Expectations and commitments in the Australia-USA alliance. This project aims to investigate the gap between the high expectations of mutual support and the lack of detailed security commitments in the Australia-US Alliance. The project intends to use a focused approach that captures thematic aspects of the alliance through project frames and historical slices across time. Expected outcomes can advance understanding of how alliances operate as security institutions. The outcomes can help to prom ....Expectations and commitments in the Australia-USA alliance. This project aims to investigate the gap between the high expectations of mutual support and the lack of detailed security commitments in the Australia-US Alliance. The project intends to use a focused approach that captures thematic aspects of the alliance through project frames and historical slices across time. Expected outcomes can advance understanding of how alliances operate as security institutions. The outcomes can help to promote a more informed national conversation about the costs and benefits of Australia's security relationship with the United States of America (USA) and contribute to debates over the future of the Australia-USA Alliance during a period of strategic uncertainty.Read moreRead less
Discerning China’s Foreign Policy Playbook: Goals and Strategies. This project aims to unpack China’s foreign policy decisions and policy making through exploring the agency of Chinese scholars. By conceptualising a new theoretical model of Chinese scholars’ perceptions, signals and debates, this project expects to generate new knowledge on the goals and strategies of China’s foreign policy in the economic, trade, political, and security dimensions through elite interviews, textual analysis, an ....Discerning China’s Foreign Policy Playbook: Goals and Strategies. This project aims to unpack China’s foreign policy decisions and policy making through exploring the agency of Chinese scholars. By conceptualising a new theoretical model of Chinese scholars’ perceptions, signals and debates, this project expects to generate new knowledge on the goals and strategies of China’s foreign policy in the economic, trade, political, and security dimensions through elite interviews, textual analysis, and focus group research. The outcomes will include analyses for use by Australian policy, academic and business communities. During times of difficult communications, attaining a realistic understanding of China’s current and future policy orientations can enable more constructive and effective China policy.Read moreRead less
Managing the risks posed by Artificial General Intelligence. It is widely acknowledged that a failure to implement appropriate controls for the next generation of Artificial Intelligence, Artificial General Intelligence (AGI), could have catastrophic consequences, including in the worst case - the extinction of the human race. This research aims to forecast the risks associated with AGI systems and identify the controls required to ensure that risks and existential threats are minimised. The exp ....Managing the risks posed by Artificial General Intelligence. It is widely acknowledged that a failure to implement appropriate controls for the next generation of Artificial Intelligence, Artificial General Intelligence (AGI), could have catastrophic consequences, including in the worst case - the extinction of the human race. This research aims to forecast the risks associated with AGI systems and identify the controls required to ensure that risks and existential threats are minimised. The expected outputs will provide designers, organisations, regulators and governments with a framework to support the design, implementation, and management of safe and efficient AGI systems. This will ensure that the potential far-reaching benefits of AGI are realised without undue threat to society.Read moreRead less
Decoding Revisionist Challenges to the International Institutional Order . This project aims to systematically examine the policy strategies that great powers can employ to challenge international institutions during a period of international order transition. This project expects to develop a new theoretical framework to shed light on how the United States and China compete and cooperate in the different issue areas of global governance. The outcomes of this project will be an in-depth understa ....Decoding Revisionist Challenges to the International Institutional Order . This project aims to systematically examine the policy strategies that great powers can employ to challenge international institutions during a period of international order transition. This project expects to develop a new theoretical framework to shed light on how the United States and China compete and cooperate in the different issue areas of global governance. The outcomes of this project will be an in-depth understanding of revisionism in world politics and practical policy recommendations to cope with the dynamics of international order transition. This knowledge should provide significant benefits to Australia’s policy community for making sensible policies against the background of US-China competition in the 21st century. Read moreRead less
Emerging technologies of warfare as a challenge to the law of armed conflict: cyber-attacks, robotics and nanotechnology. In order to reduce suffering in war, international law places limits on the ways in which the adversary can be harmed. This project will assess how the law fares in dealing with emerging technologies, such as hostile uses of computer networks, robotics and nanotechnology. It will provide guidance to policy makers on how the law can be improved.
Leveraging power and influence on the United Nations Security Council. This project examines the fundamental problem of how elected members on the Security Council can influence Council decision-making and norm development. Assembling a research team of international lawyers and political scientists, the project seeks to provide a rigorous, multi-disciplinary evaluation of why and when non-permanent Council members have succeeded in having impact on the Council's decision-making process. Drawing ....Leveraging power and influence on the United Nations Security Council. This project examines the fundamental problem of how elected members on the Security Council can influence Council decision-making and norm development. Assembling a research team of international lawyers and political scientists, the project seeks to provide a rigorous, multi-disciplinary evaluation of why and when non-permanent Council members have succeeded in having impact on the Council's decision-making process. Drawing on recent experiences of elected members, including Australia, the project is expected to advance evidence-based and empirically grounded policy proposals designed to increase the capacity of elected members to exercise power and influence over the Council's agenda and policy.Read moreRead less
Controllable growth of magnetic semiconductor quantum dots for future spintronic and optoelectronic devices. This project aims to develop high quality magnetic semiconductor materials for next generation magnetic and optoelectronic devices. Outcomes of this project will lead to advanced applications in light-emitting diodes and information technology, such as high density hard drivers and low dissipation quantum computers.
Efficient strategies for visually guided flight: from insects to drones. Flying in real environments, that are densely cluttered with obstacles, is a major challenge limiting the proliferation of aerial robotic technology yet flying insects such as honeybees accomplish this task with ease. This project will seek to uncover the salient vision-based flight-control strategies implemented by insects to deal with clutter. These will be used to develop sensory and information processing frameworks for ....Efficient strategies for visually guided flight: from insects to drones. Flying in real environments, that are densely cluttered with obstacles, is a major challenge limiting the proliferation of aerial robotic technology yet flying insects such as honeybees accomplish this task with ease. This project will seek to uncover the salient vision-based flight-control strategies implemented by insects to deal with clutter. These will be used to develop sensory and information processing frameworks for implementation in miniature robotic systems which will allow them to navigate autonomously in complex environments even when GPS positioning is denied. Such capabilities will expand the operational domain and potential applications for small autonomous vehicles while improving our knowledge of insect locomotion.Read moreRead less
Functionally characterizing mammalian microRNAs and mRNA interactions controlling cell division. This project addresses some of the most burning issues in molecular biology and genetic research, and the results will be widely applicable to a broad range of fields, including biotechnology, animal breeding, agricultural production, genetic engineering, medical science, and computational biology. By understanding the regulatory potential of microRNA molecules, we will understand more about species ....Functionally characterizing mammalian microRNAs and mRNA interactions controlling cell division. This project addresses some of the most burning issues in molecular biology and genetic research, and the results will be widely applicable to a broad range of fields, including biotechnology, animal breeding, agricultural production, genetic engineering, medical science, and computational biology. By understanding the regulatory potential of microRNA molecules, we will understand more about species diversity, regulatory networks, and plant and animal development. The early adoption of multi-gigabase next-generation sequencing technology in Australia provides rare and exciting opportunity to lead the world in genome-scale research, and to ensure that Australia has the necessary skill base to remain internationally competitive in this field.Read moreRead less
On being Australian: exploring the role of Anzac museum and heritage interpretive experiences in developing visitors' sense of national identity. This research explores the role of the Anzac story, as interpreted at museums and heritage sites, in helping new and established Australians to develop their sense of national identity. It will enable such sites to provide powerful and effective experiences, encouraging visitors to reflect on what it means to be Australian in a multicultural society.