Curating Photography in the Age of Photo Sharing. This project aims to develop new curatorial models to enable Australian art galleries to respond effectively to changes in the medium of photography wrought by digital technologies. By conducting the first comprehensive analysis of nearly five decades of Australian photography curating and comparing it to curatorial approaches in related institutions locally and internationally, the project seeks to: identify the crucial role of photography exhib ....Curating Photography in the Age of Photo Sharing. This project aims to develop new curatorial models to enable Australian art galleries to respond effectively to changes in the medium of photography wrought by digital technologies. By conducting the first comprehensive analysis of nearly five decades of Australian photography curating and comparing it to curatorial approaches in related institutions locally and internationally, the project seeks to: identify the crucial role of photography exhibitions in the shaping of Australian visual culture; and develop opportunities for curators to better engage with the current proliferation of images, including new forms and practices of photography enabled by the Internet.Read moreRead less
A new approach to stability analysis for economic systems. This project will provide a new methodology for analysing stability in economic systems. By enhancing our understanding of stability and instability in markets for assets, credit, commodities and natural resources, this project will help economists forecast likely outcomes and improve the formulation of related economic policy.
Life history responses to habitat heterogeneity and implications for conservation. This exciting new research project will provide a novel understanding of how animals respond and adapt to environmental variation. This will fill a critical gap between ecological theory and real-world populations and initiate a major shift in how we view the relationship between environments and the species that inhabit them. Natural resource use practices like forestry are rarely considered compatible with biodi ....Life history responses to habitat heterogeneity and implications for conservation. This exciting new research project will provide a novel understanding of how animals respond and adapt to environmental variation. This will fill a critical gap between ecological theory and real-world populations and initiate a major shift in how we view the relationship between environments and the species that inhabit them. Natural resource use practices like forestry are rarely considered compatible with biodiversity conservation. This research will provide on-the-ground management recommendations to integrate such land uses with conservation, thereby providing both economic and conservation benefits to the Australian community.Read moreRead less
Doped metal perovskites for electrocatalysis. This project aims to discover and design perovskite metal-oxide electrocatalyst materials and develop electrocatalytic methods for efficiently driving the oxygen evolution reaction and the oxygen reduction reaction. These are the two most crucial reactions in sustainable energy cycles involving water, hydrogen and oxygen. The project’s anticipated advances in electrocatalysis efficiency for these two reactions will benefit sustainable energy technolo ....Doped metal perovskites for electrocatalysis. This project aims to discover and design perovskite metal-oxide electrocatalyst materials and develop electrocatalytic methods for efficiently driving the oxygen evolution reaction and the oxygen reduction reaction. These are the two most crucial reactions in sustainable energy cycles involving water, hydrogen and oxygen. The project’s anticipated advances in electrocatalysis efficiency for these two reactions will benefit sustainable energy technologies such as fuel cells, metal air batteries and water splitting.Read moreRead less
Integrating population perspectives in Asian environmental debates. Sustainable development in Asia is crucial for the future welfare of all Asians, and for Australia. The population of Asia is over 60 percent of global population and the region is rapidly urbanizing and industrializing, thus creating an ever more onerous environmental footprint. The economic analytical work underpinning the assessment and amelioration of environmental challenges in Asia has long utilized simple population proje ....Integrating population perspectives in Asian environmental debates. Sustainable development in Asia is crucial for the future welfare of all Asians, and for Australia. The population of Asia is over 60 percent of global population and the region is rapidly urbanizing and industrializing, thus creating an ever more onerous environmental footprint. The economic analytical work underpinning the assessment and amelioration of environmental challenges in Asia has long utilized simple population projections. This project's methodologies will inform better policy and public debate to ensure that governments have more realistic understandings of the interaction between human population, human welfare and environmental integrity.Read moreRead less
Evolution of cooperative breeding in birds. The incidence of cooperative breeding in birds varies from 0 to 100% between families of birds, and from <1 to >25% among birds from different regions. However, there has been no theory that successfully predicts these differences. Recent comparative analysis shows the differences result largely from the early evolution of obligate cooperative breeding in some groups, and their subsequent slow rates of speciation. I will use model systems to investiga ....Evolution of cooperative breeding in birds. The incidence of cooperative breeding in birds varies from 0 to 100% between families of birds, and from <1 to >25% among birds from different regions. However, there has been no theory that successfully predicts these differences. Recent comparative analysis shows the differences result largely from the early evolution of obligate cooperative breeding in some groups, and their subsequent slow rates of speciation. I will use model systems to investigate how birds can become committed to cooperative breeding despite the inevitable conflicts, and how one group of birds have been freed from the general rules governing the evolution of sociality.Read moreRead less
Can inbreeding avoidance cause the evolution of sex-biased dispersal? This project aims to combine unique long-term data with a novel Citizen Science approach to seek to provide the first complete test of the hypothesis that inbreeding avoidance can cause one of the best known patterns in mammal and bird societies - sex differences in when and how far juveniles disperse. Dispersal is a critically important ecological and evolutionary process, as it influences the fate of populations, and also de ....Can inbreeding avoidance cause the evolution of sex-biased dispersal? This project aims to combine unique long-term data with a novel Citizen Science approach to seek to provide the first complete test of the hypothesis that inbreeding avoidance can cause one of the best known patterns in mammal and bird societies - sex differences in when and how far juveniles disperse. Dispersal is a critically important ecological and evolutionary process, as it influences the fate of populations, and also determines the individuals with which a disperser will spend the remainder of its life. It therefore shapes the likelihood that kin will interact to cooperate or compete, and determines the pool of individuals with which the disperser can mate.Read moreRead less
Sympatric speciation in Australian sexually deceptive orchids. Speciation has generated the diversity of life, yet the mechanisms of speciation remain poorly understood. Chiloglottis orchids are pollinated by highly specific sexually attracted male pollinators-an intriguing and predominantly Australian pollination mechanism. New evidence indicates these orchids offer novel opportunities to illuminate the evolutionary processes of speciation. This project will integrate new and powerful molecul ....Sympatric speciation in Australian sexually deceptive orchids. Speciation has generated the diversity of life, yet the mechanisms of speciation remain poorly understood. Chiloglottis orchids are pollinated by highly specific sexually attracted male pollinators-an intriguing and predominantly Australian pollination mechanism. New evidence indicates these orchids offer novel opportunities to illuminate the evolutionary processes of speciation. This project will integrate new and powerful molecular laboratory procedures with field studies to investigate the mechanisms of speciation within the genus. These orchids may provide rare examples of sympatric speciation-the evolution of species in the absence of geographic isolation. This is currently a speciation mechanism of current and intense research interest worldwide.Read moreRead less
Why do females mate with multiple partners? Tests of key hypotheses in the wild. Female animals commonly mate with several males at each reproductive cycle, but we do not know why. Six plausible, testable hypotheses have been proposed to explain how females could benefit directly, or by obtaining advantageous genes for their offspring. The few empirical investigations so far carried out have been in captivity and have not considered all alternative explanations. I propose to experimentally test ....Why do females mate with multiple partners? Tests of key hypotheses in the wild. Female animals commonly mate with several males at each reproductive cycle, but we do not know why. Six plausible, testable hypotheses have been proposed to explain how females could benefit directly, or by obtaining advantageous genes for their offspring. The few empirical investigations so far carried out have been in captivity and have not considered all alternative explanations. I propose to experimentally test the key hypotheses in the wild, using a small mammal uniquely-suited to this purpose because of its unusual, but well-known reproductive strategy. The results will improve our understanding of the role of female behaviour in evolutionary processes.Read moreRead less
The evolution and conservation consequences of promiscuity in plants pollinated by vertebrates. Pollen dispersal between plants, predominantly by insects and wind, is characteristically restricted to nearest neighbours. Recent molecular analysis of paternity for a Banksia pollinated by nectar-feeding birds showed atypical pollen dispersal, with high multiple paternity, wide outcrossing and local panmixis. With much of the Australian flora also bird-pollinated, our initial results have potentiall ....The evolution and conservation consequences of promiscuity in plants pollinated by vertebrates. Pollen dispersal between plants, predominantly by insects and wind, is characteristically restricted to nearest neighbours. Recent molecular analysis of paternity for a Banksia pollinated by nectar-feeding birds showed atypical pollen dispersal, with high multiple paternity, wide outcrossing and local panmixis. With much of the Australian flora also bird-pollinated, our initial results have potentially wide and novel significance. This project proposes to test the generality of our observations for other vertebrate-pollinated species, and to test the conservation and evolutionary consequences of reduced pollen dispersal caused by habitat fragmentation and declining pollinators for a pollination paradigm facilitating promiscuity.Read moreRead less