Trust
Welcome to the Telematics Trust
Vision
The vision of Telematics Trust is for technology to transform lives through education and training for the cultural, social and economic benefit of Victorians.
Mission
The Telematics Trust is committed to funding initiatives that support our vision by demonstrating innovative use of technology through education and training.
- Demonstrate the innovative use of technology through education and learning which aim to measurably improve the well-being of the community and environment
- Provide unique funding opportunities to individuals, Educational Institutions, Government, Business, social enterprises and Not-for-Profit organisations
- Use technology to reach diverse groups and address important practical problems in our community and environment.
In pursuit of this mission, Telematics Trust targets initiatives that:
- Deserve special distinction
- Would be assisted by seeding grants
- Are not generally within the province of other funding bodies
The Trust provides unique funding opportunities to individuals, Educational Institutes, Government, Business, social enterprises and Not-for-Profit organisations.
Recently Funded Projects
Telematics Trust supported the following list of organisations in the 2023 grant round.
University of Melbourne – The Florey Department of Neuroscience and Mental Health
Co-Design of a Digital Tool for Early Detection of Dementia | $50,000
Despite dementia being the second leading cause of death in Australia, a national dementia screening program is not currently available. The Florey aims to empower the community to co-design a digital tool (BrainHealth), with its research team, for early detection of dementia through education and training.
National Chinese Museum of Australia – Golden Dragon Museum
Golden Dragon Museum Auslan Self-Guided Tour | $24,263
Using smart devices, QR Codes and YouTube, the Golden Dragon Museum, in partnership with Deaf Hub Bendigo, will provide a free self-guided tour in Auslan for deaf and hard of hearing people of the 10 primary objects of interest in the Museum and Dai Gum San Precinct. This project promotes inclusion, provides education, encourages interaction, and allows for independence.
Phillip Island Nature Parks
Lost at Sea: Conserving Cultural Heritage and Fur Seals | $50,000
Using different technologies, Nature Parks will explore climate change impacts at Seal Rocks and its seal colony, and conduct an Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Survey. This research will help identify potential future havens for Seal Rocks colony 'refugees'. It will also create a model to identify other key Victorian wildlife conservation and Aboriginal Cultural Heritage sites that are most 'at risk' from climate change’s impacts on sea levels and erosion. Information will be distributed online and in person to over 200,000 people.
RMIT University
International Student Work Rights: A Digital Game | $50,000
International students working in Australia face widespread underpayment and exploitation. This project uses Talespin – a 3D immersive learning content creation tool – to develop an interactive scenario-based online game that will help international students in Victoria improve their knowledge of employment rights, enhance their ability to detect noncompliance by employers, and empower them with a toolkit of appropriate options and resources.
Baker Heart And Diabetes Institute
Mature Aged People with Type 1 Diabetes (MADE IT T1D) Interactive Digital Resource | $50,000
There is an urgent, unmet need to provide adults with Type 1 diabetes (T1D) age-appropriate and accessible disease management resources. Over 60% of Australians with T1D are aged 40 and older and many of their concerns can be addressed through digital resources complementing clinic visits. This project will create an interactive digital resource specifically designed for mature-aged adults with T1D to improve their access to trusted, relevant healthcare information.
Deaf Children Australia
Online Course and Resources to Support Deaf and Hard of Hearing Students | $50,000
DCA will develop an online eLearning course, linked to the Victorian Careers Curriculum, that will assist teachers and host employers to effectively engage and support deaf and hard-of-hearing students into meaningful and successful work experience. The grant from Telematics Trust will be used for videography, graphic design, and educational design consultancy to produce engaging video content that will augment the course’s resources and materials.
Odyssey House Victoria
DREAM HOPE AND RECOVERY (AOD and Co-occurring Mental Health Support for Aboriginal Peoples) | $50,000
This project focuses on workforce development to enable Alcohol and Other Drugs (AOD) and Mental Health (MH) practitioners to increase the cultural safety of their practices through improved insight into Aboriginal peoples’ AOD and MH lived experience. OHV will support the role of culture and holistic strength-based interventions, seeking to improve AOD and MH treatment design and delivery and enabling this culturally informed practice to be embedded in an operational context.
Cool Australia
Cool Curriculum AI | $50,000
Cool Curriculum AI (CCA) will assist teachers to create custom, practical sustainability lessons for their students. Powered by opensource artificial intelligence (AI), this chattool merges Cool’s vast resource library with the Victorian and Australian Curriculum. It will be integrated into Cool’s new website as a generative learning design tool for teachers with guiding prompts. The CCA will save teachers time, reduce their workload, and create new lessons to support their students.
Orygen
Supporting Adolescents to #chatsafe: Co-creating a Youth-Friendly Social Media Campaign for Self-Harm and Suicide Prevention | $49,000
Suicide is the leading cause of death for young Australians. The use of social media has been a common explanation for the rise in youth suicide, with young Australians spending more than 3 hours per day online. In order to harness the benefits of social media and equip young people with the skills to communicate safely online about their mental health, this project will develop a youth-friendly and age-appropriate suicide prevention social media campaign, in partnership with young people.
Charles Sturt University
Mayday Hills and Beechworth Cemetery Virtual Tour Enrichment | $40,000
This project plans to embed new information, namely digital images, digital sound and video files, into a dedicated ‘museum’ website for the historic Beechworth Psychiatric Hospital. Relatives of its patients, past employees, and community members seeking more information or planning to visit the rural historic township will be able to tour the virtual environment as a dynamic digital repository of artefacts and knowledge.
La Trobe University
e-SPACE: Empowering Rural Education via Virtual Experiments and Collaborative Learning | $50,000
Engaging students in STEM subjects is a challenge, especially in remote rural areas. This project aims to provide remote access to authentic laboratory equipment used in Space science and biology to ignite interest in STEM in students from rural communities. Using the e-virtual laboratory platform, the project aims to facilitate an online community of practice for students, teachers and researchers in Space science to encourage development of skills and attitudes for future careers.
Western Health Foundation
Leaflet – Helping CALD Communities Manage Chronic Health and Improve Health Outcomes | $50,000
Leaflet is a health management project. Its key objective is to help CALD community members who receive a challenging health diagnosis access appropriate, understandable information to manage chronic health conditions, prepare for health procedures and improve health outcomes. By using an app available in the four key languages of the West, and focusing on the most common health problems, CALD community members will be able to manage their health conditions more effectively.
Vimana Tech Pty Ltd
Technology Supported Beekeeping | $50,000
Revolutionising beekeeping through IoT technology, this project empowers beekeepers with real-time hive data, while promoting environmental preservation through enhanced pollination and early threat detection. Here, education and innovation combine to create positive impacts for bee populations and ecological sustainability. Through the use of educational videos by leading beekeepers and the optional use of IoT sensors, Vimana plan to ameliorate the seemingly daunting task of keeping bees, making it more accessible to everyone.
Melbourne Holocaust Museum
In Their Own Words: Vital Lessons for Today | $50,000
This project consists of 30 video projections of Holocaust survivor testimony displayed in the Museum’s special exhibition gallery. Utilising technology to educate the public, the videos include graphic representations of key words and emphasise topics such as discrimination, bystanders, acts of kindness, hope, faith, ghettos, and camps, among other subjects. The exhibition will impart the lessons of the Holocaust through an engaging medium that is accessible to a diverse range of abilities.