Community Connections - Innovation Research Project
Understanding how Councils interact and engage with community.
MAVlab has partnered with the Australian Resilient Democracy Research Network to explore the drivers of civic participation and active democracy.
Together, this collaboration seeks to support councils and their communities to better understand how to sustain active and responsive forms of participation in the face of new pressures on our civic life.
This program of work seeks to understand the broad diversity of forms of engagement, interaction and collaboration between councils and their communities to better understand the challenges and opportunities for improvement.
In addition to the formal or legislated “community engagement” pathways, we also seek to understand the customer service, front line service interactions (eg. libraries and recreation centres), community connector programs, social media, public meetings, youth outreach, interactions with councillors, child maternal health services, and many more types of connections that contribute to rich and dynamic relationships between councils and the communities they serve.
Outputs from the work will be released via a written report and interactive tools to support enhanced council community connection.
Get Involved!
In early 2026 MAVlab will be undertaking research activities in collaboration with Victorian Councils, including surveys, workshops and interviews.
If you work in customer service, community engagement, community outreach, child maternal health services, libraries, council governance, aged care, transformation, urban design, stakeholder engagement, youth outreach, or any of the many many other roles that connect council with community – please get involved!
We also have opportunities for other groups working alongside councils (including consultants and vendors) to contribute.
Please access the links below to participate in the survey or register for a workshop.
Survey
Community Connections Survey (VIC Council staff only):
This survey will provide insights for the Community Connections Innovation Research Project. It’s open to all Victorian local government employees and seeks to collect data and insights to help identify and understand the many ways in which interaction and engagement occurs between local government and community.
Workshops
We invite all VIC council staff (working in roles that interact with community) to join us in a Community Connections Research Workshop to contribute your knowledge, insights and lived expertise.
These facilitated sessions will bring together council staff from across Victoria. They will provide critical input for our research – and we hope that will be a valuable learning experience for all who participate. All sessions are online only.
VIC Council staff please choose the session most relevant to your role.
We strongly encourage council staff working with First Nations and CALD communities to participate in these sessions.
Community Engagement Workshop
Monday 2 March: 12:00pm - 1:30pm.
A research and insights workshop to listen and learn from community engagement practitioners and related roles, working in councils.
Community Services Workshop
Tuesday 10 March: 10:00am - 11:30am.
A research and insights workshop to listen and learn from people working in the following roles: Maternal and Child Health, School Crossings, Immunisations, Children, Youth and Family Services, Active and Positive Ageing, Sports, Recreation, Community Safety, Community Development, Events, Festivals, Galleries, Museums, Public Art, Economic Development, Grants, Libraries, Environment/Climate, Visitor Economy, and other related functions.
Transformation and Change Workshop
Tuesday 10 March: 1:00pm - 2:30pm.
A research and insights workshop to listen and learn from council employees working across city futures, urban design, strategic planning, transport, business insights, transformation, and innovation.
Communications Workshop
Wednesday 11 March: 10:00am - 11:30am.
A research and insights workshop to listen and learn from council employees working in communications, media, social media, digital and related roles.
Governance and Corporate Services Workshop
Wednesday 11 March: 1:00pm - 2:30pm.
A research and insights workshop to listen and learn from council employees working in governance, councillor support roles, information management (FOI), risk, OHS and related roles.
Customer Experience Workshop
Tuesday 17 March: 9:30am - 11:00am.
A research and insights workshop to listen to and learn from council employees working in customer service, customer experience, service managers and other related roles.
Open Group Workshop
Wednesday 18 March: 9:30am - 11:00am.
Join our final research and insights workshop to share your knowledge and lived experience. For any council employee who connects with the community, who couldn’t attend a targeted session, or has only recently heard about them.
Vendors and consultants working with councils
We will have several participation opportunities for vendors and consultants working with councils on projects and programs related to community connection. You are invited to register your interest to participate in this project here:
Project Advisory Group
In December 2025, MAVlab opened a public EOI seeking participants for a project advisory board for this work. Submissions for this process have now closed, and we welcomed and onboarded a group of seasoned council staff into the Project Advisory Group in February 2026.
This group will join project activities as active participants, help to share opportunities for participation with the sector, test assumptions, and provide input and feedback on process, approach and outputs. This is a volunteer role and we are extremely grateful to the good people who have volunteered their time and share their expertise to support this work.
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