Research that Matters: Advancing Sustainable Development at UNSW
Published on the 12 March 2026 by UNSW Business School EDI Team
Each year, UNSW Business School proudly awards five Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Research Grants, empowering our HDR candidates to tackle pressing global challenges.
These grants support innovative research that drives progress toward the UN SDGs (2030 – 2050) through transformative industry or government interventions at local, national, or international levels.
Two of the grants are funded by the UNSW Business School’s SDG Committee, while the remaining three are generously supported by the UNSW Global Water Institute.
The funding is dedicated to advancing research projects that inspire real-world impact and sustainable solutions. For the 2025-2026 cycle, a panel of expert judges selected five exceptional recipients: Marian Cooray, Shuge Li, Danyue Liang, Shawn Yang and Trisha Hassan.
Their visionary research proposals and compelling presentations distinguished themselves through their rigor, relevance, and transformative potential. Each project exemplifies a commitment to driving meaningful change across industries and communities.
Congratulations to this year’s awardees — bold innovators charting the course toward a more sustainable and equitable future!
To learn more about these expectational research projects, UNSW Business School spoke to each awardee about their research and how this will enable positive Societal impact.
Name: Trisha Hassan
School affiliation: School of Accounting, Auditing and Taxation
Thesis title: The Endogenization of Reporting Regulation: The case of the Australian Modern Slavery Act
What is your thesis about (elevator pitch)?
My thesis focuses on accounting for human rights. While accounting is traditionally viewed as purely financial and numbers focused, my research illuminates how accounting can be used to address the grand challenges we face today. By taking on modern slavery as a facet of sustainability, my thesis first aims to uncover how the Australian Modern Slavery Act 2018 was developed in consultation with a variety of stakeholders. My thesis then goes on to investigate how businesses are dealing with the repercussions of mandated reporting by understanding the role of management control systems in detecting and addressing modern slavery related issues.
Why is this relevant today?
Considering the fast-growing nature of modern slavery, there has been increased interest from governments, businesses and accounting practitioners in determining how policy may be best directed, resulting in mandatory disclosure regulation.
Over 49 million people are currently facing slavery-like conditions although slavery was said to be abolished in the 1800s. Modern slavery is as an umbrella term capturing a variety of human rights violations including serfdom, forced labour, debt bondage, the worst forms of child labour, the sale of children, forced and early marriage, the sale of wives and inherited widows, trafficking in persons for exploitation and sexual slavery. Globalisation has led to an uptick in outsourcing supply chain operations to low-income countries, resulting in increasing rates of child labour, forced labour and subcontracting.
Recently, the Australian government has introduced legislation aimed at eradicating modern slavery in global supply chains, however research has largely overlooked the process by which this legislation came about. As businesses learn to navigate under mandated reporting legislation, research must advance alongside. Further, understanding how management control systems work in the setting of mandatory due diligence is of importance as these systems may help businesses uncover human rights injustices more efficiently.
What has been the significance of receiving the UNSW BUS SDG Grant on your research?
Receiving the SDG grant has opened up many opportunities. Attending conferences is a huge part of research, especially as a PhD student, as conferences open lines of dialogue with other academics and students beyond those in our close orbit. Having input from a large variety of scholars through attending conferences is invaluable and the SDG grant has made travel achievable.
Name: Marian Vindya Cooray
School affiliation: School of Information Systems & Technology Management
Thesis title: Digital Empowerment of Disadvantaged Communities
What is your thesis about (elevator pitch)?
As digital technologies continue to advance, the gap between those who benefit from them and those who do not is widening. This expanding digital divide disproportionately affects disadvantaged communities, exacerbating existing social challenges such as unemployment, limited access to services, and poor literacy outcomes.
My research examines how community organisations can help bridge this divide by fostering digital Empowerment among Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) refugees.
In partnership with Fair Foundations, a community organisation serving in Fairfield- a designated refugee welcome zone in Western Sydney, I am co-designing a digital Empowerment framework with key stakeholders, including CALD community members and local government representatives.
From a theoretical perspective, my research contributes to the digital empowerment literature by conceptualising the mechanisms by which community organisations can foster digital empowerment in an effective and sustainable manner. From a practitioner perspective, I am developing a digital empowerment playbook to guide community organisations in achieving this goal.
What Contemporary Issue Does Your Thesis Address?
Refugees settling in developed countries are struggling to keep pace with rapid digital transformation. For example, as governments increasingly move essential public services online, many refugees who rely on welfare and settlement services face significant barriers to accessing and benefiting from these digital systems.
The urgency of this issue is growing with forcibly displaced and stateless populations projected to double between 2017 and 2026 (UNHCR, 2026), and the United Nations has called for urgent action to address digital empowerment among refugees.
Globally, governments and development agencies are emphasising the importance of community organisations in addressing digital exclusion. However, digital empowerment is not traditionally the core strength of many community-based organisations. By engaging with Fair Foundations, local government representatives, and community residents themselves, we attempt to explore how community organisations can effectively achieve digital empowerment within their communities.
With the rapid rise of artificial intelligence and increasingly digitised public and private services, the risks of exclusion are intensifying. Addressing digital empowerment is therefore not optional; it is essential. This research directly contributes to SDG 10 (Reduced Inequalities) and also supports SDG 1 (No Poverty), SDG 4 (Quality Education), SDG 5 (Gender Equality), and SDG 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth).
What Has Been the Significance of Receiving the UNSW SDG Grant?
Receiving the UNSW SDG Grant has been instrumental in extending the impact of this research. The grant has enabled deeper engagement with community-based stakeholders, ensuring that those most affected by digital exclusion are actively involved in shaping solutions.
It has also supported the dissemination of findings through conferences and broader engagement activities, helping to amplify the practical and scholarly contributions of the project.
I would also like to acknowledge the Western Sydney Connect Impact Maker 2025 Grant from the UNSW Business School, which laid the foundation for our partnership with Fair Foundations and made this collaborative research possible.