Early stress experiences and stress resilience in pigs. Animal stress has substantial implications on animal productivity, health and welfare of farm animals and thus farm profitability. This project aims to examine the stress resilience in pigs. Modern pig farming is a major source of food, providing substantial nutritional, social and economic benefits in Australia and worldwide. Animal welfare is of increasing concern to the public, consumers and pork producers, and stress vulnerability is an ....Early stress experiences and stress resilience in pigs. Animal stress has substantial implications on animal productivity, health and welfare of farm animals and thus farm profitability. This project aims to examine the stress resilience in pigs. Modern pig farming is a major source of food, providing substantial nutritional, social and economic benefits in Australia and worldwide. Animal welfare is of increasing concern to the public, consumers and pork producers, and stress vulnerability is an animal health and production problem in the life of the commercial pig. This project will generate new knowledge on early life management to endow stress resilience in pigs, with expected benefits for animal welfare, farm productivity and profitability.Read moreRead less
Action selection in insects: how a microbrain knows what to do. Identifying what to do demands integrating sensory information with our current physiological state and memory of past experience to select the best possible action. This is the action selection problem. Our project aims to discover how tiny insect brains solve this fundamental problem. The project combines neural recordings from animals exploring virtual reality, behavioural analyses and computational modelling. The expected outco ....Action selection in insects: how a microbrain knows what to do. Identifying what to do demands integrating sensory information with our current physiological state and memory of past experience to select the best possible action. This is the action selection problem. Our project aims to discover how tiny insect brains solve this fundamental problem. The project combines neural recordings from animals exploring virtual reality, behavioural analyses and computational modelling. The expected outcome is a new understanding of the brain as an effective behavioural control system. This will benefit systems and comparative neuroscience. Our findings may also inspire solutions for robotic systems that must operate autonomously in remote and challenging environments such as disaster relief or exploration.Read moreRead less
Confronting everyday harms: preventing abuse of people with disability. The findings of the Disability Royal Commission necessitate new approaches to prevent violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation. Framed by recognition theory, this project proposes empirical research with young people with cognitive disability, using a new concept of ‘everyday harms’ in their paid relationships. The results will inform early responses to poor quality interactions in disability support. The strategic alliance ....Confronting everyday harms: preventing abuse of people with disability. The findings of the Disability Royal Commission necessitate new approaches to prevent violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation. Framed by recognition theory, this project proposes empirical research with young people with cognitive disability, using a new concept of ‘everyday harms’ in their paid relationships. The results will inform early responses to poor quality interactions in disability support. The strategic alliances with the government, industry and community partners will develop a practice framework to prevent everyday harms and the escalation to abuse, and to promote safety and wellbeing. The research has policy benefits for capacity-building in the sector to act on the rights and voices of people with disability. Read moreRead less
Industrial Transformation Training Centres - Grant ID: IC230100016
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$5,000,000.00
Summary
ARC Training Centre in Predictive Breeding for Agricultural Futures. This Centre aims to develop the advanced capacity needed to secure Australia’s food and fibre production and export value into the future. Leveraging immense industry support, the Centre expects to develop and integrate cutting-edge plant and animal breeding technologies and deliver world-class training that addresses critical demand for highly skilled industry leaders. Expected outcomes include a future-ready predictive breedi ....ARC Training Centre in Predictive Breeding for Agricultural Futures. This Centre aims to develop the advanced capacity needed to secure Australia’s food and fibre production and export value into the future. Leveraging immense industry support, the Centre expects to develop and integrate cutting-edge plant and animal breeding technologies and deliver world-class training that addresses critical demand for highly skilled industry leaders. Expected outcomes include a future-ready predictive breeding industry able to transform data into optimised decisions, and the human capacity to drive it. This should provide significant benefits to enhance the sustainability and profitability of all major Australian agriculture sectors, including livestock, grains, horticulture, cotton, wine, dairy, forestry and fisheries.Read moreRead less
Life or death decisions: making fast, accurate choices in a complex world. This project aims to understand how hoverflies and honey bees, with tiny brains and sensory systems, excel at making fast and accurate decisions while on the fly in a complex world. The project will combine brain recordings with flight analyses and computational modelling to generate new knowledge on how animals may utilize movements to simplify information sampling. Expected outcomes are a novel, comprehensive understand ....Life or death decisions: making fast, accurate choices in a complex world. This project aims to understand how hoverflies and honey bees, with tiny brains and sensory systems, excel at making fast and accurate decisions while on the fly in a complex world. The project will combine brain recordings with flight analyses and computational modelling to generate new knowledge on how animals may utilize movements to simplify information sampling. Expected outcomes are a novel, comprehensive understanding of how animal movements could enhance decision speed and accuracy. This should provide substantial benefits for neuroscience, and for enhancing performance of autonomous robotic systems operating in challenging environments, such as disaster relief, mining and remote exploration. Read moreRead less
Improving the effectiveness of electronic deterrents to prevent shark bites. Existing commercial electronic shark deterrents, which attempt to deter sharks by emitting strong electric pulses into the water, are either ineffective, have limited deterrent range, or have only been tested with great white sharks. Moreover, uncertainty regarding the way in which pulsed electric fields deter sharks, and whether they may even attract sharks, hampers the development of improved deterrents. This project ....Improving the effectiveness of electronic deterrents to prevent shark bites. Existing commercial electronic shark deterrents, which attempt to deter sharks by emitting strong electric pulses into the water, are either ineffective, have limited deterrent range, or have only been tested with great white sharks. Moreover, uncertainty regarding the way in which pulsed electric fields deter sharks, and whether they may even attract sharks, hampers the development of improved deterrents. This project aims to investigate the effects of pulsed electric fields on shark physiology and behaviour, develop novel electronic pulse waveforms that maximise the deterrent effect on a range of shark species, and deliver innovative improvements in electronic shark deterrent technology that will save the lives of humans and sharks.Read moreRead less
Utilising novel Pongamia trees to decarbonise Australia’s beef value-chain. Progress towards a carbon neutral beef industry typically focusses on nutritional strategies, overlooking potential innovations in farming system configuration. This project aims to develop a framework for the integration of Pongamia into beef production systems, so that not only emissions reductions are maximised, but also to support carbon capture and farm system resilience. This project seeks to determine the impact o ....Utilising novel Pongamia trees to decarbonise Australia’s beef value-chain. Progress towards a carbon neutral beef industry typically focusses on nutritional strategies, overlooking potential innovations in farming system configuration. This project aims to develop a framework for the integration of Pongamia into beef production systems, so that not only emissions reductions are maximised, but also to support carbon capture and farm system resilience. This project seeks to determine the impact of Pongamia meal on cattle production efficiency, meat quality and methane emissions. Through quantification of carbon sequestration potential in tree plantations, whole-farm modelling will elucidate production scenarios capable of achieving the reductions needed for a carbon neutral Australian beef industry.Read moreRead less
Tree-mediated methane fluxes: A new frontier in the global carbon cycle. Methane is an extremely potent greenhouse gas. Recent evidence suggests that tree-mediated fluxes may be a significant, but overlooked source of methane to the atmosphere. This project aims to quantify the magnitude and drivers of tree-mediated methane fluxes from Australia’s dominant forest types. Innovatively, we will be using a novel combination of empirical field based measurements, gas tracer experiments, microbial ana ....Tree-mediated methane fluxes: A new frontier in the global carbon cycle. Methane is an extremely potent greenhouse gas. Recent evidence suggests that tree-mediated fluxes may be a significant, but overlooked source of methane to the atmosphere. This project aims to quantify the magnitude and drivers of tree-mediated methane fluxes from Australia’s dominant forest types. Innovatively, we will be using a novel combination of empirical field based measurements, gas tracer experiments, microbial analysis and modelling methods. Expected outcomes are a mechanistic understanding of tree-mediated methane fluxes, helping to constrain regional, national and global methane budgets. The results of this study will help inform publicly funded greenhouse gas abatement strategies, ensuring a maximal return on investment.Read moreRead less
Design of the cardiovascular system of living and fossil vertebrates. This project aims to understand how the heart and blood vessels evolved in mammals, birds, reptiles and fish to achieve efficiency. The heart is the most important organ for life. The project will study the structure and function of vertebrate animals’ hollow and spongy hearts to show how energetics shaped their evolution. It will measure arterial holes in bone to gauge brain and bone metabolism, which opens up a new way to me ....Design of the cardiovascular system of living and fossil vertebrates. This project aims to understand how the heart and blood vessels evolved in mammals, birds, reptiles and fish to achieve efficiency. The heart is the most important organ for life. The project will study the structure and function of vertebrate animals’ hollow and spongy hearts to show how energetics shaped their evolution. It will measure arterial holes in bone to gauge brain and bone metabolism, which opens up a new way to measure metabolism in extinct animals directly from fossils, rather than by inference from living relatives. The expected outcome is to correlate cardiovascular design and metabolic rates of organs.Read moreRead less
Building connections: schools as community hubs. This project aims to support school systems and planning authorities enhance engagement between schools and local communities. The key objective is to advance the cost-effective development of the infrastructure required to deliver community programs and services from school sites, in addition to education programs for school-aged students. The project expects to generate new knowledge about how best to plan, design, govern and manage facilities a ....Building connections: schools as community hubs. This project aims to support school systems and planning authorities enhance engagement between schools and local communities. The key objective is to advance the cost-effective development of the infrastructure required to deliver community programs and services from school sites, in addition to education programs for school-aged students. The project expects to generate new knowledge about how best to plan, design, govern and manage facilities and infrastructure to enable schools to operate successfully as more than a school, encouraging the development of resilient and connected communities. The outcomes are expected to include a development framework for maximising schools as community hubs.Read moreRead less