Dr Eloise Francis-Brophy

Utilising media and communications to serve policy outcomes

The doctoral research is a study of housing policy, in particular public housing urban renewal programs, as communicated in the media.  This research will consider current communication strategies and practices of state housing authorities and international case studies or examples. 

Fundamental to the long-term success of community development initiatives, urban renewal and regeneration programs is the need to address community perceptions of public housing and communicate the problems associated with chronic under-funding by the Federal Government.

This research considers the rationale for developing appropriately targeted public housing communication campaigns to mass media, key stakeholders and the general public.  Media theory, communication studies and housing theory will intersect at all levels of the research project – from the scope of the literature review, nature of communications audits, theoretical framework and methodology instruments.  The issues and problems – social, organisational, political, methodological and conceptual – of establishing integrated, effective and measurable communication strategies constitute the key subject of the research.

The study addresses the ways in which the media informs the broader community's perceptions of public housing (neighbourhoods, houses and residents).  These perceptions are the focus of the research in terms of analysing how communication strategies can serve to alter dominant ideologies in line with housing policy goals and achieved outcomes.

Key research questions have been identified as:

  • How is public housing conceptualised in different media forms and within different audience markets?
  • What is the dominant perception of public housing and community development initiatives? 
  • What changes in perception are desired and to what?
  • How can communications strategies make these changes possible?
  • What outcomes and indicators of change can be measured to determine effectiveness of communication strategies? 
  • How are these communication strategies perceived within the organisation, externally? 
  • Are they integrated, part of ‘joined-up' solutions, broader framework etc? 
  • Is this integrated approach the most successful in terms of evaluation results and processes?
Ellie Francis-Brophy (University of Tasmania)

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