The role of social-emotional learning in attaining literacy and numeracy. This project aims to characterise variability in developmental pathways to literacy and numeracy, and the factors that contribute to this variation, utilising innovative analytical approaches and population data. This project expects to generate new knowledge regarding the role of school-based social-emotional learning programs in supporting children’s achievement of literacy and numeracy. Expected outcomes of the project ....The role of social-emotional learning in attaining literacy and numeracy. This project aims to characterise variability in developmental pathways to literacy and numeracy, and the factors that contribute to this variation, utilising innovative analytical approaches and population data. This project expects to generate new knowledge regarding the role of school-based social-emotional learning programs in supporting children’s achievement of literacy and numeracy. Expected outcomes of the project include enhanced collaboration with government to deliver policy-relevant information on the most effective targets and timing for delivering social-emotional programs that maximise academic learning. This should assist policy makers to develop better strategies to support every child’s academic achievement.Read moreRead less
Improving Productivity in Emergency Service Personnel. Emergency service personnel experience marked levels of lost productivity, absenteeism, early retirements, and compensation claims as a result of stress reactions. This project aims to improve productivity and reduce compensation costs in emergency service organisations by evaluating a program that reduces stress reactions and increases cognitive functioning in police, firefighters, and paramedics in NSW. An individual program will be admini ....Improving Productivity in Emergency Service Personnel. Emergency service personnel experience marked levels of lost productivity, absenteeism, early retirements, and compensation claims as a result of stress reactions. This project aims to improve productivity and reduce compensation costs in emergency service organisations by evaluating a program that reduces stress reactions and increases cognitive functioning in police, firefighters, and paramedics in NSW. An individual program will be administered to 120 emergency service personnel who have difficulty maintaining their work duties because of stress reactions. Expected outcomes will be reduction in absenteeism, improved productivity, and reduced costs to insurers.
Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE210100912
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$450,488.00
Summary
Improving Girls’ Body Image via Social Media. Social media platforms are starting to realise their social responsibilities and are looking for ways to reduce harm to their users. This project aims to evaluate the effectiveness and feasibility of specific social media content and activities for improving adolescent girls’ body image. This project expects to generate new knowledge in the area of social media and body image by developing a novel theoretical model and an evidence base for effective ....Improving Girls’ Body Image via Social Media. Social media platforms are starting to realise their social responsibilities and are looking for ways to reduce harm to their users. This project aims to evaluate the effectiveness and feasibility of specific social media content and activities for improving adolescent girls’ body image. This project expects to generate new knowledge in the area of social media and body image by developing a novel theoretical model and an evidence base for effective positive social media activities for body image. Body image concerns are a global public health issue with a devastating impact on key aspects of people’s lives. This project has the potential to inform the development of new ways to harness social media to support mental health and wellbeing.Read moreRead less
Determining the physical and temporal properties of a person's inner speech. Inner speech refers to the silent production of words in one's mind. While inner speech has long been assumed to be unquantifiable, we have recently demonstrated an ability to decipher the content a person's inner speech using an objective electrophysiological marker. In this project, we will extend upon this work and use our marker to establish the physical and temporal properties of a person's inner speech, such as it ....Determining the physical and temporal properties of a person's inner speech. Inner speech refers to the silent production of words in one's mind. While inner speech has long been assumed to be unquantifiable, we have recently demonstrated an ability to decipher the content a person's inner speech using an objective electrophysiological marker. In this project, we will extend upon this work and use our marker to establish the physical and temporal properties of a person's inner speech, such as its loudness, pitch, accent and temporal properties. Our hope is that our modified marker will be capable of determining what a person is saying in inner speech, when they are engaged in inner speech, and also how their inner voice sounds. This work has major implications with regards to technology, health, and basic science. Read moreRead less
Rebuilding Life After Migration for Young Refugees and Migrants . This project aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of refugee and migrant youth settlement experiences and its impact on psychological wellbeing and the role of support services. It will focus on the policies and practices that shape the settlement experiences of refugee and migrant youth which promote their psychological wellbeing. The study will provide settlement sectors and service providers with crucial new knowledge ....Rebuilding Life After Migration for Young Refugees and Migrants . This project aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of refugee and migrant youth settlement experiences and its impact on psychological wellbeing and the role of support services. It will focus on the policies and practices that shape the settlement experiences of refugee and migrant youth which promote their psychological wellbeing. The study will provide settlement sectors and service providers with crucial new knowledge of how settlement policies and practices can foster refugee and migrant psychological wellbeing. Outcomes of this project will include the development of research-based guides to good policy and practice in settlement services to improve psychological wellbeing outcomes for immigrant communities.Read moreRead less
Tranquillising Work Stress: Corporate Climate and Antidepressant Use. This national project will investigate the plausible link between distress at work and Australia’s high levels of antidepressant use, through creative linkage of data from the Australian Workplace Barometer (10-year longitudinal study) to antidepressant medication data (via the national Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme). The project advances theory by probing the role corporate climate plays in work design, distress, mental hea .... Tranquillising Work Stress: Corporate Climate and Antidepressant Use. This national project will investigate the plausible link between distress at work and Australia’s high levels of antidepressant use, through creative linkage of data from the Australian Workplace Barometer (10-year longitudinal study) to antidepressant medication data (via the national Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme). The project advances theory by probing the role corporate climate plays in work design, distress, mental health problems and antidepressant use. It will determine if antidepressant use has led to an underestimation of work stress effects. It will estimate the $AUD cost of work related antidepressant use. The project will yield evidence to stimulate corporate climate change to protect worker psychological health and wellbeing.Read moreRead less
Hippocampal regulation of goal-directed decision-making. The hippocampus is a part of the brain that is central to learning and memory yet little is known about its role in decision-making. It is the aim of this application to provide the first detailed, causal evidence of hippocampal regulation of decision-making. This is significant because many mental health disorders and dementias that involve decision-making deficits are characterised by hippocampal dysfunction, but any direct link between ....Hippocampal regulation of goal-directed decision-making. The hippocampus is a part of the brain that is central to learning and memory yet little is known about its role in decision-making. It is the aim of this application to provide the first detailed, causal evidence of hippocampal regulation of decision-making. This is significant because many mental health disorders and dementias that involve decision-making deficits are characterised by hippocampal dysfunction, but any direct link between these factors is unknown. The outcomes of the current grant will provide the first evidence of that link, thus providing deeper understanding of the neurophysiological mechanisms of these disorders, which could eventuate in the creation of more beneficial treatments. Read moreRead less
Novel dopamine pathways underlying motivated behaviours. Rewards such as food, sex and social media are seeked on daily basis. Neurological and psychological basis of learning and memory of reward processing behaviour. This project maps real time neural activity during reward processing in two novel brain regions. It has the potential to revolutionize the understanding of the brain mechanisms in reward processing. The biological data obtained can be directly integrated into computational modelli ....Novel dopamine pathways underlying motivated behaviours. Rewards such as food, sex and social media are seeked on daily basis. Neurological and psychological basis of learning and memory of reward processing behaviour. This project maps real time neural activity during reward processing in two novel brain regions. It has the potential to revolutionize the understanding of the brain mechanisms in reward processing. The biological data obtained can be directly integrated into computational modelling approaches to benefit reward processing algorithms for learning behaviours in humans or artificial intelligence. This project will fuel the understanding of algorithms driving social media platforms and consumer consumption, hence driving economic and technological progress in Australia.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE200100436
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$397,639.00
Summary
Identifying Factors to Optimise Teachers’ Psychological Functioning at Work. High stress and low wellbeing among teachers are known to result in considerable health costs for teachers, academic costs for students, and financial costs for schools. Yet, a disproportionate number of teachers suffer from poor psychological functioning. This project seeks to lay the groundwork to enhance teachers’ functioning at work. Using large-scale international and Australian data, along with cutting-edge biopsy ....Identifying Factors to Optimise Teachers’ Psychological Functioning at Work. High stress and low wellbeing among teachers are known to result in considerable health costs for teachers, academic costs for students, and financial costs for schools. Yet, a disproportionate number of teachers suffer from poor psychological functioning. This project seeks to lay the groundwork to enhance teachers’ functioning at work. Using large-scale international and Australian data, along with cutting-edge biopsychological data, this project expects to unearth salient personal and contextual factors that reduce stress and boost wellbeing among teachers. It is expected that this will provide a comprehensive evidence-base and essential theoretical insights for optimising teachers’ psychological health and effective functioning at work.Read moreRead less
Investigating the role of Zona Incerta RXFP3+ cells in learning and memory. Learning and memory are fundamental to human and animal behaviour. We identified a specific population of cells in the zona incerta of the brain, where activation inhibits expression of memory, and facilitates the acquisition of new learning. Aside from our observations, nothing is currently known about the anatomy and function of these cells. This project aims to map how they connect to the rest of the brain, to observe ....Investigating the role of Zona Incerta RXFP3+ cells in learning and memory. Learning and memory are fundamental to human and animal behaviour. We identified a specific population of cells in the zona incerta of the brain, where activation inhibits expression of memory, and facilitates the acquisition of new learning. Aside from our observations, nothing is currently known about the anatomy and function of these cells. This project aims to map how they connect to the rest of the brain, to observe how these connections are recruited during learning and memory, and then to test their function experimentally. The outcomes will extend the known neural circuitry that controls learning by defining how and where these unexplored pathways fit within it; thus advancing knowledge regarding neural regulation of behaviour.
Read moreRead less