The people of Hillston can help develop a better way of accounting for the social impacts of new projects or natural disasters through research being undertaken at Charles Sturt University's (CSU) Institute for Land, Water and Society.  PhD candidate Ms Jenni Greig is seeking participants to complete a survey that aims to gather simple information to assess whether we can anticipate how major changes affect a community. "I hope this study can help develop future government policies, particularly those that affect rural and regional Australians," Ms Greig said. "We can anticipate how major changes will affect the local environment or local economy, but decisions are often made with little information on what is really important to people, and how their lives might be affected. Not everyone will be affected in the same way by a major change, so it is important to get a whole picture of various opinions in a community." Ms Grieg and three CSU researchers will be in Hillston from Thursday 12 June, going door-to-door to distribute the survey to residents. "Through this survey, you can make a difference to the way changes in regional communities around Australia are viewed by decision makers," Ms Grieg said.