The research explored opinions of 'religious visibility' from 301 residents of two neighbouring suburbs north of Melbourne in Victoria.
A key finding from the study in both suburbs was a widespread 'dislike' - among non-Muslim and Muslims - of facial coverings worn by some Muslim women.
Vice-president of the Islamic Council, Adel Salman, believes the message everyone should take away from the study is get to know your Muslim neighbours.
"We have the same hopes, the same aspirations, the same fears, the same anxieties," he said.
"We may just look a bit different, or have different sounding names. Then I think those barriers that separate us start to come down."
Muslim 'visibility'
The study found being 'visible', for example by dress code, is often linked to "positive values like being accepted and respected in their ethnic communities in Australia, transmitting elements of their traditional culture onto the next generations".
Non-Muslim locals were found not to have concerns about encountering 'visible Muslims' in their daily life. But some from specific backgrounds, especially Christians from Middle Eastern countries, could feel apprehensive towards visible Muslims in their neighbourhoods. 
'The vexed question of Muslim visibility: covering hair' - RMIT. Source: RMIT
Face coverings
However, it did find that two-thirds of non-Muslim respondents and 28 per cent of Muslim respondents were 'uncomfortable about face covering worn by some Muslim women'.
Rather than being an expression of Islamophobia, the study said, this was an expression of concern that the 'veil' precludes interaction with the women.
While some women experienced harassment in public due to wearing a hijab, others emphasised that they were 'not harassed within the bounds of their neighbourhoods.'
But the study did find that 71 per cent of Middle Eastern Christians did not like hair coverings. 91 per cent of them did not like face coverings.
'The vexed question of Muslim visibility: covering face' - RMIT. Source: RMIT
Case study locations - Fawkner and Broadmeadows
The project explored two suburbs - Fawkner and Broadmeadows - chosen because of their large Muslim minorities: 32 and 36 per cent respectively at the time of the 2016 census.
Many recently-arrived Muslims to Fawkner are predominantly from South and Central Asia, and they're publicly identifiable as Muslims through their traditional attire, according to the study; whereas in Broadmeadows, the Muslim presence is predominantly from Turkish, Lebanese and Iraqi backgrounds (many of them Australian-born and/or bred).
'Contact theory'
"The study confirms the suggestion of the 'contact theory': that direct social interaction with minority groups leads to the diminishing of prejudice against them," said Associate Professor Val Colic-Peisker of RMIT University.
"Low socio-economic indicators for an area seem to be a stronger predictor of prejudice against Muslims than their visible local presence," she added.
"On the individual level, respondents with lower socio-economic status and older respondents tended to be more Islamophobic, which confirms findings of other Australian and overseas studies."
On the other hand, respondents with more diverse local social networks expressed significantly lower levels of Islamophobia.
"While local governments successfully run community development and other programs, it seems that focusing the efforts on further strengthening English language and employment programs for migrants in the diverse, relatively disadvantaged areas, may be the most beneficial for the wider community," Associate Professor Karien Dekker, and co-author of the study, said.
'Same hopes and same fears'
Studying the multicultural populations of Broadmeadows and Fawkner, Professor Dekker claimed she found high levels of diversity in the community actually led to diminished levels of prejudice.
“With a different ethnic background, or a different religion, or a different social economic status, if you know people who are different from you, you actually have lower levels of Islamophobia,” she stated.
Associate Professor Dekkar expected to find high levels of Islamophobia in regions with a highly visible Muslim population, but she said the research discovered that the opposite was true.
In the two locations studied, where the presence of Muslims was more visible, cohesion between the Islamic and non-Islamic cultures was higher and the rates of Islamophobia were lower. It also found that, where higher levels of Islamaphobia were present, a lack of education was a factor.
The project was conducted in partnership with the Islamic Council of Victoria (ICV), Moreland City Council and Hume City Council, Victoria, in 2016-2017.
