The Australian Peer Researcher Association (APRA) is an Indigenous-owned entity. The APRA Training Program provides students with the skills needed for ethical and robust peer research in the community. Peer Researchers are drawn from the local community in which a research project is being undertaken, and so are able to play a key role in supporting access to, and the reach of, the project into local households. With Peer Researchers relatable and identifiable to the communities in which they will be working, they can also conduct the project in a culturally appropriate manner and act as models of empowerment within their own families and the broader community.
The role of APRA Peer Researchers is to undertake aspirations-focused population and community-based research, consultations, evaluations and survey work in a community setting. Peer Researchers collect information that will be used to inform how services, programs and policies can build capabilities and harness the community effort needed so that everyone in the community can participate fully in the social and economic life of their community. They engage with individuals and families in explaining the research project and its associated activities to participants and how the data collected from them will feed into new research, policy and program development and community capacity-building initiatives that improve the health and wellbeing of the local community. The APRA Training Program delivers the core modules required to become a Peer Researcher, which are part of a suite of research methods training modules and workshops delivered by the APRA to develop and further enhance the skills and capabilities of its members, both organisations and individuals.