The evolution of global communities of practice within organisations: leveraging structure, identity and coordination. Communities of practice, groups of people who interact to share interests, concerns, or problems in a topic area, are popular within global organizations seeking to leverage dispersed knowledge and expertise for competitive advantage. This research project will examine factors that influence the effectiveness of global communities of practice.
Achieving flexibility through coordination: reframing the practice of ambidexterity to benefit business and employees during organisational change. Work teams are frequently used yet their capability to perform is constrained by organisational restructures that emphasise centralisation. This project will examine ways to mitigate these potential negative consequences through flexible work arrangements that enable and sustain effectiveness for business units and teams as well as for employees outs ....Achieving flexibility through coordination: reframing the practice of ambidexterity to benefit business and employees during organisational change. Work teams are frequently used yet their capability to perform is constrained by organisational restructures that emphasise centralisation. This project will examine ways to mitigate these potential negative consequences through flexible work arrangements that enable and sustain effectiveness for business units and teams as well as for employees outside work.Read moreRead less
Personal alarms - use, expectations and outcomes. Personal alarms are designed to enable older people who are living alone to gain assistance in an emergency. Australia's population is ageing and the number of older people living alone is increasing. Although personal alarms have been available for many years there has been surprisingly little research and there are still many gaps in our knowledge. These limit our ability to maximise the potential of this technology in enabling older Australian ....Personal alarms - use, expectations and outcomes. Personal alarms are designed to enable older people who are living alone to gain assistance in an emergency. Australia's population is ageing and the number of older people living alone is increasing. Although personal alarms have been available for many years there has been surprisingly little research and there are still many gaps in our knowledge. These limit our ability to maximise the potential of this technology in enabling older Australians to age well and productively at home. This project seeks to enhance our understanding of the adoption and appropriate use of this technology by older Australians and inform the development of strategies to achieve maximum benefit for both older individuals and the community at large.Read moreRead less
Advancing prevention science: application of social marketing to change the drinking culture of young Australians. This project will provide a comprehensive cluster randomised control trial of an innovative social marketing education intervention, which focuses on moderating adolescent attitudes and intentions to drink alcohol.
Non-CO2 greenhouse gas emissions in afforested ecosystems in southeastern Australia - fluxes, processes and regional budget. There are no data available about the extent of emissions of the non-CO2 greenhouse gases nitrous oxide and methane from soils of forest ecosystems in Australia and the current methodolgy to quantify these emissions contains high uncertainties. Using the latest technology available we propose to i) measure emission rates of afforested ecosystems for non-CO2 greenhouse gase ....Non-CO2 greenhouse gas emissions in afforested ecosystems in southeastern Australia - fluxes, processes and regional budget. There are no data available about the extent of emissions of the non-CO2 greenhouse gases nitrous oxide and methane from soils of forest ecosystems in Australia and the current methodolgy to quantify these emissions contains high uncertainties. Using the latest technology available we propose to i) measure emission rates of afforested ecosystems for non-CO2 greenhouse gases in relation to previous land-use in southeastern Australia, ii) identify the processes controlling the emissions, iii) use the obtained data to calibrate a biogeochemical model, and iv) use the model to estimate regional inventories for non-CO2 greenhouse gas emissions in southeastern Australia.Read moreRead less
Investigating the Indirect Effects of Child-Targeted Food Promotion on Children's Diets. Obesity is forecast to cost the Australian community more than $58 billion in 2008. The prevention and reduction of obesity thus has the potential to create significant savings in terms of obesity-related treatment costs and impairments. Children have been identified as a population requiring particular attention in efforts to combat obesity. The proposed study will provide an enhanced understanding of the r ....Investigating the Indirect Effects of Child-Targeted Food Promotion on Children's Diets. Obesity is forecast to cost the Australian community more than $58 billion in 2008. The prevention and reduction of obesity thus has the potential to create significant savings in terms of obesity-related treatment costs and impairments. Children have been identified as a population requiring particular attention in efforts to combat obesity. The proposed study will provide an enhanced understanding of the role that food promotion plays in sub-optimal food choices made by children and their parents. The results of the study will be translated into specific public policy recommendations to assist governments and health agencies in determining appropriate courses of action to promote healthy diets among children and their families.Read moreRead less
Leveraging organisational context to maximise team performance and thriving: a dynamic approach to understand team learning across diverse settings. Work teams can be a means of delivering business objectives as well as promoting human thriving, resulting in employees who are learning and physically vital. Yet competing tensions in organisations threaten these outcomes. The project will examine ways of mitigating contextual challenges to result in sustained organisational performance and employe ....Leveraging organisational context to maximise team performance and thriving: a dynamic approach to understand team learning across diverse settings. Work teams can be a means of delivering business objectives as well as promoting human thriving, resulting in employees who are learning and physically vital. Yet competing tensions in organisations threaten these outcomes. The project will examine ways of mitigating contextual challenges to result in sustained organisational performance and employee well being.Read moreRead less
The independent and combined effects of front-of-pack food labelling systems and health claims on consumers' food-related beliefs and behaviours. Recent developments in food labelling policy are changing the nature of the food environment. This project aims to allow the Australian government to capitalise on its investments in food labelling and health claims policies by investigating the independent and combined effects of front-of-pack labelling systems and health claims on adults' and childre ....The independent and combined effects of front-of-pack food labelling systems and health claims on consumers' food-related beliefs and behaviours. Recent developments in food labelling policy are changing the nature of the food environment. This project aims to allow the Australian government to capitalise on its investments in food labelling and health claims policies by investigating the independent and combined effects of front-of-pack labelling systems and health claims on adults' and children's food-related beliefs and behaviours. Three different forms of front-of-pack labelling systems and three types of health claims will be tested in varying combinations to identify the effects on different consumer segments, especially those of lower socioeconomic status. This approach aims to show how different forms of nutrition information are processed and traded-off during decision making.Read moreRead less
Mid-rotation diagnosis and management options for correction of water and nutrient deficiencies in plantation-grown eucalypts. This research will improve productivity of bluegum plantations by improving current diagnostic techniques (foliage and soil analysis) for nutrient disorders and the supply of water. Using a novel phloem sampling and analysis technique, we will develop a nutrient (e.g. N, P) and water diagnosis procedure that is quick, cheap, robust and reliable for field use. A major in ....Mid-rotation diagnosis and management options for correction of water and nutrient deficiencies in plantation-grown eucalypts. This research will improve productivity of bluegum plantations by improving current diagnostic techniques (foliage and soil analysis) for nutrient disorders and the supply of water. Using a novel phloem sampling and analysis technique, we will develop a nutrient (e.g. N, P) and water diagnosis procedure that is quick, cheap, robust and reliable for field use. A major innovation will be distinguishing the effects of shortages of water on growth from those of other growth influences. Overall, this project will provide a highly significant theoretical, conceptual and practical advance in mid-rotation, diagnostics for plantations with considerable commercial promise.Read moreRead less
Cellular automata model of forest stands to predict size-class distribution and survival. Existing forest growth models predict well stand level processes such as growth. However, they provide little information on forest structure and how this affects commercial forest products, risks of growing plantations and stand dynamics that determine carbon sequestration and water-use and result in age-related decline in productivity and self-thinning. By using newly developed technology to quantify in ....Cellular automata model of forest stands to predict size-class distribution and survival. Existing forest growth models predict well stand level processes such as growth. However, they provide little information on forest structure and how this affects commercial forest products, risks of growing plantations and stand dynamics that determine carbon sequestration and water-use and result in age-related decline in productivity and self-thinning. By using newly developed technology to quantify inter-tree competition, tree level resource supply, between tree genetic differences and the importance of chance events this project will draw on complexity theory to develop an innovative model that partitions stand level production to forecast the growth and size of individual trees.Read moreRead less