Developing Robust Small Area Population Forecasts for Planning and Policy. This project aims to create more robust, detailed, and accurate small area population forecasts, and implement them in a sophisticated forecasting system for one jurisdiction in Australia, USA, UK and Canada. The project is significant as it expects to generate a suite of new and innovative methods, theory, and population forecasts that will be useful to researchers and planners both in Australia and overseas. Expected ou ....Developing Robust Small Area Population Forecasts for Planning and Policy. This project aims to create more robust, detailed, and accurate small area population forecasts, and implement them in a sophisticated forecasting system for one jurisdiction in Australia, USA, UK and Canada. The project is significant as it expects to generate a suite of new and innovative methods, theory, and population forecasts that will be useful to researchers and planners both in Australia and overseas. Expected outcomes include new forecasting methods, associated computer code, many open-access academic papers, and new international collaborations. More detailed and reliable population forecasts will bring substantial benefits to those planning our future infrastructure requirements (e.g. schools, hospitals, housing and transport).
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Evaluating the impact of Indigenous preferential procurement programs. This project aims to conduct a multi-disciplinary, multi-method evaluation of the implementation and impacts of Indigenous preferential procurement programs (IPPPs) on Indigenous businesses, Indigenous communities, procurers’ operations and outcomes. Bringing together researchers in partnership with corporate and government procurers, Indigenous data custodians and the Australian Bureau of Statistics we aim to produce a signi ....Evaluating the impact of Indigenous preferential procurement programs. This project aims to conduct a multi-disciplinary, multi-method evaluation of the implementation and impacts of Indigenous preferential procurement programs (IPPPs) on Indigenous businesses, Indigenous communities, procurers’ operations and outcomes. Bringing together researchers in partnership with corporate and government procurers, Indigenous data custodians and the Australian Bureau of Statistics we aim to produce a significant national program evaluation of IPPPs and the impact at the community level. The project aims to highlight ways in which IPPPs can be [re]designed to reduce implementation friction, facilitate access and participation among Indigenous businesses and help guarantee positive effects on Indigenous communities.Read moreRead less
Modelling the Causes of Regional Disparities across Australia. This project aims to explain the changing patterns of regional economic performance across Australia between 2001-2011 in the context of two developments: major structural shifts in world trade and commodity prices spawning massive mining growth and negative exchange rate impacts elsewhere (for example, manufacturing); and the financial crisis ending the credit boom leaving east coast economies struggling. The resulting regional disp ....Modelling the Causes of Regional Disparities across Australia. This project aims to explain the changing patterns of regional economic performance across Australia between 2001-2011 in the context of two developments: major structural shifts in world trade and commodity prices spawning massive mining growth and negative exchange rate impacts elsewhere (for example, manufacturing); and the financial crisis ending the credit boom leaving east coast economies struggling. The resulting regional disparities have policy implications for education and skills training, housing affordability, infrastructure provision, and community sustainability. These issues will be investigated using a new functional economic regions geography and state of art spatial modelling tools supplemented by regional case studies.Read moreRead less
Integrating fire and predator management to conserve threatened species. This project aims to empower land managers to better conserve Australia’s threatened native animals by developing decision-support approaches that facilitate integrated management of threatening processes. The project will use a combination of novel predictive models, field experiments and data syntheses to assist land managers to better conserve Australia’s threatened native fauna. This project will benefit biodiversity co ....Integrating fire and predator management to conserve threatened species. This project aims to empower land managers to better conserve Australia’s threatened native animals by developing decision-support approaches that facilitate integrated management of threatening processes. The project will use a combination of novel predictive models, field experiments and data syntheses to assist land managers to better conserve Australia’s threatened native fauna. This project will benefit biodiversity conservation by enabling more effective allocation of limited conservation resources.Read moreRead less
Arresting declines of arboreal mammals in the tropical savannas. This project aims to evaluate the hypothesis that arboreal species are limited by the abundance of tree hollows, and that historical increases in the frequency of intense fires may be reducing hollow abundance. Northern Australia’s mammals are in severe decline, and arboreal species are among those that have fared worst. There is abundant anecdotal evidence that a decline in hollow abundance is the cause. Working with the Western A ....Arresting declines of arboreal mammals in the tropical savannas. This project aims to evaluate the hypothesis that arboreal species are limited by the abundance of tree hollows, and that historical increases in the frequency of intense fires may be reducing hollow abundance. Northern Australia’s mammals are in severe decline, and arboreal species are among those that have fared worst. There is abundant anecdotal evidence that a decline in hollow abundance is the cause. Working with the Western Australian Department of Parks and Wildlife in the Kimberley, the last region on the Australian mainland with an intact mammal fauna, the project aims to explore management options for increasing the availability of hollow denning sites for arboreal mammals (e.g. fire management, artificial nest boxes), and evaluate the likely impact of such actions on mammal populations across northern Australia.Read moreRead less
ARC Centre of Excellence for Indigenous Futures. ARC Centre of Excellence for Indigenous Futures. The ARC Centre of Excellence for Indigenous Futures aims to transform and improve the life chances of Indigenous Australians by utilising Indigenous knowledges in unique trans-disciplinary cross-sector designed research to enhance our understanding about the complex nature of Indigenous intergenerational inequity. The Centre expects to generate new knowledge to enable evidence-based policy formulati ....ARC Centre of Excellence for Indigenous Futures. ARC Centre of Excellence for Indigenous Futures. The ARC Centre of Excellence for Indigenous Futures aims to transform and improve the life chances of Indigenous Australians by utilising Indigenous knowledges in unique trans-disciplinary cross-sector designed research to enhance our understanding about the complex nature of Indigenous intergenerational inequity. The Centre expects to generate new knowledge to enable evidence-based policy formulation and implementation including best practice models. The Centre will be entirely led by Indigenous researchers working with communities, government agencies and practitioners to strengthen the delivery of outcomes and linkages intentionally focused on all four of the National Agreement Close The Gap -2020’s Priority Reform areas.Read moreRead less
Creating fauna-friendly cities and towns - The ecology and conservation of insectivorous bats in Melbourne. Urbanisation is a principal threat to the conservation of biodiversity worldwide. Information on the response of plants and animals to an increasingly urbanized world is essential to prevent the loss of natural assets, ensure environmental sustainability and promote human health and well-being. This research will combine extensive field surveys with state-of-the art modeling to identify th ....Creating fauna-friendly cities and towns - The ecology and conservation of insectivorous bats in Melbourne. Urbanisation is a principal threat to the conservation of biodiversity worldwide. Information on the response of plants and animals to an increasingly urbanized world is essential to prevent the loss of natural assets, ensure environmental sustainability and promote human health and well-being. This research will combine extensive field surveys with state-of-the art modeling to identify their ecological requirements. Importantly, the research will engage with local councils, park managers and community organizations to educate the wider community and ensure research outcomes are adopted. The study design will ensure that the findings are applicable to other urban areas across Australia and around the world. Read moreRead less
Movement ecology of granivores: informing fire management of savannas. This project aims to examine the decline in granivorous finches across north Australia and test the hypothesis that an increasingly nomadic lifestyle, associated with tracking grass seed availability over larger spatial scales, is the cause. The project also aims to evaluate how fire affects rangeland functioning, particularly grass diversity, to improve fire management of tropical savannas in northern Australia. This project ....Movement ecology of granivores: informing fire management of savannas. This project aims to examine the decline in granivorous finches across north Australia and test the hypothesis that an increasingly nomadic lifestyle, associated with tracking grass seed availability over larger spatial scales, is the cause. The project also aims to evaluate how fire affects rangeland functioning, particularly grass diversity, to improve fire management of tropical savannas in northern Australia. This project will provide new tools and technologies that will monitor mobile small vertebrates. Expected outcomes will improve the understanding of tropical savanna functioning and fire management. The research aligns with ‘savanna burning’ methodologies and carbon sequestration goals in north Australia.
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Aboriginal patch burning and the quest for sustainable fire management. This project aims to document historical changes in the spatial grain of the patch burning mosaic in an Arnhem Land savannah with an unbroken history of management by Aboriginal people, and in adjacent areas where traditional management has ceased. The mosaic's spatial grain will be inferred by mapping the individual ages of the long-lived conifer Callitris intratropica. Prior research has shown that Callitris individuals c ....Aboriginal patch burning and the quest for sustainable fire management. This project aims to document historical changes in the spatial grain of the patch burning mosaic in an Arnhem Land savannah with an unbroken history of management by Aboriginal people, and in adjacent areas where traditional management has ceased. The mosaic's spatial grain will be inferred by mapping the individual ages of the long-lived conifer Callitris intratropica. Prior research has shown that Callitris individuals can be reliably aged, and population structures are very sensitive to fire regimes: saplings only establish if unburnt for 10 years. This research is expected to provide the first direct test of the hypothesis that Aboriginal people maintained fine-grained fire mosaics in savannas, and inform bushfire policy debates.Read moreRead less
Achieving true representation of Indigenous people in nursing and midwifery. This project aims to address an absence of true representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and knowledges in nursing and midwifery. Significantly it intends to co-create an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander nurse and midwife theory and principles for practice. An anticipated goal of the research is to better understand how the theory and practice can be implemented in nurse and midwifery educati ....Achieving true representation of Indigenous people in nursing and midwifery. This project aims to address an absence of true representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and knowledges in nursing and midwifery. Significantly it intends to co-create an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander nurse and midwife theory and principles for practice. An anticipated goal of the research is to better understand how the theory and practice can be implemented in nurse and midwifery education (inclusive of clinical settings) in regional and urban areas. The intended outcome is to provide improved cultural safety in nursing and midwifery, greater cultural safety for health consumers and; stronger recruitment and retention of Indigenous nurses and midwives.
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