Section: Overview
Overview
Key publications
Research funding
Supervising & teaching
Career

Key details

Areas of expertise

  • Community development & international development
  • Urban and regional planning: Water supply
  • Social studies of science and technology
  • Anthropology of Latin America
  • Youth homelessness

Available to supervise research students

Available for media queries

About Daniel Ooi

Daniel is a Senior Lecturer in the First Year College, who coordinates and teaches units in community and international development, sociology, and the human services. He is passionate about teaching students from culturally diverse backgrounds, those who are first-in-family, and those from working-class backgrounds, and drawing upon the rich life experiences and cultural knowledge they bring to student-centred learning.

His overarching academic interest is in social inclusion and participatory democracy in urban planning (especially in relation to water and the environment) in both Australia and Latin America. He has been at Victoria University since 2011, first starting as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the former Institute for Sustainability and Innovation.

His current research uses a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods, and focuses on two main themes the social sciences. The first of these is how communities of people understand the value of, and behave towards, their natural environment (in particular, water). The second of these is how to reduce the social marginalisation suffered by young people, with specific reference to youth homelessness and youth (un)employment.

For 2022-2023, he is a Senior Research Fellow in the Institute for Sustainable Industries and Liveable Cities (ISILC), working on the following Victoria University projects (in many cases, as a social scientist working in multi-disciplinary settings alongside ecologists, economists, educationalists, and engineers):

•    Next Generation Water Management in the Werribee River Catchment
•    Collaborative Australia-Brazil Water Research knowledge exchange between Victoria University and Aliança Tropical de Pesquisa da Água (Tropical Water Research Alliance)
•    An Investment Case for Eye Health and Restoring Women's Sight in Laos, Kenya, and Pakistan (with Dr Kim Sweeny and Delia Backstrom at the Victorian Institute for Strategic Economic Studies)
•    Addressing youth homelessness in Northwest Melbourne (with Dr Peter Gill and Dr Laurie Chapin from Psychology)
•    Resilience: Regenerative City Living Lab

Qualifications

  • PhD, University of Melbourne, 2011
  • MA, University of Sydney, 2003
  • BPsych (Hons), University of Sydney, 2002
  • GCHE, Victoria University, 2019

Key publications

Year Citation
2021 Young, C., & Ooi, D. (210301). Building inclusive partnerships with culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) communities. Melbourne: Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC.
2020 Young, C., Jones, R., Ooi, D., Lung, S., Parry, N., & Heenetigala, K. (200301). Reimagining the workforce: building smart, sustainable and safe public transport. Workshop context paper. Melbourne, Australia: Rail Manufacturing Cooperative Research Centre.
2020 Young, C., Jones, R., Lung, S., Ooi, D., Parry, N., & Heenetigala, K. (200301). Reimagining the workforce: training for a future rolling stock workforce. Melbourne, Australia: Rail Manufacturing Cooperative Research Centre.
2020 Young, C., Jones, R., Heenetigala, K., Ooi, D., Lung, S., & Parry, N. (200301). Reimagining the workforce: the Victorian rolling stock context. Melbourne, Australia: Rail Manufacturing Cooperative Research Centre.
2020 Ooi, D., & Cormick, C. (200101). Reimagining the workforce: community perceptions of careers working with rolling stock. Melbourne, Australia: Rail Manufacturing Cooperative Research Centre.
2018 Gill, P., Ooi, D., & Chiodo, L. (180101). Hope to Home Evaluation Report : a research project evaluating the effectiveness of a new model for improving the lives of young people affected by homelessness. Melbourne, Victoria: Victoria University.

doi: 10.26196/5b5fbbb2c1300

Year Citation
2021 Callingham, T., Ooi, D., Fan, L., & Roddick, F. (210101). A triple bottom line approach to optimising odour removal from a residential water supply. H2Open Journal, 4(1), (63-76).

doi: 10.2166/H2OJ.2021.003

2021 Callingham, T., Ooi, D., Fan, L., & Roddick, F. (210101). A triple bottom line approach to optimising odour removal from a residential water supply. H2OPEN JOURNAL, 4(1), (63-76).

doi: 10.2166/h2oj.2021.070

2019 Ooi, D., & Gill, P. (190501). Evaluation of the 'hope to home' model for transitioning young people into private rental accommodation in Melton and Whittlesea. Parity, 32(2), (36-37).
2019 Ooi, D., & Gill, P. (190501). Experiences of young parents in the 'hope to home' project in the outer growth corridors of Melbourne. Parity, 32(2), (40-41).

Research funding for the past 5 years

Please note:

  • Funding is ordered by the year the project commenced and may continue over several years.
  • Funding amounts for contact research are not disclosed to maintain commercial confidentiality.
  • The order of investigators is not indicative of the role they played in the research project.

Collaborative Water Research knowledge exchange between Victoria University (Australia) and Tropical Water Research Alliance (Brazil)
From: COALAR
Other investigators: Prof Mikel Duke
For period: 2022-2023
$39,428

Next Generation Water Management in the Werribee River Catchment
From: Victorian Higher Education Strategic Investment Fund
Other investigators: Ms Rowena Price, Ms Karen Jackson, Aspr Shobha Muthukumaran, Dr Ashok Sharma, Dr Dimuth Navaratna, Prof Mikel Duke, Mr Nitin Muttil
For period: 2021-2022
$500,000
Resilience: Regenerative City Living Lab
From: Victorian Higher Education Strategic Investment Fund
Other investigators: Dr Jean Hopman, Prof Debra Smith, Aspr Alison Baker, Dr Amy Quayle, Ms Karen Jackson, Dr Thinh Nguyen
For period: 2021-2022
$590,000

Supervision of research students at VU

Available to supervise research students

Available for media queries

Currently supervised research students at VU

No. of students Study level Role
1 PhD Associate supervisor

Currently supervised research students at VU

Students & level Role
PhD (1) Associate supervisor

Teaching activities & experience

Media appearances

01st July 2017

‘Recycled water – a concept too hard to swallow?

Interview for Sustainability Matter, 2SER Radio, Sydney.

01st July 2017

Interview

Current, the journal of the Australian Water Association

01st July 2016

Why we can get over the ‘yuck factor’ when it comes to recycled water’

The Conversation. Reprinted in The West Australian, December 22nd, 2016.