Pair bonding: is it all in the brain? This project aims to understand the interaction between classic pair bonding neural circuits, parasites, and the immune system in sleepy lizards. Social bonds are a cornerstone of human societies, especially true of the pair bond and this project expects to generate knowledge to help understand why healthy adult pair bonds are the single best predictor of longevity in humans. The expected outcomes of this project are to reveal the mechanistic basis of pair b ....Pair bonding: is it all in the brain? This project aims to understand the interaction between classic pair bonding neural circuits, parasites, and the immune system in sleepy lizards. Social bonds are a cornerstone of human societies, especially true of the pair bond and this project expects to generate knowledge to help understand why healthy adult pair bonds are the single best predictor of longevity in humans. The expected outcomes of this project are to reveal the mechanistic basis of pair bonding by identifying the brain regions, cell types and neurochemicals that promote pair bonding behaviour — for the first time in a wild animal. This project should provide significant benefits by increasing our knowledge of how pair bonds promote wellness.Read moreRead less
Advanced mathematical models and methods for a randomly-varying world. This project aims to develop advanced stochastic models and novel techniques, to analytically obtain performance measures and to efficiently simulate the time evolution. This project also plans to apply new models and methods to address important problems in ecology and epidemiology. The outputs of this project will advance knowledge in mathematics as well as in the intended application areas, including ultimately in improved ....Advanced mathematical models and methods for a randomly-varying world. This project aims to develop advanced stochastic models and novel techniques, to analytically obtain performance measures and to efficiently simulate the time evolution. This project also plans to apply new models and methods to address important problems in ecology and epidemiology. The outputs of this project will advance knowledge in mathematics as well as in the intended application areas, including ultimately in improved understanding, modelling, and tracking of the spread of diseases.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE230101174
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$443,154.00
Summary
Harnessing life-course transitions to optimise time-use behaviour habits. At every stage of life, how we use our time is one of the greatest determinants of our happiness, productivity, social wellbeing and quality of life. Time-use habits, for better or worse, are entrenched in daily routines that are difficult to break. This project aims to use existing population datasets to identify when during their life people are most likely to change their time-use habits, and to describe who may be at g ....Harnessing life-course transitions to optimise time-use behaviour habits. At every stage of life, how we use our time is one of the greatest determinants of our happiness, productivity, social wellbeing and quality of life. Time-use habits, for better or worse, are entrenched in daily routines that are difficult to break. This project aims to use existing population datasets to identify when during their life people are most likely to change their time-use habits, and to describe who may be at greatest risk of making unfavourable changes (e.g., replacing physical activity with sedentary time, not getting enough sleep). Expected outcomes include new analytical methods to understand time-use routines and new knowledge to inform future time-use improvement strategies to enable Australians to live their best life.Read moreRead less
Improving the anti-predator responses of native mammals . Predation by introduced cats and foxes causes extinction and decline in Australian mammals. Protecting threatened mammals inside fenced sanctuaries is effective but they can become overpopulated, inbred and more naive to predators over time. This leads to a dwindling hope of ever restoring them to their natural habitat. Previous research has shown that exposing threatened mammals to low levels of cat predation in large fenced paddocks i ....Improving the anti-predator responses of native mammals . Predation by introduced cats and foxes causes extinction and decline in Australian mammals. Protecting threatened mammals inside fenced sanctuaries is effective but they can become overpopulated, inbred and more naive to predators over time. This leads to a dwindling hope of ever restoring them to their natural habitat. Previous research has shown that exposing threatened mammals to low levels of cat predation in large fenced paddocks improves their anti-predator behaviour, changes their physical appearance and improves survival. This grant seeks to understand the mechanisms (genetic/learning) behind these changes in order to harness and upscale our results and facilitate co-existence between native mammals and introduced predators. Read moreRead less