The Australian Research Data Commons (ARDC) invites you to participate in a short survey about your
interaction with the ARDC and use of our national research infrastructure and services. The survey will take
approximately 5 minutes and is anonymous. It’s open to anyone who uses our digital research infrastructure
services including Reasearch Link Australia.
We will use the information you provide to improve the national research infrastructure and services we
deliver and to report on user satisfaction to the Australian Government’s National Collaborative Research
Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS) program.
Please take a few minutes to provide your input. The survey closes COB Friday 29 May 2026.
Complete the 5 min survey now by clicking on the link below.
Special Research Initiatives - Grant ID: SR200200208
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$265,000.00
Summary
Universities and Postwar Recovery 1943-57. This project aims to investigate the impact and transformative effect of the university education-led recovery in postwar Australia from 1943 to 1957. It will do so by undertaking a collective biographical survey of 6,500 ex-service men and women university graduates funded under the Commonwealth Reconstruction Training Scheme. It expects to generate new knowledge in the area of Australian history, especially the history of war repatriation, the develop ....Universities and Postwar Recovery 1943-57. This project aims to investigate the impact and transformative effect of the university education-led recovery in postwar Australia from 1943 to 1957. It will do so by undertaking a collective biographical survey of 6,500 ex-service men and women university graduates funded under the Commonwealth Reconstruction Training Scheme. It expects to generate new knowledge in the area of Australian history, especially the history of war repatriation, the development of the professions and the history of higher education. Expected outcomes include understanding the qualities of an education-led recovery and the worth of public investment in higher education. Benefits include increased research capacity in 20th century Australian history.
Read moreRead less
Graphic Encounters: Colonial Prints and the Inscription of Aboriginality. This project plans to collate the archive of prints depicting Indigenous Australians, from national and international collections, to ask how people's place in this newly encroached territory was inscribed by colonial prints. Before the 1890s, prints (engravings, etchings and lithographs) were the principal means of reproducing images. Prints disseminated imagery of Indigenous people and determined how they were 'put in th ....Graphic Encounters: Colonial Prints and the Inscription of Aboriginality. This project plans to collate the archive of prints depicting Indigenous Australians, from national and international collections, to ask how people's place in this newly encroached territory was inscribed by colonial prints. Before the 1890s, prints (engravings, etchings and lithographs) were the principal means of reproducing images. Prints disseminated imagery of Indigenous people and determined how they were 'put in the picture' of settlement. Our colonial-era cultural heritage includes many prints (engravings, etchings, lithographs, etcetera) of Aborigines, yet they have been overlooked and the story of their production, dissemination and consumption is untold. This project aims to collate and trace this visual archive of Indigenous Australians and present its imagery to all Australians, including descendants, in an exhibition and conference, catalogue, monograph and online database.Read moreRead less
Cancer culture: understanding anti-cancer campaigns in Australia. How do we change culture to improve public health? This project investigates the history of Australian anti-cancer campaigns to understand the nexus between science, advocacy, policy and behavioural change. The campaigns of Cancer Council Victoria modified government policy, pushed Australia into international prominence in public health research and translation, and influenced behaviour. The project seeks to analyse the deploymen ....Cancer culture: understanding anti-cancer campaigns in Australia. How do we change culture to improve public health? This project investigates the history of Australian anti-cancer campaigns to understand the nexus between science, advocacy, policy and behavioural change. The campaigns of Cancer Council Victoria modified government policy, pushed Australia into international prominence in public health research and translation, and influenced behaviour. The project seeks to analyse the deployment of such campaigns, the socio-cultural and political context that allowed them to leverage policy change, and their connection to life-saving behaviours. Distilling elements of success and failure will better inform advocates and governments in preventing cancer and other diseases through future health promotion.Read moreRead less
Tibet's rivers in the Anthropocene: history and present trajectories. This project aims to produce a multifaceted history of the eastern Tibetan Plateau's rivers, focusing on the increasing human impacts during the Anthropocene. It will combine data from archival, cultural and oral sources in multiple languages with the results of scientific studies of river flow, water quality, and sediment, ice, and tree-rings analysis. The project will produce both historical narratives and graphic representa ....Tibet's rivers in the Anthropocene: history and present trajectories. This project aims to produce a multifaceted history of the eastern Tibetan Plateau's rivers, focusing on the increasing human impacts during the Anthropocene. It will combine data from archival, cultural and oral sources in multiple languages with the results of scientific studies of river flow, water quality, and sediment, ice, and tree-rings analysis. The project will produce both historical narratives and graphic representations that model past land and water usage. The results of the project will underpin environmental policy for this hydrologically and ecologically crucial region, including the development of a paradigm of care based on the region's indigenous cultural resources.Read moreRead less
Entangled Knowledges in the Robert Neill Collection. This project aims to reverse the trajectories of Menang Nyungar knowledge imbedded in a historical fish collection, returning language, stories, and fishing practices to the Menang community. By working in a cross-sector, collaborative and Indigenous-governed team our research will enrich and re-frame the understanding of this collection in the Museum, unearth Indigenous taxonomic practices, produce new histories of biocultural collections, an ....Entangled Knowledges in the Robert Neill Collection. This project aims to reverse the trajectories of Menang Nyungar knowledge imbedded in a historical fish collection, returning language, stories, and fishing practices to the Menang community. By working in a cross-sector, collaborative and Indigenous-governed team our research will enrich and re-frame the understanding of this collection in the Museum, unearth Indigenous taxonomic practices, produce new histories of biocultural collections, and develop the 'kaardtijin model' for participatory cross-cultural and cross-sector collaborations. Workshops on country will produce content for a digital reassembling of the collection to be used by museum partners, ensuring wide cross-sector and community engagement with project outcomes.Read moreRead less
The meritocratic moment in West Germany, Singapore, and Japan. This project aims to investigate the history of meritocratic ideas in West Germany, Singapore and Japan. The project will generate new knowledge on the ways in which democratic societies built political legitimacy after World War II by analysing the history of education reforms. Expected outcomes include a deeper understanding of the historical conditions which promote social cohesion in modern societies. This project should provide ....The meritocratic moment in West Germany, Singapore, and Japan. This project aims to investigate the history of meritocratic ideas in West Germany, Singapore and Japan. The project will generate new knowledge on the ways in which democratic societies built political legitimacy after World War II by analysing the history of education reforms. Expected outcomes include a deeper understanding of the historical conditions which promote social cohesion in modern societies. This project should provide significant benefits by fostering social and educational policy-making which enhances the political legitimacy and stability of parliamentarian democracies in Australia and around the world.Read moreRead less
Remaking the British world after 1815. This project aims to examine the pivotal role of commissions of inquiry in reforming law throughout the British Empire from 1815–1840. Using traditional methods and digital tools, this project will investigate the design, instantiation and impact of inquiry on colonial law, the imperial constitution and the mechanisms of imperial governance across the empire. The outcomes will include enhancement of our understanding of law reform, the historical functions ....Remaking the British world after 1815. This project aims to examine the pivotal role of commissions of inquiry in reforming law throughout the British Empire from 1815–1840. Using traditional methods and digital tools, this project will investigate the design, instantiation and impact of inquiry on colonial law, the imperial constitution and the mechanisms of imperial governance across the empire. The outcomes will include enhancement of our understanding of law reform, the historical functions of commissions of inquiry, and the legacy of British imperial rule throughout the world.Read moreRead less
Profit and Loss: The commercial trade in Indigenous human remains. This project will be the first to investigate the global commercial trade in Indigenous human remains. It will employ a multi-disciplinary approach involving history, economic anthropology, economic history, and data science. The project will generate new knowledge about the 19th century global marketplace in Australian Indigenous human remains, and will reveal whether and how these are involved in the trade’s modern manifestati ....Profit and Loss: The commercial trade in Indigenous human remains. This project will be the first to investigate the global commercial trade in Indigenous human remains. It will employ a multi-disciplinary approach involving history, economic anthropology, economic history, and data science. The project will generate new knowledge about the 19th century global marketplace in Australian Indigenous human remains, and will reveal whether and how these are involved in the trade’s modern manifestations from 1950 to the present. The project will uncover an unknown history, assist repatriation practice, provide information to help reduce the modern trade, and contribute to truth-telling as a precondition of healing and reconciliation.Read moreRead less
Aftermaths of War: Violence, Trauma, Displacement, 1815-1950. This project aims to investigate the cultural, social and psychological aftermaths of wars between 1815 to 1950 from a comparative, transnational perspective. By connecting the displacement of people, the brutalization of warfare and the trauma associated with it, this study will offer a broader and more complex understanding of the experience of civilians and combatants in the wake of armed conflicts. In so doing, it will challenge t ....Aftermaths of War: Violence, Trauma, Displacement, 1815-1950. This project aims to investigate the cultural, social and psychological aftermaths of wars between 1815 to 1950 from a comparative, transnational perspective. By connecting the displacement of people, the brutalization of warfare and the trauma associated with it, this study will offer a broader and more complex understanding of the experience of civilians and combatants in the wake of armed conflicts. In so doing, it will challenge traditional periodizations which delineate between periods of war and peace, and seek to uncover the profound legacies of war not just within but beyond nation states. This will prompt a re-evaluation of our understanding of what constitutes warfare and its aftermaths.Read moreRead less
The Australian Council of Trade Unions in the Making of Modern Australia. This project brings political, economic and social history together with a feminist analysis to explore the Australian Council of Trade Unions' significance in shaping modern Australia. Positioned within a national framework of labour politics and economic restructuring, and an international context of Cold War adversarialism, the project goes beyond the ACTU's key role in workplace bargaining to an assessment of its inte ....The Australian Council of Trade Unions in the Making of Modern Australia. This project brings political, economic and social history together with a feminist analysis to explore the Australian Council of Trade Unions' significance in shaping modern Australia. Positioned within a national framework of labour politics and economic restructuring, and an international context of Cold War adversarialism, the project goes beyond the ACTU's key role in workplace bargaining to an assessment of its international profile and the impact on the organisation of a feminising labour market and emergent women’s leadership. In an innovative study that highlights the Hawke era to show the ACTU's history as one of transition to governance, we aim to reveal the potential of the Australian labour movement to effect change. Read moreRead less