Ethics, responsibility and the carbon budget. This project aims to provide a rigorous ethical framework for dividing the world’s remaining ‘carbon budget’ (CB). In order to avoid climate change the world must drastically limit its emissions of greenhouse gases. The project will develop a new analysis of how our assumptions concerning risk and harm shape conception of the CB. It will also provide a new understanding of how future emission rights should be allocated given that countries have emitt ....Ethics, responsibility and the carbon budget. This project aims to provide a rigorous ethical framework for dividing the world’s remaining ‘carbon budget’ (CB). In order to avoid climate change the world must drastically limit its emissions of greenhouse gases. The project will develop a new analysis of how our assumptions concerning risk and harm shape conception of the CB. It will also provide a new understanding of how future emission rights should be allocated given that countries have emitted vastly different quantities of greenhouse gases in the past. The project will analyse how the CB will impact the climate transition plans of countries such as Australia. The project will thus bring significant new research in philosophy to bear on a practical issue.Read moreRead less
The Evolution of the Social Brain: How Emotions and Moral Judgement Interact in the Generation of Cooperative Behaviour. Understanding the psychological forces that underpin human interactions is a necessary step to knowing how to improve those interactions. Comprehending the complex interplay of emotions and moral judgements lying behind decision-making in the social sphere will help explain such things as corruption, risk-taking, domestic violence, and political affiliation. Such knowledge can ....The Evolution of the Social Brain: How Emotions and Moral Judgement Interact in the Generation of Cooperative Behaviour. Understanding the psychological forces that underpin human interactions is a necessary step to knowing how to improve those interactions. Comprehending the complex interplay of emotions and moral judgements lying behind decision-making in the social sphere will help explain such things as corruption, risk-taking, domestic violence, and political affiliation. Such knowledge can guide the design of effective social policy, and is vital for a realistic educational strategy. This project will strengthen Australia's excellent reputation in philosophy, bring here leading scholars from diverse fields, build international research networks, and in particular forge an ongoing partnership between the ANU and the California Institute of Technology.Read moreRead less
Benefiting from injustice. This project argues that people can acquire duties to compensate victims of injustice when they benefit from these injustices, even when they neither caused the injustices nor could have prevented them. We explore the implications of this argument for the treatment of colonised peoples, and for policies on climate change and international trade.
Banking System Competition and the Macro-economy. Australia has one of the most concentrated banking sectors in the world, generating concerns regarding its efficiency. This project aims to develop unified frameworks to understand and evaluate quantitatively how the structure of the banking industry affects the macro-economy and provide policy recommendations for establishing a healthy and efficient banking industry. This project expects to improve understanding of the welfare trade-off between ....Banking System Competition and the Macro-economy. Australia has one of the most concentrated banking sectors in the world, generating concerns regarding its efficiency. This project aims to develop unified frameworks to understand and evaluate quantitatively how the structure of the banking industry affects the macro-economy and provide policy recommendations for establishing a healthy and efficient banking industry. This project expects to improve understanding of the welfare trade-off between bank competition and economic well-being to enable policymakers to better determine the optimal concentration of banking sector in Australia. This will enhance the productivity and international competitiveness of Australia’s financial system and the broader economy.Read moreRead less
Physical realisation of enriched quantum symmetries. This project aims to investigate fundamental mathematical structures in modern category theory, providing an algebraic description of physical systems including topological order and conformal field theory. The project will study quantum symmetry, and classify and construct new classes of conformal field theories, using novel tools from enriched category theory, modular forms, and lattice gauge theory.
The main goal is to understand the lands ....Physical realisation of enriched quantum symmetries. This project aims to investigate fundamental mathematical structures in modern category theory, providing an algebraic description of physical systems including topological order and conformal field theory. The project will study quantum symmetry, and classify and construct new classes of conformal field theories, using novel tools from enriched category theory, modular forms, and lattice gauge theory.
The main goal is to understand the landscape of topological and conformal field theories, laying the foundation for new technologies based on topological order. This timely project capitalises on the recent arrival of subfactor experts in Australia, and builds capacity in mathematical research and international links in a cutting edge field.Read moreRead less
A new theory of Aboriginal art. The paradigms developed by scholars have a huge impact on the value of art. After the Australian artworld repositioned Aboriginal art from the frame of 'primitive art' to that of contemporary art, the price of and market for Aboriginal art increased enormously. However, Aboriginal art failed to penetrate the international contemporary artworld because the paradigms of contemporary art within which it was framed were outmoded. Through examining the production of Ab ....A new theory of Aboriginal art. The paradigms developed by scholars have a huge impact on the value of art. After the Australian artworld repositioned Aboriginal art from the frame of 'primitive art' to that of contemporary art, the price of and market for Aboriginal art increased enormously. However, Aboriginal art failed to penetrate the international contemporary artworld because the paradigms of contemporary art within which it was framed were outmoded. Through examining the production of Aboriginal art from the perspectives of its producers and recent globalised contemporary art practices, this project aims to develop a new theory of Aboriginal art that is more aligned with the thinking of current curators who set the agenda at the upper end of the market.Read moreRead less
Reaching new frontiers of quantum fields and gravity through deformations. This project aims to reach new frontiers in quantum field and gravity theories. These underpin systems ranging from semi-conductors to particle collisions and the quantum behavior of black holes. An obstacle is that these theories are notoriously hard to solve. This project proposes to tackle this longstanding problem by using new deformations, symmetries and dualities that have attracted widespread attention. Expected ou ....Reaching new frontiers of quantum fields and gravity through deformations. This project aims to reach new frontiers in quantum field and gravity theories. These underpin systems ranging from semi-conductors to particle collisions and the quantum behavior of black holes. An obstacle is that these theories are notoriously hard to solve. This project proposes to tackle this longstanding problem by using new deformations, symmetries and dualities that have attracted widespread attention. Expected outcomes will include innovative techniques that will greatly enhance and interconnect our knowledge of field theories and quantum gravity, together with new discoveries in quantum-corrected geometries. A new network of domestic and international experts will largely benefit the fields of theoretical and mathematical physics.Read moreRead less
Modular Index Theory. This project capitilises on Australian advances in mathematics, particularly noncommutative geometry. It will maintain and extend Australia's prominence in this subject, providing excellent opportunities for young researchers via the research networks this project will establish. Being at the interface of ideas in mathematics and physics, there is potential for future technological spin offs for Australia.
Stabilisation of nonlinear quantum feedback control systems. One of the most exciting technological developments of this century promises to be the development of quantum technology. Quantum feedback systems will play a key part of this technology and this project will develop the underlying fundamental theory which will be crucial to the systematic design of quantum feedback control systems.
Coherent Feedback Synchronisation and Stabilisation of Quantum Systems. The aim of this project is to address a range of fundamental problems of stabilisation and coherent synchronisation in quantum feedback control systems, leading to new systematic methods of designing controllers for the interacting quantum systems arising in emerging areas of quantum technology. Quantum feedback control systems will be at the heart of emerging areas of quantum technology and stability is essential for their ....Coherent Feedback Synchronisation and Stabilisation of Quantum Systems. The aim of this project is to address a range of fundamental problems of stabilisation and coherent synchronisation in quantum feedback control systems, leading to new systematic methods of designing controllers for the interacting quantum systems arising in emerging areas of quantum technology. Quantum feedback control systems will be at the heart of emerging areas of quantum technology and stability is essential for their operation. Standard control system methods do not take into account the special features of quantum systems and there is a need for new control theories that deal with stabilisation and synchronisation as quantum technologies become more advanced. Read moreRead less