Change the Story

After 30 years of community engagement, a new question emerges - where to from here?
Shopfront has survived changes in leadership, funding pressures, shifting university priorities and enormous changes in the communities it serves. So what has allowed it to endure, and what will it take for programs like Shopfront to continue into the future?
In this episode, we explore how community engagement can become more than a collection of projects and partnerships. We reflect on what happens when engagement is embedded into the fabric of a university, how institutions can support and reward this work, and why creating opportunities for students to connect with communities remains as important as ever.
Along the way, hear about hopes for the future of higher education, the challenges universities will need to navigate, and the role they can play in helping build stronger, more connected and more resilient communities.
This episode asks a simple but important question - if community engagement matters, how do we make sure it lasts?
Voices
Professor Andrew Parfitt - Vice-Chancellor and President, UTS
Pauline O’Loughlin – Founding program manager, UTS Shopfront
Amy Persson - Pro Vice Chancellor of Social Justice and Inclusion, UTS
Professor Verity Firth - Vice Chancellor of Societal Impact, Equity, and Engagement, UNSW
Marisol Morales - Vice President, Outreach, Engagement and Regional Development,Northern Illinois University
Dr Caspar de Bok - head of Educational Policy & Quality and International Affairs, Utrecht University
Eva Cox AO - Sociologist, author and social commentator
Scott Burns - Former Shopfront student and UTS Alumni
Hosted by Dr Mehal Krayem
Credits
Produced by Ali Aitken
Research and interviews by Dr Margaret Malone and Dr Cale Bain
Change the Story is an Impact Studios podcast.

What happens when learning leaves the classroom and enters the real world?
Recorded at Shopfront's 30th anniversary celebration, the final episode in this special series brings together founders, academics, community partners and former students to reflect on what happens when universities and communities work together.
Through a live panel discussion, they explore the value of community-engaged learning from different perspectives. Community partners talk about the practical challenges facing the sector and the opportunities created through university partnerships. Academics reflect on the moment students encounter social issues not as theories, but as lived realities. Former students share how working with community organisations changed the way they think about their work, their responsibilities and the impact they hope to have.
Part conversation, part reflection, this episode offers a glimpse into the relationships, experiences and moments of learning that have shaped Shopfront over the past 30 years, and continue to shape the people involved long after the projects themselves have ended.
Voices
Professor Paul Ashton – Co-Founder and former alternate director, UTS Shopfront
Pauline O’Loughlin - Founding program manager, UTS Shopfront
Christina Ho - Associate Professor in Social and Political Sciences at UTS
Tracey-Lee Aristides - General Manager, Kings Cross Community Centre
Melissa Lee - MACVAD
Hosted by Dr Mehal Krayem
Credits
Produced by Ali Aitken
Research and interviews by Dr Margaret Malone and Dr Cale Bain
Change the Story is an Impact Studios podcast.

Universities are often described as places of teaching and research. But what responsibility do they have to the communities around them?
In this episode, we move beyond individual projects and explore a bigger question: what can 30 years of community engagement teach us about the relationship between universities and the communities they serve?
Drawing on perspectives from Australia, the United States, Germany and the Netherlands, we explore ideas of public purpose, co-creation, mutual learning, trust and the growing global movement for community engagement in higher education.
Hear how universities can move beyond seeing themselves as the sole holders of expertise, and instead recognise the value of lived experience, local knowledge and community wisdom.
Voices
Professor Andrew Parfitt - Vice-Chancellor and President, UTS
Amy Persson - Pro Vice Chancellor of Social Justice and Inclusion, UTS
Phil Nyden - Professor Emeritus in Sociology, Loyola University Chicago
Dr Caspar de Bok - head of Educational Policy & Quality and International Affairs, Utrecht University
Professor Verity Firth - Vice Chancellor of Societal Impact, Equity, and Engagement, UNSW
Norbert Steinhaus - Science Shop founder
Marisol Morales - Vice President, Outreach, Engagement and Regional Development, Northern Illinois University
Credits
Produced by Ali Aitken
Research and interviews by Dr Margaret Malone and Dr Cale Bain
Change the Story is an Impact Studios podcast.

How did a small university program become a bridge between students, academics and communities for more than 30 years?
In this first episode, we explore the origins of UTS Shopfront and the ideas that shaped it from the beginning. Through stories from founders, community partners and former students, we hear how collaboration, trust and a commitment to social justice helped create a program with lasting impact.
From preserving overlooked histories to supporting emerging organisations, we learn that the most enduring outcomes are often not the projects themselves, but the relationships built along the way.
Voices
Professor Paul Ashton - Co-Founder and former alternate director, UTS Shopfront
Pauline O’Loughlin - Founding program manager, UTS Shopfront
Bonney Djuric - Historian and Activist
Maia Ihemeje - Founder, Yung Prodigy
Professor Alison Page - Former Shopfront student
Scott Burns - Former Shopfront student and UTS Alumni
Hosted by Dr Mehal Krayem
Credits
Produced by Ali Aitken
Researchers - Dr Margaret Malone and Dr Cale Bain
Change the Story is an Impact Studios podcast.

What if some of a community's greatest strengths can't be captured in a survey, a spreadsheet - or even a map?
If Episode 3 encouraged us to see the wider system, this episode invites us to look more deeply into lived experience.
Host Dr. Katie Blair is joined by Dr. Barbara Doran, an arts-based researcher and educator, to explore body mapping - a creative participatory method that helps people express experiences, knowledge and strengths that are often difficult to put into words.
Barbara reflects on the limitations of traditional community engagement approaches, arguing that even strengths-based methods like asset mapping can overlook the emotional, embodied and deeply personal experiences that shape people's lives. Through stories from her own practice - including projects with young people, parents and carers, and women who have experienced trauma - she demonstrates how body mapping creates opportunities for people to share richer, more nuanced stories about themselves and their communities.
The conversation explores how body mapping works in practice, from creating safe and supportive spaces through to using creative prompts and storytelling to uncover insights that conventional consultation methods rarely reveal. Barbara also shares practical guidance for introducing body mapping into your own work.
More than an arts-based activity, body mapping is a different way of listening. It reminds us that knowledge doesn't only live in words - it also lives in memory, emotion, sensation and lived experience. When we create space for people to express these experiences in their own way, we don't just gather better information - we create the conditions for connection, understanding and transformation.

Voices
Katie Blair, PhD is Manager, Research and Evaluation at the Centre for Social Justice and Inclusion at the University of Technology Sydney. Her work focuses on community-engaged research, participatory evaluation and strengthening community voice to support meaningful social change.
Barbara Doran, PhD is an arts-based researcher and educator at the University of Technology Sydney's Transdisciplinary School. Her work explores how creative and embodied methods can deepen participation, surface lived experience and support more inclusive approaches to research, education and community engagement.

Credits
Written by Mitra Gusheh, Tshinta Morris, Anusha Muller and Katie Blair. Recorded and edited by Jane Curtis and Lachlan A'Court. Executive producer: Sarah Gilbert. Mapping What Matters is made by UTS Impact Studios, in collaboration with the UTS Centre for Social Justice and Inclusion and Glebe Youth Service. This project was also supported by the Paul Ramsey Foundation.Mapping What Matters is made by UTS Impact Studios, in collaboration with the UTS Centre for Social Justice and Inclusion and Glebe Youth Service. This project was also supported by the Paul Ramsey Foundation.

Resources
Mapping What Mapping: Body mapping summary sheet
Boydell, K.M (Eds). (2020). Applying body mapping in research: an arts-based method. Routledge.