Reconfiguring women's professional sport - on and off the pitch. This project aims to develop a model that reconfigures how women’s professional sport is structured, valued and managed. The project intends to examine professional women’s competitions (AFL, cricket, football, Rugby League and Rugby Union), their co-existence within their respective national associations and the experiences of contracted women athletes. Expected outcomes include the development of a new model of women’s profession ....Reconfiguring women's professional sport - on and off the pitch. This project aims to develop a model that reconfigures how women’s professional sport is structured, valued and managed. The project intends to examine professional women’s competitions (AFL, cricket, football, Rugby League and Rugby Union), their co-existence within their respective national associations and the experiences of contracted women athletes. Expected outcomes include the development of a new model of women’s professional sport, advancing knowledge of inclusive gender relevancy at the individual, team and organisational levels. The adoption of strategies and policies to improve the support and playing experiences of women would position Australia globally at the forefront of changing approaches to women’s professional sport.Read moreRead less
Developing innovative concrete composites by upscaling material properties. This project aims to develop an upscaling process to correlate micro-nano properties of engineering materials to their comprehensive physicochemical properties based on systematic mechanical and statistical analysis approaches and nanoindentation technology. The process will enable assessing material mechanical and viscoelastic properties at a microscale level thus will generate a new knowledge in structural engineering ....Developing innovative concrete composites by upscaling material properties. This project aims to develop an upscaling process to correlate micro-nano properties of engineering materials to their comprehensive physicochemical properties based on systematic mechanical and statistical analysis approaches and nanoindentation technology. The process will enable assessing material mechanical and viscoelastic properties at a microscale level thus will generate a new knowledge in structural engineering discipline including health monitoring, assessment of existing structures, historical buildings, and strengthening and repairing materials in structures. The outcomes are a multiscale link model for upscaling material properties and a development of innovative reinforced concrete composites which are cost-effective and efficient.Read moreRead less
Analysis and design of midrise built-up cold-formed steel structures. The project will develop an analytical and computational basis for designing midrise buildings in cold-formed steel. It will enable solutions with high column capacities and high lateral load resistance to be realised by using built-up sections, thus overcoming the current barrier to constructing buildings up to 10 storeys from cold-formed steel and enabling green, fully recyclable and rapidly constructed buildings to be achie ....Analysis and design of midrise built-up cold-formed steel structures. The project will develop an analytical and computational basis for designing midrise buildings in cold-formed steel. It will enable solutions with high column capacities and high lateral load resistance to be realised by using built-up sections, thus overcoming the current barrier to constructing buildings up to 10 storeys from cold-formed steel and enabling green, fully recyclable and rapidly constructed buildings to be achieved. Experimental, analytical and computational studies will be undertaken and synthesised into efficient design guidelines for practising engineers, including structural reliability analyses at system level of midrise buildings featuring innovative built-up multi-section columns and integrated shear panels.Read moreRead less
Sustainable fiscal federalism and reform of the GST distribution system. The primary source of funds for Australian States and Territories is GST revenue distributed by the Commonwealth using an equalisation formula that has proved to be politically unsustainable and in recent times manifestly inadequate to provide the revenue needed in response to crises and natural disasters. A tipping point has been reached and reform is urgently needed. Drawing on international experience with GST distributi ....Sustainable fiscal federalism and reform of the GST distribution system. The primary source of funds for Australian States and Territories is GST revenue distributed by the Commonwealth using an equalisation formula that has proved to be politically unsustainable and in recent times manifestly inadequate to provide the revenue needed in response to crises and natural disasters. A tipping point has been reached and reform is urgently needed. Drawing on international experience with GST distributions specifically and fiscal federalism more generally, the project aims to develop a reform blueprint for a sustainable and equitable fiscal federalism regime in Australia that best aligns with Australia’s current and long-term fiscal needs.Read moreRead less
Development of Novel Metaconcrete to Resist Impulsive Loads. This project aims to develop innovative metaconcrete for structural protection by utilising the concept of phononic crystals and metamaterials which has been recently developed by physicists. Traditional construction materials are used in new structural forms to mitigate dynamic loading effects by exploiting the unique characteristics of the proposed metaconcrete. Theoretical, numerical and experimental methods will be used to derive t ....Development of Novel Metaconcrete to Resist Impulsive Loads. This project aims to develop innovative metaconcrete for structural protection by utilising the concept of phononic crystals and metamaterials which has been recently developed by physicists. Traditional construction materials are used in new structural forms to mitigate dynamic loading effects by exploiting the unique characteristics of the proposed metaconcrete. Theoretical, numerical and experimental methods will be used to derive the best performing metaconcrete and verify its static and dynamic load resistant capacities. The expected outcomes of the project will lead to innovative extreme-loading resistant designs and provide significant benefit to the Australian construction industry, general public and economy.Read moreRead less
China’s Belt and Road Initiative: A New Model of Economic Governance? China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) involves thousands of projects in the world, with a combined value over USD 1 trillion. Under the BRI, China is constructing new norms and legal institutions to govern international economic activity. But the opacity of the BRI means that little is known about the details of these arrangements or their operation in practice. This socio-legal project will examine how the BRI is changing th ....China’s Belt and Road Initiative: A New Model of Economic Governance? China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) involves thousands of projects in the world, with a combined value over USD 1 trillion. Under the BRI, China is constructing new norms and legal institutions to govern international economic activity. But the opacity of the BRI means that little is known about the details of these arrangements or their operation in practice. This socio-legal project will examine how the BRI is changing the way that cross-border economic interactions are governed, and explore the implications of these changes for how power and authority are exercised in the global economy. The project’s findings will equip Australian policymakers, businesses and publics to navigate more astutely the changes that the BRI is advancing.Read moreRead less
United on the field? Enhancing equity and inclusion in community sport. The project aims to deepen understanding of how equity and inclusion policies within community sport can be transformed to address inequities in participation. The project expects to generate new knowledge using intersectional policy-based analysis to inform the development of more effective policy responses to systemic, multi-layered inequities in the sports sector. Expected outcomes include increased capacity within the sp ....United on the field? Enhancing equity and inclusion in community sport. The project aims to deepen understanding of how equity and inclusion policies within community sport can be transformed to address inequities in participation. The project expects to generate new knowledge using intersectional policy-based analysis to inform the development of more effective policy responses to systemic, multi-layered inequities in the sports sector. Expected outcomes include increased capacity within the sport sector to address exclusion and widen participation. This will result in significant social benefits, such as providing fair access to community sports for marginalized communities, and economic benefits, by reducing the health costs associated with low physical activity.Read moreRead less
Financial exclusion, poor insurer practices and consumer protection. This project aims to study financial exclusion and variations in access to general insurance, as well as insurer practices in selling insurance and handling claims. Through surveys, focus groups and interviews, the project also aims to evaluate the effectiveness of the legal protections for consumers of general insurance. The expected project outcomes include law and policy reform proposals to improve the effectiveness of these ....Financial exclusion, poor insurer practices and consumer protection. This project aims to study financial exclusion and variations in access to general insurance, as well as insurer practices in selling insurance and handling claims. Through surveys, focus groups and interviews, the project also aims to evaluate the effectiveness of the legal protections for consumers of general insurance. The expected project outcomes include law and policy reform proposals to improve the effectiveness of these protections and maximise access to general insurance, particularly for socio-economically disadvantaged consumers. This should have benefits such as an increased uptake of general insurance and improved community resilience to natural disasters and other unforeseen events.Read moreRead less
New Systems for High Rise Steel Structures in Rising Factory Construction. This project will develop new and innovative ways of constructing steel structures using the rising factory concept. The rising factory is a 10 storey enclosure where the final high-rise building is safely constructed within a watertight envelope which rises as the building progresses. The project will perform the necessary research to make possible high-rise steel structural systems consisting of hot-rolled (heavy gauge ....New Systems for High Rise Steel Structures in Rising Factory Construction. This project will develop new and innovative ways of constructing steel structures using the rising factory concept. The rising factory is a 10 storey enclosure where the final high-rise building is safely constructed within a watertight envelope which rises as the building progresses. The project will perform the necessary research to make possible high-rise steel structural systems consisting of hot-rolled (heavy gauge) and cold-formed (light gauge) steel structural members and connections which can be used in the rising factory. The main benefits of the rising factory are the waterproof construction environment and the substantially increased safety as a result of no external cranes.
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Mixed Mode Torsion-Shear-Bending Failure in SFRC Elements . In 2017 and 2018 the Australian Standards for the design of concrete bridges and structures were released; these are some of the first in the world, to include design procedures for steel fibre reinforced concrete (SFRC) in a comprehensive way. While rules have been introduced for shear and bending of SFRC girders, the rules exclude the use fibres to carry torsional moments. This study investigates the torsion-bending-shear interaction ....Mixed Mode Torsion-Shear-Bending Failure in SFRC Elements . In 2017 and 2018 the Australian Standards for the design of concrete bridges and structures were released; these are some of the first in the world, to include design procedures for steel fibre reinforced concrete (SFRC) in a comprehensive way. While rules have been introduced for shear and bending of SFRC girders, the rules exclude the use fibres to carry torsional moments. This study investigates the torsion-bending-shear interaction performance of SFRC members. The study will provide vital data needed for for adoption by engineers and Standards bodies.Read moreRead less