Building a New Life in Australia: The Longitudinal Study of Humanitarian Migrants

Current project

Building a New Life in Australia is a large longitudinal study that examines how humanitarian migrants settle into a new life in Australia.

About the project

Australia has a long tradition of welcoming humanitarian migrants. Forced to leave their homes and country, many have suffered significant trauma and are unfamiliar with the language and culture of Australia. Understanding how humanitarian migrants settle into Australia is critical to the development of effective policy and program responses.

Some facts about the Building a New Life in Australia study:

  • Close to 2,400 individuals and families are taking part.
  • The majority live in Melbourne and Sydney; a small proportion live in regional or rural areas.
  • Participants come from 35 countries and are aged from 16 to 80+.
  • Almost all arrived in Australia in 2013, and experienced trauma and persecution before their arrival.
  • Information being collected for the study includes: housing, language proficiency, education, employment and income, health and life satisfaction.

For more information about the study, see:

Publications

The AIFS Library Catalogue has a comprehensive list of publications that draw on BNLA data. Search the Catalogue for:

For researchers

Data and documentation

  • Data user guide 
    The Data user guide provides an overview of the Building a New Life in Australia (BNLA) project’s background, aims and objectives and provides details of the study population, methodology, sample selection and characteristics, variable naming conventions and standardised scales used in the survey.
  • Study questionnaires 
    Questionnaires used in each of the Building a New Life in Australia (BNLA) waves for which data has been released. The questionnaires are annotated with variable names.

Newsletters

News (2017) [PDF, 2.8 MB]

News (2016) [PDF, 1.7 MB]

News (2015) [PDF, 2.1 MB]

News (2014) [PDF 1.5 MB]

Researchers

Duration

2013-

Funding sources

Department of Social Services