Key Dates

2022 Grants Round:
Late 2022 (anticipated)


> View more information about our Grants Program

 
Contact us:
grants@accan.org.au
or phone 02 9288 4000

Grants Information

2021 Round Guidlines

2021 Round Priorities

Who can apply?

What is eligible?

How to apply

How Grants are assessed

Welcome

ACCAN works towards achieving communications services that are trusted, inclusive, and available for all.

With this aim, the ACCAN Grants Program funds projects to enable research on telecommunications issues, represent telecommunications consumers, or create educational tools which empower consumers to understand telecommunications products and services and make decisions in their own interests.

On the following pages you will find all the information you need to decide if your project idea is eligible for an ACCAN Grant, and how to apply. 

To be eligible, projects must address systemic telecommunications consumer issues. Have a browse through the following ACCAN Grants Projects to get a feel for the type of work that is funded under the Program.

University of Melbourne

Telcos are increasingly using chatbots and other forms of automated assistants to respond to their customers. There may be gains for consumers, but there are also the risks of harms, and this project seeks to investigate and recommend strategies to assist consumers to navigate these risks.

University of Melbourne

This project is an extension of research funded by the Melbourne Social Equity Institute (MSEI), undertaking a survey and focus groups with the residents (representing 39 language groups) of Carlton Public Housing Estate in central Melbourne to analyse their strategies for coping with limited connectivity. The ACCAN grant will be used to conduct one-on-one interviews with 12 residents and provide interpreting services.

Charles Sturt University

Telecommunications accounts cannot be held jointly by multiple parties. "Family Plans" are commonly promoted as an economic option for multiple users. These plans have multiple devices (with multiple users) contracted to one person as the 'Customer'. This project investigates the surveillance risks (including call, message and location monitoring) that Family Plans present during ongoing relationships, in particular those at risk of domestic violence.

Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT)

The ability of small businesses (those with less than twenty employees) to adopt advanced digital services such as e-commerce solutions and cybersecurity services is vital for these businesses and for the economy. Recent surveys indicate that many are struggling to adapt to sudden changes due to Covid-19. This project aims to investigate how small retail businesses can enhance their growth and efficiency through the better use of advanced digital services from telecommunications providers.

University of Technology Sydney

The project will map out policy options for developing a complaint-handling framework for digital platforms, addressing a critical need for the satisfactory resolution of complaints from consumers. The features of effective and accountable internal dispute resolution schemes and the options for an external complaint-handling scheme will be assessed.

Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT)

With evidence that there is an increasingly mobile, regionally based workforce in Australia (‘e-changers’), more needs to be understood about digital access, affordability and skills for this group. This project will examine the telecommunications needs of consumers and small businesses engaged in remote work in a number of locations outside large cities and traditional office settings. Online businesses or self-employed workers in the digital economy will also be a focus.

University of Technology Sydney (UTS)

The Internet of Things (IoT) has the potential to transform the way we live and work. But the growth of consumer IoT devices for the home, such as connected appliances and smart assistants, poses serious threats to consumers’ security and privacy. Research will identify and analyse options and make recommendations for best practice regulation of IoT security and privacy. 

Curtin University

Approaches to the accessibility of subscription versus free to access Australian video on demand platforms will be evaluated with research gathering new insights from consumers with disabilities.

Charles Sturt University

This project and its report outlines regional and rural consumer understandings of smart technologies and their applications in North West New South Wales, Australia. It identifies consumer engagement with digital infrastructure, the changing nature of development and planning in a digital context and the impact of smart services on social relations.

A group of older adults, dressed warmly and standing beside a lake, smiling into a camera for a selfieRoyal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT)

This project focuses on giving a voice to how seniors perceive risk associated with ICT usage and ownership. 

Wamboin Communications Action Group Inc.

This project will assist regional and rural areas to effectively engage with their local communities and build a business case for the implementation of network capabilities to support their current and future needs. The project will deliver a set of resources that can be applied across regional, rural and remote areas to help communities identify local requirements to achieve better Internet connectivity to support their economic and social growth.2 photos blended: one of a row of country letterboxes, the other a view over a valley, with a large eucalypt in the foreground

Hand holds up report cover that reads 'Telcos for all'Centre for Accessibility

In 2021, the Centre For Accessibility (CFA) Australia undertook research to improve the accessibility of websites and apps provided by the telecommunications sector.

Apps Can Trap image: Two cartoon children using Apps on phones with eyes looking over their shoulderAustralian Council on Children and the Media (ACCM)

Grant Round: 2020

Amount: $48,000

Deakin2019 IoT 01Deakin University

Monash Dark Ads Report cover

Monash University, Automated Society Working Group

Grant round: 2019

Amount: $49,579

People with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander backgrounds participating in researchFirst Nations Media Australia

Grant round: 2019

Amount: $49,670

Man working at home with daughter on lapSACOSS (South Australian Council of Social Service)

Grant Round: 2019

Amount: $99,112

WEstjustice

Grant Round: 2019

Amount awarded: $50,000

Representation of consumers connected to each otherUTS Faculty of Law, UNE School of Law

Grant round: 2017-18

Amount: $50,603

overhead view of farmers sitting & standing, chatting. Screen in front of them.

James Cook University, Cairns Institute

Grant round: 2017-18

Amount: $36,000

Deakin Spyware Cover Image for web

Deakin University, Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation

Grant round: 2017-18

Amount: $60,728

Thanks a Bundle Research Report Cover

University of Melbourne, Melbourne Social Equity Institute

Grant round: 2017-18

Amount: $69,428

MoneyMob Photograph MoneyMob Talkabout

Grant Round: 2019

Amount: $50,000

Concerned red-headed young woman looks at phone, she is backgrounded with streams of personal dataUTS School of Communication

Grant round: 2017-18

Amount: $55,302