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
The use of nudges as a local government environmental policy instrument. This project aims to design and rigorously test a range of behavioural nudges to improve the environmental behaviour of residents in the ACT, with a focus on adoption of low carbon technologies and the use of public transport. In partnership with the ACT Government, the proposal leverages recent research on cognitive biases to develop novel interventions and evaluate their effects via randomised controlled trials. Expected ....The use of nudges as a local government environmental policy instrument. This project aims to design and rigorously test a range of behavioural nudges to improve the environmental behaviour of residents in the ACT, with a focus on adoption of low carbon technologies and the use of public transport. In partnership with the ACT Government, the proposal leverages recent research on cognitive biases to develop novel interventions and evaluate their effects via randomised controlled trials. Expected outcomes include new concepts for citizen-government interactions; advanced knowledge in public policy and behavioural economics; a new statistical programming tool; new methods to optimise policy and practice; and positive environmental and economic impacts for local governments and individuals.Read moreRead less
Improving long term forecasts of tree growth in carbon farming projects. Australia is taking action to limit global warming, including use of "carbon farming" to capture CO2 using trees as natural carbon sinks. Limited knowledge on the growth rate of Mulga trees, a primary carbon sink, hampers our partner organisation’s ability to maximise carbon stores. The aim of this proposal is to use dendrochronology to inform novel predictive models for growth of mulga trees that will reduce uncertainty in ....Improving long term forecasts of tree growth in carbon farming projects. Australia is taking action to limit global warming, including use of "carbon farming" to capture CO2 using trees as natural carbon sinks. Limited knowledge on the growth rate of Mulga trees, a primary carbon sink, hampers our partner organisation’s ability to maximise carbon stores. The aim of this proposal is to use dendrochronology to inform novel predictive models for growth of mulga trees that will reduce uncertainty in carbon removal forecasts. The expected outcome will be significant and benefit our partner organisation and other agencies by providing improved forecasting of tree growth that will inform their decisions for investment in carbon farming and nature repair markets.Read moreRead less
Building Australia's next-generation ocean-sea ice model. Ocean and sea ice models are used for predicting future ocean and climate states, and for climate process research. This project aims to bring the next generation of ocean-sea ice models to Australia and configure the models for our local priorities. The ultimate goal is to create a new coupled ocean-sea ice model for Australia that includes surface waves and biogeochemistry. The model will be optimised and evaluated on Australian facilit ....Building Australia's next-generation ocean-sea ice model. Ocean and sea ice models are used for predicting future ocean and climate states, and for climate process research. This project aims to bring the next generation of ocean-sea ice models to Australia and configure the models for our local priorities. The ultimate goal is to create a new coupled ocean-sea ice model for Australia that includes surface waves and biogeochemistry. The model will be optimised and evaluated on Australian facilities, and released for community use. These developments underpin future ocean state forecasts, sea ice forecasts, wave forecasts, decadal climate prediction and climate process studies. The project will benefit search and rescue, Defence and shipping operations, and will enhance future climate projections.Read moreRead less
Integrating climate adaptation into rainforest restoration plantings. This project aims to investigate the impact of within species adaptation to climate on restoratoin success in the Australian Wet Tropics. For a suite of six species of tropical tree frequently employed in rainforest restoration plantings in northeast Queensland, this project aims to test the hypothesis that collecting seed from populations in similar ecoclimatic settings to the planting site will result in superior seedling gr ....Integrating climate adaptation into rainforest restoration plantings. This project aims to investigate the impact of within species adaptation to climate on restoratoin success in the Australian Wet Tropics. For a suite of six species of tropical tree frequently employed in rainforest restoration plantings in northeast Queensland, this project aims to test the hypothesis that collecting seed from populations in similar ecoclimatic settings to the planting site will result in superior seedling growth and survival. The expected outcome is to provide practical advice to restoration practitioners about the importance of matching the provenance of seed source to planting sites, and opportunities for selecting provenances pre-adapted to predicted future climatic conditions at planting sites.Read moreRead less
Intergenerational park design for active and engaged communities. This project will assess the opportunities and barriers for physical activity for intergenerational park users within South East Queensland. In 2015, approximately 80% of the world’s adolescents and 25% of adults were insufficiently active. Physical inactivity costs the Australian economy $13.8 billion annually, and contributes to the fourth leading cause of death worldwide. Local and neighbourhood parks can offer opportunities fo ....Intergenerational park design for active and engaged communities. This project will assess the opportunities and barriers for physical activity for intergenerational park users within South East Queensland. In 2015, approximately 80% of the world’s adolescents and 25% of adults were insufficiently active. Physical inactivity costs the Australian economy $13.8 billion annually, and contributes to the fourth leading cause of death worldwide. Local and neighbourhood parks can offer opportunities for all ages to be physically active and engage across generations, yet are often under-designed and under-utilised for physical activity. Evidence-based design guidelines for active intergenerational parks for use across Australia will lead to higher quality parks that more effectively encourage physical activity and improve health and wellbeing.Read moreRead less
Optimising the occupational wellbeing of Australian healthcare workers . This project aims to address the wellbeing of Australian healthcare workers by focusing on the relationship between a manager’s leadership style and the utilisation of wellbeing practices. This project expects to generate new knowledge by moving beyond individual factors and work design to explore more deep rooted and systemic causes, located upstream of the work group. Expected outcomes of this project will be to develop ....Optimising the occupational wellbeing of Australian healthcare workers . This project aims to address the wellbeing of Australian healthcare workers by focusing on the relationship between a manager’s leadership style and the utilisation of wellbeing practices. This project expects to generate new knowledge by moving beyond individual factors and work design to explore more deep rooted and systemic causes, located upstream of the work group. Expected outcomes of this project will be to develop preventative strategies to improve healthcare employees’ wellbeing, and the associated costs of mental health claims and lost productivity.Read moreRead less
Ecosystem resilience of Shark Bay under changing ocean climate. This project aims to investigate the resilience of the Shark Bay World Heritage Site to projected climate change. This project will generate new knowledge for marine conservation through analyses of habitat loss on nutrient budgets and productivity in seagrass and microbialite ecosystems. Expected outcomes are an improved understanding of climate-driven shifts on ecosystem processes in Shark Bay, incorporating science-based evidence ....Ecosystem resilience of Shark Bay under changing ocean climate. This project aims to investigate the resilience of the Shark Bay World Heritage Site to projected climate change. This project will generate new knowledge for marine conservation through analyses of habitat loss on nutrient budgets and productivity in seagrass and microbialite ecosystems. Expected outcomes are an improved understanding of climate-driven shifts on ecosystem processes in Shark Bay, incorporating science-based evidence for better conservation and management. This will provide significant benefits by contributing to the future-proofing of Shark Bay’s World Heritage values to climate change, and more broadly by demonstrating the consequences of the continued tropicalisation of Australia’s coastline.Read moreRead less
Living with Urban Heat: Becoming Climate-Ready in Social Housing . This project aims to address liveability in rapidly warming cities by focusing on the role that social practice plays in complementing technical and infrastructural cooling solutions. This project expects to generate new knowledge about equitable heat adaptive practices. It does so by working with culturally diverse social housing residents using an innovative blend of participatory action research and transition design. Expected ....Living with Urban Heat: Becoming Climate-Ready in Social Housing . This project aims to address liveability in rapidly warming cities by focusing on the role that social practice plays in complementing technical and infrastructural cooling solutions. This project expects to generate new knowledge about equitable heat adaptive practices. It does so by working with culturally diverse social housing residents using an innovative blend of participatory action research and transition design. Expected outcomes of this project include practical, low-cost cooling strategies that can be implemented now, along with increased social input into planning for the hotter urban future. This should provide significant benefits, such as enhanced civic capacity to generate society-wide climate readiness. Read moreRead less
Managing at the Margins: Women Making it Work in Precarious Times. This project aims to investigate the economic, social and emotional impacts of precarious work on women. Focusing on the challenges that arise from juggling precarious work with care responsibilities and/or demands from the social support system, the project identifies the strategies women have to manage these demands, and the impacts these demands have on everyday lives across different life stages. By combining otherwise separa ....Managing at the Margins: Women Making it Work in Precarious Times. This project aims to investigate the economic, social and emotional impacts of precarious work on women. Focusing on the challenges that arise from juggling precarious work with care responsibilities and/or demands from the social support system, the project identifies the strategies women have to manage these demands, and the impacts these demands have on everyday lives across different life stages. By combining otherwise separate bodies of literature with innovative quantitative and qualitative data, the project seeks to generate new knowledge about the impacts of precarious work on women and families. This knowledge is expected to inform policies and services to improve women’s lives and promote economic inclusion and social cohesion.Read moreRead less