Thinking about the future: The nature and development of mental time travel. This project is one of the first systematic investigations into the development of the human capacity to consider future events. A variety of novel tasks will probe what children know about the future and how it relates to their ability to reason about past events. Comparisons between children and apes will further inform us about the nature of this crucial mental skill. The findings will provide valuable information fo ....Thinking about the future: The nature and development of mental time travel. This project is one of the first systematic investigations into the development of the human capacity to consider future events. A variety of novel tasks will probe what children know about the future and how it relates to their ability to reason about past events. Comparisons between children and apes will further inform us about the nature of this crucial mental skill. The findings will provide valuable information for developing appropriate educational approaches and for our understanding of abnormalities. As international leaders in this field, we are in an ideal position to conduct this research, offer unique opportunities for postgraduate training, and to continue in Australia's outstanding tradition of excellence in basic research.Read moreRead less
Using empirical materials to inform normative thinking about the organization of groups for the production of knowledge. It is increasingly apparent that knowledge is produced by organized groups-e.g. research or management teams. The idea of heroic individual creators is still presented in popular media, but has little credence in hard-headed organizational contexts, where, e.g., Wenger's idea of the community of practice plays an important role in steering policy and institutional development. ....Using empirical materials to inform normative thinking about the organization of groups for the production of knowledge. It is increasingly apparent that knowledge is produced by organized groups-e.g. research or management teams. The idea of heroic individual creators is still presented in popular media, but has little credence in hard-headed organizational contexts, where, e.g., Wenger's idea of the community of practice plays an important role in steering policy and institutional development. Finding out how we can organize collectives so that they can function WELL as producers of knowledge is the aim of this project in social epistemology. Its success will contribute directly to theoretical discourse about innovation in organizations and promises to contribute indirectly to the improvement of the institutional bases of our cultural and economic capital.Read moreRead less
Real-time high-level cognitive robotics controllers. Technological advances have seen the recent release of commercially affordable mobile robots. In the wake of Sony's immensely successful AIBO entertainment robot, it is anticipated that the market will be flooded with similar devices in short time. However, while traditional robotics focuses on problems like navigation and sensory perception, scant attention has been paid to the development of high-level cognitive robotics languages for coordi ....Real-time high-level cognitive robotics controllers. Technological advances have seen the recent release of commercially affordable mobile robots. In the wake of Sony's immensely successful AIBO entertainment robot, it is anticipated that the market will be flooded with similar devices in short time. However, while traditional robotics focuses on problems like navigation and sensory perception, scant attention has been paid to the development of high-level cognitive robotics languages for coordinating these lower-level "skills". Such languages allow development of sophisticated robot controllers. We aim to develop a cognitive robotics language capable of controlling robots in real-time and in a multi-agent setting requiring coordination among agents.Read moreRead less
Strengthening Australia's suburbs: advancing urban planning knowledge to limit oil vulnerability and build household resilience. The vulnerability and resilience of Australian suburbs to declining petroleum security and climate change is a national issue because half of Australia's population lives in suburbs. This project will advance national knowledge of the challenges facing Australian suburbs. This includes supporting National Research Priority 4: Protecting Australia's Infrastructure by ad ....Strengthening Australia's suburbs: advancing urban planning knowledge to limit oil vulnerability and build household resilience. The vulnerability and resilience of Australian suburbs to declining petroleum security and climate change is a national issue because half of Australia's population lives in suburbs. This project will advance national knowledge of the challenges facing Australian suburbs. This includes supporting National Research Priority 4: Protecting Australia's Infrastructure by addressing the vulnerability of suburban transport systems and infrastructure to declining global petroleum security. The project will strengthen community capacity to cope with these challenges through improved planning understanding that can support new measures to overcome oil vulnerability and build suburban resilience.Read moreRead less
Community vulnerability and extreme events: Developing a typology of coastal settlement vulnerability to aid adaptation strategies. Despite uncertainty regarding the manifestations of climate change there is widespread agreement that any impacts will be unevenly shared. The costs to individuals and communities of these uneven outcomes are significant. Crucially, adaptation policy must understand the multi-dimensional nature of these uneven outcomes so as to ameliorate negative costs. In its inte ....Community vulnerability and extreme events: Developing a typology of coastal settlement vulnerability to aid adaptation strategies. Despite uncertainty regarding the manifestations of climate change there is widespread agreement that any impacts will be unevenly shared. The costs to individuals and communities of these uneven outcomes are significant. Crucially, adaptation policy must understand the multi-dimensional nature of these uneven outcomes so as to ameliorate negative costs. In its integration of a multi-method approach to understanding adaptation to extreme weather events in coastal settlements, this project aims to advance understanding of well targeted and effective interventions. It combines the skills and knowledge of researchers trained across a range of disciplines to address these important real world issues.Read moreRead less
Regional resilience to economic shocks: Australia’s COVID Economic slowdown. This project is designed to analyse how employment outcomes in Australian regions respond to economic shocks such as that caused by COVID-19. Set within the emerging literature dealing with employment resilience, the project uses unique data (Payroll Jobs index) to measure employment resilience and understand the factors that impact diverse regional outcomes. Understanding these patterns is significant as a region's ec ....Regional resilience to economic shocks: Australia’s COVID Economic slowdown. This project is designed to analyse how employment outcomes in Australian regions respond to economic shocks such as that caused by COVID-19. Set within the emerging literature dealing with employment resilience, the project uses unique data (Payroll Jobs index) to measure employment resilience and understand the factors that impact diverse regional outcomes. Understanding these patterns is significant as a region's economic performance has the potential to impact the well being of individuals and their families, as well as the sustainability of local economies and communities. The project will result in a nuanced understanding of regional employment performance that will inform policy in both government and non-government sectors. Read moreRead less
DETERMINANTS OF QUALITY OF LIFE IN CITIES: The South East Queensland Urban Region in Comparative Perspective. This is the Australian component of an international project on quality of life (QOL) in cities. It examines people's perceived QOL and relates this to objective indicators such as employment levels and neighbourhood safety. We examine the South East Queensland urban region; our collaborators focus on Detroit (USA) and Belo Horizonte (Brazil). Our research tests the recent propositio ....DETERMINANTS OF QUALITY OF LIFE IN CITIES: The South East Queensland Urban Region in Comparative Perspective. This is the Australian component of an international project on quality of life (QOL) in cities. It examines people's perceived QOL and relates this to objective indicators such as employment levels and neighbourhood safety. We examine the South East Queensland urban region; our collaborators focus on Detroit (USA) and Belo Horizonte (Brazil). Our research tests the recent proposition that QOL is the key element in the rise of the new economy characterised by increasing emphasis on consumption and expansion of the services sector. Understanding the relationship between QOL and the new economy is vital for future urban planning.Read moreRead less
Improving Sub-national Population Forecasts. The aim of this project is to make significant advances in two related areas of regional, council area and local population forecasting, namely improving accuracy, and providing an indication of forecast uncertainty. Population forecasts often turn out to be far more inaccurate than users realise and fail to come with any information about reliability. Every year forecasts inform a wide variety of planning and policy development activities and influen ....Improving Sub-national Population Forecasts. The aim of this project is to make significant advances in two related areas of regional, council area and local population forecasting, namely improving accuracy, and providing an indication of forecast uncertainty. Population forecasts often turn out to be far more inaccurate than users realise and fail to come with any information about reliability. Every year forecasts inform a wide variety of planning and policy development activities and influence investment decisions worth billions of dollars. In order to increase the value of forecasts to users, this project aims to combine methods from a range of disciplines to devise more accurate ways of forecasting populations, and provide accompanying information on their likely error.Read moreRead less
The Geography of Australia's People in Places: Processes of Change and Policy Responses. A major book will be written on the changing geography of people and places across Australia's settlement system between 1976 to 2006. Globalisation, economic restructuring, the changing nature of work, population growth and decline, migration, changes in households and families, and policy reorientations combine to impact in many different ways on people-in-places, affecting their fortunes and well-being. H ....The Geography of Australia's People in Places: Processes of Change and Policy Responses. A major book will be written on the changing geography of people and places across Australia's settlement system between 1976 to 2006. Globalisation, economic restructuring, the changing nature of work, population growth and decline, migration, changes in households and families, and policy reorientations combine to impact in many different ways on people-in-places, affecting their fortunes and well-being. How to cope with change represents exciting opportunities for some people in some places, while other people and places are vulnerable. The challenges for public policy are enormous, requiring rethinking of approaches by governments at all levels.Read moreRead less
Building A Better Built Environment for Older Australian's Ageing-in-place. Most older Australians prefer to age in place after their retirement. This project aims to understand how the built environment as a comprehensive system supports (or hinders) their ageing-in-place given that the existing Australian built environment fails to meet older Australians' requirements for independent living. This project expects to generate new knowledge in the area of ageing-friendly communities using Bayesia ....Building A Better Built Environment for Older Australian's Ageing-in-place. Most older Australians prefer to age in place after their retirement. This project aims to understand how the built environment as a comprehensive system supports (or hinders) their ageing-in-place given that the existing Australian built environment fails to meet older Australians' requirements for independent living. This project expects to generate new knowledge in the area of ageing-friendly communities using Bayesian Network analysis and interactive design charrettes. Expected outcomes include an evidence-based Bayesian network model that determines how the built environment affects independent living in the community and design innovation and guidelines to improve the built environment design for older Australians' ageing-in-place.Read moreRead less