The neglected dimension of community liveability: Impact on social connectedness and active ageing. Quality of life and well being are essential to maintaining a healthy and socially-engaged population. This project takes an innovative trans-disciplinary approach in addressing the national research priority of Promoting and Maintaining Good Health and the associated goal, Ageing well, ageing productively through research that identifies the attributes of communities that foster or inhibit social ....The neglected dimension of community liveability: Impact on social connectedness and active ageing. Quality of life and well being are essential to maintaining a healthy and socially-engaged population. This project takes an innovative trans-disciplinary approach in addressing the national research priority of Promoting and Maintaining Good Health and the associated goal, Ageing well, ageing productively through research that identifies the attributes of communities that foster or inhibit social engagement. The outcomes of the project will inform policy makers, planners and service deliver organisations about ways to identify, improve or maintain safe housing, transport and community environments for the benefit of all Australians.Read moreRead less
Learning from the development and implementation of Australia's National Indigenous Forestry Strategy. The project will undertake a multi-disciplinary study of the National Indigenous Forest Strategy (NIFS) in the native title era. A team comprising three academics from the ANU and key industry partners will collaborate with a very experienced APAI on the project. There has been considerable public policy concern and debate about the development problems facing Indigenous communities, particular ....Learning from the development and implementation of Australia's National Indigenous Forestry Strategy. The project will undertake a multi-disciplinary study of the National Indigenous Forest Strategy (NIFS) in the native title era. A team comprising three academics from the ANU and key industry partners will collaborate with a very experienced APAI on the project. There has been considerable public policy concern and debate about the development problems facing Indigenous communities, particularly in regional and remote Australia. Forestry offers one option for economic initiative, especially on the significant Indigenous estate. This project will inform and monitor the evolving NIFS and canvass options for policy-realistic and culturally-acceptable ways that forestry can ameliorate Indigenous socio-economic disadvantage.Read moreRead less
Indicators of ecosystem health in Western Australian recovery catchments. Dryland salinity and rural community decline in Australia are important and inter-related issues. Any ecosystem recovery actions proposed to address salinity should be examined for their potential to assist rural communities, rather than exacerbate their problems. The framework theories of ecosystem health and participatory research embrace these issues. A PhD student placed in each of two recovery catchments will use meth ....Indicators of ecosystem health in Western Australian recovery catchments. Dryland salinity and rural community decline in Australia are important and inter-related issues. Any ecosystem recovery actions proposed to address salinity should be examined for their potential to assist rural communities, rather than exacerbate their problems. The framework theories of ecosystem health and participatory research embrace these issues. A PhD student placed in each of two recovery catchments will use methodologies adapted for these approaches to develop indicators for the detection of trends in recovery or deterioration of ecosystem and community well-being. This will allow for adaptive changes to recovery actions, and for an analysis of causal relationships.Read moreRead less
The development and testing of a theory of the processes that shape material culture diversity using a New Guinea dataset. Australian museums hold approximately 150,000 artefacts from the Pacific. Estimates of overseas holdings suggest another 500,000. From these collections, objects are selected for research or exhibition based on restricted themes. No attempt has yet been made to utilise these collections in a comprehensive way to maximise their research potential. This has now been done for t ....The development and testing of a theory of the processes that shape material culture diversity using a New Guinea dataset. Australian museums hold approximately 150,000 artefacts from the Pacific. Estimates of overseas holdings suggest another 500,000. From these collections, objects are selected for research or exhibition based on restricted themes. No attempt has yet been made to utilise these collections in a comprehensive way to maximise their research potential. This has now been done for the north-central region of New Guinea and the available information provides the opportunity to develop a theory of the processes that bring about diversity of material culture. Such a theory would be of international significance for ethnologists and archaeologists and add value to publicly-funded collections.Read moreRead less
Natural Hazard Vulnerability: A study of risk, vulnerability, behaviour, attitudes and perceptions of warnings. This project builds on original research into community vulnerability, awareness and preparedness for natural hazards. During the second half of the United Nations International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction, the trend in emergency management and disaster mitigation research has been towards the social and community impacts of natural disasters. The aim of the project is to exa ....Natural Hazard Vulnerability: A study of risk, vulnerability, behaviour, attitudes and perceptions of warnings. This project builds on original research into community vulnerability, awareness and preparedness for natural hazards. During the second half of the United Nations International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction, the trend in emergency management and disaster mitigation research has been towards the social and community impacts of natural disasters. The aim of the project is to examine risk perception amongst hazard vulnerable communities. The expected outcomes include an improved awareness campaign and a better understanding of the ways in which warnings and forecasts are filtered and distorted by the public.Read moreRead less
New Information and Communication Technologies and The Elderly: Practice, Problems and Potential. Recent government reports (Costello 2002; 2004; Productivity Commission, Australian Government 2005) indicate that demographic ageing which will see a doubling of the aged population both numerically and as a proportion of the total population in the next quarter century presents a substantial challenge to Australia. One element of that challenge is to maintain and enhance the wellbeing of older Au ....New Information and Communication Technologies and The Elderly: Practice, Problems and Potential. Recent government reports (Costello 2002; 2004; Productivity Commission, Australian Government 2005) indicate that demographic ageing which will see a doubling of the aged population both numerically and as a proportion of the total population in the next quarter century presents a substantial challenge to Australia. One element of that challenge is to maintain and enhance the wellbeing of older Australians while controlling the costs of providing them with support services. New developments in ICT have the potential to facilitate achieving these twin goals but little is known of the take up of ICT among older Australians and those who will enter the older ages over the next three decades.Read moreRead less
Exploring Relationships between Material Culture and Language, Propinquity, Population, Subsistence and Environment in the Upper Sepik-Central New Guinea Regions. This project will explore relationships between material culture, language, geographical proximity, population size and density, subsistence systems, and environmental characteristics in two adjacent regions - the upper Sepik and the highlands of central New Guinea. The role of trade, inter-marriage, migration, ritual and warfare in af ....Exploring Relationships between Material Culture and Language, Propinquity, Population, Subsistence and Environment in the Upper Sepik-Central New Guinea Regions. This project will explore relationships between material culture, language, geographical proximity, population size and density, subsistence systems, and environmental characteristics in two adjacent regions - the upper Sepik and the highlands of central New Guinea. The role of trade, inter-marriage, migration, ritual and warfare in affecting relationships among the variables will be assessed. This is the first project to examine so many objects (8000+) in such detail for two contrasting regions in the Pacific. It will clarify the role of language vis-a-vis other variables in determining the identifiability of objects produced in those regions and has practical cultural heritage outcomes.Read moreRead less
Achieving the Millennium Development Goals: The Role of Foreign Aid, Trade and NGOs with a focus on the Asia-Pacific. This project will identify the roles that foreign aid, trade and NGOs will play in achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Despite a strong commitment to these goals by the international development community there is currently little understanding on the most efficient ways to achieve them by 2015. The project will adopt both quantitative and qualitative techniques in ....Achieving the Millennium Development Goals: The Role of Foreign Aid, Trade and NGOs with a focus on the Asia-Pacific. This project will identify the roles that foreign aid, trade and NGOs will play in achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Despite a strong commitment to these goals by the international development community there is currently little understanding on the most efficient ways to achieve them by 2015. The project will adopt both quantitative and qualitative techniques in order to provide insights and policy recommendations on how aid donors and the international community can assist in their achievement. The geographical focus of the research is the Asia-Pacific, a region of great strategic importance to Australia.Read moreRead less