A framework for adapting child interview protocols in complex cases. This project aims to develop–in collaboration with Aboriginal and other industry co-researchers–a ‘how to’ framework for effectively adapting standard child abuse interview protocols to accommodate the complexities that create barriers to disclosure. Complex cases necessitate interview adaption, but it requires systematic guidance and an interdisciplinary, practitioner-driven approach to be effective. This innovative framework ....A framework for adapting child interview protocols in complex cases. This project aims to develop–in collaboration with Aboriginal and other industry co-researchers–a ‘how to’ framework for effectively adapting standard child abuse interview protocols to accommodate the complexities that create barriers to disclosure. Complex cases necessitate interview adaption, but it requires systematic guidance and an interdisciplinary, practitioner-driven approach to be effective. This innovative framework is expected to have long-term benefits for services that support children’s well-being, through improvements in the quality of evidence underpinning decisions. By enhancing interviewer capability, there will also be fewer cases prematurely exiting the justice system before forensic interview or investigation.Read moreRead less
A model of sex offender registration, monitoring, and risk management. This research will investigate the ways in which sexual offenders are managed in the community and identify the most effective means of preventing further offending, thereby promoting community safety.
Evidence-based improvement of statistical inference practices in psychology and other disciplines. The commonest ways that many researchers currently draw conclusions from their data have been shown to be inefficient, and often used incorrectly. This project will develop new, better statistical representations and software tools for data analysis. It will evaluate and demonstrate the effectiveness of these. Wide adoption of these techniques and tools will enhance the international reputation ....Evidence-based improvement of statistical inference practices in psychology and other disciplines. The commonest ways that many researchers currently draw conclusions from their data have been shown to be inefficient, and often used incorrectly. This project will develop new, better statistical representations and software tools for data analysis. It will evaluate and demonstrate the effectiveness of these. Wide adoption of these techniques and tools will enhance the international reputation and competitiveness of Australian psychological science. Adoption by Australian researchers across the social and behavioural sciences, and in other disciplines including medicine, economics and ecology, will improve the efficiency and effectiveness of Australian research, with consequential wide-ranging benefits to the Australian community.Read moreRead less
Suicide prevention and management of deliberate self-harm: randomised control trial of an assertive engagement, brief psychotherapy and community linkage model. Suicide is the second commonest cause of death by injury in Australia. Suicide prevention is an important public health priority but rates remain high. People who have previously attempted suicide are most likely to kill themselves. Most suicidal people attend emergency departments where they get inadequate treatment for their psychologi ....Suicide prevention and management of deliberate self-harm: randomised control trial of an assertive engagement, brief psychotherapy and community linkage model. Suicide is the second commonest cause of death by injury in Australia. Suicide prevention is an important public health priority but rates remain high. People who have previously attempted suicide are most likely to kill themselves. Most suicidal people attend emergency departments where they get inadequate treatment for their psychological and social problems and remain depressed and suicidal. This project will test the effectiveness of a new psychological and social treatment to reduce the depression and link suicidal people with community supports. If successful, this treatment could be provided in any emergency department and help decrease suicide rates in Australia.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE170100945
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$334,000.00
Summary
Improved interviewing framework in sexual assault cases. This project aims to provide a better interview framework to be used by police in the investigation and possible prosecution of sexual assault allegations. The current interview framework used around the world was not specifically designed for adult sexual assault complainants and has been intensely criticised. This project will design a revised interview framework that meets the complex investigative and evidential requirements for these ....Improved interviewing framework in sexual assault cases. This project aims to provide a better interview framework to be used by police in the investigation and possible prosecution of sexual assault allegations. The current interview framework used around the world was not specifically designed for adult sexual assault complainants and has been intensely criticised. This project will design a revised interview framework that meets the complex investigative and evidential requirements for these interviews. This is expected to increase just outcomes and victim satisfaction with the criminal justice response.Read moreRead less
Do director board appointments predict whether CEO pay is in line with company performance? Increasing pay differences between CEOs and the average working Australian have resulted in a less equitable and economically divided society. This issue has reached a critical point as taxpayer money is now needed to fund stimulus packages and finance companies facing insolvency while CEO pay on average has remained unchanged or increased. This inequity has the potential to cause social and political ins ....Do director board appointments predict whether CEO pay is in line with company performance? Increasing pay differences between CEOs and the average working Australian have resulted in a less equitable and economically divided society. This issue has reached a critical point as taxpayer money is now needed to fund stimulus packages and finance companies facing insolvency while CEO pay on average has remained unchanged or increased. This inequity has the potential to cause social and political instability. This research will provide much needed knowledge of how to address this issue including pay benchmarks, knowledge derived from international practice, corporate governance indices as well as understanding of how widespread pay norms have developed.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE140100499
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$393,087.00
Summary
The body in interaction – the impact of tracking the human body on visual object processing. For efficient and safe interactions with the world, our brain needs to constantly process the location and posture of the body as well as the characteristics of surrounding objects. Central questions in the field of cognitive science consider how tracking the human body influences object perception and which mechanisms support this perception in action. This project will use innovative virtual hand techn ....The body in interaction – the impact of tracking the human body on visual object processing. For efficient and safe interactions with the world, our brain needs to constantly process the location and posture of the body as well as the characteristics of surrounding objects. Central questions in the field of cognitive science consider how tracking the human body influences object perception and which mechanisms support this perception in action. This project will use innovative virtual hand technology to investigate the impact of body actions on concurrent visual perception. A better understanding of the demands that the body, in interaction, poses on our perceptual system will help to improve the design of complex work environments, such as computer interfaces and control panels.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE220100147
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$457,058.00
Summary
Child victims: Providing protection from re-victimisation and offending. This project aims to improve understanding of the impact of child abuse, neglect and exposure to domestic violence on young people’s future experiences of re-victimisation and offending. It expects to generate new evidence about the maltreatment experiences that increase risk of youth re-victimisation and offending, potential causal mechanisms and factors that might aggravate or buffer children from these harmful effects. E ....Child victims: Providing protection from re-victimisation and offending. This project aims to improve understanding of the impact of child abuse, neglect and exposure to domestic violence on young people’s future experiences of re-victimisation and offending. It expects to generate new evidence about the maltreatment experiences that increase risk of youth re-victimisation and offending, potential causal mechanisms and factors that might aggravate or buffer children from these harmful effects. Expected outcomes include increased knowledge to inform effective policy and interventions aimed at identifying at-risk children and meeting young people’s needs related to adverse legal outcomes. This should help improve public safety, reduce the economic impact of maltreatment and support vulnerable children to thrive.Read moreRead less
The structure and dynamics of social contact for human disease transmission models. The methodological advances of this project will enable new insights in important social research. They will not only add significantly to national capacity in the modelling of complex social systems but they will also yield practical scientific outcomes in a significant policy domain in Australia and overseas. In Australia, response to diseases such as HIV, HCV and TB need new approaches, and the threat of pan ....The structure and dynamics of social contact for human disease transmission models. The methodological advances of this project will enable new insights in important social research. They will not only add significantly to national capacity in the modelling of complex social systems but they will also yield practical scientific outcomes in a significant policy domain in Australia and overseas. In Australia, response to diseases such as HIV, HCV and TB need new approaches, and the threat of pandemic influenza is significant. Read moreRead less
Categorization and Working Memory: Bridging two Pillars of Cognition. Categorization is a fundamental cognitive skill that underlies much expert behavior, including medical diagnosis. A given task often gives rise to widely divergent strategies across individuals, and flawed strategies have been implicated in prediction errors of experts (e.g., bush fire fighters). This project seeks to identify the underlying variables that determine an individual's strategy acquisition by relating working memo ....Categorization and Working Memory: Bridging two Pillars of Cognition. Categorization is a fundamental cognitive skill that underlies much expert behavior, including medical diagnosis. A given task often gives rise to widely divergent strategies across individuals, and flawed strategies have been implicated in prediction errors of experts (e.g., bush fire fighters). This project seeks to identify the underlying variables that determine an individual's strategy acquisition by relating working memory performance to categorization. Working memory is a core cognitive construct that is quite well understood, but its relationship to category learning has so far remained unexplored. Being able to predict the development of categorization strategies can help maximize expert performance.Read moreRead less