Resilient Democracy for the 21st Century. This project will establish novel foundational theoretical frameworks for the design of democratic institutions that can withstand internal and external pressure towards autocratisation. It will develop state of the art dynamic models of information manipulation and political dynamics, and analyse large-scale online survey experiments, as well as contemporary and historical data. This combination will deliver new insights into the management of sensitive ....Resilient Democracy for the 21st Century. This project will establish novel foundational theoretical frameworks for the design of democratic institutions that can withstand internal and external pressure towards autocratisation. It will develop state of the art dynamic models of information manipulation and political dynamics, and analyse large-scale online survey experiments, as well as contemporary and historical data. This combination will deliver new insights into the management of sensitive information and how to protect democracy from information manipulation. Ultimately, the project will generate a body of theoretical and empirical evidence for the design of more effective and resilient democratic institutions for a more inclusive economic development. Read moreRead less
Understanding Business Dynamism: Drivers and Macroeconomic Implications. Business dynamism – the process of firm entry, growth and exit – is key for productivity as it moves jobs and capital from less to more efficient uses. But, business dynamism (and with it growth in productivity and living standards) has slowed in many countries, including Australia. Grasping the reasons and economic effects of this is a challenge. This Project aims to reshape our thinking about business dynamism, its driver ....Understanding Business Dynamism: Drivers and Macroeconomic Implications. Business dynamism – the process of firm entry, growth and exit – is key for productivity as it moves jobs and capital from less to more efficient uses. But, business dynamism (and with it growth in productivity and living standards) has slowed in many countries, including Australia. Grasping the reasons and economic effects of this is a challenge. This Project aims to reshape our thinking about business dynamism, its drivers, and how it impacts the economy – from sources of long-run productivity growth and the cleansing effect of firm exit, to how climate risks impact business dynamism. The delivered empirical facts and models will aid policy design for reviving business dynamism, underpinning potentially large societal and economic gains.Read moreRead less
Research to enhance measurement, understanding, and policy regulatory approaches to emerging markets and trade in mothers' milk. Innovation affecting human milk supply challenges current regulation of infant food, but new markets in human milk assist the economic valuation of breastfeeding. Mothers are finding new ways to share their milk, and milk banking and human milk-based products are emerging as alternatives to commercial infant formula. This project builds on previous world-leading Austra ....Research to enhance measurement, understanding, and policy regulatory approaches to emerging markets and trade in mothers' milk. Innovation affecting human milk supply challenges current regulation of infant food, but new markets in human milk assist the economic valuation of breastfeeding. Mothers are finding new ways to share their milk, and milk banking and human milk-based products are emerging as alternatives to commercial infant formula. This project builds on previous world-leading Australian research into the economics of breastfeeding. It aims to increase understanding of markets in milk for infants and inform regulation of milk markets and milk exchange. It will investigate key features of these markets, how milk is priced, and how to access data on market prices which might improve the social and economic valuation of breastfeeding.Read moreRead less
Origins, evolution, and economic cost of gender norms. Gender norms are slow to change, and key drivers of economic development. This proposal leverages natural experiments to test their causal implications on two major channels of economic growth: the trust shared by individuals and the productivity of firms. It will use cutting-edge empirical techniques to generate novel measures of diversity and inclusion for Australian firms, and will conduct original fieldwork, matching experimental measure ....Origins, evolution, and economic cost of gender norms. Gender norms are slow to change, and key drivers of economic development. This proposal leverages natural experiments to test their causal implications on two major channels of economic growth: the trust shared by individuals and the productivity of firms. It will use cutting-edge empirical techniques to generate novel measures of diversity and inclusion for Australian firms, and will conduct original fieldwork, matching experimental measures of trust and cooperation with variation in traditional male versus female roles. This research aims at improving fundamental knowledge about how cultural norms shape economic outcomes and anticipates delivering practical policy recommendations for more efficient and inclusive economic growth. Read moreRead less
Groups, piecewise linear representations, and linear 2-representations. This project aims to address fundamental questions at the interface of two central areas of modern mathematics, geometric group theory and higher representation theory. Higher representation theory is a relatively new field, but its tools have already had a tremendous impact on mathematics. The project is expected to use these tools to address outstanding questions in geometric group theory. The expected outcomes of this pr ....Groups, piecewise linear representations, and linear 2-representations. This project aims to address fundamental questions at the interface of two central areas of modern mathematics, geometric group theory and higher representation theory. Higher representation theory is a relatively new field, but its tools have already had a tremendous impact on mathematics. The project is expected to use these tools to address outstanding questions in geometric group theory. The expected outcomes of this project include resolutions of open problems in the theory of Artin groups and the creation of a new subject, the dynamical theory of two-linear groups.Read moreRead less
Integral transforms and moduli theory. This project is in algebraic geometry, a branch of pure
mathematics. An overarching goal is a better understanding of the
algebra underlying the sophisticated geometries that arise in the
classification problems that are pervasive in mathematics and its
applications to physics. This new knowledge will then be applied to
further elucidate the geometry of these spaces.
Expected outcomes of this project include major progress in our
understanding of derived ....Integral transforms and moduli theory. This project is in algebraic geometry, a branch of pure
mathematics. An overarching goal is a better understanding of the
algebra underlying the sophisticated geometries that arise in the
classification problems that are pervasive in mathematics and its
applications to physics. This new knowledge will then be applied to
further elucidate the geometry of these spaces.
Expected outcomes of this project include major progress in our
understanding of derived categories of algebraic stacks via the
Fourier-Mukai transform.
The benefit will be to enhance the international stature of Australian
science.Read moreRead less
Categorical representation theory and applications. Symmetry is everywhere, and nature is designed symmetrically: Snails make their shells, spiders design their webs, and bees build hexagonal honeycombs, all based on the concept of symmetry. Symmetry is a general principle which plays an important role in various areas of knowledge and perception, ranging from arts to natural sciences and mathematics.
The 21th century way of the study of symmetries is categorical representation theory. The proj ....Categorical representation theory and applications. Symmetry is everywhere, and nature is designed symmetrically: Snails make their shells, spiders design their webs, and bees build hexagonal honeycombs, all based on the concept of symmetry. Symmetry is a general principle which plays an important role in various areas of knowledge and perception, ranging from arts to natural sciences and mathematics.
The 21th century way of the study of symmetries is categorical representation theory. The project aims are to strengthen this young field by advancing the theory and by finding applications from where its significance arises. The outcome will be new results on categorical representations and this will have benefits within mathematics, cryptography and also in physics/chemistry in the long run.Read moreRead less
Universal structures in stringy extra dimensions. The project aims to study properties of extra dimensions in string theory by means of techniques from supersymmetric gauge theory. This new approach makes it possible to study areas in the landscape of stringy extra dimensions that have not been accessible before. The project expects to uncover new universal features. This will have significant impact on string theory and mathematics. Expected outcomes of this project include answers to conceptua ....Universal structures in stringy extra dimensions. The project aims to study properties of extra dimensions in string theory by means of techniques from supersymmetric gauge theory. This new approach makes it possible to study areas in the landscape of stringy extra dimensions that have not been accessible before. The project expects to uncover new universal features. This will have significant impact on string theory and mathematics. Expected outcomes of this project include answers to conceptual questions in string theory, new types of extra dimensions, and new methods to compute quantum corrections in string theory. This should provide significant benefits, such as interdisciplinary collaborations at the national and international level and a strengthening of string theory in Australia.Read moreRead less
Categorical geometry and perfect group schemes. The aims of this project are to construct novel geometric theories based on newly discovered tensor categories, to apply the theories to solve open problems in representation theory, algebra and category theory, and to establish profitable new connections between the influential theories of affine group schemes and classifying spaces. The geometric theories will be developed in a universal way, generalising both classical algebraic geometry and sup ....Categorical geometry and perfect group schemes. The aims of this project are to construct novel geometric theories based on newly discovered tensor categories, to apply the theories to solve open problems in representation theory, algebra and category theory, and to establish profitable new connections between the influential theories of affine group schemes and classifying spaces. The geometric theories will be developed in a universal way, generalising both classical algebraic geometry and super geometry from physics, and specialising to infinitely many new theories. This universality ensures a significantly broader basis for long term applications of geometry in many areas of science. Other benefits include enhanced international collaboration and scientific capacity in Australia.Read moreRead less
Supersymmetry and supergravity: new approaches and applications. This project aims to advance our understanding of supersymmetric quantum field, gravity, and higher-spin theories. Supersymmetry and supergravity play crucial roles in modern developments in fundamental particle physics and cosmology. They also have rich connections with many branches of mathematical physics. Major conceptual questions in the description of general supergravity-matter couplings are still unsolved. By performing sta ....Supersymmetry and supergravity: new approaches and applications. This project aims to advance our understanding of supersymmetric quantum field, gravity, and higher-spin theories. Supersymmetry and supergravity play crucial roles in modern developments in fundamental particle physics and cosmology. They also have rich connections with many branches of mathematical physics. Major conceptual questions in the description of general supergravity-matter couplings are still unsolved. By performing state of the art analysis in supergravity and holographic dualities, the project will advance our understanding of quantum gravity, black holes, and cosmology placing Australia at the forefront of these important research fields.Read moreRead less