Water and the making of urban Australia since 1900. This project aims to produce new understandings of both the historical drivers of today’s urban water systems, and how these systems have impacted on human and ecological welfare. This will be achieved through the first integrated and comparative historical study of the provision, use and cultures of water in Australia’s five largest cities from 1900 to the present. Such historical knowledge is critical at a time when the water systems of Austr ....Water and the making of urban Australia since 1900. This project aims to produce new understandings of both the historical drivers of today’s urban water systems, and how these systems have impacted on human and ecological welfare. This will be achieved through the first integrated and comparative historical study of the provision, use and cultures of water in Australia’s five largest cities from 1900 to the present. Such historical knowledge is critical at a time when the water systems of Australia’s largest cities are under growing pressure from environmental change and population growth. Project findings will inform the development of policies and practices that produce sustainable, equitable urban water systems.Read moreRead less
The Allocation of Risk and Economic Slumps. The aim of this project is to construct and analyse models that identify a novel feedback mechanism in which the distribution of investment risk interacts with aggregate employment variations. It will provide a useable framework for economic policy analysis in which the distribution of wealth affects the demand for investment risk while the distribution of production risk affects the supply of labour income risk.
The impact of globalisation on inequality in a small regional economy: South Australia 1845-1925. The impact of globalisation on income inequality is currently of great concern to many. Globalisation, however, is not a new phenomenon. This study examines the effect of global forces on wage and personal wealth inequality in South Australia in the 19th and early 20th century. While other studies have examined the impact of trade on inequality at an aggregate level, using questionable comparisons, ....The impact of globalisation on inequality in a small regional economy: South Australia 1845-1925. The impact of globalisation on income inequality is currently of great concern to many. Globalisation, however, is not a new phenomenon. This study examines the effect of global forces on wage and personal wealth inequality in South Australia in the 19th and early 20th century. While other studies have examined the impact of trade on inequality at an aggregate level, using questionable comparisons, this study represents a conceptual leap forward by directly estimating changes in income and wealth inequality, and their association with changes in wages, commodity and asset prices over an extended period in a small regional economy.Read moreRead less
The Formation and Development of Chinese Philosophy as an Academic Discipline in Twentieth Century China. It is in Australia's national interest to pay close attention to the orientation of intellectual and political currents in China and to how these currents are increasingly merging and interacting. This project will enhance our capacity to interpret and engage with our regional environment by contributing to a clearer understanding of the changing relationship between Chinese intellectual tra ....The Formation and Development of Chinese Philosophy as an Academic Discipline in Twentieth Century China. It is in Australia's national interest to pay close attention to the orientation of intellectual and political currents in China and to how these currents are increasingly merging and interacting. This project will enhance our capacity to interpret and engage with our regional environment by contributing to a clearer understanding of the changing relationship between Chinese intellectual traditions and cultural identity. A commitment to understanding what Chinese philosophy means to China's educated elite also demonstrates a willingness to foster dialogue and communication that is sensitive to the intellectual and cultural traditions which are a source of pride and identity for several of our major regional partners. Read moreRead less
How Scientific Theories are Confirmed: A History of Atomic Theories of Matter. This project addresses the question of how scientific theories are confirmed by experiment - a fundamentally important aspect of philosophy of science and science itself - that has yet to be definitively answered.
The research will explore the evolution of atomic theories of matter, from speculation in the seventeenth century to precise versions that were confirmed by experiment in the twentieth.
This research r ....How Scientific Theories are Confirmed: A History of Atomic Theories of Matter. This project addresses the question of how scientific theories are confirmed by experiment - a fundamentally important aspect of philosophy of science and science itself - that has yet to be definitively answered.
The research will explore the evolution of atomic theories of matter, from speculation in the seventeenth century to precise versions that were confirmed by experiment in the twentieth.
This research represents a much-needed combining of history and philosophy in this field. It will advance the understanding of how theories in the physical sciences are confirmed in a way that is anchored in an investigation of actual scientific practice.Read moreRead less
Organisms and Us: How Living Things Help Us To Understand Our World. How do researchers learn from and 'think with' non-human organisms? This project seeks to develop a comprehensive historical and philosophical exploration of the changing roles and understandings of research with organisms in 20th and early 21st century science. Advances in the content and technologies of the biological and biomedical sciences have resulted in new understandings of what we can know and learn from organisms, par ....Organisms and Us: How Living Things Help Us To Understand Our World. How do researchers learn from and 'think with' non-human organisms? This project seeks to develop a comprehensive historical and philosophical exploration of the changing roles and understandings of research with organisms in 20th and early 21st century science. Advances in the content and technologies of the biological and biomedical sciences have resulted in new understandings of what we can know and learn from organisms, particularly with regard to human functioning, health, and well-being, yet we have no integrated scholarship examining these developments across a range of fields. This project seeks to produce useful scholarship relevant for humanities scholars, scientists, clinicians and policy-makers.Read moreRead less
Beyond access: women, higher education and the quiet revolutions of the 1950s. This project challenges the standard narrative of women in the 1950s through a study of the intersections of higher education, gender and place. By studying women graduates in Australia and the United States within the context of demographic, employment and cultural change, it develops life histories of graduate women over several decades of their post-universtiy lives, drawing on comparative sources. It offers a new ....Beyond access: women, higher education and the quiet revolutions of the 1950s. This project challenges the standard narrative of women in the 1950s through a study of the intersections of higher education, gender and place. By studying women graduates in Australia and the United States within the context of demographic, employment and cultural change, it develops life histories of graduate women over several decades of their post-universtiy lives, drawing on comparative sources. It offers a new framework for women's educational history, one that goes beyond access and focuses on the new identities that were formed as graduate women negotiated the contradictions of higher education and the dominant femininity of the period.Read moreRead less
Making plants better, making Australia better? A history of genetic modification science, policy, and community attitudes in Australia. This project will document and analyse the history of the development of genetic modification (GM) science and policy, and the associated community attitudes and activism efforts in Australia over the last 40 years, with a focus on the development of GM for food and agricultural purposes. In addition to producing a rich historical narrative of critical scientifi ....Making plants better, making Australia better? A history of genetic modification science, policy, and community attitudes in Australia. This project will document and analyse the history of the development of genetic modification (GM) science and policy, and the associated community attitudes and activism efforts in Australia over the last 40 years, with a focus on the development of GM for food and agricultural purposes. In addition to producing a rich historical narrative of critical scientific and policy developments associated with GM in Australia. This project will explore how Australians respond to new scientific ideas and technologies, and use this evidence as the basis for a case study of prospects for future community involvement in the development of science policy particularly in association with emerging technologies.Read moreRead less
A new history of law in post-revolutionary England (c.1689-1760). This project seeks to recover and reassess the general history of English law during the seven decades following the Glorious Revolution of 1688–89, when limited monarchy, parliamentary government and the rule of law became new constitutional norms for an emergent imperial British state (and, eventually, for Australia). It aims to chart the modes of law and governance variously experienced, created and used by lay men and women, h ....A new history of law in post-revolutionary England (c.1689-1760). This project seeks to recover and reassess the general history of English law during the seven decades following the Glorious Revolution of 1688–89, when limited monarchy, parliamentary government and the rule of law became new constitutional norms for an emergent imperial British state (and, eventually, for Australia). It aims to chart the modes of law and governance variously experienced, created and used by lay men and women, husbands, wives and children, as well as by judges, lawyers, legislators and ministers. The results of this conceptual investigation, which aims to re-interpret the history of English law and government in the broadest possible way, is planned to appear as Volume IX in the Oxford History of the Laws of England series.Read moreRead less
Antipodean Geology: A Modern History of Southern Hemisphere Earth. This project aims to produce a modern history of the ancient mega-continent Gondwanaland. An international team intends to reorient the history of geosciences towards the southern hemisphere by investigating geologists working in Australasia, South Asia, South America, Southern Africa and Antarctica since 1788. This includes analysis of how Gondwana fossils came to fuel the industrial age. The team also aims to explain how, why a ....Antipodean Geology: A Modern History of Southern Hemisphere Earth. This project aims to produce a modern history of the ancient mega-continent Gondwanaland. An international team intends to reorient the history of geosciences towards the southern hemisphere by investigating geologists working in Australasia, South Asia, South America, Southern Africa and Antarctica since 1788. This includes analysis of how Gondwana fossils came to fuel the industrial age. The team also aims to explain how, why and with what effect the term 'Gondwana' has retained such strong cultural purchase, well beyond the geological domain. This should productively recast ideas of a global south and improve understanding of what ‘Gondwana’, and deep geological time, mean for societies across the southern hemisphere. Read moreRead less