A model of sex offender registration, monitoring, and risk management. This research will investigate the ways in which sexual offenders are managed in the community and identify the most effective means of preventing further offending, thereby promoting community safety.
Involving children in social research: balancing the risks and benefits. There is a growing consensus that children's involvement in social research is important, but considerable uncertainty remains around children's inclusion in research on 'sensitive' issues, reflecting concerns about how to balance children's protection with their participation. Key to this are deeply embedded assumptions and beliefs about children and childhood, especially concerning notions of capacity, agency, vulnerabili ....Involving children in social research: balancing the risks and benefits. There is a growing consensus that children's involvement in social research is important, but considerable uncertainty remains around children's inclusion in research on 'sensitive' issues, reflecting concerns about how to balance children's protection with their participation. Key to this are deeply embedded assumptions and beliefs about children and childhood, especially concerning notions of capacity, agency, vulnerability, dependency and the like. This project aims to better understand and address the tensions between the protection of children and their participation in research, and to explore how ethics committees, parents, other gatekeepers and children themselves manage and navigate these tensions.Read moreRead less
The nature, extent and effect of infant removal by child protection. This project aims to provide new knowledge about the nature, extent and effect of removals of babies from their parents in Australia. Removal is the highest level of intervention by the child protection system, and one which some mothers experienced on multiple occasions. Little is known, however, about its incidence and effects, nor whether there are over-represented groups (e.g. Aboriginal mothers and babies) who would respon ....The nature, extent and effect of infant removal by child protection. This project aims to provide new knowledge about the nature, extent and effect of removals of babies from their parents in Australia. Removal is the highest level of intervention by the child protection system, and one which some mothers experienced on multiple occasions. Little is known, however, about its incidence and effects, nor whether there are over-represented groups (e.g. Aboriginal mothers and babies) who would respond to targeted interventions. This project aims to identify appropriate early intervention and prevention strategies, preventing the need for babies to spend their whole childhood in care at great financial and societal cost.Read moreRead less
To what extent does Australian food policy consider its health impact. This research will examine how public policies relating to food can be made healthier. The diet of Australians currently contributes to high rates of disease including diabetes, heart disease and the underlying issue of obesity. It will examine Australian agriculture and food processing, manufacturing and marketing and the environmental impacts of these sectors. The research will analyse policy documents and interview key peo ....To what extent does Australian food policy consider its health impact. This research will examine how public policies relating to food can be made healthier. The diet of Australians currently contributes to high rates of disease including diabetes, heart disease and the underlying issue of obesity. It will examine Australian agriculture and food processing, manufacturing and marketing and the environmental impacts of these sectors. The research will analyse policy documents and interview key people involved in each sector to determine their views on the ways in which our food supply affects our health. It will result in policy recommendations advising how the Australian food sector can be made more supportive of health and equity. Policy makers will be engaged with our findings through a Food Policy Summit. Read moreRead less
Statistical methods for the analysis of critical care data, with application to the Australian and New Zealand Intensive Care Database. The recent inquiry into Queensland's Bundaberg Base Hospital highlights the need to monitor hospital performance. This project develops new statistical methods to account for uncertainty in the assessment of provider performance and its outcomes will provide government with institutional comparisons for policy and planning.
Consent in the void: moral, legal and community values in decisions about human biological donations. This project will improve consent procedures for embryo and organ donation. This will increase the autonomy of those consenting, the quality of consent that is given, and increase public trust in the processes of embryo and organ donation. The legal and moral status of the wishes of the newly dead or embryo donors and will be clarified thereby increasing the quality of consent processes for all ....Consent in the void: moral, legal and community values in decisions about human biological donations. This project will improve consent procedures for embryo and organ donation. This will increase the autonomy of those consenting, the quality of consent that is given, and increase public trust in the processes of embryo and organ donation. The legal and moral status of the wishes of the newly dead or embryo donors and will be clarified thereby increasing the quality of consent processes for all involved. By including community values in addition to the legal and moral issues, this project will make well-founded recommendations for the development of laws, policies and guidelines in relation to decisions about frozen embryos and the newly dead.Read moreRead less
Insights into macroevolution using a model adaptive radiation of lizards (Lerista). Australia has arguably the greatest diversity of lizards in the world. This research will investigate how this diversity arose, using Lerista, a radiation of skinks with over 80 species spanning fully limbed to totally legless forms. We will investigate how development, geographic distribution and morphological features have influenced the evolutionary diversification of Lerista. We will also map the biodivers ....Insights into macroevolution using a model adaptive radiation of lizards (Lerista). Australia has arguably the greatest diversity of lizards in the world. This research will investigate how this diversity arose, using Lerista, a radiation of skinks with over 80 species spanning fully limbed to totally legless forms. We will investigate how development, geographic distribution and morphological features have influenced the evolutionary diversification of Lerista. We will also map the biodiversity of Lerista across Australia using (and thus testing) several alternative methods of quantifying biodiversity. Such knowledge is important as many hotspots of Lerista diversity are coming under increasing human pressure (e.g. mid-coast of WA), and many species have very localised ranges.Read moreRead less
Fire, air, water and earth: Using fossils to discover the evolution of Australia’s open vegetation. How Australia came to be dominated by open, tough-leaved vegetation is an old but still highly controversial question, especially with recent developments in molecular biology that challenge paradigms established from the fossil record. The project will test this new molecular paradigm with innovative use of characteristics of fossil leaves to identify the timing and drivers of the evolution of Au ....Fire, air, water and earth: Using fossils to discover the evolution of Australia’s open vegetation. How Australia came to be dominated by open, tough-leaved vegetation is an old but still highly controversial question, especially with recent developments in molecular biology that challenge paradigms established from the fossil record. The project will test this new molecular paradigm with innovative use of characteristics of fossil leaves to identify the timing and drivers of the evolution of Australia’s open vegetation. The integration of new and rigorous evidence derived from living and fossil plants will provide the clearest evidence yet for the origins of Australian environments. This has ramifications for understanding plant responses to past and future climate changes.Read moreRead less
Establishment of the endocrine axes in the embryo and their xenobiotic distortion. Millions of tons of supposedly harmless chemicals are produced and enter the environment each year. However, some of these substances can act on wildlife and humans to distort the way that hormone systems are established in the embryo, leading to subtle effects on health and function in later life. We will use one of the commonest of these substances, found in many cosmetics, food wrappings, and medicinal plastics ....Establishment of the endocrine axes in the embryo and their xenobiotic distortion. Millions of tons of supposedly harmless chemicals are produced and enter the environment each year. However, some of these substances can act on wildlife and humans to distort the way that hormone systems are established in the embryo, leading to subtle effects on health and function in later life. We will use one of the commonest of these substances, found in many cosmetics, food wrappings, and medicinal plastics, to learn how hormone systems becomes established in a healthy embryo, and how these then get distorted after exposure to these compounds. This project directly addresses the way we assess the health of our environment, and offers ways to screen for compounds which can have subtle effects on wildlife, domestic species and humans.Read moreRead less
Theorising and understanding how policy processes affect uptake of evidence on social determinants of health and equity in Australian health policy. This project determines how to apply recent recommendations from the World Health Organisation about the social determinants of health to Australia. Analysis of health sector policies, including detailed case studies, will determine how governments can shape policy and implementation processes to improve Australia’s health.