Engaging the over 50s to ensure the sustainability of our blood supply. Australia faces blood shortages as our population ages and demand for blood-product derived treatments increase. Donors aged over 50 donate more regularly with fewer adverse events than younger donors, yet comprise under 24% of blood donors. This multi-method project aims to investigate how those aged over 50 understand and engage with blood donation in the context of ageing, and how their involvement can be managed to maint ....Engaging the over 50s to ensure the sustainability of our blood supply. Australia faces blood shortages as our population ages and demand for blood-product derived treatments increase. Donors aged over 50 donate more regularly with fewer adverse events than younger donors, yet comprise under 24% of blood donors. This multi-method project aims to investigate how those aged over 50 understand and engage with blood donation in the context of ageing, and how their involvement can be managed to maintain psychosocial wellbeing. This project expects to generate new knowledge in recruiting, retaining, and deferring older blood donors. Expected outcomes include tailored, validated resources that may significantly benefit Australia by effectively engaging older adults to ensure the sustainability of the blood supply.Read moreRead less
Diagnosing river health using invertebrate traits and DNA barcodes. Diagnosing river health using invertebrate traits and DNA barcodes. This project aims to develop indices that link change in invertebrate communities to specific environmental stressors, and combine these indices with innovative, low cost molecular approaches to species identification to rapidly identify the causes of decline. River health assessment methods, usually based on aquatic invertebrates, identify if rivers are impaire ....Diagnosing river health using invertebrate traits and DNA barcodes. Diagnosing river health using invertebrate traits and DNA barcodes. This project aims to develop indices that link change in invertebrate communities to specific environmental stressors, and combine these indices with innovative, low cost molecular approaches to species identification to rapidly identify the causes of decline. River health assessment methods, usually based on aquatic invertebrates, identify if rivers are impaired but must be developed to identify the causes of decline. The intended outcomes are improved sustainable water resource management within and among states, and improved natural resource policy development.Read moreRead less
Understanding the stock-recruitment relationship to reverse the decline in the southern rock lobster. Declines in southern rock lobster fisheries across three Australian states show that we need to understand the flow and survival of larvae. The project aims to identify the fundamental links between recruitment and spawning stock, to enable predictions of recruitment for the management of adult stocks, safeguarding the future of the fishery.
Managing urban trees. Managing urban trees. This project aims to explore the effects of different urban tree types and plantings on people and wildlife in Melbourne, Moreland and Ballarat so they can better plan their future urban forests. Local governments spend millions of dollars planting and maintaining urban trees every year. Research provides little guidance to these land managers when making critical decisions in a rapidly changing social and physical environment. This project will combin ....Managing urban trees. Managing urban trees. This project aims to explore the effects of different urban tree types and plantings on people and wildlife in Melbourne, Moreland and Ballarat so they can better plan their future urban forests. Local governments spend millions of dollars planting and maintaining urban trees every year. Research provides little guidance to these land managers when making critical decisions in a rapidly changing social and physical environment. This project will combine tree inventory data with new information on the social and ecological effects of trees (e.g. human well-being, bird diversity). This research is expected to guide future tree management decisions that have better social and environmental outcomes for Australia’s cities.Read moreRead less
Utilising innovative fishing technology to address key questions on the biology of Antarctic krill. Antarctic krill are an important species in the Southern Ocean supporting most of the Antarctic birds and mammals. A sustainable krill fishery is developing with krill products used in aquaculture and increasingly for human consumption. A new omega 3 krill oil industry has emerged and is rapidly expanding. The aim of the project is to predict the factors governing oil levels and the biochemical co ....Utilising innovative fishing technology to address key questions on the biology of Antarctic krill. Antarctic krill are an important species in the Southern Ocean supporting most of the Antarctic birds and mammals. A sustainable krill fishery is developing with krill products used in aquaculture and increasingly for human consumption. A new omega 3 krill oil industry has emerged and is rapidly expanding. The aim of the project is to predict the factors governing oil levels and the biochemical composition in krill which will help us understand growth, reproduction and recruitment. The research aims to also assess the possible effects of climate change on krill. Outcomes of this research aim to be used to manage the expanding krill fishery.Read moreRead less
Navigating an uncertain antimicrobial future: a sociological study. This project aims to develop a unique understanding of what governs antibiotic use in the health sector and how it can be governed more effectively. The project will critically assess the implementation of governance, and how regulatory and legislative environments may resonate or contrast with the demands of practice. This will support the development of strategies to improve antibiotic use and reduce resistance.
Estimating per capita use and release of chemicals by wastewater analysis. This project aims to systematically collect and analyse wastewater to assess human exposure to chemicals including drugs, pharmaceuticals, lifestyle chemicals and environmental pollutants. By combining temporal sampling from key sewage treatment plants with comprehensive nationwide sampling over the week of the 2016 census day, the project expects to estimate the per-capita human exposure to chemicals in the Australian po ....Estimating per capita use and release of chemicals by wastewater analysis. This project aims to systematically collect and analyse wastewater to assess human exposure to chemicals including drugs, pharmaceuticals, lifestyle chemicals and environmental pollutants. By combining temporal sampling from key sewage treatment plants with comprehensive nationwide sampling over the week of the 2016 census day, the project expects to estimate the per-capita human exposure to chemicals in the Australian population. Accurate and objective per-capita based consumption and release estimates for a wide range of chemicals is intended to provide a baseline against which to measure changes in our chemosphere.Read moreRead less
A stitch in time: evidence-based strategy to keep platypus from extinction. This project aims to assess the status of the iconic platypus, identified as ‘near-threatened’ in 2014. The project’s multidisciplinary approach plans to compare regulated and unregulated rivers to investigate metapopulation structure (via physical and genetic tagging), current condition and future adaptability of the species, as well as other threats and habitat quality. The project also links vulnerability of platypus ....A stitch in time: evidence-based strategy to keep platypus from extinction. This project aims to assess the status of the iconic platypus, identified as ‘near-threatened’ in 2014. The project’s multidisciplinary approach plans to compare regulated and unregulated rivers to investigate metapopulation structure (via physical and genetic tagging), current condition and future adaptability of the species, as well as other threats and habitat quality. The project also links vulnerability of platypus populations to conservation actions that reduce extinction risk, through rigorous decision analyses. It is anticipated that the project will deliver implementable conservation actions at relevant scales.Read moreRead less
Fluorinated surfactants and hydrocarbons at coastal airports. Fluorinated surfactants and hydrocarbons at coastal airports. This project aims to develop a model and parameters that describe transport and co-transport of fluoro-surfactants and hydrocarbons, priority pollutants with a wide range of physico-chemical properties, at coastal airports. Sixty percent of Australian airports are in the coastal plain, and all are affected by contamination from internationally banned fluoro-surfactants and ....Fluorinated surfactants and hydrocarbons at coastal airports. Fluorinated surfactants and hydrocarbons at coastal airports. This project aims to develop a model and parameters that describe transport and co-transport of fluoro-surfactants and hydrocarbons, priority pollutants with a wide range of physico-chemical properties, at coastal airports. Sixty percent of Australian airports are in the coastal plain, and all are affected by contamination from internationally banned fluoro-surfactants and hydrocarbons. Their extensive past use at firefighting training grounds resulted in costly remediation worldwide. Understanding the fate of persistent fluoro-surfactants from point sources, and their role in transporting non-polar chemicals such as hydrocarbons, will improve risk-based decision making. This research is expected to form the basis for effective risk management and intervention strategies.Read moreRead less
Developing a new approach to aquatic pollutant assessment combining time integrated sampling with toxicity testing. Present approaches for monitoring risk of aquatic pollutants are limited to grab sample analysis for specific pollutants using target values and/or ecotoxicological assessment of population biomarkers. This collaborative research, involving 3 universities and 10 industry partners, aims to develop and evaluate a novel approach combining extraction of pollutants using time integrated ....Developing a new approach to aquatic pollutant assessment combining time integrated sampling with toxicity testing. Present approaches for monitoring risk of aquatic pollutants are limited to grab sample analysis for specific pollutants using target values and/or ecotoxicological assessment of population biomarkers. This collaborative research, involving 3 universities and 10 industry partners, aims to develop and evaluate a novel approach combining extraction of pollutants using time integrated passive samplers and toxicological evaluation of extracts using a range of rapid in-vitro and in-vivo assays. The project will produce cost-effective tools for highly sensitive assessment of pollutant effects and ultimately facilitate intervention guidelines based on mixture toxicity.Read moreRead less