Research Theme

EquiTech:
Multiculturalism, Gender, and Digital Justice

EquiTech examines how cultural and gender diversity influences how people interact with, and are impacted by, the democratic system in the digital age. EquiTech aims to facilitate inclusivity within the digital world, in recognition of Australia's rich multicultural fabric.

Research Projects

Research projects under this pillar highlight multicultural communities as progressive contributors to democracy and amplify the voices of underrepresented groups for inclusive policy and legislative reform. Our current co-designed projects investigate multicultural community’ experiences in the gig economy, coercive control and family and domestic violence, and the legal and ethical dimensions of deportation. In each of these areas, digital technologies play a significant role in shaping how individuals experience fairness and justice. Other initiatives explore multicultural perspectives on democracy, identity formation among young people, and community-driven approaches to civic participation.

Women’s experiences of harm in the gig economy in South Australia

This project investigates the harms experienced by women in Australia’s gig economy. This study aims to explore how the pay gap affects women’s lives, examine discrimination and intersectionality, uncover the presence and consequences of algorithmic bias, and document safety concerns and harassment. By addressing critical evidence gaps, the project will inform inclusive policy and platform regulation, ensuring safer, fairer, and more equitable conditions for women in gig work across Australia.

Chief Investigator: Prof. Marinella Marmo (Flinders University), Dr Elvio Sinopoli, Dr. Sahana Sarkar (Flinders University), Dr. Nada Ibrahim (Flinders University) , and A/Prof Andreas Cebulla

Grant Funder: The Law Foundation of South Australia

Understanding and Addressing Coercive Control in Multicultural Communities in SA: A Co-Designed Approach to Culturally Safe Prevention and Intervention

At a time when laws criminalising coercive control have just been introduced in South Australia (SA), this project addresses a critical gap between legal reform and community readiness. It aims to empower multicultural communities to stay safe from harm through co-designed approaches that centre their understanding of and needs around coercive control. In partnership with the Multicultural Communities Council of South Australia (MCCSA), in this project we engage three multicultural communities (Indian, Italian, and Chinese) and five faith groups (Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, Christian, and Buddhist), recognising that some do not even have a conceptual translation for ‘coercive control’. Without tailored support, these legal changes risk being inaccessible or misunderstood, deepening mistrust and leaving individuals unprotected. By working collaboratively with community members and leaders, frontline workers, and legal practitioners, the project aims to co-design prevention strategies and legal education resources that reflect cultural realities while enhancing legal literacy. This project ensures that multicultural voices are included in law reform, promoting culturally safe legal education, practitioner training, and community safeguarding in the context of emerging criminalisation.

Chief Investigator: Prof. Marinella Marmo (Flinders University), Dr. Sahana Sarkar (Flinders University), Dr. Nada Ibrahim (Flinders University) , and A/ProfHossein Esmaeili (Flinders University). Dr Nerida Chazal (Adelaide University), Dr. Jenny Richards (Flinders University), Dr Tahlia Hart (Flinders University).

Grant Funder: The Law Foundation of South Australia

Funding: $81,678

Member Publications

Sarkar, S. & Sinha-Roy, R. (forthcoming). Cybersecurity through an Intersectional lens: Survivors’ Responses to Technology-facilitated sexual violence in India. Feminist Criminology

Marinella Marmo / Non-citizen women and visa cancellation: the role of gender in Australia’s current deportation regime under s 501. (2025)

Sanzhuan Guo / Automated Decision Making and Deportation: Legal Concerns and Regulation (2025)

Sanzhuan Guo / A Critical Review of Chinese Law on (Mass) Expulsion of Aliens through a Lens of International Law (2025)

Marinella Marmo / Maintaining coloniality through capitalism: benevolent state-corporate interventions in modern slavery to protract colonial status quo (2025)

Featured Perspective

Read

Our People

Professor Marinella Marmo

A leading expert on human mobility, human rights and gendered criminology.

Host Institution: Flinders University

Media Expertise: human rights, civil liberties, immigration, modern slavery, transnational crime

Dr Sahana Sarkar

Lecturer in Criminology, with a research focus on how technology facilitates gendered and sexual violence by unknown persons and intimate partners within the Global South.

Host Institution: Flinders University

Media Expertise: gender violence, marginalisation, diversity, digital literacy

Jeff Bleich Centre for the US Alliance in Digital Technology, Security & Governance

Home

Subscribe to our newsletter

The Jeff Bleich Centre was established to undertake world-leading research, to strengthen the core values and institutions of democratic societies.

Most of our research projects are externally-funded through competitive grants, contracted research, and philanthropic donations. Funding sources have included the Australian Research Council (ARC), SmartSat CRC, Defence, the Office of National Intelligence and the Australian Space Agency.

The JBC encourages and actively promotes collaborative research with national and international institutions. Collaborations have included work with the University of Adelaide, Monash University, Griffith University, the Australian National University, the University of Virginia (USA), Arizona State University, the University of Ottawa, the Victoria Electoral Commission, Defence Innovation Partnership, South Australian Space Industry Centre, the Electoral Commission of Queensland, and the European Space Policy Institute.