Research program

The ABS will facilitate research projects with external organisations to demonstrate the value of the Life Course Dataset.  

Initial LCDI research program projects include:

• The Australian Capital Territory (ACT) Government with the Australian National University (ANU) will lead a research project to explore factors that characterise multiple disadvantage in children and young people in Australia to identify a set of predictors of exit from (or persistence in) a state of entrenched disadvantage.
• The South Australia (SA) Government and University of Adelaide’s BetterStart will lead a research project to investigate transitions through the education system from early childhood to post-school education, employment, training and welfare outcomes, and how these vary according to experiences of socioeconomic, and health disadvantage.
• The Life Course Centre will lead a research project to examine the social and economic trajectories of single parents and the circumstances immediately before and five years after the birth of a child. The study will investigate the interplay between family structure dynamics, parental education and labour market outcomes, and early childhood indicators.

There will be a limited number of additional research projects to be delivered as part of the LCDI pilot, which will be determined in collaboration with LCDI partners from 2025. 

Research projects will:  

• require data custodian approval, including ethics approval as required
• be supported by the ABS through the project proposal, analysis and output phases. 

Outputs from the LCDI research program will be released from 2026.  

For more information about the LCDI research program, email life.course@abs.gov.au.