Addressing Evidence Gaps And Developing A Novel Treatment To Reduce The Burden Of Post-traumatic Knee Osteoarthritis
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$645,205.00
Summary
Arthritis caused by knee injury has a devastating personal and economic impact. Research is needed to develop strategies to prevent arthritis and improve outcomes for people living with arthritis. This research will improve treatment of knee injury to reduce arthritis risk, understand why some people are more likely to get knee arthritis, and develop a new treatment to improve outcomes for people living with knee arthritis. A clinical trial will determine if this treatment achieves this aim.
In it to win it: an interdisciplinary investigation of sports betting. This project aims to better understand how young adults use, communicate about and experience mobile phone sports betting applications. Gambling generates significant health and social harms in Australia. Yet there is little research on the use of betting apps, even though sports betting is the fastest growing segment of the gambling market. This project intends to examine how use of sports betting apps is becoming establishe ....In it to win it: an interdisciplinary investigation of sports betting. This project aims to better understand how young adults use, communicate about and experience mobile phone sports betting applications. Gambling generates significant health and social harms in Australia. Yet there is little research on the use of betting apps, even though sports betting is the fastest growing segment of the gambling market. This project intends to examine how use of sports betting apps is becoming established as everyday social practice normalising problem gambling. The findings will enhance understanding of the social contexts of sports betting, and inform gambling policy and programs leading to better health and social outcomes.Read moreRead less
Breaking free: How organisations become front runners in gender diversity. This project aims to understand why a few exceptional organisations make substantive progress toward gender equality when so many of their competitors fail. Gender equality has social and economic value but despite decades of equal opportunity legislation and investment in gender initiatives, gender inequality persists in organisations all around the world. The project’s case study methodology examines how gender diversi ....Breaking free: How organisations become front runners in gender diversity. This project aims to understand why a few exceptional organisations make substantive progress toward gender equality when so many of their competitors fail. Gender equality has social and economic value but despite decades of equal opportunity legislation and investment in gender initiatives, gender inequality persists in organisations all around the world. The project’s case study methodology examines how gender diversity front runners align their diversity policies and practices with their internal identity and external reputation to produce substantive change. Understanding these dynamic processes will identify strategies that laggard organisations can adopt to make greater progress toward gender equality.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE230101556
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$423,206.00
Summary
Investigating the responses of Australian native bees to climatic warming. This project aims to investigate changes to native bee cognition, morphology, and pollination capability in response to climatic warming. Using emerging experimental methods for behavioural testing and state-of-the-art 3D modelling of museum specimens, the project expects to identify which species are likely to experience change under future climate scenarios. This project expects to determine if increased temperatures ca ....Investigating the responses of Australian native bees to climatic warming. This project aims to investigate changes to native bee cognition, morphology, and pollination capability in response to climatic warming. Using emerging experimental methods for behavioural testing and state-of-the-art 3D modelling of museum specimens, the project expects to identify which species are likely to experience change under future climate scenarios. This project expects to determine if increased temperatures cause pollination deficits through impaired bee cognition and changed morphology. The knowledge gained in this project will allow us to identify vulnerable species and develop strategies across agriculture, government, and community sectors to support pollination and inform conservation priorities.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE190101074
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$367,275.00
Summary
Social change and youth drinking: a cross-cultural and temporal examination. This project aims to examine the significant decrease in alcohol consumption that has occurred among youth in high income countries over the last 15 years. The analysis will focus on Australia, Sweden and the UK through a novel cross-cultural and qualitative longitudinal design. This project expects to inform prevention and policy efforts to sustain or progress these trends, and illuminate the social processes and cultu ....Social change and youth drinking: a cross-cultural and temporal examination. This project aims to examine the significant decrease in alcohol consumption that has occurred among youth in high income countries over the last 15 years. The analysis will focus on Australia, Sweden and the UK through a novel cross-cultural and qualitative longitudinal design. This project expects to inform prevention and policy efforts to sustain or progress these trends, and illuminate the social processes and cultural meanings that are manifesting in a distinct historical era for alcohol research.Read moreRead less
The life-course implications of declining adolescent drinking. The project aims to identify ways to ensure that recent declines in adolescent drinking are maintained and reinforced as these cohorts age into young adulthood. It expects to generate new knowledge on the trajectories of youth drinking into young adulthood. Expected outcomes include new cross-national understandings of the predictors of heavy drinking in adulthood and an updated evidence base for the development of harm prevention po ....The life-course implications of declining adolescent drinking. The project aims to identify ways to ensure that recent declines in adolescent drinking are maintained and reinforced as these cohorts age into young adulthood. It expects to generate new knowledge on the trajectories of youth drinking into young adulthood. Expected outcomes include new cross-national understandings of the predictors of heavy drinking in adulthood and an updated evidence base for the development of harm prevention policies and interventions by governments and NGOs. This should provide significant benefits to Australia via reductions in the negative health and social impacts of heavy drinking for these cohorts across their lives. Read moreRead less
Artificial light at night as a driver of evolutionary change. This project aims to investigate whether artificial light at night drives evolutionary change using a combination of field observations, laboratory experiments and advanced genetic techniques. This multi-disciplinary study expects to provide a significant advance in understanding of the impact of light at night for animals and will enhance our capacity to predict the outcome of future urban expansions for all species. The outcomes wil ....Artificial light at night as a driver of evolutionary change. This project aims to investigate whether artificial light at night drives evolutionary change using a combination of field observations, laboratory experiments and advanced genetic techniques. This multi-disciplinary study expects to provide a significant advance in understanding of the impact of light at night for animals and will enhance our capacity to predict the outcome of future urban expansions for all species. The outcomes will have broad implications for estimating the future biodiversity and health of our urban areas and will benefit both globally and within Australia by providing much needed data regarding the likely resilience of species currently residing in our major cities.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE230100466
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$413,542.00
Summary
Establishing a national program to characterise indoor chemical exposures. This project aims to establish the first Australian indoor air monitoring program that identifies hazardous chemicals and their sources and trends under a changing climate. The project expects to provide key evidence to policy-making decisions including prioritising indoor chemical threats for regulation. The expected outcomes include the establishment of criteria for home recruitment for indoor pollution research, identi ....Establishing a national program to characterise indoor chemical exposures. This project aims to establish the first Australian indoor air monitoring program that identifies hazardous chemicals and their sources and trends under a changing climate. The project expects to provide key evidence to policy-making decisions including prioritising indoor chemical threats for regulation. The expected outcomes include the establishment of criteria for home recruitment for indoor pollution research, identification of new chemical pollutants and their sources, and assessment of their trends. The benefit is to advance the knowledge on indoor exposure research, raise the awareness of the climate change conditions, addressing the government priority research area of Environmental Change.Read moreRead less
Embedding Impact Pathway Thinking Into The Identification And Prioritisation Of RD&E Needs And Investments For FRDC
Funder
Fisheries Research and Development Corporation
Funding Amount
$80,000.00
Summary
In order to support a greater degree of systems thinking in its advisory committees, it is proposed to expose all committee members to the potential approaches to priority setting through a systems lens and benefits of these approaches, and then work with a subset of Research Advisory Committees [and possibly others] to test how bringing tools such as theory of change into their deliberations could assist them to deliver better designed priorities. Working specifically towards theories of chang ....In order to support a greater degree of systems thinking in its advisory committees, it is proposed to expose all committee members to the potential approaches to priority setting through a systems lens and benefits of these approaches, and then work with a subset of Research Advisory Committees [and possibly others] to test how bringing tools such as theory of change into their deliberations could assist them to deliver better designed priorities. Working specifically towards theories of change in the committee processes, at appropriate levels of complexity, is expected to provide (i) a context to making approaches of different committee members more explicit, (ii) a basis for better design logic, and (iii) a way of more readily communicating the committee's priorities. The focus of this approach on identifying and working back from ultimate objectives helps frame what may legitimately be narrow priorities in a wider analysis of system drivers such as incoherent policy environments or climate change and thus enable larger agendas to be built around such issues across FRDC. An explicit emphasis on barriers, enablers and assumptions, as well as what is necessary and sufficient to achieve the objectives, also provides a strong basis for evaluating progress and learning. Together these attributes are anticipated to achieve the intent of supporting better FRDC priority setting and increased impact for its stakeholders. Objectives: 1. Build the knowledge, attitude, skill, aspiration and practice (kasap) among the FRDC’s advisory committees and staff, with particular focus on Extension Officers, to embed impact pathway thinking into the identification and prioritisation of RD&E needs and investments. Read moreRead less
Voluntary Behaviour Change In Recreational Fisheries To Support Sustainability And Amenity
Funder
Fisheries Research and Development Corporation
Funding Amount
$193,128.00
Summary
This project responds to an FRDC identified opportunity to review and build on previous experiences aimed towards encouraging recreational fishers to voluntarily diversify their target species.
This project targets three outcomes in the FRDC R&D Plan 2020-25: -Outcome 1. Growth for enduring prosperity -Outcome 2. Best practices and production systems -Outcome 4. Fair and secure access to aquatic resources
Our project consists of two phases, each addressing a di ....This project responds to an FRDC identified opportunity to review and build on previous experiences aimed towards encouraging recreational fishers to voluntarily diversify their target species.
This project targets three outcomes in the FRDC R&D Plan 2020-25: -Outcome 1. Growth for enduring prosperity -Outcome 2. Best practices and production systems -Outcome 4. Fair and secure access to aquatic resources
Our project consists of two phases, each addressing a discrete need identified through conversations with stakeholders.
Phase 1 – Developing a knowledge base and roadmap: A robust knowledge base, including data on the the magnitude of behaviour changes achieved by previous initiatives, is required to support the use of voluntary behaviour change interventions for diversifying target species as alternatives to direct regulations. Phase 1 will consist of a backwards looking scan of past-experience to construct this knowledge base from case studies that have implemented an initiative to promote voluntary diversification of recreational target species. This will include a global literature scan, and interviews with stakeholders and managers in Australia to document case studies, identify their successes or failures and compile data on the magnitude of behaviour change achieved. The knowledge base will then be used to identify key knowledge gaps and develop a roadmap of research and information needed to support voluntary behaviour change strategies aimed at diversifying target species as genuine alternatives to direct regulations.
Phase 2 – Improving effectiveness: Effective behavioural change interventions require careful targeting to ensure they are appropriate and acceptable within a specific context. Phase 2 will look forward with a focus on the future implementation of voluntary approaches that can confidently be applied to promote the voluntary diversification of target species for recreational fishers. This will include a forward-looking test of approaches identified through Phase 1 through interviews, focus groups and a survey of recreational fishers to delve deeply into which approaches are acceptable, where they are acceptable and which approaches are most likely to influence change. The outputs of Phase 2 will include clear advice on which strategies are likely to work in different situations relevant to Australian recreational fisheries.
A project evaluation will take place at the end of phase 1 to evaluate the feasibility of the remaining components, and guide case study selection and strategy for phase 2. This will be based on the interim short report based on phase 1 submitted to the FRDC in the milestone schedule below, as well as progress report 1.
To facilitate co-design and research impact, the research team have engaged with the Australian Fisheries Management Forum (AFMF), the AFSB Fisheries Management Committee (on advice from the AFMF), and the Australian Recreational Fishing Foundation (ARFF). Input from recreational fishing stakeholders into the project will be facilitated through an ARFF advisory panel, with representatives from different jurisdictions across Australia. The advisory panel plan to meet with the research team on 5 occasions across the project (front loaded to facilitate co-design). The model for input from fisheries managers is an on-going discussion but will likely take a similar advisory panel across jurisdictions.
Project risks: The project relies heavily on the inputs of recreational fishing stakeholders and managers, with potential risks around a lack of availability to participate as well as lack of interest. To manage this risk the project team will work closely with the ARFF advisory group to identify and manage relationships with participants. A secondary project risk is the potential for sharing and disclosure of sensitive information from interviews and focus groups. To manage this risk, the research protocol will be subject to a human ethics review against the National Statement on Ethical Conduct in Human Research. Through this process, issues of anonymity, data management and retention and data sharing will be addressed in-line with national standards and carried throughout the project. Objectives: 1. To develop a global knowledge base of behaviour change strategies that have been used to promote diversification of recreational target species. 2. To identify the magnitude of behaviour change achieved by different strategies. 3. To identify key knowledge gaps forming a road map for supporting voluntary behaviour change strategies aimed at diversifying target species as genuine alternatives to direct regulations. 4. To identify success factors that may have driven success or failure of past behavioural change strategies. 5. To develop a shortlist of strategies that experiences suggest will be effective in an Australian context. 6. To test the shortlist of potential behaviour change strategies from Phase 1 in terms of their acceptability, likelihood to influence change to deepen understanding of success factors (e.g., motivators, species, and/or incentives) within the Australian context. 7. To package key insights, lessons and recommendations for behaviour change initiatives to diversify fish species for recreational fishers. 8. To ensure this knowledge is easily accessed and practical, and framed so as to speak to the values and drivers of recreational fishers. 9. To maximise the reach and amplification of this knowledge through building the capability of fisheries managers. Read moreRead less