age-friendly care
- Rural organisational capacity to support volunteering among people living with dementia
Links to volunteering papers or reports:
- Engagement, Commitment, Satisfaction and Intention to Remain Among Volunteers in Victorian Public Health Sector Organizations
- Developing a competency framework for health volunteer management
- A far greater sense of community: The impact of volunteer behaviour on the wellness of rural older Australians
Megan Woods, University of Tasmania, TAS
Academic research profile | ORCID
What are your main research interests relevant to volunteering?
Volunteer workforces providing mental health support
Penny York, Centre for Public Value, Business School, The University of Western Australia, WA
What are your main research interests relevant to volunteering?
Not actively researching volunteering, but am interested in the bridge between researchers and academics and any resulting practical resources for managers of volunteers
What are your current research projects on volunteering?
My PhD thesis is on the funding policy framework applied to the aged care and disability service sectors. It’s trickle down effect can inform why volunteer management is underfunded and undervalued.
Links to volunteering papers or reports:
- Human Services Goods in the Australian Aged Care and Disability Sector
- Recruit and Retain Volunteers
