Barriers and Facilitators of Neighbourhood Networks and Cohesion. Neighbourhoods are critical contexts for health, safety and well-being. In the face of significant urban growth, understanding and enhancing neighbourhood networks and cohesion are high priorities in Australia and internationally. Drawing on longitudinal survey data from 148 Brisbane suburbs combined with census and spatial data, this project will be the first to examine how a neighbourhood's physical and socio-structural context ....Barriers and Facilitators of Neighbourhood Networks and Cohesion. Neighbourhoods are critical contexts for health, safety and well-being. In the face of significant urban growth, understanding and enhancing neighbourhood networks and cohesion are high priorities in Australia and internationally. Drawing on longitudinal survey data from 148 Brisbane suburbs combined with census and spatial data, this project will be the first to examine how a neighbourhood's physical and socio-structural context influences neighbourhood networks and cohesion over time and across the landscape of an entire city. The project aims to advance scientific understanding of neighbourhood networks and cohesion, provide unique insights into its underpinning drivers, and inform urban policy.Read moreRead less
Australia’s role in Global Financial and Production Networks. The project intends to address a major deficit of knowledge about the ways financial centres develop and compete among a network of international centres. Australia’s long-term economic future is closely tied to providing financial services throughout Asia. Yet very little attention has been given to analysing the structures and networks that enable internationalisation, in particular the performance of Sydney and Melbourne as competi ....Australia’s role in Global Financial and Production Networks. The project intends to address a major deficit of knowledge about the ways financial centres develop and compete among a network of international centres. Australia’s long-term economic future is closely tied to providing financial services throughout Asia. Yet very little attention has been given to analysing the structures and networks that enable internationalisation, in particular the performance of Sydney and Melbourne as competitive financial centres within a network of financial centres in East and South-East Asia. Using specialist industry databases and intensive case study methods, this project plans to examine the processes underpinning the growth of this network, map scenarios for the next two decades, and advise on policy implications arising from the 2013–14 Financial System Inquiry.Read moreRead less
Tracing modes of infrastructure financing and their effects on cities. Urban infrastructure is seen to be in crisis. In response, cash-strapped governments defer increasingly to private financiers and operators. This project assesses the changes required of infrastructure to meet the expectations of private finance. It will also assess how infrastructure items are being transformed as modes of finance move from one city to another.
Reconceptualising industry sector development within the contemporary Australian city: The case of the information technology sector. This project will aim to uncover the reasons why Australia's Information Technology industry is ranked low among OECD countries by evaluating the impact of global and urban geography of the sector on the sector's performance. It will show how policies to achieve more advanced IT sector development need to consider Australia's distinctive position in the global eco ....Reconceptualising industry sector development within the contemporary Australian city: The case of the information technology sector. This project will aim to uncover the reasons why Australia's Information Technology industry is ranked low among OECD countries by evaluating the impact of global and urban geography of the sector on the sector's performance. It will show how policies to achieve more advanced IT sector development need to consider Australia's distinctive position in the global economy and particular factors in the Sydney and Melbourne IT clusters that both help, and hinder, development in ways not considered in present policy models.Read moreRead less
Caring for thoroughbreds: addressing social, economic and welfare issues in international horse racing. Horse racing is an economically valuable industry but visible welfare issues are challenging its future. This study addresses perceptions and the economic worth of these issues internationally. Research findings about values, and alternatives to jump racing and whipping horses, will help change the conduct of horse racing around the world.
Contested Landscapes and Divided Communities. The Struggle for Place and Belonging in Papua New Guinea. PNG, as Australia's nearest neighbour and major recipient of Australian foreign aid, is facing major challenges including a weakening state capacity to govern, a breakdown in civil society and escalating law and order problems. These processes, which led to civil conflict in Fiji and Solomon Islands, for example, remain largely misunderstood. Nevertheless, such events have major implications f ....Contested Landscapes and Divided Communities. The Struggle for Place and Belonging in Papua New Guinea. PNG, as Australia's nearest neighbour and major recipient of Australian foreign aid, is facing major challenges including a weakening state capacity to govern, a breakdown in civil society and escalating law and order problems. These processes, which led to civil conflict in Fiji and Solomon Islands, for example, remain largely misunderstood. Nevertheless, such events have major implications for our region's political and economic security. By generating a greater understanding of the contexts and factors contributing to these tensions the project will contribute to better informed policy making by the Australian government, especially in the area of international assistance.Read moreRead less
Why do Australians still die during natural disasters? This project will test the idea that Australians do not adequately perceive the risks associated with natural disasters that threaten them. The outcomes of this project will include an Australian-specific risk perception model, more disaster resilient communities through improved social science understanding and improved disaster management policy.
The geography of labour market dynamics: Competition between new migrants and laid-off workers in China's urban labour markets. The project proposes contributions: 1 To our knowledge of our region, especially of sources of conflict within China, and how Chinese labour markets operate (and are different in different places). 2 To understanding Australian society, by contributing to knowledge about the effects of categories of citizenship on labour market performance. 3 To Australia's place in int ....The geography of labour market dynamics: Competition between new migrants and laid-off workers in China's urban labour markets. The project proposes contributions: 1 To our knowledge of our region, especially of sources of conflict within China, and how Chinese labour markets operate (and are different in different places). 2 To understanding Australian society, by contributing to knowledge about the effects of categories of citizenship on labour market performance. 3 To Australia's place in international social science, by linking western debates about migration and labour markets to the conditions of societies in transition. 4 To closer cultural ties between Australia and China, by collaborative research with scholars in China. 5 To the training of future generations of scholars of China.Read moreRead less
The changing geographies of power, knowledge and access in Australia's financial services sector: a regional development perspective. This project investigates one of the most pressing issues in the development of regional Australia: whether the modern financial services sector acts to reinforce or remediate existing patterns of uneven development. The research focuses on two key issues: 1) how the restructuring of the banking sector has affected the availability of financial services and ventur ....The changing geographies of power, knowledge and access in Australia's financial services sector: a regional development perspective. This project investigates one of the most pressing issues in the development of regional Australia: whether the modern financial services sector acts to reinforce or remediate existing patterns of uneven development. The research focuses on two key issues: 1) how the restructuring of the banking sector has affected the availability of financial services and venture capital in rural and urban Australia; and 2) the relationship between the changing geography of financial services and financial institutions' increasing reliance upon instrumental knowledge about their customers. The research will produce a model of the role of modern financial services provision and market knowledge in regional development.Read moreRead less
Beyond the resource curse: redistribution and resource-led development. The project aims to improve the sustainability of resource-led development in Australia and worldwide via a novel, multi-scalar framework, co-produced with mining/Indigenous communities that connects local development outcomes with mining global production networks (GPN). It will generate new, community co-authored and policy-engaged knowledge to better attune fiscal, industry and regional policies to tackling the local reso ....Beyond the resource curse: redistribution and resource-led development. The project aims to improve the sustainability of resource-led development in Australia and worldwide via a novel, multi-scalar framework, co-produced with mining/Indigenous communities that connects local development outcomes with mining global production networks (GPN). It will generate new, community co-authored and policy-engaged knowledge to better attune fiscal, industry and regional policies to tackling the local resource curse. Expected outcomes include co-developed GPN theory advances; new policies for sustainable mining locality development; and more engaged mining/Indigenous communities. Significant welfare savings, social coherence, environment amelioration and cultural transformation benefits are expected.Read moreRead less