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
Creating Accountability: Improving Responses to Forced Displacement Crimes. This project aims to investigate how the United Nations and individual states can respond to forced displacement crimes through seven emerging accountability mechanisms at the domestic, regional, and international levels. The growth of conflict-induced forced migration is at unprecedented levels, driven in part by states that deliberately displace their own populations in contravention of international law. This project ....Creating Accountability: Improving Responses to Forced Displacement Crimes. This project aims to investigate how the United Nations and individual states can respond to forced displacement crimes through seven emerging accountability mechanisms at the domestic, regional, and international levels. The growth of conflict-induced forced migration is at unprecedented levels, driven in part by states that deliberately displace their own populations in contravention of international law. This project will use a comparative and focused approach to examine the effectiveness of the range of current efforts to hold state and individual perpetrators accountable. In so doing, it will directly inform the Australian and international policy-making response to such crimes with the goal of averting future forced migrant movements.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE200101799
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$418,988.00
Summary
Islamist Militias, the Military and Indonesia’s Authoritarian Turn. This project examines the relationship between Islamist militias and the Indonesian military. Adopting a multi-scalar approach, it assesses this relationship nationally and in Aceh, a province with a long history of military–militia relations and Islamisation of political life. In the first attempt to systematically locate current developments in their historical context, this study will draw on interviews and archival research ....Islamist Militias, the Military and Indonesia’s Authoritarian Turn. This project examines the relationship between Islamist militias and the Indonesian military. Adopting a multi-scalar approach, it assesses this relationship nationally and in Aceh, a province with a long history of military–militia relations and Islamisation of political life. In the first attempt to systematically locate current developments in their historical context, this study will draw on interviews and archival research to document and analyse the extent to which the military is using long-established tactics of civilian mobilisation to reassert its political power. The analysis it generates will provide new insight into the role of the military in Indonesia’s current authoritarian turn.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE220100622
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$371,340.00
Summary
Digital authoritarian practices and the 21st century autocrat. This project aims to examine the emerging digital practices of authoritarian regimes, generating new knowledge on authoritarianism through qualitative methods that are underused in cybersecurity research. It proposes to determine whether such ‘digital authoritarianism’ is a new and distinct phenomenon, or rather the transposition of offline authoritarian practices into the online space. Expected outcomes include enhanced understandin ....Digital authoritarian practices and the 21st century autocrat. This project aims to examine the emerging digital practices of authoritarian regimes, generating new knowledge on authoritarianism through qualitative methods that are underused in cybersecurity research. It proposes to determine whether such ‘digital authoritarianism’ is a new and distinct phenomenon, or rather the transposition of offline authoritarian practices into the online space. Expected outcomes include enhanced understanding of technology’s impacts on autocratic agendas and generating data that supports effective national security policy. This should create benefits such as (1) furthering knowledge on authoritarianism and (2) supporting evidence-based policies to respond to the authoritarian cyber threat.Read moreRead less
A Century of Sex and the Australian Military, 1914-2020. This project aims to explore how the Australian military and its members have dealt with sex and sexuality. Through uncovering policy, health and disciplinary files, as well as medical literature, civilian police, newspaper and court records, the project intends to analyse how the Australian military evolved its approach to members’ sexual and intimate relations, and the consequences military life had for individuals’ sexual and romantic p ....A Century of Sex and the Australian Military, 1914-2020. This project aims to explore how the Australian military and its members have dealt with sex and sexuality. Through uncovering policy, health and disciplinary files, as well as medical literature, civilian police, newspaper and court records, the project intends to analyse how the Australian military evolved its approach to members’ sexual and intimate relations, and the consequences military life had for individuals’ sexual and romantic partnerships. By illuminating the relationships between the Australian military, sexual cultures, the law, health and public policy, the findings should benefit the Australian Defence Force’s ongoing process of culture change and inform policy formulation around veterans’ health and welfare.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE210100750
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$378,213.00
Summary
Australia and Space: Government policy and public imagination, 1957 – 2021. This project aims to be the first study to address how Australia has approached space at the public and government level from the dawn of the space age in 1957 to today. Taking a historical approach, this project employs an innovative framework that integrates Australia’s disparate space activities, analyses Australian space over a long time period, and centres the Australian experience within the global context. The pro ....Australia and Space: Government policy and public imagination, 1957 – 2021. This project aims to be the first study to address how Australia has approached space at the public and government level from the dawn of the space age in 1957 to today. Taking a historical approach, this project employs an innovative framework that integrates Australia’s disparate space activities, analyses Australian space over a long time period, and centres the Australian experience within the global context. The project is particularly timely with creation of the Australian Space Agency in mid-2018. Through publications and collaboration with space scholars and stakeholders, this project aims to inform discussion of space policy and international cooperation in space, and develop new understandings of how Australians engage with space.Read moreRead less
Moral Injury and the Ethics of Military Conditioning . Military personnel undergo extensive conditioning in the name of combat effectiveness and resilience. The aim of this project is to determine whether any of the intended effects of this conditioning constitute "moral injuries", and to describe the ethical and policy implications if so. This will deepen our understanding of the ethics of military recruitment, training, and socialisation. The expected outcomes include a statement of the obliga ....Moral Injury and the Ethics of Military Conditioning . Military personnel undergo extensive conditioning in the name of combat effectiveness and resilience. The aim of this project is to determine whether any of the intended effects of this conditioning constitute "moral injuries", and to describe the ethical and policy implications if so. This will deepen our understanding of the ethics of military recruitment, training, and socialisation. The expected outcomes include a statement of the obligations owed to professional soldiers on account of the potential for moral injury in preparing them for deployment. This will enhance Australia’s reputation for being ethically proactive and for taking a holistic approach to the welfare of its military servicemen and women.Read moreRead less
Climate change and national security: international responses. This project aims to give a systematic account of how states facing different dynamics of threats associated with climate change have gone about developing distinct institutional responses, policy settings and practices. Climate change is increasingly recognised as a national security threat. A range of states have developed climate security strategies to address climate change that threaten defence infrastructure and contribute to p ....Climate change and national security: international responses. This project aims to give a systematic account of how states facing different dynamics of threats associated with climate change have gone about developing distinct institutional responses, policy settings and practices. Climate change is increasingly recognised as a national security threat. A range of states have developed climate security strategies to address climate change that threaten defence infrastructure and contribute to population movements, regional instability and even conflict. The findings from this project will inform recommendations for Australian policy-makers in addressing the climate change-security relationship that can be communicated to practitioners, and tailored to the needs of Australia’s security and defence establishment. This project will help Australia respond effectively to pressing impacts of environmental change.Read moreRead less
Electro-Optical Primers for Safe Use and Clean Manufacturing. Conventional primers contain a mechanically-sensitive primary explosive that is used to detonate the more stable propellant in a bullet. This project aims to address the health and environmental impacts of heavy metals in current primers by replacing them with benign, electrically or optically activated silicon-based materials. Modern semiconductor fabrication techniques will be used to develop safe and clean primers through cost-effe ....Electro-Optical Primers for Safe Use and Clean Manufacturing. Conventional primers contain a mechanically-sensitive primary explosive that is used to detonate the more stable propellant in a bullet. This project aims to address the health and environmental impacts of heavy metals in current primers by replacing them with benign, electrically or optically activated silicon-based materials. Modern semiconductor fabrication techniques will be used to develop safe and clean primers through cost-effective doping and deposition protocols. The expected outcomes of the project include a sovereign primer manufacturing capability for Australia. This will provide a significant strategic advantage and health benefits for law enforcement and defence personnel during live fire training and firing range exercises.Read moreRead less
The red belly blockchain: a scalable blockchain for internet of things. This project aims to offer a blockchain that scales with the number of participants. There have been major investments in blockchain technologies during the last year as blockchains promise to disrupt industries like supply chains. Unfortunately, blockchains cannot solve this problem in their current form, because they cannot scale. They require resources that grow with the number of participants and yet fail at providing in ....The red belly blockchain: a scalable blockchain for internet of things. This project aims to offer a blockchain that scales with the number of participants. There have been major investments in blockchain technologies during the last year as blockchains promise to disrupt industries like supply chains. Unfortunately, blockchains cannot solve this problem in their current form, because they cannot scale. They require resources that grow with the number of participants and yet fail at providing increasing performance. The project will leverage many devices of limited resources to offer higher performance and will impact the distributed computing field by establishing a new connection between energy efficient systems and highly scalable distributed algorithms.Read moreRead less