Exploring the myth of the single solution: an anthropological study of housing maintenance and infrastructure issues in Australia. Indigenous housing is a core challenge for improving Australia's social and economic fabric. Urgent issues of amenity, maintenance and responsibility remain unresolved. By documenting what is involved in taking a difficult yet successful intervention model for targeting small-scale repairs and maintenance to scale in Australia, the research will shed critical light o ....Exploring the myth of the single solution: an anthropological study of housing maintenance and infrastructure issues in Australia. Indigenous housing is a core challenge for improving Australia's social and economic fabric. Urgent issues of amenity, maintenance and responsibility remain unresolved. By documenting what is involved in taking a difficult yet successful intervention model for targeting small-scale repairs and maintenance to scale in Australia, the research will shed critical light on: the complexities of program replication and effect; the social and political context such programs operate within; the characteristics required for sustained reform. It will also add an Australian contribution to a growing international field: namely, the anthropology of policy, aid and development. Read moreRead less
An investigation of supervisory practices for improving occupational health and safety behaviour in construction teams: a cross-level experimental analysis. Construction workers, comprising 8% of the Australian workforce, are a high risk group for occupational fatality, injury and disease. Almost 10% of all injury and death claims in Australia are attributed to construction, creating a significant social and economic burden. The research addresses the previously neglected issue of how first-line ....An investigation of supervisory practices for improving occupational health and safety behaviour in construction teams: a cross-level experimental analysis. Construction workers, comprising 8% of the Australian workforce, are a high risk group for occupational fatality, injury and disease. Almost 10% of all injury and death claims in Australia are attributed to construction, creating a significant social and economic burden. The research addresses the previously neglected issue of how first-line supervisors shape subordinates' safety behaviour. The research makes a significant contribution by identifying and encouraging supervisory behaviours that: (i) create strong, positive safety climates in sub-contracted work crews; (ii) support the translation of organizational OHS policies/procedures into safe practices; and (iii) improve the OHS performance of the construction industry.Read moreRead less
Learning to be safe: Developing children's perceptions of safety and risk. Injury is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in Australia in the 0 to 29 age group. Child-centred safety education programs have the potential to establish lifelong changes in behaviour and attitudes towards safety and risk management. The study will develop a model for best practice for school safety education programs that can be transferred and adopted nationally and internationally, with the anticipated long ....Learning to be safe: Developing children's perceptions of safety and risk. Injury is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in Australia in the 0 to 29 age group. Child-centred safety education programs have the potential to establish lifelong changes in behaviour and attitudes towards safety and risk management. The study will develop a model for best practice for school safety education programs that can be transferred and adopted nationally and internationally, with the anticipated long-term outcome of a decrease in injury rates in young people. Child-centred safety education programs will have benefits for individuals not only during childhood but also throughout their working lives and across their life span.Read moreRead less
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE0668513
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$280,000.00
Summary
Time of Flight Aerosol Mass Spectrometer for Research on Airborne Particles and their impact on Health and the Environment. No TOF-AMS is currently available in Australia and thus, if acquired, it would significantly enhance Australian research capabilities in a field of high importance for the country and internationally, which is the nature and chemical composition of atmospheric aerosols, their origins and dynamics. The proposed studies with the application of this instrument would greatly in ....Time of Flight Aerosol Mass Spectrometer for Research on Airborne Particles and their impact on Health and the Environment. No TOF-AMS is currently available in Australia and thus, if acquired, it would significantly enhance Australian research capabilities in a field of high importance for the country and internationally, which is the nature and chemical composition of atmospheric aerosols, their origins and dynamics. The proposed studies with the application of this instrument would greatly increase scientific knowledge of atmospheric particles; would contribute to general welfare and economy in terms of enabling qualitative risk assessment of airborne particles on humans and the environment, and in turn, risk prevention. It would also enable the University partners to continue to produce graduates of high quality, conversant with cutting edge science.Read moreRead less
The Effects of Nano and Ultrafine Particles from Traffic Emissions on Children's Health. The socio-economic benefits to Australia will include (i) quantitative knowledge of the exposure to nano and ultrafine particles, pollutants in the centre of current scientific, medical and policy debates and (ii) a breakthrough in the scientific understanding of the specific particle properties, which have impacts on health effects. The ultimate economic benefit will be improved urban design to lower, in pa ....The Effects of Nano and Ultrafine Particles from Traffic Emissions on Children's Health. The socio-economic benefits to Australia will include (i) quantitative knowledge of the exposure to nano and ultrafine particles, pollutants in the centre of current scientific, medical and policy debates and (ii) a breakthrough in the scientific understanding of the specific particle properties, which have impacts on health effects. The ultimate economic benefit will be improved urban design to lower, in particular, children's exposure to ultrafine particles, thus reducing life long impacts, health care cost and productivity losses. The research will also place Australia at the forefront of international progress towards better methods for achieving environmental and public health sustainability.Read moreRead less
Improving Road Safety and Driver Security: The Case of High Risk Fleet (Taxi) Drivers in Australia. Road crashes constitute a major cause of death and injury in Australia and taxis have a 22 times higher crash rate compared to private passenger vehicles. In addition to their high crash risks, 1/3 of all taxi drivers have experienced physical assaults. This innovative study will examine the circumstances that contribute toward taxi crashes and assaults on drivers and more importantly, it will des ....Improving Road Safety and Driver Security: The Case of High Risk Fleet (Taxi) Drivers in Australia. Road crashes constitute a major cause of death and injury in Australia and taxis have a 22 times higher crash rate compared to private passenger vehicles. In addition to their high crash risks, 1/3 of all taxi drivers have experienced physical assaults. This innovative study will examine the circumstances that contribute toward taxi crashes and assaults on drivers and more importantly, it will design, implement and evaluate a program of countermeasures to improve the safety and security of taxi drivers, which will contribute significantly toward reducing the truma related to road crashes in Australia and assaults on public transport drivers.Read moreRead less
The Effect of Fuel Type on Health and Environmental Risks Caused by Motor Vehicle Emissions. Motor vehicles constitute one of the most significant sources of air pollutants but the state of knowledge on the quantity of some of these does not permit for projection of the risk they create. This project aims at quantification of emissions of pollutants contributing to deterioration of health, ozone formation, global warming and acid rain as a function of fuel type, using a novel on-road sampling m ....The Effect of Fuel Type on Health and Environmental Risks Caused by Motor Vehicle Emissions. Motor vehicles constitute one of the most significant sources of air pollutants but the state of knowledge on the quantity of some of these does not permit for projection of the risk they create. This project aims at quantification of emissions of pollutants contributing to deterioration of health, ozone formation, global warming and acid rain as a function of fuel type, using a novel on-road sampling method. Resultantly, a holistic picture of integrated health and environmental risk will be developed that will build a scientific foundation for future fuel,transport and land use to protect the community and the environment.Read moreRead less
Physical factors affecting deposition of combustion submicrometer particles in the human lung. Particles generated from combustion sources have a profound effect on human health, yet there is lack of scientific understanding of the role of different physical mechanisms on particle deposition in the lung. This program will advance scientific knowledge in this field through multidisciplinary efforts of a team from QUT and the University of Salzburg, Austria. It aims at quantification of particle d ....Physical factors affecting deposition of combustion submicrometer particles in the human lung. Particles generated from combustion sources have a profound effect on human health, yet there is lack of scientific understanding of the role of different physical mechanisms on particle deposition in the lung. This program will advance scientific knowledge in this field through multidisciplinary efforts of a team from QUT and the University of Salzburg, Austria. It aims at quantification of particle deposition in human lung through experimental studies and advanced modelling. The program will enhance and strengthen the existing collaboration between the universities and its outcome will be of significance in the vital area of human health and risk assessment.Read moreRead less
Optimal Resourcing: A longitudinal study of work demands, resourcing, and psychological well-being in Australian frontline police officers. Expanding the Job Demands-Resources model of job stress to include upstream pressures on the organisational system, this research will provide important insights into the relationships between psychosocial risks (current resources and demands) and police wellbeing. Using 3 wave longitudinal designs, and 'objective' measures of demands and resources, the rese ....Optimal Resourcing: A longitudinal study of work demands, resourcing, and psychological well-being in Australian frontline police officers. Expanding the Job Demands-Resources model of job stress to include upstream pressures on the organisational system, this research will provide important insights into the relationships between psychosocial risks (current resources and demands) and police wellbeing. Using 3 wave longitudinal designs, and 'objective' measures of demands and resources, the research will extend the stress development literature by exploring exposure (cross-sectional, 1 year) and time lag (2 year) causal pathways. The findings will make a significant contribution to contemporary job demand/resource theories of occupational stress and assist in the development of policies to enhance the occupational health and safety of frontline police officers.Read moreRead less
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE0346702
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$193,000.00
Summary
High Performance Liquid Chromatography - Inductively Coupled Plasma - Mass Spectrometry (HPLC-ICPMS). HPLC-ICP-MS is the most reliable cutting edge technology for speciation of metals and metalloids in biological and environmental matrices, and is essential for toxicological studies, which is a major aim behind NRCET's establishment. It will provide a very powerful utility to fill a badly needed knowledge gap for our research and serve the needs of both postgraduate students and postdoctoral fel ....High Performance Liquid Chromatography - Inductively Coupled Plasma - Mass Spectrometry (HPLC-ICPMS). HPLC-ICP-MS is the most reliable cutting edge technology for speciation of metals and metalloids in biological and environmental matrices, and is essential for toxicological studies, which is a major aim behind NRCET's establishment. It will provide a very powerful utility to fill a badly needed knowledge gap for our research and serve the needs of both postgraduate students and postdoctoral fellows. This technology will provide new opportunities in research. It will strengthen our linkages within Faculty of Heath Sciences and with our research partners in CQU, QUT and Griffith and enforce our strong national and international reputation.Read moreRead less